Collection of shirt stories. First read with this author. May try another by him but these stories didn't really seem like anything special to me. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

This was not the worst collection of stories I've ever read, but it was incredibly mediocre. The stories themselves were generally well written, but didn't leave me with the sense of anything having been accomplished. Obviously, books that are compilations of 5ish page stories can't all have fully imagined worlds built, but I would have liked to see more substance. Each felt like 'this is our character, boo! something comes out of nowhere, no we will not elaborate, and now our character is maybe changed? but also maybe not'. I didn't hate any single story in here but they just all dragged, not giving me enough but not leaving me wanting more.

This was a collection of short horror or weird fiction written by the same author. I felt that these had a lot of potential, but were not executed too well. Most of these stories started off with something intriguing, developed quite well, but then ended very abruptly or in a strange, unexplained sort of way. The story that worked best for me was “The Hum Of The World.”

(I received a free review copy from NetGalley.)

A collection of short horror. The concepts were wild and some predictable. Weird, eerie, strange, all adjectives I’d give the stories. I feel like a few of them could have used just a bit more dept, but all in all, it was a good anthology. I’m glad I read it, and would recommend it to others to give a chance, as well.

I couldn't really get into this one. Nice cover, some cool titles and concepts here but a lot of the stories were too short without really getting to a point.

Dnf. This collection just fell flat for me. There wasn’t anything particularly new or captivating. I’ve also had a slow reading summer, and this just didn’t make the cut for me.

I was initially captivated by the book's striking cover. This is a medley of short stories that delve into eerie and fantastical realms. Regrettably, most of the stories felt lacking in depth. Yet, amid them, a few were deeply enjoyable, making the overall experience enjoyable.

This is a collection of horror, odd, and weird short stories. I wasn't particularly impressed. There were a couple of excellent stories at the end, a few duds, and most were just okay. My main problem was that the stories were too short and didn't work well. Very short stories can work but they need a specific plot and a good punch. These mostly felt like they were missing information and left me with questions. The longer stories were better.

1. What Happens When the Crickets Stop Singing - A man gets a computer virus and his world turns menacing. Typical man running from danger. Ok. (3/5)

2. And the Flies Will Follow - It's the zombie apocalypse and four people are in a small compound. After a night on duty, Myra sleeps while trouble brews with the others. A simple tale but engaging. Well written. (4/5)

3. Cardboard Citadels - A man finds his favourite web porn star hiding in a homeless person's cardboard box town. There's nothing I hate more than graphic sex with violence. This has no redeeming values. (0/5)

4. Vermilion Borders - A man kills a fly and then goes about his humdrum life until he meets a woman. This was good but really strange. I think I sort of get it. (3/5)

5. Dark Scriptures - Kehlani is dating a Brazilian man who has intense tattoos all over his back. He is studying metaphysical stuff and when she looks at his pile of books he commands her not to look at them. A well-written story and as I'm finding out about this author as usual great characterization. (4/5)

6. Black Static, How Lovely the Sound - A lonely old man is in constant pain from his gums which bleed all the time. Black Static is the form of a woman wanting to end his pain. Very short but well-written with great characterization. The ending was hazy and I'm not sure I understood it. (3/5)

7. Flute of Ribs - Husband and wife have a big fight as she goes out for girl's night but she doesn't come home. Very short with an abrupt ending. Good story until the ending. (2/5)

8. Fire in the Black Night - A teenage boy has been brought to the hospital with severe burns. The nurse who attends to him watches as something overtakes him. This was actually quite boring. (1/5)

9. Time to Shine - A woman dreams of fame and fortune and her husband makes it come true. This was decent but needed to be longer. What did the husband get? Why did he participate? More info on the group. This would all have made a much longer story. (3/5)

10. The Fossilization Method - A young girl's parents turn into fossils. Now as an adult, she feels it happening to herself. A brief story but well-written. (3/5)

11. The Hum of the World - A teacher befriends a strange kid at school and the kid shows him the hum coming from a crack in the ground. This is the best story so far. It has a great interesting lead but the ending is too quick. (4/5)

