Book Review - Fears: Tales of Psychological Horror edited by Ellen Datlow (2024)
Tachyon Publications
If you don’t know Ellen Datlow, she’s quite possibly the greatest modern editorial talent to devote her career to horror fiction. Perpetually attuned to the green shoots pushing through the soil of the genre, Datlow’s capacity to develop and construct an anthology consistently elevates the format. There literally isn’t a bad work with her name on the cover, and while expectations are deservedly high for such collections, they consistently manage to exceed my expectations.
…She liked a tweet of mine once, probably because it was 1) an idiom and 2) about an author whose work she admires.
Datlow’s newest anthology, Fears: Tales of Psychological Horror, considers the aspect of dread and its influence on our mental state as we experience the world around us. While there are plenty of concrete horrors in the pages of this collection, each entry is marked by a perspective character or characters who are decidedly possessed by their present thoughts right up until the moment that things turn horrific. Each carries a strong internal narrative and reflectiveness, and the soft-touch theme works in a wide array of stories that hang together thematically without stepping on each other’s toes.
All that is to say, readers almost need to evaluate Datlow’s collections differently from others, as her prolific career and many past successes mean her works have few peers. Sure, some might insist it’s easy to succeed when you have names like Josh Malerman, Paul Tremblay, and Joyce Carol Oates regularly contributing to your anthologies, but Datlow also knows how to play on a theme and trace its spectrum expertly, and the stories she has put together in Fears have nary a miss among them.
While the collection meets the lofty standards set for it, the individual entries that really stuck with me are below:
“Bait” by Simon Bestwick
A middle-aged boozehound goes to his local watering hole and winds up trying to prevent a recurrence of a crime that transpired before. He gets a great deal more than he bargains for as perpetrators and would-be victims swap places. Wonderful mix of elements and an exceptional introduction to the collection as a whole. I love a story that takes place in a single setting, or nearly so. In this case, the entirety of the narrative is contained to a pair of small dive bars and a snowy alley nearby.
“A Sunny Disposition” by Josh Malerman
A tense, skin-crawling affair about a young boy left alone with his blind grandfather, who now wishes to make a confession that simply must come out. This story can be taken in very different ways depending on which perspective you consider it from, and Malerman brings his penchant for brutalist shock to bear once again.
“Singing my Sister Down” by Margo Lanagan
Remarkably beautiful story about watching a woman who has murdered her husband sink into tar through the eyes of her family as part of some community-rendered justice. Emotionally devastating and effective in its simplicity, I won't forget this one anytime soon and need to read more from this author.
“The Donner Party” by Dale Bailey
High society meets sanctioned cannibalism in this excellently-written story about a woman climbing the social ranks of an alternate Victorian London. Ultimately a bit predictable, but so marvelously executed and wisely paced that I have to mention it among my favorites from this collection.
“Back Seat” by Bracken McLeod
Sharp story that does a remarkable job of telling just enough to get your imagination churning. A man and his daughter scrape out an existence stealing from cars in a world with strange societal rules that may well be our own. This story at once feels a touch apocalyptic, but that's never explicitly stated, and there are a series of mixed indicators that really keep the reader guessing about a lot of the backstory. I love stories like this where we’re shining a flashlight in the dark, trying to piece the world together.
“My Mother's Ghost” by Priya Sharma
A deep, somber tale written in simple, elegant prose. An adult woman takes care of her fading geriatric patients in a dilapidated mansion when a stranger claiming to be her long lost brother returns to the home. She struggles to balance her suspicions about the interloper with her need for aid and companionship, and old ghosts rise anew in a wickedly grim family chapter.
“One of These Nights” by Livia Llewellyn
Clever, quietly nasty story about a pair of teenage girls who have perfected a stage play that removes unwanted people from their lives. Smart and savvy, there's a creeping malice here that I really appreciated.
“LD50” by Laird Barron
As Sean Connery did it for my grandmother, Laird Barron does it for me, but in a literary sense. A vagabond who survived and slew a serial killer finds herself passing through a corner of the Pacific Northwest haunted by a spree murderer of pets. A heady, slowburn of a story that dwells on its darkness. Brilliant, layered, and ultimately quite fun.
“Cavity” by Theresa Delucci
A unique story detailing snippets of the thirty-two murderers the average person will statistically cross paths with in their lifetime. Smooth, steady prose and an affecting feminist portrait of the violence perpetrated against women in society, this is a decidedly memorable entry in the collection built from a very clever idea.
“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates
JCO’s sentences have this near-breathless quality that always draws me in as a reader, beating out their distinct rhythm in a way no other author can quite pull off. This story has an overwhelming quality to it, an exaggerated and sharply familiar missive that conveys the threat all women likely feel at one time or another.
“21 Brooklands: next to Old Western, opposite the burned out Red Lion” by Carole Johnstone
Brutal story Of a hardscrabble family and a sadistic interloper who turns up during a power outage. Raw, nasty, unblinking horror narrative that walks the line between real-world and imagined terror. My favorite entry in this collection?
“Unkindly Girls” by Hailey Piper
Piper is such a talent and I always look forward to reading her work. This story is a smart, unkindly indictment of purity culture with darkly whimsical elements. It’s about a girl and her father’s annual trip to the beach, and the secrets they carry back with them year after year. Clever, creative use of familiar themes, I really liked this one.
“Teeth” by SGJ
Unforgettable novelette to close the collection about a terminally ill homicide detective trying to close out the case of a cannibalistic serial killer before his cancer can eat him. Dignified and stylish, it's a rock-solid example of why SGJ has become a giant of the genre.
While those are the standouts, I want to emphasize that no entry in this collection left me wanting. Fears is modern horror fiction at its finest, and well worth picking up whether you’re a newcomer to these authors or know some of them personally.
Score: 9.0
Strengths
Diverse stories from diverse authors, uniformly strong
Unifying theme is recognizable in every story
Some of the lesser-known authors really shine
Weaknesses
These stories have previously appeared elsewhere, which may lessen the value for some readers
Fears: Tales of Psychological Horror releases on September 10th, and can be purchased from Tachyon Press or on Amazon.
You may also like: Dead Letters, Collage Macabre, Patrick Barb, Prime Evil edited by Douglas E. Winter
