Spin A Black Yarn by Josh Malerman is a collection of five short stories that are all very different. After falling in love with Daphne last year, I was eager to read something else by this author and I am a huge fan of horror short stories so this was a perfect match!

I really enjoyed all the stories in this collection except for the last one. It was just a little too long and drawn out for me. But everything else was either a four and five star. I really found them all fascinating. The story about half of a haunted house was a unique concept. I think The Jupiter Drop was my favorite though. I think the way we were in the mind of someone going through that was really effective.

I would highly recommend this collection if you like short horror that gives you something to think about. Josh Malerman has such a different voice in the genre and I can’t wait to read more by him. .

I loved Bird Box (show and book) so I was eager to read this author's next book. I will say Im not sure i totally "got" some of these novellas. The first for example, I never was really sure about the ending (half the house was haunted) and the next about the man who was glad he didnt' murder everyone in sight was a bit tedious. In all I think you really have to be in the right mood for something this dark and maybe I wasnt in the one you have to be in to enjoy this book. I do think the writing was good and I will definitely check out Malerman's next book.

AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! DID YOU ALL KNOW THAT JOSH MALERMAN IS A FLIPPIN WIZARD?!?!?

Take my word for it because this collection of stories is one for the books! (Pun???) Spin a Black Yarn is set to hit shelves on August 1, 2023 and I'm so thankful to Netgalley, our lovely author, Random House/Ballantine, and PRH Audio for granting me advanced audiobook an digital access. I do think Josh Malerman is a horror wizard, and he's level up with game here with a collection of novellas and short stories that touched upon the paranormal, serial killers, and so many other macabre elements.

WERK KING.

Josh Malerman quickly became one of my favorite authors when I first discovered his writing. I devour his books, and I am always checking for the next / newest one. I recently reviewed another compilation of short stories, and exactly like I wrote in that one, short stories are typically not my go to when I am selecting my next read. Exceptions to that self-imposed rule are: Stephen King, Joe, Hill, and Josh Malerman . . . so I jumped at the chance to give Spin A Black Yarn a go. I was not disappointed! As I have grown to expect when I pick up a Malerman book, I was nearly immediately sucked in. I enjoyed Spin a Black Yarn and will be recommending it to those who are seeking their next great read.

•Half the House is Haunted- 4/5
•Argyle- 4/5
•Doug and Judy Buy the House WasherTM- 3.5/5
•Egorov- 2.5/5

I enjoyed all the books I've read by Josh Malerman before reading this one.

Spin a Black Yarn is a collection of 5 short stories. Each story is different and creepy in their own way. And each story has interesting characters and an intriguing plot. If you are a fan of the author or horror stories, you will enjoy this collection of short stories.

Spin a Black Yarn is a collection of five standalone novellas. Of the five, my favorite was definitely “Argyle.” I would have loved to be a fly on the wall in that room! My least favorite was “The Jupiter Drop.” I’m not sure if it was because it was so short or if I simply didn’t understand it.

A bit uneven for me. Enjoyed the opening novellas, but the ones in the back fell off. Particularly the last, which felt overly long and rambling.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Rounded down from 3.5ish


This is a collection of five novellas. Each story was heavy on dialogue and contained a unique and sometimes quite vivid idea.
Because I loved some of the stories but disliked others, I gotta rate each one on its own.

“HALF THE HOUSE IS HAUNTED”: simply put, not for me. 2 stars.

“ARGYLE”: A man on his deathbed tells his family that he is dying a good man because he resisted his lifelong urges to kill people, including his own children.
I would’ve loved to have been in the room for his confessions, especially when he casually said to his children that he obviously had great love for them because he didn’t drown them in the bathtub or cut their toes off to watch their faces scrunch up in pain. Loved it! 5 stars

“DOUG AND JUDY BUY A HOUSE WASHER”: Despicable assholes thriving in a dog-eat-dog world watch trapped in their new gadget as it cleans and confronts them with their secrets and shady past. The ending was deserved, as was the claustrophobic panic that intensifies as the cleaning cycle runs its course. Liked, but didn’t love. 4 stars

“THE JUPITER DROP”: trapped in a clear apartment for two months as it drops through Jupiter with no TV, phone, internet, etc leaves a man with nothing to do but attempt to come to terms with a tragic accident in his past. Liked, but didn’t love. 3.5 stars

“EGOROV”: this one was a drag to get through, but I liked the story. A young man who was a triplet is killed, and his surviving brothers seek revenge. When things were actually happening in the story, it was good. But the dialogue was filled with long-winded monologues that I found myself skimming, then skipping entirely. 2.5 stars.

Posted to Instagram: July 11, 2023
Posted to Goodreads: July 1

My first book by this author and not my last! I loved how the stories were all so different yet I found feel how the author tried to weave feelings and emotions together by digging deep into the heart and horror of reality!

I love Malerman's books. Unlike Goblin, where the collection of novellas were more tightly themed around the town they take place in, Spin a Black Yarn feels like Malerman had more room to stretch and explore. Some real bangers in this collection, and it's not to be missed.

