You need to know that there are 5 novella-length stories. Some are longer than others but all of them are longer than a short story. These tales all take place there, a location some may remember from Malerman’s novel DAPHNE. Each story in SPIN A BLACK YARN warrants a uniquely different reaction, leaving readers with feelings of fear, horror, awe, and wonder.

Spin a Black Yarn is a collection of 5 novellas that have memorable new spins on common genre norms. Malerman takes on a haunted house, a serial killer, space travel, dangers of AI, and revenge. These are very familiar yet his stories are wholly unique and surprising as these themes are turned on their head. These are novellas I will not soon forget.

Half the House is Haunted explores a brother and sister's relationship growing up in a house that was half haunted. What does that mean? Which half? 4 stars

Argyle follows a dying man's confessions of dark twisted desires that he never acted on. This was really disturbing and effective story despite his lack of actual murder. 5 stars

Jupiter Drop is about a man dealing with a tragic accident that decides to take a vacation to Jupiter where he will be able to drop through Jupiter in luxury. He soon finds out that you can not run far enough to escape your problems. 5 stars

Doug and Judy Buy the House Washer takes on a couple that are self-obsessed and want the prestige of owning The House Washer that will clean everything in the house perfectly, but they don't expect for all of their dirty little secrets to be exposed as well. This story made me laugh and got quite tense in the second half. 4 stars

Egorov is about brothers who seek revenge on the man who killed their third triplet by haunting him to madness. A great idea with some great scenes of horror with a gothic flare. It was a bit slow, but shined in moments 3 stars

Many thanks to Random House/Ballantine, Josh Malerman, and Netgalley for an eARC of "Spin a Black Yarn"!

"Spin a Black Yarn" consists of five short stories that revolve around the human condition (... loosely in some cases). Although the stories are split across different periods, it's fun to imagine these stories folding into each other and affecting one another in this way. This book is perfect for short story enthusiasts, Black Mirror fans, and people dipping their toes into horror.

Unfortunately, I had to DNF after 4/5 of the stories for reasons you'll read below. (For some reason Netgalley marks it as only 49% complete but I read up to the last short, Egorov, for context). This would be a great collection for some, but it wasn't for me. I loved the first short but was unable to connect with any of the others. I read most of this within four days in August and have not picked it up since (it's now late September 2023). I thought it was time to officially mark it as a DNF and post my thoughts.

Josh Malerman has a masterful use of prose. There were some turns of phrase and metaphors that made me want to drink this book like a fine wine. Malerman is a master of setting the atmosphere, building rhythm and constructing beautiful prose.

The first short, Half the House is Haunted, was my favorite. This was a crazy exploration of the relationship between a brother and sister (separated in age by two years). This story also deconstructed traditional "haunted house" tropes in an inventive way that I was obsessed with. The idea that a house can be "half haunted" immediately made me think that a house was literally split in half. This story pushes the idea further, suggesting that the haunting could be every other step on a staircase or the space only in the middle of a given hallway. It was an uncomfortable and unrelenting read that I highly would recommend.

Now, for all my praise, why did I rate this title two stars?

My favorite short was the first. It immediately hooked my attention and kept me up reading way past midnight. A part of me wished the entire collection surrounded the house or these deeply flawed relationships. I even wish that the entire book was just further exploring the first short and expanding upon the themes of fear and bravery.

But, it didn't. When I found myself multiple stories in, I realized that no other story spoke to me or interested me in its plot, characters, or theme. It started to wear on me and I just was never able to recover to push through the last short. The standard seemed to be set so high at the beginning that I found myself a bit disappointed by the time I was approaching the end.

