Haunted Nights by Ellen Datlow
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Thank you NetGalley and Anchor Books for providing me with an ARC of Haunted Nights in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
The Gist
One can always tell when I have had enough of summer and I’m ready for the cozy autumn season.
This usually happens around the beginning of August and takes the form of me watching spooky movies and reading Halloween stories.
I had Haunted Nights on my NetGalley to-read shelf for an eternity and thought now was an excellent time to start getting into the Halloween spirit.
Generally speaking, I find the Halloween season and the time leading up to the holiday way too short anyway, so might as well make it last as long as possible.
The Details
I can be a fickle reader. Throw an anthology or collection of short stories at me and who knows how I will respond.
I tend to have one of two reactions to anthologies, independent from vivid flashbacks of my time as a literature undergrad student – because most texts back then were “anthologies”.
One, I find the short stories too short. I get frustrated with the lack of “what happens next”. I need answers and I won’t get them, because as the genre says so clearly, these are short stories.
Two, I get overwhelmed by the number of stories and the various storylines. I tend to plough through a book, which is no big deal when it is a continuous story. In the case of an anthology things can get a little complicated when trying to read through it as quickly as possible.
With Haunted Nights it was a little bit of both. I really enjoyed some stories and wanted desperately to know more. With others, I was just trying to make it through to move on to the next.
I mean, that’s the risk a reader takes when choosing to read a collection of short stories, or poems or articles. Some will speak more to you than others.
The stories that spoke to me the most out of Haunted Nights nights were as follows:
With Graveyard Weeds and Wolfsbane Seeds by Seanan McGuire
The Seventeen-Year Itch by Garth Nix
Witch Hazel by Jeffrey Ford
We’re Never Inviting Amber Again S. P. Miskowski
Sisters Brian Evenson
Jack Pat Cadigan
To me they were atmospheric, spooky, eerie, and even a little cozy to read. I know, I’m weird. I just can’t help getting all snuggled up in a blanket, reading a story that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
The Verdict
Overall, I thought this was a solid anthology of Halloween inspired and themed stories. It was the perfect starting point for this year’s Halloween reads.
Not only will I check out more anthologies and collections edited by the two editors of Haunted Nights, but I will also see what other works the authors I listed above have published.
I would definitely recommend this collection.
