Review Summary for Animus Mundi Anthology
Overall Impressions: Anthologies can be a mixed bag for me. They offer a chance to discover new authors and unique stories, but the short story format sometimes lacks the depth I crave. Animus Mundi was enjoyable, with many stories leaving a lasting impact. Here are my thoughts on a few standout tales:

Story Highlights:

Coaltown: 4 stars

A haunting exploration of the sacrifices made for prosperity, particularly by the women of the town.
Blackthorn: 3.5 stars

A beautifully crafted folk tale that personifies the seasons and explores themes of kindness and empathy.
The Forgetting Field: 3 stars

An intriguing concept about plants and their relationship with humans, but the execution felt a bit pompous at times.
Reef: 4 stars

A sad yet visually stunning story that draws readers into a world where nature and consciousness are intertwined.
Ouroborus in Orbit: 4 stars

A fascinating take on the ancient symbol of the Ouroborus, reimagined as a massive serpent protecting Earth from external threats.
Scab Lands: 3 stars

A smoothly written tale that didn't quite fulfill its potential, leaving some of the author's intended parallels underdeveloped.
Cactus Flowers and Bone Flutes: 3.5 stars

An atmospheric and eerie story set in the Utah desert, though some aspects of the plot were unclear.
The South China Sea: 3.5 stars

A claustrophobic, visceral story rooted in the horrors of the Vietnam War's aftermath, blending history with a glimmer of hope.
The Other Shore: 4 stars

An odd but compelling tale that gradually builds in intrigue, drawing readers into its strange world.
The Threadbare Magician: 4 stars

A charming story about a magician whose powers are tied to his colorful Hawaiian shirts. The concept was unique and enjoyable.
Imperator Noster: 3 stars

A short and somewhat dry recounting of Roman history that lacked emotional engagement.
Long Way Down: 3.5 stars

A story with a lot of potential, but it felt a bit rushed. A longer format could have allowed the ideas to fully develop.
Second Verse, Same as the First: 4 stars

A fun and creepy story with great dialogue, set in a bar haunted by a frightening presence.
Twilight State: 3 stars

A nightmarish story that was unsettling but lacked a clear narrative direction.
Heartbeat: 3 stars

A brief vignette that captured a specific mood but didn't leave a lasting impression.
Overall Rating: 3.5 stars

Thank You Note: Thank you to Netgalley and Outland Entertainment for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Anthologies are hit and miss for me. One the one hand, I get to read stories by authors I've never either heard of before or have never read any of their material. On the other hand, I'm not super fond of reading short story after short story, which is no doubt why it's taken me SO long to finish this collection, which was actually pretty good. I liked most of the stories, and only a few didn't fully work for me. The ones I included a comment for below are the ones that left me intrigued either for a continuation or expansion of the narrative, or had an emotional impact on me. The others were good, but didn't move me. So here goes:

-Coaltown: 4 stars.
A chilling story of the cost of prosperity, as paid by its women.

-Blackthorn: 3.5 stars

-The Forgetting Field: 3 stars

-Reef: 4 stars

-Ouroborus in Orbit: 4 stars.
Intriguing idea that the collective consciousness of humanity has conjured an unimaginably large snake circling Earth, and providing us with protection from outsiders.

-In the Water, Underneath: 3 stars.

-Scab Lands: 3 stars.
Interesting idea, but didn’t draw the parallels the author was hinting at as effectively as it could have.

-Cactus Flowers and Bone Flutes: 3.5 stars.
Chilling. Though I didn’t understand fully how some people perished, while others did not.

-The South China Sea: 3.5 stars.
Claustrophobic, and visceral, this was frightening with a bit of hope.

-The Other Shore: 4 stars.

-The Threadbare Magician: 4:stars.
I loved the idea that each magic wielded had a different way of accessing their power, and the main character’s Hawaiian shirts, the more florid the better, was their source.

-Imperator Noster: 3 stars.

-Long Way Down: 3.5 stars.
I wish this had been a little longer, as I liked the idea, and wished it had had a little more time to develop.

-Second Verse, Same as the First: 4 stars.
Great dialogue and a frightening presence in a bar make this a fun story.

