what a great collection of triller novelettes … John F.D. Taff is a new-to-me author, but has grabbed my attention with “Dark Stars”

A dark and disturbing compendium of realistic horror. These are stories that hit you on a level that has you creeping into bed and staring as your mind goes over and over what happened. I couldn’t get some of these out of my head!

This was a great mix of short story horror stories. There are some from authors that I know and love like: Stephen Graham Jones, Caroline Kepnes, Alma Katsu but there were also quite a few new authors to me. There's a great mix of stories, too, to make you uncomfortable with any number of things that go bump in the night. I had a few favorites in the mix but, honestly, they all had some really great points. I love mixes of short stories to push me out of reading slumps and also to break my reading on days when I'm busy and distracted. These stories were the perfect fit today.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

I was so excited for this horror anthology but ended up being sorely disappointed with almost every story. The Attentionist by Caroline Kepnes was my favorite out of the lot and it deserves a solid four star rating on its own. Most of the stories I found to be too long and some were downright confusing. Almost all were completely forgettable - it truly felt like it took ten years to read this anthology. Phenomenal cover, horrible execution - this will definitely will not be one that I recommend to other horror readers.

A middle of the road collection. As with all short story collections I enjoyed some more than others. But none that will stick with me for a long time.

Dark Stars by John F.D. Taff sounded good, but I had the most challenging time finishing this book as none of the short stories intrigued or scared me. It could be that I was just not in the mood to enjoy this type of horror the book offers, yet I was looking to be thrilled, if not scared, and I was left disappointed. A few of the stories in this book I liked well enough, yet nothing that excited me to look pick up any of the author’s other books to read. I would suggest this book to those who have read stories from the authors and have enjoyed them.

I had a lot of fun with this short story collection!
My ratings for each story:
The Attentionist by Caroline Kepnes- 2/5 (least favorite)
A Life in Nightmares by Ramsey Campbell- 3/5
Papa Eye by Priya Sharma- 3/5 (I wouldn’t consider this horror/scary)
Volcano by Alicia Llewellyn- 4/5
All the Things He Called Memories by Stephen Graham Jones- 5/5! (Favorite)
Trinity River’s Blues by Chesya Burke- 3/5
The Familiar’s Assistant by Alma Katsu- 4.5/5 (really liked this one, but it’s a bit weird)
Swim in the Blood of a Curious Dream by John F.D. Taff- 4/5
The Sanguintalist by Gemma Files- 3/5
Mrs. Addison’s Nest by Josh Malerman- 3.5/5
Challawa by Usman T. Malik- 4/5
Enough for Hunger and Enough for Hate 4.5/5 (this was great)

DARK STARS is a fabulous anthology of horror stories by some of the greatest and up-and-coming horror authors out there. I typically do not prefer short stories, but I loved this book! It's executed beautifully and I love that it's an homage to the 1980 horror anthology, Dark Forces. I will be purchasing this for my collection!

Thank you, NetGalley and Tor Nightfire, for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was such a great collection of horror stories! Featuring some authors I've read from before and others I hadn't but will definitely be checking out in future, the anthology is an homage to 80's horror and is really well collated by John Taff. My personal favourite stories were those by Stephen Graham Jones; a creepy lock down tale about how being trapped in with our loved ones can be murder; Gemma Files; a dark fantastical tale about magical competitors; and Priya Sharma; a poignant tale about recovering from loss...and immortality! As always with an anthology, there were some stories that didn't quite work for me, but my overall impression is that this was a really enjoyable and genuinely creepy collection that I would definitely recommend and I have found some new to me authors to add to my ever growing TBR.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Thanks to Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Tor Nightfire for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

So I am not an avid horror reader but I do enjoy reading it and enjoy anthologies. I had high hopes after reading the excellent introduction but alas this did not work out for me. I thoroughly enjoyed the last two stories that were interesting, creepy and left me satisfied. Too many stories had vague endings which I am not personally a fan of, I found myself confused as to what was going on for half the book and the pacing just dragged and this took me forever to finish. While the writing was well done many of the stories did not feel like real horror, lacking a sense of fear to me but I think a devoted horror fan will enjoy this more. One bright point worth noting is the diversity of the story telling and characters which I appreciated and hope to see more of in the horror genre.

2 1/2 stars rounded up for the great writing and diversity inclusion.

As with any anthology, Dark Stars had its hits and misses. Most of these short stories did not feel like horror, and then some others felt too long. This had some standouts that I will probably re-read.

The standouts from this collection were:

-All the Things He Called Memories by Stephen Graham Jones
-Trinity River’s Blues by Chesya Burke
-Swim in the Blood of a Curious Dream by John F.D. Taff
-Challawa by Usman T. Malik
-Enough for Hunger and Enough for Hate by John Langan

The only ones I truly disliked were "The Attentionist ", a disturbing story and not in a good way (it was also more thriller than horror), and "Volcano", this one was just boring. The ones not mentioned were just average.

Dark Stars is a fabulous collection of diverse horror-filled short stories showcasing the expansiveness of the horror genre. Amongst the twelve short stories, readers will find quietly creepy stories alongside fast paced thrillers that are sure to induce nightmares.
Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishers for the opportunity to read and review this title. All opinions and mistakes are my own.

This is a well-crafted and genuinely scary collection of stories from a really stellar list of authors.

Overall quite a collection of horror short stories from horror stars. But not all of them were winners. Some were really fun to read, but some were just boring or over the top fantastical. The whole collection as a whole wasn't as horror inducing as I wished.

