Heavy hitting, dark and ‘stop you in your tracks’ powerful. Every story felt so full bodied and hit me in my heart whether it was the monster or the man that was the villain. A top read of 2023 and will recommend it to everyone. There’s so much we can take away from this beautiful collection.

This is a wonderful collection of short stories! All my ratings ranged from 3-5, as most short story collections do for me, but overall it’s a 5 star collection. I had a lot of 5 star stories, but a couple of standouts for me were Hunger and Before I Go.

I love that there is a mixture of well known authors and authors that haven’t published books before- some of my favorites were by these “newer” authors. I also really liked that it’s a mix of mythical creatures and people (mainly white people) as the evil of the story. I’d love to read another anthology collection like this!

There are many recognizable names in this collection: Rebecca Roanhorse, Richard Van Camp, Cherie Dimaline, Mona Susan Power, Darcie Little Badger, and Waubgeshig Rice. There’s even a foreword by Stephen Graham Jones. But I was especially excited to be introduced to some new (to me) Indigenous authors.

The stories in the anthology vary from fun campfire stories about werewolves (Night Moves by Andrea L. Rogers) and ghosts (Night in the Chrysalis by Tiffany Morris) to more serious and disturbing tales about residential school sexual abuse (Sundays by David Heska Wanbli Weiden), [HA1] mental health (The Prepper by Morgan Talty), stolen land (Limbs by Waubgeshig Rice), and missing and murdered Indigenous women (The Ones who Killed Us by Brandon Hobson). There were bits of Native languages sprinkled throughout the various stories, for example I learned Uguku is “owl” in Cherokee, Kwe’ is “hello” in Mi’kmaq, and Mahsi’ cho is “thank you” in Gwich'in. This felt especially nice to see since so many Native languages are endangered. I can’t possible review all the amazing stories within the collection (and they are all amazing), so I’ll focus on a few of my favorites.

Kushtuka by Mathilda Zeller is about an Alaskan Native woman named Tapeesa. Recently an obnoxious White man named Hank Ferryman and his son Buck have moved to the area to build a monstrous lodge full of stolen Native artifacts. Tapessa is sent to the lodge cook for one of Hank’s parties and on the way the grotesque man asks her to tell him a “Native story.” Tapeesa warns that telling stories after dark could catch the attention of a spirit, but Hank laughs this off as silly superstition. She tells him the story of the Kushtuka, a shape-shifter that can take human form and tries to lure people away. As predicted, the story summons a Kushtuka which attacks Hank’s lodge. We also see this idea of attracting the attention of evil spirits in Before I Go by Norris Black, where a woman’s grieving causes the Night Mother to appear and offer to bring back her dead husband (it doesn’t end well).

One of the things I related to in Kushtuka was Tapessa being called “basically White” by Hank because her dad is White. As a biracial person myself, having others (especially White people) try and tell you your identity isa pet peeve of mine. Historically, I would’ve been considered Black since my father is Black (due to the “one-drop” rule which I discuss below), despite having light skin. Yet these days most White people label me White because I’m White-passing. In both cases, White people choose my identity for me without listening to what I have to say, much like Hank does for Tapessa.

In White Hills by Rebecca Roanhorse, a White woman named Marissa is judged for having “too much” Native blood by her White in-laws. Marissa is your typical rich, White woman. She’s married to a wealthy business man named Andrew, is very concerned with her appearance, and lives in an HOA neighborhood in a big house. After going to the country club to announce her pregnancy to her husband, Marrissa makes the mistake of mentioning she’s a small percentage of Native (in reference to not being offended by a racist mascot) and her husband becomes visibly upset. The next day Elayne, Andrew’s mother, takes Marissa to a “specialist” who has racist phrenology drawings on the wall. Elayne explains that she doesn’t want a “mutt” grandbaby who may be dark skinned and “savage” (despite Marissa being white). The way in which Elayne views Marissa’s child is very reminiscent of the “one drop” rule. The one-drop rule was a legal principle based on a form of hypodescent, the assignment of a mixed-race child to the ethnic group considered "lower status." In other words, anyone with Black ancestry (no matter how far back) was considered Black. There were strict classifications for mixed-race individuals that were given offensive names like “Mulatto” and “octoroon,” I discuss more about how this racist system allowed the US to hold up White supremacy here. I mentioned above how annoying it is when other people (especially White people) decide my identity for me, butit’s even worse when the government does it.