Spin a Black Yarn is the latest, short anthology of five tales from Josh Malerman's repertoire of dark tales. The mixture of stories runs the gamut haunted house to sci-fi, Malerman explores the dark side of the soul. Sping a Black Yarn, does not disappoint and will feed the part of you hungry for twisty tales.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

First off— all of the stories in this, on a pure prose level, are such solid writing. However, the pacing dragged on in them. I'm not unused to slower pacing, especially in gothic or slowburn horror (I used to read a lot of Lovecraft. I know how to read a story that drags), but the pacing in these just had me pacing, wishing that various characters would just get to the point. I think it could have easily used some tightening in some places.

And here's my biggest issue. I just felt like I was reading Ray Bradbury pastiches. If I wanted to read Bradbury, I would be out and reading him (tbh reading this has made me want to revisit the Martian Chronicles, so kudos there). While the stories are all really conceptually fun, there wasn't that spark to them that set them apart from similar things I'd encountered from other authors.

All in all, it wasn't bad? It was a solid and interesting book, but in the end it just left me feeling "eh"

Half the House is Haunted-A sister constantly trying to scare her younger brother, telling him half of the house is haunted, but not what half. It follows the siblings lives into their 80s and the last line of the story is amazing.

Argyle-a father tells his deepest darkest secrets and urges to his family. This one I could not stop reading, there’s just enough in the story to relate to and creep yourself out!

Doug and Judy Buy the House Washer TM- an interesting and expensive gadget sold to a very cruel couple. When they run the House Washer though it starts to clean more than just their possessions.

Jupiter Drop-a weird and wonderful mix of trauma induced horror and scifi. A man who is dealing with his family leaving him goes on a trip to drop through the planet Jupiter and has to deal with himself during his isolation.

Egorov- two surviving triplets track down and take revenge on the man who murdered their brother. I wasn’t sure if I’d like this one but the way the brothers exacted their revenge was clever, devious, and well thought out

What I Didn’t Like:
-Some stories have no chapter breaks and very few spots to stop and put it down but they’re also too long to read in one sitting. This can be frustrating to some readers.
-As is typical with horror, you’ll be confronted with some disgusting scenes. Readers beware. If you’re not a normal reader of horror, it may be a bit much for you.
-With any anthology, there are stories that don’t seem to stack up against the rest. In my opinion, that’s the last one in this collection. While it had a great opening line, it lacked a little. I wanted a bit more from the story.

What I Did Like:
+The very first short story in this collection sets the tone well. It’s dark and scary. It leaves some things unanswered, as short stories often do, but it’s intriguing and works!
+All tied together by being set in the fictional town of Samhattan. Side Note: Malerman mentions Samhattan and the development of these stories in the author’s note at the end of the book. Take the time to read that because it’s fascinating. Also, I wholeheartedly agree about the hotel angle for a show. Great idea!
+The stories are a great blend of horror. Some almost jump scare, some sort of slow and languid, some that are absolutely disgusting in their inability to stop at a boundary line. As far as horror goes, there’s a little something in this collection for every horror fan!

Who Should Read This One:
-Horror fans. This is a great collection with a little something for all of us fans of the scary and macabre.

I have read two of Josh's books, Bird Box and Daphne. My wife has read almost all of his books, but I've had trouble with them. At least, I used to. I intend to revisit his books after reading this collection of novellas.

Spoilers Ahead

Let's start out with the first story. This one felt chaotic at first. As I settled in, making my way around the story as the characters makes their way around the house. It made me uncomfortable in a way I've tried to put into words. This has become difficult, at least with this story. The presences within Half The House Is Haunted made me think about my childhood.

There are numerous throughlines in this story. It's longer than some of the others. I wonder if Josh thought of expanding it into something longer. It feels like it could have been longer.

My uncomfortableness with this story lies with the telling of it. The first sequence is about childhood and what we find in our house. It's about discovering the parts of your house your parents forbid you from, siblings, and how we don't get along with some of ours.

It reminds me of one of the houses I grew up in. We were forbidden from going into our parent's room. Which is normal. But discovering the house between the siblings and their interactions scared me more than the story itself.

I'll move forward to the next story, Argyle.

Have you ever had those thoughts? The ones you shouldn't speak about? What if you decided to come clean on your deathbed. How would that go?

Luckily, Josh has done that for us, but if you want to spill your secrets, go for it. I won't hold you back.

I enjoyed the hell out of this story. We've all had those uncomfortable thoughts. Or maybe it's me. I love Shawn in this story. He was honest about letting go of who he wanted to be and not letting anyone know until the end of his life. The struggle of keeping those secrets is similar to the first story. It's about secrets.

Doug and Judy Buy the House Washer

Doug and Judy worked their whole lives to have the best of everything, but they've sacrificed themselves to get there.