-Twilight State: 3 stars.
Nightmarish.

-Heartbeat: 3 stars.

Overall rating: 3.5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Outland Entertainment for this ARC in exchange for my review.

This wasn't quite what I expected it to be, and as a result I did not finish it unfortunately. They seem like wonderful stories, but they were not the usual sorts of things I normally read.

The blurb says 31 stories, but there are actually two books - Genius Loci and Animus Mundi - which have 15-16 short stories each. Like most anthologies of short stories, some of the stories I really loved and some I didn't like at all or even DNF'd. Some of my favorites included: Blackthorn by B. Morris Allen, Reef by K.C. Norton, and Long Way Down by Seanan McGuire.

"There are places in the world that feel alive."

All places have their own personalities.
The Romans believed that the spirit of the land - also known as 'genius loci' - protected his own area.
Nowadays some people might dismiss this as mythology.
But have you ever had that strange feeling that you can sense a landscape's atmosphere?
If so, this book is right up your alley!

Almost every short story in this anthology is based upon a real location.
What's totally unique about the book's concept is that (almost) each story is preceded by information about the environment in which it takes place. So first you (often) get factual info, followed by a tale in which this place comes to life. You could see it as a combination of non-fiction and fantasy, two of my favourite genres.


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One becomes two

This book started as a discussion on facebook between Jaym Gates and Brooke Bolander about the weird 'genius loci' of the places where they grew up, respectively Northern California and Texas.
As lots of other people jumped on the conversation, the idea formed to make an anthology around this theme.
It became a Kickstarter project and thus in 2016 a book saw the light: 'Genius Loci' (Ragnarok Publications).

In 2020 this project was apparently renewed, as the aforementioned book with 32 short stories seems to have been cut in two.
The republishing is now in the hands of Outland Entertainment.
One of the newborns was named after his parent: 'Genius Loci' (which now contains 15 short stories).
The other book was named 'Animus Mundi' (which contains 16 short stories).

At first sight, there's no information to be found about the reasons for that, nor about the actual changes (f.e. no illustrations anymore and other stories).
What's also rather strange is thateditor Jaym Gates doesn't mention this in either one of the two books.
It would've been nice to have more background info about it, as some stories - while some of them áre mentioned in the foreword - are not available anymore in the book itself.

If you want to know which 32 stories were included originally, I recommend you to take a look at the review of Alexander at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1739896817

The stories that are left out now from the two books, are:
- 'The snow train' by Ken Liu (if - just like me - you're interested in that story, you can read it online on the website of Lightspeed Magazine: https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-snow-train/ )
- 'The Town The Forest Ate' by Haralambi Markov
- 'Drowning Again in the Ocean of Her' by Ken Scholes & Katie Cord

On the other hand there are two other stories that replaced them:
- 'Pocosin' by Ursula Vernon (in Genius Loci)
- 'Second Verse, Same as the First' by Stina Leicht (in Animus Mundi)


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Stories in 'Animus Mundi'

If you want to know which stories are included in Genius Loci, you can head over to this review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4191977394
Here's a list of those in Animus Mundi:

Coaltown - Heather Clitheroe ⭐⭐
If you liked 'The Lottery' from Shirley Jackson, you'll certainly appreciate this story too as it has a slightly different take on the same theme.
Sadly enough, I've never been a fan of that story, so this one couldn't convince me either.

Blackthorn - B. Morris Allen ⭐⭐⭐⭐
In Moldova (between Romania and Ukraine), friends give each other a 'mărțișor' on the first day of March. Romania and Bulgaria each have a variant of this tradition.
Very interesting to read about this unknown habit through this beautifully written story. The personification of seasons, plants, … is done in such a way you really empathize with the characters.

The Forgetting Field - Caroline Ratajski ⭐⭐⭐
Original idea, but the execution was a bit less my taste.
Sometimes rather pompuous prose, although other times there were some beautiful descriptions.

Reef - K.C. Norton ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
What a gem!
Very visual descriptions in such a way that it seems you're watching a movie. You feel for the characters and share in their misfortunes and their joys. The only minor point were the several (small) editing errors. But given the originality of the story and the smooth yet beautiful writing style, totally worth 5*.