I was really hooked reading Argyle. It's about a man who reveals to his family his dark desires to hurt and kill others on his deathbed. But then, the collection took a turn. The first two stories tightly revolve around family relationships and horror, but the next two are very sci-fi in comparison. Doug and Judy Buy the House Washer and The Jupitar Drop came totally out of left field for me in their premise and theme. Both of these stories didn't resonate with me. In fact, I found myself very disappointed in the ending of Doug and Judy Buy the House Washer because [SPOILER] it just felt too easy for Doug and Judy to die at the end. Why kill them off after the whole story was spent trying to teach them something? It just made the entire premise and theme feel trivial. [END SPOILER] The Jupitar Drop was also really anti-climatic. I never was able to connect with Steve like I was to Robin, Shawn or the Barmans. Because I didn't connect, I didn't feel empathy for him during the Jupitar Drop. Reading became a slow grind and by the end, I felt like I got everything I needed out of the collection.

I overall found this collection very strange. All the stories revolved around horror in some way, but the collection was organized in a nonsensical way. It's like you are stepping out of a traditional horror Stephan King-style collection into Black Mirror. I found it very jarring and wonder if I would feel differently if these stories were organized differently, or if the book was marketed towards fans of psychological horror with a sci-fi setting. Still, I enjoyed Half the House is Haunted and Argyle immensely.

Josh Malerman is a horror genius. I could’ve read full novels from each of these stories. Eerie, creepy, but always incredibly engaging.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this title.

Spin a Black Yarn is not my favorite Malerman book, it's not at the bottom. The stories are weird, to be sure, and the whole time I was reading it was with bated breath and waiting for that twist to crop up. That caused some anxiety, especially in the story Half the House is Haunted. What a trippy story! I also enjoyed Argyle and Doug and Judy Buy the House Washer (my vote for the strangest, most speculative story in the collection). I don't think I would give someone this book as an introduction to Mr. Malerman's writing; I'd go with The Bird Box or Mad Black Wheel for that.
Overall, I enjoyed the stories, but don't rank it as highly as his novels.

Malerman gives us a novella collection of five ultra creative stories. There is no connection between the stories besides their Samhatten setting. And that’s pretty loose. In this collection we get creepy, sci-fi, mystery and just weird.

The best way to describe these are five vintage Twilight Zone episodes with Malerman flair. After finishing each story I had a solid Zone feeling. Take that as you will.

My favorite was Argyle about a would be serial killer just beating out Egorov a murder revenge/mystery story. There’s a house washer story that’s just plain weird.

Do not adjust your television set. Turn it off and pick this up.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group/ Ballantine / Del Ray for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for an honest review.

I previously read Pearl by this author and loved it, so I was excited to receive an ARC of this short story collection. It was a bit of a let down. I enjoyed 2 of the 5 stories, but the rest were just okay.

Josh Malerman delivers with this dark and twisted set of horror novellas- perfect read for fall, spooky season. Engaging, page turning, and suspenseful. Well written and brilliantly executed. The stories are richly developed and stand on their own.

I ended up not finishing this book. I have enjoyed this authors previous books, but I ended up not wanting to finish this one.

Malerman's creativity is wicked & devilish & he's got the storytelling prowess to back it up. SPIN A BLACK YARN is just as delightful as it is macabre.

Whenever I read an anthology or a book of short novellas there are usually ones I like and others I don't, but this collection I really didn't like any of the stories. I found all of them to be okay, nothing really good.

After reading "Goblin" I think it set far too high a standard for a JM collection. These stories were pretty good but only about half of them felt attention grabbing to me. I love the types of ppl in Samhattan and I think there's a lot to explore there but I don't know, no one story really stood out to be the cornerstone of this collection for me, personally. That said, I really enjoyed the writing styles and some of the surprising turns the stories took.

I much prefer his full length works. I just couldn't connect to any of these short stories. They weren't really captivating and I found my mind wandering a lot

3.5/5 rounded to 4

Josh Malerman is the author of Birdbox. Although I haven't read the novel I absolutely love the movie. When I saw Malerman was coming out with a collection of horror novellas I knew this was the perfect opportunity to sample his works.

Spin a Black Yarn is composed of five novellas:
1) Half the House Is Haunted
2) Argyle
3) Doug and Judy Buy the House Washer
4) The Jupiter Drop
5) Egorov

Ill refrain from summarizing the novellas as they are already on the short side. My favorite thing about this collection is the originality of stories. Each story I read felt unique and I was genuinely interested in getting to the end of each one.