12. A House Lay Deserted - A man returns home to Poland for his father's funeral. He finds an abandoned house in the village that wasn't there before. This is a fine story. An Intriguing lead-up has plenty of plot and character development. The ending was predictable but satisfying. Even better than the previous story. (5/5)

13. Where Old People Go to Die - A young man wanders into a courtyard in the forest. This was very short. It's a cute story with a hmm ending. (3/5)

14. The Dreadheads - Hunter is a journalist and he's interviewing Blake, the lead singer of the metal group Dreadheads. This is a predictable story but well-written and a little eerie. I enjoyed it. (4/5)

15. Rolling with the God$ - A grappler takes an experimental drug consisting of stingray serum. This was ok. I liked the body horror but I don't like sports in my reading so this is a me thing. (3/5)

Creepy pasta level of depth but so confident in being spooky... I just kept rolling my eyes. If it was more campy it could work, but it was just so (un)serious. This is what you get for having sex, kiddos!

People who like the kind of horror/weird literature where a lot of random strange things happen and nothing ever makes sense will love this short story collection. Unfortunately, this is not the kind of fiction I like.

I liked the later stories in the book better then the ones in the beginning, some of them were quite atmospheric and good at character emotions.

However, for me, most stories were just "meh" and there were some which were "quite ok" but nothing outstanding. Most of the ideas felt like when you are doing something ordinary and a random thought occurs like "what if this or that very weird thing happened?" but then you just forget about it and certainly don't write a story about it because usually these ideas are not ones you can build a story arc upon. This is what I felt here, that at some point there's some random horror element introduced but usually it doesn't really contribute to the story, it's just there. I know this can be called realistic (if it's possible to use this word with speculative fiction at all) like when something horrifying happens why should anything make sense. However, personally I don't like when stories don't try and build something, a plot twist, a character arc, an homage, something.

Also, the structure of the stories was quite repetitious, they usually start with something ordinary, something really mundane and then at some point something strange starts to seep in and you can't decide (ok after the nth time you can definitely decide) if the characters are just idiots or it's the horror yet then at some point you get confirmed that yes, it's definitely the horror. This is how all the stories go in this collection which got a bit boring for me very soon. Funny enough the editor at the end of the book highlighted this recurring structure as an attractive feature of the stories so don't hesitate to go for this book if you feel drawn to this storyline.

One minor thing that still irked me a lot was the 3rd person narrator calling the protagonists by their full name (with surname and all) in the very first paragraph of every single story (except the few exceptions with 1st person narration). I don't see any use of it, sometimes maybe to hint on the various ethnicity of the characters but certainly not all times, and it makes the characters extremely distant instantly.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Aside from a general lack of artistry from the author, this book lacks cohesion. The dialogue is unbelievable, the characters lack depth, and the writing lacks clarity. DNF.

The cover was so cool looking and did it's job drawing me in but really that's all this book as. All the stories are formulaic and not at all interesting and the writing could use a lot of editing and spicing up to at least maybe make things a little more interesting.

This is a collection of short horror stories by the author. For the most part the stories are dark and generally off-putting, but the horror, suspense, and tension just weren't present in any of these stories.

1 – 2.5 stars - A man's work computer gets a virus and then things gets way worse.
2 - 2 stars - Survival situations can bring out the worst in people.
3 - 1 star - A writer looks for inspiration in the wrong place.
4 - 2 stars - Between a fascination with flies and his headaches, a man realizes he may not know himself at all.
5 - 2 stars - Shedding your old self to become new is rarely easy.
6 - 1 star - An older man's past revisits him.
7 -1 star - A man's insecurities get the better of him.
8 - 2 stars - A boy's psychedelic trip leaves him questioning reality.
9 - 1.5 stars - Sometimes focusing on your desires can blind you to reality.
10 - 1.5 stars - Is it the drugs or is it reality?
11 - 2 stars - There's something wrong with the mud.
12 - 1 star - Some people are just stupid.
13 - 2 stars - A man let's a coin decide his fate.
14 - 1 star - A journalist learns more than he bargained for.
15 - 1 star - A sore loser will do anything to get back in the game.