Ouroboros in Orbit - J. Daniel Batt ⭐⭐⭐
Not much action and pretty short.
But all in all a nice take on the theme of the Ouroboros, the snake that eats its own tail.

In the Water, Underneath - Damien Angelica Walters ⭐⭐⭐
Original story about Holland Island in Chesapeake Bay which disappeared in the water.
Especially interesting if you've never heard of this place before. If you want to see some pictures of the last standing house which finally collapsed in 2010, you can take a look at my blog (see below).

Scab Lands - Wendy N. Wagner ⭐⭐⭐
Despite the fact that it's smoothly written, the emphasis in this story is more on the characters instead of the location. The two timelines were interesting, but the whole didn't overwhelm me.

Cactus Flowers and Bone Flutes - Mercedes M. Yardley ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Very atmospheric story about the San Rafael Swell desert in Utah. This certainly makes me curious to discover the book 'Pretty Little Dead Girls' by the same author which is also set in the same environment.

The South China Sea - zm quynh ⭐⭐⭐
The introduction was very informative as I have to admit I didn't know much about the aftermath of the Vietnam War. Apparently between 1975 and 1995 approximately 800.000 people fled the country by small fishing boats. Between 25 to 50% of them died at sea: drowned in storms, dead from dehydratation, starvation and disease or murdered by pirates.
The story in itself couldn't hold my attention the whole time as the writing style wasn't entirely to my taste, but nevertheless I'm glad I read it.

The Other Shore - Rebecca Campbell ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
One of the oddest reading sensations I've ever had! In the beginning it was confusing and rather dull. But the longer I read, the more I became captivated by the narration style and by all the mentioned things I'd never heard of before (f.e. abalone). My search on the internet for footage learned me so much and really makes me want to dive even deeper into all of these interesting subjects (pun intended).
Overall it managed to evoke the same sense of wonder as (reading about) larking with respect for the ancient stories that accompany your findings.

The Threadbare Magician - Cat Rambo ⭐
This is definitely a case of 'tastes differ'. But for me personally, there's just no click whatsoever. Lots of sentences are beginning with "I" and for some reason that turns me off as it often comes across as lazy writing. First POV doesn't mean that the writing style can't be more varied. Furthermore there were a lot of non-sensical events and decisions (to avoid spoilers I won't go into those). Finally, it seemed that the author tried to stuff too much different things in one story. It didn't work for me, but that doesn't mean it won't work for you. Some people rate this story with 5*. So, as always, I encourage you to discover it for yourself.

Imperator Noster - Sonya Taaffe ⭐
Maybe the long sentences (sometimes half a page) were used on purpose to ressemble a Latin text (which didn't have any punctuation). However in this short story of 3 pages it doesn't work for me at all. Furthermore there's no tension, emotion nor atmosphere. The 'story' consists of an endless enumeration of events which is even more boring than a shopping list read aloud. Horresco referens.

Long Way Down - Seanan McGuire ⭐⭐⭐
After reading the first five Wayward Children-books of this author, I had to admit that her books weren't my cup of tea. But I remained curious to discover her short stories, as I had the impression that shorter works would suit her better. And yes, even though this isn't my favourite story of this anthology, I definitely enjoyed it much more than her novellas.

Second Verse, Same as the First - Stina Leicht ⭐
Do you like stories full of repetition, unimportant details and endless ramblings about relationships?
Then maybe this one could entertain you more than it did to me.
How a 'short' story of 30 pages (of the 183) can feel so endless and still have so many loose threads, is beyond my understanding. Luckily Chekhov is already dead. Because I don't know what would've happened if he'd had the same thought as me after reading this story: "Shoot me!"

Twilight State - Gemma Files ⭐⭐⭐
What is real and what's not? Very alienating story, but also hypnotizing at the same time.

Heartbeat - Laura Anne Gilman ⭐⭐⭐
This isn't really a story, but more some kind of vignette which gives you a good idea of the atmosphere at the Chalk Pyramids. As I'd never heard of these natural wonders in Kansas, I especially found the explanation beforehand very interesting.