And this leads me to blood quantum. Blood quantum is highly controversial and personal, and since I’m not Indigenous and therefore shouldn’t weigh in on such a heated debate I will tread carefully and stick to the facts as best I can. If you’re not familiar, Blood Quantum laws were enacted by the United States government to determine if someone was considered Native or not dependent on their degree of Native ancestry. The first "Indian Blood law" was originally created in 1705 when the Virginia government wanted to limit the civil rights of Native people and people of Native descent. Some Native tribes continue to use blood quantum to determine who can enroll for tribal membership, others do not. Leah Myers, a member of the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe, gives an example of the importance of tribal enrollment in her Atlantic essay:

"Tribal citizenship is more than symbolic. It determines eligibility for educational assistance, medical care, and other social benefits. Plus, only members can attend citizen meetings and vote in tribal elections. If my future children don’t meet the blood requirements for my tribe, they could still participate in events, cultivate plants in the traditional-foods garden, and take Klallam-language courses. But no matter how much they served the community in love and time, they would be deemed a 'descendant' and marked as separate."

Here’s a guide to Blood Quantum that gives both the arguments for and against blood quantum (full transparency, most Native sources I looked up were against these laws). Basically, blood quantum proponents argue that getting rid of blood quantum rules will make scarce resources even scarcer due to population growth and that it will allow disconnected outsiders and pretendians to join the tribe, which will erode their culture. Opponents of blood quantum argue that statistically it will eradicate Native nations, and point to the law's racist origins which were intended to control and erase Indigenous people. It also makes relationships complicated, as Indigenous people must calculate their potential children's percentage of Native blood and if they can enroll or not, which can put a strain on families. Blood quantum also conflicts with traditional Indigenous ideas about kinship and has“no basis in Native American traditions.” Essentially, both proponents and opponents disagree on the best way to preserve their tribal nations.

This idea is explored more fully in the story Quantum by Nick Medina. A woman named Amber is so obsessed with blood quantum and getting her children on the tribal roll that she favors her son Grayson, who’s 5/16 Native, while ignoring his brother Sam, who is only 1/8 Native, to the point where Sam is practically feral. She even tries to steal blood from a deceased Native man from their tribe so she can inject it into Sam.

Another story I enjoyed is Collections by Amber Blaeser-Wardzala, an incredibly creepy story about collecting human remains. Professor Smith, a liberal White woman, collects the heads of all the students she’s helped. She’s very proud of her collection: she has all the sexualities and genders, all the religions, and almost all the races. An Indigenous head would be her “white whale.” Megis (called Meg by the White professor) is understandably horrified by the collection, as is one of her Black classmates, but none of her white classmates seem to be. Professor Smith implies she wants to help Megis so she can have her head for her collection. Megis, the first person in her family to go to college, is desperate to stay on Professor Smith’s good side so she can maintain her scholarship and get a good job, and therefore doesn’t have much choice but to stay in the house of horrors. While an extreme example, the story underlines how troubling it is when museums collect human remains without consent and how academics will treat bodies as mere curiosities.

“When [Native American artifacts and human remains] were acquired, collectors weren’t thinking of Indigenous peoples as human beings. People were resources, and human remains were to be preserved alongside pots” says Jacquetta Swift, the repatriation manager for the National Museum of the American Indian and member of the Comanche and Fort Sill Apache tribes. It’s the unfortunate reality that most human remains on display and in private collections, are unethically sourced from BIPOCs against their wishes.

This theme is also lightly touched on in Navajos Don’t Wear Elk Teeth by Conley Lyons where a Native man named Joe has a summer fling with White man named Cam. Cam collects teeth, some of which turn out to be human (he claims his last boyfriend was a Navajo man who gave him an elk tooth for “good luck” which Joe is dubious about). One of Joe’s friends refers to this as “bad medicine” and suggest Joe get an elder to sage his house.

