I had to DNF … it was just so slow to start.

I will return to at a later time.
It wasn’t bad writing .. I just wasn’t in the mood for the slower pace.

SPIN A BLACK YARN by @joshmalerman is a set of 5 novellas bound together in one tome - all of them are horror, and all are set in

My favorite 2 novellas in this set are HALF OF THE HOUSE IS HAUNTED and DOUG AND JUDY BUY A HOME WASHER(TM). I enjoyed the other three for sure but these two just stuck out for me and I shudder/chuckle when I think of them, so I will give the synopsis for both below. Thank you to the author, @netgalley and the publisher, @randomhouse / @delreybooks for the e-ARC.

💀HALF OF THE HOUSE IS HAUNTED - a sister tries to scare her brother that half the house is haunted but won't tell which half - later this becomes a reverie about their childhood woes.

💀DOUG AND JUDY BUY A HOME WASHER(TM) - a couple of vapid, wealthy, judgmental, keeping-up-the-jonses-types buy a state of the art Home Washer that purports to clean the whole house in hopes of impressingbhgeir friends and neighbors - bug when the usd the device got the first time they

Surprisingly, I have not really read that much Malerman yet but plan to remedy that soon. I absolutely love short stories and find it to be one of the best ways to get a good taste of an author's work. How do you feel about short stories/novellas?

💚SMASHBOT 💚

I'm sure this will be a fine book, but I definitely will not have time to get to the story before the archive date happens, in which case I will not be able to give my feedback. That would negatively impact my response ratio, which is not good, as I already missed out on giving feedback on so many books because this year has been so absolutely busy and stressful that I have not had the time nor mental capacity to get to many of these books before they are gone forever! It is as upsetting for both sides. I apologize, but I will do better for the future! I am appreciative that I have been giving access to so many great new releases.

As far as a collection of spooky stories go, I had a difficult time getting through this one. The writer’s style is just not my taste. There were definitely some interesting, unsettling and even terrifying new concepts presented in this set but overall I found it hard to focus on the characters and the way the stories were presented. Good for a Halloween read but not my cup of tea.

Thank you for sending me this e-book. Unfortunately, I could not get sucked into the narrative. Despite a good-faith effort to endeavor through these novellas, I was unable to finish the collection.

This author continues to shine with his stories. Whether they be originals or a new spin on an old concept, they are a joy to behold. Looking forward to reading more. Thank you!!

I chose to DNF at 25% the story Argyle just didn't feel like it was going anywhere and I was bored. The first story was not that much better. The author is great at his craft I just wasn't connecting with it enough to continue.

Five harrowing novellas of horror and speculative fiction from the singular mind of the New York Times bestselling author of Bird Box.

I'm not typically a fan of short story anthologies, however, these got my attention in a short span of time. Argyle was by far the most interesting to me. I couldn't imaging being the wife in this story. Must read to find out why.

Thank you to @netgalley and @randomhouse for allowing me to review Spin A Black Yarn.

This is a great collection of creepy stories. I thoroughly enjoyed all of them, although the longest, Egorov, is probably my least favorite. Each has its own disturbing, dark element, and each felt fresh, which is hard to do considering all the horror stories I have read in my life.

Excellent pyschological horror.

This was such a fun read. I have read previous books from the author and have yet to be disappointed!!! Highly recommend this book!

This anthology presents five gripping novellas that plunge into the shadowy recesses of the human mind. While these stories don't share direct connections, keen readers will find subtle references that tie them together. My experience with short story collections has often been a mixed bag, with some stories hitting the mark and others falling short. However, I must say that this collection was, on the whole, an enjoyable read. Among the five tales, three in particular resonated with me on a deeper level. Josh Malerman's imaginative creativity truly shines through.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for sending a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine for the eARC.

This short story collection was so creepy. I really enjoyed Malerman's work, this was the first exposure I had to his writing. Really interested to see more!

This book started out with me, questioning certain things, but as I kept reading and kept getting further and further into it, I was more and more hooked. I had a very hard time putting this book down, and in the end you will be satisfied. this author did an amazing job, keeping me entertained, keeping me wanting to read yet another chapter. I cannot wait to read more from this author nine out of 10 recommend

Here is my briefer review of each of the novellas in Spin a Black Yarn:

Half the House is Haunted –

a unique twist on the haunted house genre. I loved how you begin to wonder if it’s a person that’s haunted or the house. Loved the sibling relationship, it made for a fun dynamic story with great banter.