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Want to discover more?
Lots of these stories made me really curious to discover more about the places and traditions mentioned in them.
You can see some of the interesting footage which I found on my blog in this article: https://world-of-tau.blogspot.com/2021/08/genius-loci.html

Are you ready to read about the spirits of places? Then come on into Animus Mundi and delve in to the depth of locations that you never thought might be dangerous. Seanan McGuire will have you looking at your favorite swimming hole with new eyes. Stina Leicht manages to produce a workplace romance tale in the middle of a horror inhabiting an Austin bar (well it is Texas). Alien visitors get a surprise when visiting Earth. Plus 13 other tales to make you think about where you are and what that place might think of you!

"Long way down" di Seanan McGuire è il motivo per cui ho preso in mano questa raccolta, e si è rivelato (come quasi sempre con l'autrice - cosa incredibile visto quanto scrive) un ottimo motivo. Brevissimo, terribile, feroce nella descrizione di un'alienità che è sociale come naturale.
Spero di vedere un'altra antologia di Seanan McGuire in libreria, che raccolga tutte le gemme sparse nelle raccolte multiautore.

A very good collection of short stories, this book and its sibling. While united in theme, the stories vary wildly, but the names involved are enough to make this book worthwhile.

TW: Violence, death, divorce, war

Animus Mundi is a collection of short horror stories.
This collection definitely piqued my interest. The cover was wonderfully made and the stories left little to want. Most, but not all, of the stories were completely wonderfully written. If you’re a fan of horror stories, I definitely suggest this book.

Thanks Outland Entertainment, Jaym Gates and Netgalley for the ARC.


Summary: Top stories are Blackthorn, The Forgetting Field, and Reef.


Coaltown, by Heather Clithroe: Don't let this dark tale colour your impression of the rest of the book. There is also beauty in this first story.

Blackthorn, by B. Morris Allen: A beautiful folktale anthropomorphizing the seasons, teaches us how to be kind, by paying close attention in order to avoid misunderstandings. The prose is lovely. This is an all-ages story, and I highly recommend reading it to your children.

The Forgetting Field, by Caroline Ratajski: Intensely, darkly beautiful, this story from the point of view of the plant kingdom, explains their healing relationship with humans.

Reef, by K.C. Norton: This is a beautiful, sad, and amusing adventure with a collective consciousness part of nature.

Oroboros In Orbit, by J. Daniel Batt: This sci-fi short is interesting, because it is partially based on reality, as per shamanic experiences I and others have had.

In The Water, Underneath, by Damien Angelica: An Island fights a man.

Scab lands, by Wendy N. Wagner: A woman has a psychic connection to the land where it allows her to relive memories. She contends with family issues, living on lands which were damaged in WW2. This is a sad story.

Cactus Flowers And Bone Flutes, by Mercedes M. Yardley: A story about the San Rafael Swell, which kills people and turns them into bone flutes. Creepy, of course, but interesting.

The South China Sea, by Zm Quynh: A horror tale about people escaping oppression by sea. It includes a monster that might not really be a monster.

The Other Shore, by Rebecca Campbell: After the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, a waitress tells of serving irradiated food and archeologists who find buried treasure or trash. There are a few minor grammatical errors in this book, but this story manages to spell "walkman", "alkman", three times.

The Threadbare Magician, by Cat Rambo: A modern wizard uses clothing to form spells, and encounters a Nordic God. This is a love story. The tale is cynical, and has the least to do with the land out of any of these stories. The solution happens too quickly and easily. And so I like this one the least.

Imperator Noster, by Sonya Taaffe: A very short story of Roman emperors and treasures in the sea.

Long Way Down, by Seanan McGuire: A creepy story about a misfit girl who has a loving relationship with a creek. Or is it?

Second Verse, Same As The First, by Stina Leicht: People working in a bar find a secret passageway with skeletons and ghosts in it that taunt them. This leads to a cavern that seems to be transforming it's shape. Then something else happens. Do they escape?