Not all the stories are quite so dark, however. Snakes are Born in the Dark by D. H. Trujillo felt like a Goosebumps book or a fun story kids tell to scare each other, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. In the story, an Alaskan Native boy named Peter goes hiking in the woods with his white cousin Maddie and her rude boyfriend Adam. They come across Native petroglyphs in the Four Corners desert which Maddie and Adam both immediately touch. Peter warns them not to touch the carvings but Adam continues to do so while mocking him. Unsurprisingly both Maddie and Adam suffer unpleasant (though non-lethal and impermanent) fates which results in a humorous ending. It’s a fun twist on the classic “Indian curse” where we (and Peter) are rooting for the White people to get their comeuppance.

I could go on and on about the stories in the anthology, like Hunger by Phoenix Boudreau where two Cree college girls, Summer and Rain, outsmart a Wehtigo. Or Scariest. Story. Ever. By Richard Van Camp that touches on who gets to tell Native stories and how to share culture without stealing it. They’re all great. I also felt like I learned a lot while reading the anthology.

Never Whistle at Night was definitely an interesting read. The first batch of stories felt like they had very interesting premises but didn't find a satisfying way to wrap them up, but as the book went on the quality grew significantly and when I went back to reread the first half of the book again, I found those stories to be better upon a second look at them.

For the most part, the tone of the stories matched one another, something that is rarely present in anthology books... and what a tone these stories had. Never Whistle at Night puts the "dark" in "dark fiction" and every author keeps this tone up masterfully. My main positive of this book is that none of the stories are ever boring; every author knows how to create engaging stories that will have you hooked all the way through.

I highly recommend this book for anyone looking to pick up a solid collection of short stories and not have to read them all in one sitting... although after reading just one story, you'll likely be hooked.

3.5 stars rounded up

I love this gorgeous cover! This is the perfect book for fall. Some stories were hard to stomach, some made me scared to go to sleep, some I liked more than others, but they were all beautifully written. I loved reading the bios of each author.

I will say this book might not be for everyone, definitely check the trigger warnings!

Thank you to NetGalley and Vintage Anchor for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Unfortunately, this is a DNF for me at 42%, I have seen a lot of rave reviews for this book, and it definitely isn’t a bad book, it just isn’t for me. I did enjoy some of the stories in this one, but overall was not enjoying the book enough to continue.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Never Whistle At Night is an indigenous dark fiction anthology. I haven't read many anthologies so on that aspect I enjoyed that I could sit down and read one story and then pick it up later on for something completely different.

The content was as described, dark, but I thought each story was so well written, and well thought out. Some of them will stay with me for a long time, especially Quantum by Nick Medina. It absolutely horrified me, but made such a clear point with what it had to say.

As other reviews have mentioned there are a lot of triggers through this collection but it's hard to mention them all as each story contains something different.

It is a fantastic, and thought provoking read and I would definitely recommend it!

This story collection was SO much fun and so very spooky!

I read Shane Hawk's book, Anoka, years ago and really liked it. I was excited to start this collection of stories, knowing it was in his creative and talented hands.

My favorite story in this collection was White Hills by Rebecca Roanhorse. Admittedly, I may be a bit biased, as I really enjoyed Roanhorse's Black Sun series.

Highly recommend for horror fans! :)

MY REVIEW: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
👉 A star-studded anthology of indigenous dark fiction?!?!??!? So many of my favs are featured in this one… and so many new favs 👀
👉 Not all of these stories are horror (so you won't be TOO scared) but, woof, every single one sure was unsettling.
👉 If you need spooky reads for spooky season, this is THE book--And the perfect place to find spooky authors to check out after you're done.
👉 This might a contender for favorite book of the year!!

A fascinating and solid collection of short stories from indigenous authors. I really enjoyed the dark/horror themes within the stories and the basis in native folklore. I also greatly appreciate the mini author bio included at the end of each story, very helpful in introducing me to new authors! My personal favorites from this collection were: Quantum by Nick Medina, Snakes Are Born in the Dark by D.H. Trujillo, and The Prepper by Morgan Talty. I would highly recommend this!