Argyle –

this was the most unique serial killer story I’ve ever read. A serial killer story in which the serial killer does not kill anybody is pretty hard to pull off. Yet the actual story works so very well!

Doug and Judy by the House Cleaner-

this one felt like I was entering an episode of the twilight zone. Or maybe a Creepshow short from Shudder. I love the concept of a couple being forced to re-examine all the choices that they make only to find out that they’re too far gone to be saved.

The Jupiter Drop -

another twilight zone like story – kind of like the episode where the man sees the gremlin on the plane. This one is was wildly imaginative .

Egorov-

a novella in and of itself, and a well developed story. I loved the idea of playing with triplets. Twins have been used so many times in storytelling, but triplets is fairly fresh. I felt well immersed in the culture and thought the story of revenge was wonderful fun.

Overall:

Awesome job by Malerman examining the depths of the human consciousness and soul. He explores regrets, relationships, purpose, achievement, faith, and in a fun context. Great read!

I am a big fan of Malerman and have read a lot of his work, and I have an odd relationship with his stories. There are some I LOVE SO MUCH and others that I think are garbage.

With that said, this collection of stories vacillates between the two opinions for me! Half the House was super creative but way too long. Argyle was an interesting concept but kind of stupid in execution. House Washer and Jupiter Drop were so brilliant that it was like Ray Bradbury reincarnated. Egorov was interesting, but again, way tooooo long. However, even the stories I didn't like/ hated jumped off the page and were unique.

I also loved the authors notes. He seems like such a neat guy, and it was beyond cool to hear about how the stories came to be and the friendship with his editor.

E-arc from NetGalley and Del Rey to voluntarily read and review.

This book was so good! Such a creepy and eerie feel to it throughout. I really felt these short stories touched on all aspects of horror/thriller would definitely recommend during spooky season. The writing was also very well done!

I really wanted to like this one, but I don't know if Malerman is the author for me. I have tried several books now, and can't get on with his writing. That being said, this collection will absolutely work for many people. Please give this collection a chance if you like weird takes on your horror.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy.

I’m a huge fan of Malerman’s and Spin a Black Yarn is a delight.

All the stories are fascinating but I’m going to focus on my favorite first, Doug and Judy Buy a House Washer. What a story! Two shallow elites, married yet barely aware of the other, buy an uber-expensive house washer, not necessarily with the intent to clean their house but more as a vanity to show off their wealth to others. What they don’t expect is that it will wash away more than those pesky cobwebs. True stunner of a story!

My second favorite is Argyle! A story about a man, laying near death who gives a stunning deathbed confession to his family. A confession of things he never did.

Third, Half the House is Haunted. LOVED this story so much! What begins as a story about a possibly cruel older sister, turns into something so much more. Truly eerie and sinister!

I really enjoyed all the stories but these three have stayed with me!

My thanks to Random House – Ballentine for this gifted copy!

This book was really difficult to get into. Most of the time I could not keep up with what was going on with the characters or the storyline, perhaps it was me. Dice different stories in horror. I usually love mallerman. Was sad. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I have not read a lot of Josh Malerman's books, but the one I have loved best of his was a novella, so I was hopeful that I would like this collection of short stories with one novella length story. Happily, I did enjoy the book overall.

As with most short stories, there is never going to be the depth of detail that accompanies full-length formats. But often times those details left to the imagination actually create more intrigue than otherwise. This was the case for most of the stories for me.

Half The House Is Haunted was a great way to start. It was short, and a bit weird, but effectively engaging. The story ended with my wondering about a lot of questions that were never specifically spelled out for me, but I liked that about it.

Argyle was weird and disturbing and totally unique for me. Listening to a man on his own death bed give himself accolades for being a serial killer that successfully resisted his urge to kill all these years. It had a couple of gruesome descriptions of what he did to resist those urges that made me a little ill to think about, but this was the story I probably thought about the most after I was done with the whole book.

The Jupiter Drop was not bad, but not particularly memorable to me.

Doug and Judy Buy The House Washer(TM) was a delightfully disturbing, Twilight-Zone-ish thriller that made me cheer for karma! This story would have been better if there wasn't so much cursing. The two leads were very unlikeable, but apparently very upper-class. It sort of seemed unbelievable that they barely could speak two sentences together without cursing. So it wasn't the CURSING itself that annoyed me, but that it seemed almost out of place for the characters and the quality of the story otherwise.

Finally, Egorov. It was the longest of the stories and I did like it, though it wasn't a good as three of the others were. I think that it was a perfect length for a novella, but maybe didn't fit into a book with the other, much shorter stories.