The house washer cleans everything up. It doesn't hold back from those little things you've kept in drawers, literally and figuratively. As the cleaner makes its way through the house, we see the darkness within Doug and Judy. We see what they've done. Who they've done it to, and how far they've gone to get where they are. It was a fantastic exploration of what people will do to get ahead in life and business and to be better than those around them.

The scenes in the bubble gave me that claustrophobic feeling. It's as much of us, the reader, watching them, and them watching their lives.

Jupiter Drop

I'd like to see Josh do more science fiction like this. The claustrophobic feeling of the box. I was fascinated by Steve and what happened to him and all the little details. This was a great exploration of doing anything to escape your problems, only to find them waiting for you.

Egorov

This was my favorite story in the collection. I recently finished The Brothers Karamazov and found the writing in this story similar, but one particular scene stood out. When one brother returns to a house to find a woman living in it, there is a scene in Egorov similar, or at least gave the same vibes.

The story of revenge is an almost Dickensian tale of scaring someone to get revenge for what they've done. It reminded me of many classic mystery and revenge books I've read.

I would like to see Josh write a novel-length book like this one. A revenge/mystery book.

I read this through NetGalley, but I will buy it when it comes out. I want to reread this last story.

Josh is a great writer, and I'll go to Goblin soon.

I'm a huge fan of Malerman's writing--still raving about Inspection and forever traumatized by Pearl--so I couldn't wait to dive into Spin a Black Yarn.

Shorter fiction can be tricky. Investing in characters takes more for the reader and the author, nailing the pacing is more difficult, and being able to engage in each story with a quick turnaround is often a matter of preference that doesn't always translate well.

When it's done well, however, the payoff is so worth it--see Stephen King's Different Seasons, my all-time favorite collection of novellas--and Malerman did not let me down here. Each story in this collection brings a different facet of character exploration through dark secrets, unreliable narrators, and pure terror.

My personal favorites were Half the House Is Haunted and Argyle. If you loved Paul Tremblay's Head Full of Ghosts, you will love Half the House. I devoured that in a single sitting and still think about this story every day. Argyle, too, is such a clever, horrifying premise it was impossible not to be affected. Straight forward and devastating in the best possible way.

Overall, Spin a Black Yarn confirms that Malerman is a master storyteller. These stories will make you think, feel, and question your own choices. Add this to your TBRS immediately.

Many thanks to Ballantine and NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for honest review consideration.

Longtime Malerman readers will be familiar with Samhattan. All of these stories are linked to that city. Not as colorful, or as wet, as Goblin, Samhattan is just as dark. A half-haunted house (or half a haunted one?), an insane deathbed confession, the world’s most advanced automated cleaning gadget, a Russian ghost story and even a trip to Jupiter are the subjects of this volume. I wasn’t too impressed by the haunted house and the Russian tale was a little too wordy for my taste, but the rest of the stories were as great as I expected from this author. The characters are over the top, but that’s by design. There are callbacks and easter eggs for attentive readers, and the writing is so atmospheric that Malerman creates Samhattan in your mind completely and vividly. It is a completely twisted, suffocating, unbearable place and I loved it!
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, #NetGalley/#Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey!

This is a translated version of the original review (in spanish)

Score: 3.3 Stars

First of all, I want to thank Del Rey for giving me the opportunity to review this book and for trusting me and my reviews with this ARC.

Josh Malerman is an author I've been listening about for a good couple of years. I knew that he is the author of Birdbox and that he's specialized in the horror genre, however, I have not gotten the opportunity to read it yet. This is why, when I saw that this ARC was available on Netgalley, I decided to request it and settle that debt I had with the author.

In "Spin a Black Yarn" Malerman presents five novellas, all developed in the town of Samhattan. I liked this first detail, because it creates the perspective that there is a whole universe of stories and events that occur in this place and that the reader still does not know about. What other things have happened in Samhattan that we are not aware of?

My favorite story was the first one, which is called "Half the House Is Haunted", where we will see how Robin, a little boy, is constantly tormented by his older sister, who tells him that half the house is haunted. As the pages turn we see all the options with which a house could be haunted in half, which I found entertaining, and by being constantly exposed to this idea, Robin ends up having lifelong scars.

On the other hand, this story maintains the feeling of suspense throughout the story, which motivated me to keep moving forward. How nice it was to get to the end and discover the mystery about the haunted half of the house.

If I had to choose another story to occupy the second position, it would be "Egorov", a novella with which the book ends. I especially liked this one because it is a thriller where revenge is the main focus of the characters.

In general, the other stories went well. However, I was left with the feeling that I needed something more, a creepier or more exciting factor that left me shocked. Of course, I liked the premise of “Doug and Judy Buy the House Washer(TM)”, although I would have liked to know a little more about the girl who sold them the machine, or that the story took a more aggressive turn.

Other than that, this has been an entertaining read, I'm curious to read other Malerman's novels, especially Birdbox, the adaptation of which I saw a long time ago. I recommend "Spin a Black Yarn" to those who are looking for short stories of mystery and suspense to liven up their week.

great anthology from Josh Malerman! I really enjoyed these five stories

Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the review copy.