As with any anthology with multiple authors, I found that I enjoyed some stories more than others. That being said, I think this is one of the best anthologies that I have read. It was also a huge plus to read stories that were written by a wide variety of indigenous (North American) writers. It was also not surprising that nearly every story gave a nod (or more) to the atrocities perpetrated on the indigenous peoples of this continent by the European colonizers.

I heard a joke the other day by an Irish comedian who said that people keep asking why Brexit took so long. The answer was, of course, because it always takes the English a hell of a long time to get out of anywhere they have colonized. There is probably not a continent on this planet that hasn't felt the effects of European colonizers.

Back to the book--some truly creepy stories gathered here! I read this through NetGalley but I am absolutely going to have to get a hard copy for my bookshelf. I really, really enjoyed it.

Never Whistle at Night is a collection of Indigenous dark fiction from twenty six authors including Darcie Little Badger, Tommy Orange, Rebecca Roanhorse as well as its editors Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr and is the perfect book as we head into spooky season. There is a huge variety in the types of stories being told, which means that there will almost certainly be something to appeal to every reader, and each of the stories is short enough to read in fifteen minutes or less, but I found so many that kept me thinking about them for much longer. Some of the stories in this book are among the most genuinely unsettling I have come across in all my years as a reader. As with any collection of stories, especially an anthology featuring so many different authors, some stories were more to my liking than others. The stories range from traditional horror with ghosts, zombies and were wolves as well as creatures like the Kushtuka, a shapeshifting creature that takes on the shape of someone you love to lure you away, to stories featuring the monstrous nature of humanity and the darkness that people can carry inside.
There were so many wonderful and thought provoking stories in the book that I could not possibly go through them all here but for me particular highlights included :
Navajos Don't Wear Elk Teeth by Conley Lyons which focused on a more human monster
Hunger by Phoenix Boudreau which felt really rooted in an oral storytelling tradition
Scariest Story Ever by Richard Van Camp which I liked because of its hopeful ending
Collections by Amber Blaeser- Wardzala , a story so strong in its visuals that I could see it being adapted for film or television.

The book is described as a " celebration of Indigenous peoples’ survival and imagination" and I hope that many many people will pick it up and share in that celebration because this is a book that deserves to be shouted about from the rooftops.
I read an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I loved the premise of indigenous horror fiction. I haven't read too much of it and I’m not sure about the mythology, so seeing that in all different eyes is always fun. Seeing everyone’s different experiences is the best part of a multiple author collection. There’s not one one to do horror, and this collection knocks it out of the park I also love the different ranges of horror. While we get body horror and general discomfort in stories, they come with a deeper meaning. Whether you like horror, fantasy, or just darker fiction in general, I highly suggest this collection. There’s so many different authors and while I wasn’t familiar with most of them, I love seeing new names and learning who I should read next!

I absolutely loved every story in this anthology. They were nerve-wracking, beautiful, and horrifying. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to take a trip into the world of Indigenous horror.

This anthology of dark stories written by and including Indigenous people is great. The stories are creative and unsettling with unique elements of folklore, culture, and perspectives. I loved working my way through the work of the various authors.

The first two stories Kushtuka, a supernatural revenge type of story and White Hills, a terribly chilling short story, both stood out a lot to me. Other stories, like Quantum, provide insight into reservation culture through a horror tinged view and was both interesting and unsettling in delivery. I loved it.

This book has been one of my most anticipated on my TBR.
I'm eternally grateful for NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I genuinely stayed awake through the night last night to read this - the birds were chirping when I realized I needed to get ready for work.
This series of short-stories FAR EXCEEDED my expectations (and they were quite high to begin with); Each story was enveloping, dynamic, and enthralling. Each one was creepy in its own way, and provided a desperately needed peek into the legends of the indigenous culture that surrounds us.

I'd recommend this to ANYONE who enjoys spooky stories; and I'll be revisiting this collection frequently through the fall and winter months this year!!

This collection of short stories was an excellent reminder to never whistle at night. Every story was deeply unsettling in unique ways.