Horror is literature. It’s not some pastime, some “fake” literature. It’s a full proper genre. Many people might not accept it that way, but well written, dark horror is delicious. It makes you wonder about dark corners of your mind and how much of what you read you expected.

Dark Stars is collection of horror stories of different varieties such as vampire, ghost, dark, gruesome, mind-boggling, etc. Each and everyone of them leave you at a place where you want more. You want these few chapters to turn into full blown books.

Some of the authors are already the names you know if you are fan of the genre and some of them of them are up and coming. Be sure to be on the look out for them!

I liked this collection of Novelettes from some of the top names in horror and thrillers today. All the stories were well written with really interesting concepts. I was left thinking that I wished they would have gone further or were shorter. I think the title was a bit misleading. The stories could have been darker to be considered "darkest horror". Like most collections I enjoyed some stories more than others. There were a couple stand out stories that I think really delivered. I will give some of my thoughts on the individual stories. Overall, I think this is an approachable collection that a lot of readers would enjoy.

The Attentionist by Caroline Kepnes: A coming-of-age story following teen sisters that are desperate for attention from boys, but what will they do when the attention comes from a creepy stalker. This story was genuinely creepy in the last half, but could have been taken farther. If I didn't find boy crazy teen girls so annoying this story would have gotten a higher rating. 3 stars

A Life in Nightmares by Ramsey Campbell: This story is mix of nightmares throughout a person's life. The nightmares were all great, but I was left thinking the story was too long without any section breaks. A section break between different times in the person's life could have made it easier to consume. 3 stars

Papa Eye by Priya Sharma: The new doctor on an island discovers the unique workings of the island. This a nice quiet horror story, but needed a bit more going on for the page length. 3 stars

Volcano by Livia Llewellyn: I quite liked this cosmic horror story following a college student who lands a new job reupholstering the dorms furniture that leads to a strange discovery in the connecting tunnels that run under campus. This story was dark and claustrophobic with interesting characters. 4 stars

All the Things He Called Memories by Stephen Graham Jones: A man is in Covid lockdown with his scientist wife who is doing an experiment on fear. This story was so well written and creepy. The tension and fear keep getting greater as the story goes on. This was a stand out story in the collection. 5 stars

Trinity River's Blues by Chesya Burke: A woman with the ability to see the dead and is friends with a dead jazz musician. This was an interesting story of possession. I loved the use of music in this story. 3 stars

The Familiar's Assistant by Alma Katsu: A great story about someone aspiring to be the familiar to a vampire. A twisted dark tale with the most intriguing of characters. 4 stars

Swim in the Blood of a Curious Dream by John F. D. Taff: A father and son story with a lot of heart. Shows what a father would be willing to do to save his son. I loved this story. 5 stars

The Sanguintalist by Gemma Files: A woman can see the last moment's of a person's life through their blood. A woman solving crimes with a special power seems more of an urban fantasy thing than horror, but it was an interesting story. 3 stars

Mrs. Addison's Nest by Josh Malerman: A group of trouble making boys encounter an supernaturally evil teacher in detention. This story could have been taken farther to make it more impactful. I liked the foolhardy ragtag group of protagonists. 3 stars

Challawa by Usman T. Malik: An amazing folk horror story involving Challawa a monster legend from India and Pakistan. Great scary monster story with a fantastic setting. 5 stars

Enough for Hunger and Enough for Hate by John Langan: A woman confronts the expected killer of her missing brother leads to surprising realizations. There were sections that went on for too long, but the great storytelling won me over. 4 stars

Overall Rating: 3.75 stars

Language: R (63+ swears, 28+ "f," 1+ "c" + British swears); Mature Content: R; Violence: PG13+
The first story was unnerving and uncomfortable, but I figured it was only one of many and that it might get better. As I kept reading, the stories were more disorienting and strange; I didn't love them but I also didn't mind reading them. And then I got into the sixth story. It was my favorite one up until the main character watches two other characters have sex. Now I'm done.
The mature content rating is for use of alcohol, mention of drug abuse and overdose, innuendo, disturbing descriptions, mention of condoms and orgasm, nudity, sex, and rape. The violence rating is for gun use, death, and mentions of suicide.

This is a really good anthology. I only skipped two stories, and they weren’t bad, just not what I like to read. I purchased the audiobook and the narration is fantastic.

My favorites are “Challawa” by Usman T. Malik, “Swim in the Blood of a Curious Dream” by John F.D. Taff, “Enough for Hunger and Enough for Hate” by John Langan, and “All the Things He Called Memories” by Stephen Graham Jones.

My thanks to Tor Nightfire for the review copy.

An anthology that starts out slow and quickly ramps up to the horrifying. As with all anthologies, there were some that jumped out to me more than others. Some of my favorites include:

A life in Nightmares by Ramsey Campbell
A disorienting fever dream within a dream leaving the reader unable to determine what is real and what is a dream. I loved where the ending led, though I do know this way of storytelling is not for everyone.

All the Things He Called Memories by Stephen Graham Jones
Quarantined together during the Covid outbreak, the wife of a scientist becomes the subject of her fear study. This one is incredibly haunting and I have thought about many times since.

The Familiar’s Assistant by Alma Katsu
Though I wish it were longer, a good vampire story always gets me. Focusing on fear, manipulation, insecurity, this one follows a man who looks for the monster, a vampire.

This is a fantastic collection of 12 stories ranging from slow burn psychological horror to nightmare-inducing horror! I wasn’t sure what to expect because I don’t normally read short stories, but I really enjoyed the variety. I decided to read one story each day, and it gave me something to look forward to. I also loved having the opportunity to read works from authors I wasn’t familiar with. Although I preferred some stories more than others, I thought they were all creative and creepy!