Twilight State, by Gemms Files: This ones about a woman haunted by twilight, who does light therapy while in the midst of a divorce.

Heartbeat, by Laura Anne Gilman: A very short story that is supposed to be about Monument Rocks, but which is really abut nothing much at all.

Awesome collection of short stories! I wish some of the stories were longer. Each story held my interest and before I knew it I had finished the collection.

Animus Mundi is an anthology of short fantasy/light horror fiction edited by Jaym Gates. Released 7th Jan 2020 by Outland Entertainment, it's 169 pages and is available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

There are a number of standout stories in this collection and I felt all of them were well written and worthy of inclusion here. It first struck me as an odd angle to write an anthology around, but as the 16 capable authors have such different viewpoints and the stories represent a whole world of different cultures and traditions, it adds a depth and richness to the whole which would have been lacking in the individual stories read singly. There was some neat synergy going on which elevated the whole.

There are a number of very well known names here from the speculative fiction genre. There are also a number of new-to-me authors and one reason I've always loved anthologies is the chance to find new creators to follow, and in that respect, this one delivers.

One slightly confusing detail: for readers who see the publicity release info provided by the publisher which states "Genius Loci is a huge anthology of 31 all-new fantasy and science fiction stories drawing on the rich tradition of place-as-person. Within its pages, the authors present stories of sentient deserts, beneficent forests, lonely shrubs, and protective planetary spirits, highlighted by the fantastic art of Lisa A. Grabenstetter and Evan M. Jensen." in reference to this collection, Animus Mundi - it appears that the latter is a reformat and re-release of 16 stories (without additional art) which originally appeared as a part of Genius Loci, by the same editor and publisher, released in 2020.

Nevertheless, the stories which did make it into this edition were well written and engaging. Not all of them appealed to me personally (trigger warning: themes of suicide), but that's sort of the point of anthologies. The stories individually range from solid 3+ to 4+ stars, and for me personally, the collection is a 4 star read. I do confess I'm curious about whatever legalities led to the reformat and re-release being 15 stories and enhancement art lighter than the original release, but whatever the reason, this one is worth checking out on its own merits.

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

A collection of stories related to being and beings; some are questionable while others are life lessons in disguise.

Many thanks to the publisher for the belated ARC.

4 stars

A collection of stories that meditate on places, environments—moments of time tied to locations that echo across eons. Touches of horror, fantasy, folklore, & beauty imbue these stories; a few not so memorable, a few absolute gems, & overall a satisfying collection of imaginative short fiction.

[What I liked:]

•The prose in most of these stories is beautiful & lyrical. Just lovely.

•Many of these stories draw on the richness folklore from different cultures; some traditions I was already familiar with, & some completely new. I really enjoy stories inspired by folklore, especially when respectfully reinterpreted by the writer.

•The celebration & connection to the natural world is evident in many of these stories. Joyful, tragic, & beautiful.

•My favorite stories of this collection: “The Other Shore”, “The Threadbare Magician”, “Long Way Down”, & “Second Verse, Same As The First”


[What I didn’t like as much:]

•Some of these stories lack a bit of depth. They’re interesting conceptually, but the shorter ones tend to be a bit vague in message, or more like vignettes than full narratives.

•I really like “Long Way Down”, it’s insightful in many ways; yet I really dislike how it romanticizes suicide.

CW: human sacrifice, racism, suicide, romanticized suicide

[I received an ARC ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you for the book!]

While some of the stories in this weren't my favorite, this had a far higher hit-to-miss ratio than its companion release, Genius Loci. Highlights for me were Heather Clitheroe's bleak take on "The Lottery," "Coaltown," Cat Rambo's unexpected "The Threadbare Magician," Seanan McGuire's stunningly dark "Long Way Down" (which I very much want to teach), and, to a slightly lesser extent, Stina Leicht's fairly fun "Second Verse, Same as the First" (though content warning here for brief deadnaming of a secondary character).

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974

This book will take you on a global journey. Stories from the coal mines to the hills of Moldova. Each story has its own horrors, some more frightening than others.

The authors and editor took great care with each work of art and it shows. You will not be disappointed.