What ties this collection together in my opinion are the characters and the darkness capable within them. If you are a reader who likes to feel satisfied by the end of a book or story this collection may not work for you. Malerman leaves most of the stories for you as the reader to interpret and I quite enjoyed that.

Novellas/short story collections are tricky because they may not all work for the reader. I like that he included 5 novellas that thematically tie into each other and Im excited to pick up a novel by him.

I don't often find myself reading or enjoying short stories; I prefer to be pulled into a long novel that holds me for an extended period. I may have to rethink that, This was my first Malerman book, and I cannot wait to dive into the rest of his work. I was enthralled by each and every story.

Half of the House comes in second for me. It takes some focus in the beginning to keep up since the narrators are small children, but it's worth your time to stick it out. The progress of the relationships over the years between Stephanie and the house then Robbie and Stephanie kept me engrossed. Four Stars.

Argyle is sitting in last in fifth. The premise was interesting - a man on his deathbed is confessing to NOT killing anyone even though he really wanted to his whole life. It was fine? Three Stars.

Doug and Judy Buy a House Washer is 4th place. Doug and Judy suck. They're deplorable, money-hungry assholes, and the house washer did its job and then some. Four Stars.

Jupiter Drop hits a solid 3rd place. This poor guilt-ridden fellow accidentally kills someone, loses his family, and then decides to take a ride in a glass box through the center of Jupiter. You feel for this guy and truly hope this journey will end well for him. It does but it doesn't? Four Stars

Egorov - 1st place, five stars, give me more of this. This story had me riddled with anxiety for the entire duration. The characters, the scenery, the SUSPENSE. The villain?? Loved it. Five Stars.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Random House - Ballantine, and Del Ray for the ARC!

I enjoy Josh Malerman's imagination very much. He writes is a way that is imminently appealing.
I like the first four stories in Spin a Black Yarn, especially Argyle. His characters are well fleshed-out and his stories come from a place that is way outside the box.
Egorov gave me problems, however. I was enjoying it until Misha and the title character were introduced. For me, Egorov comes across as a more homicidal Ebenezer Scrooge. Misha is a lover of Death to the point that he allows himself to die for a crime he didn't commit. I just didn't care for either of these characters. Honestly, however, none of the other characters appealed to me either. They all just fell flat. I think that the idea behind the story was creative and had amazing potential, but the execution didn't work for me.

This book is a relatively quick read, but I had to keep putting it down... Not in a bad way, mind, but more in the way that each story put a hold over me and I had to live it, remember it, think about it, consult with the memories of the ghostly yarns Malerman spun for us. These stories, albeit short, do their jobs well and succinctly.
These stories have caused me a slight existential crisis due to the fact that Malerman's characters are so life-like. Some I feel as though I have known my whole life regardless of the fact that the place is made up and the time is set a century ago (for some stories, not all). These characters are timeless and so are their issues and problems. The sibling thread may as well have been written about my family, it felt that real. Malerman through this one book has become one of my favorite short story authors. It is a true talent for an author to create such brevity with overwhelming completeness. Even though horror isn't my preferred genre, I have enjoyed every second of sitting up in my dark house wondering when his spirits may reveal themselves from the shadowed corners.

I could not really get into the stories and some of the plots did not really make sense. For a horror book, there was very little horror or suspense.

Just a brilliant set of books by Josh Malerman. Four novellas, each with a grim, dark setting. Some of Malerman's best writing, and that's saying a ton.

Ahoy there mateys! This book consists of five novellas. I did take a bit to get into as the writing style of the first one was off-putting. Though I hung in there and found that the story did pay off but not in the way I was expecting. The second novella was a fascinating take on a serial killer being true to himself on his deathbed. Unfortunately, my copy of the ebook was damaged and missing a lot of sections so had to stop abruptly in the middle of the serial killer story. I will be tracking down another copy because I have to know how it ended! I am very much looking forward to the other novellas. I will update this review when I finish the collection. Arrr!