Again, these stories were completely lacking in any tension, suspense, or horror. This was due to a few things. First, these stories were quite formulaic and, while always predictable, often were still lacking any meaningful explanation or point. Similarly, the characters were completely interchangeable. No matter the age or gender, they all read the same, had the same voice, and were lacking in any meaningful characterization. This work was also rife with errors, which ranged from accidental tense changes within a story to typos to using the incorrect word. Unfortunately, even if the errors were all fixed, I still wouldn't recommend this read. My thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this work. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

"The Hum of the World" by Grant Wamack is a collection of short stories imbued with surrealism and horror. Though possessing several intriguing concepts and a beautifully dark atmosphere, the book fell short in execution. Though filled with Wamack's vividly imaginative imagery, the stories often felt incomplete or overly simplistic, lacking a comprehensive narrative structure.

Characters throughout the stories appeared flat and hard to relate to, and their motivations often needed clarification, removing a degree of immersion from the narrative. Standout moments include 'The Dreadheads', a compelling story of a music journalist navigating a chilling suicide-linked track. However, such highlights were scarce overall.

The writing style, while engaging at times, would have benefited from stronger editorial refinement. Although the dazzling cover art and intriguing description may draw readers in, the book may not appeal to everyone. While showcasing some creativity, it lacked the necessary depth to make the stories memorable. Three stars out of five. Thanks to Netgalley, Grant Wamack and the publisher for the free e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Received free on NetGalley, opinions are my own.

I love cosmic horror and the cover of The Hum of the World drew me in, as well. This collection of short stories had several ideas that I found interesting but ultimately the book was not for me. Some of the stories felt so brief to me that it was more like a scene or segment of a story. Throughout the collection, I did not find a relatable character and often found myself questioning their motivations or actions. For example, in one story “Vermilion Borders”, the main character is confronted by a woman in a parking garage, hunched over and breathing hard. His first question is, ‘Don’t I know you?’ Which is…confusing. Why not, ‘Are you ok?’ or something similar. There were similar choices made by the author in several stories which caused me to either read back a bit to see if I missed something or be pulled right out of the narrative.
I did enjoy ‘The Dreadheads’ which is from the perspective of a music journalist and deals with a track that causes suicides. This idea is not new, however, and the story could have used something to differentiate it.
Overall, I feel that the author’s writing style was not for me and that the stories would have benefitted from a stronger editorial hand

Disclaimer: I received a gifted copy of this book in exchange for a review and I'm leaving my honest opinion.

2.5 stars
I think this book is good for the right audience, but I'm not sure I'm in that audience. It's very interesting horror, and it has a lot of potential, but I don't think it's for me. The author isn't a bad writer by any means, I think this just didn't fit for me personally. I can think of a couple friends who might like it though, so I'll keep that in mind for the future. Thanks to netgalley and to grant for the opportunity to read this book. I won't be cross posting this to my bookstagram, in part because I don't like to post negative reviews and in part that I'm not sure how many of my followers will like this.
Reviews on my linked Goodreads account.

The Hum of the World is a unique collection of short stories reminiscent of 90s splatterpunk aesthetics but with a bizzaro twist. I found many of the stories to be a little too erotically charged for my tastes, but other readers might not mind.

2.5 stars

I tried. I really did. I think this author just isn’t for me. I can see the appeal for others though.
Dont take my review and choose not to read it, as it may be a favorite for you.

I found some of these stories weird and cool, and some of them were just boring or too simplistic. Overall, I wish certain concepts would have been explored more. A few stories really hooked me, but then they were just over.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. I was drawn to this book by the amazing cover art, and after reading the description I thought this book would definitely be for me. Unfortunately, I was wrong - I made it a little over halfway through these stories before I gave up on them. Every story followed the same formula - some character gets involved with something and ends up dead in some way. All the characters were very flat and there was little motivation for anything that happened with any of the plots. I love a good short short - but a lot of these shorter stories seemed like they were just ideas for a longer work. A lot of telling instead of showing here.