This book felt like sitting around the campfire with some of the best indigenous writers of our time. Each of the stories offered a new horrific vision of things that go bump in the night, and even some things you didn’t know you needed to be afraid of during the day. A few of these stories have lingered around me and leave a haunting haze. The stand outs for me were: Navajos Don’t Wear Elk Teeth, Quantum, Snakes Are Born in the Dark, The Prepper, Collections and Limbs. This entire collection was expertly curated and featured heavily emotional stories, laced with a history of oppression and violence, as well as stories based on traditions and folklore. You can tell that every writer in this book took everything they had and put it into the stories they wrote. I enjoyed the full range of stories offered in this book so that you could go from a tale of body horror to a story that feels like a modern urban legend. I recommend this book for bite sized doses of spooky season fun.

Never Whistle at Night was FANTASTIC. I don't mean to yell, but I had such high hopes for this anthology and it really lived up to my expectations. As someone with minimal knowledge of indigenous folklore and stories, this captured my attention immediately. This is a stay up late, read until your eyes won't stay open book. I picked this up while I was quite busy, so I didn't get to read it nearly as quickly as I would have liked, but I guess that was to my benefit because I was able to enjoy and reflect on each story individually. I would love to see a second installment in a few years.

Read this and tell your friends about!

Average Overall Rating: ★ 3.5 / 5

If you're looking for the perfect spooky anthology this autumn season, look no further than this spectacular *yet horrific* collection. A TON of these stories sent endless shivers down my spine to the point where I was jumping at every creak or shuffle in my apartment.

✧ Kushtuka by Mathilda Zeller ★ 4 / 5
✧ White Hills by Rebecca Roanhorse ★ 4.5 / 5
✧ Navajos Don't Wear Elk Teeth by Conley Lyons ★ 5 / 5
✧ Wingless by Marie R. Rendon ★ 3.5 / 5
✧ Quantum by Nick Medina ★ 4 / 5
✧ Hunger by Phoenix Boudreau ★ 3 / 5
✧ Tick Talk by Cherie Dimaline ★ 4 / 5
✧ The Ones Who Killed Us by Brandon Hobson ★ 2 / 5
✧ Snakes Are Born in the Dark by D. H. Trujillo ★ 3.5 / 5
✧ Before I Go by Norris Black ★ 4.25 / 5
✧ Night in the Chrysalis by Tiffany Morris ★ 3.25 / 5
✧ Behind Colin's Eyes by Shane Hawk ★ 3 / 5
✧ Heart-Shaped Clock by Kelli Jo Ford ★ 2.75 / 5
✧ Scariest. Story. Ever. by Richard Van Camp ★ 4.5 / 5
✧ Human Eaters by Royce K. Young Wolf ★ 3.5 / 5
✧ The Longest Street in the World by Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. ★ 2.5 / 5
✧ Dead Owls by Mona Susan Power ★ 4.25 / 5
✧ The Prepper by Morgan Talty ★ 2 / 5
✧ Uncle Robert Rides the Lightning by Kate Hart ★ 1.5 / 5
✧ Sundays by David Heska Wanbli Weiden ★ 3.5 / 5
✧ Eulogy for a Brother, Resurrected by Carson Faust ★ 4.5 / 5
✧ Night Moves Andrea L. Rogers ★ 3.25 / 5
✧ Capgras by Tommy Orange ★ 3.75 / 5
✧ The Scientist's Horror Story by Darcie Little Badger ★ 3 / 5
✧ Collections by Amber Blaeser-Warzala ★ 4.25 / 5
✧ Limbs by Waubgeshig Rice ★ 3.5 / 5

I rated these stories with a variety of elements: horror, interest, writing style, and overall "enjoyement"—or as much enjoyment as one can have from a horror story. The higher ratings specifically left an impact on me to the point where I could not get them out of my head for hours, days. A lot of times the familial aspects of these stories like in Eulogy for a Brother, Resurrected left a particular ache in my heart, or ones like Navajos Don't Wear Elk Teeth made me physically gag and have to stop reading for the rest of that day. A lot of the three stars were stories where I wanted more from the story; it felt like it should've been a novel rather than a short story because I needed more time with the characters, world building, etc.