DNF. I couldn't get into the reading. I tried with the first three stories but neither was grabbing me. I insistes because I know all were different but it wasn't working for me.

Beyond the Bounds of Infinity is a cosmic horror anthology that sets out to offer a collection of stories from several diverse perspectives and it does a nice job of it. It begins with stories on the shorter side with punchier and more chaotic themes, slips into denser and more traditionally gothic tones for the middle, and then finishes with a nice range of more modern themes. I was especially fond of Effigies of Lost Things by Pedro Iniguez, 24 points by S. A. Cosby, Cracks by Mary San Giovanni, On the Shores of Midnight by Marnie Desdemona, The Things We Did in the Dark by Julia Darcy, and A Dampened Embrace by Christopher Hahn. These ones felt like they had some interesting elements and spoke about different themes than we usually get from Cosmic Horror even when some of the tropes reflect those older stories, not an easy thing to do with such a widely explored genre!

I enjoyed all the stories in this collection. Some better than others, and my two favorites were Live Free or Die by Danny Brzozowski and Cracks by Mary SanGiovanni. Great characters, great story, and great pacing in each. #BeyondtheBoundsofInfinity #NetGalley

As with any anthology, there were hits and misses. Luckily, "Beyond the Bounds of Infinity" was almost all hits! The 'misses' weren't bad either; they just weren't the type of stories I connect with. But I think many other people will enjoy them. Cracks was my favorite of the bunch.

Beyond the Bounds of Infinity takes readers on a mind-bending journey, but doesn't quite stick the landing. This sci-fi novel tackles some big ideas about consciousness and reality, which is both its strength and weakness.

The concept is intriguing - exploring worlds beyond our perception and the nature of existence. The author's imagination shines in creating vivid, otherworldly scenes that'll make your head spin.

However, the plot sometimes gets lost in its own complexity. Characters feel a bit flat, serving more as vessels for philosophical musings than fully-fleshed individuals. The pacing drags in places, especially when the narrative veers into heavy exposition.

While it doesn't quite live up to its lofty ambitions, Beyond the Bounds of Infinity offers enough food for thought to make it worth a read for hardcore sci-fi fans. Just be prepared for a few mental gymnastics along the way.

I’m a bit uncertain about this one. While the stories range from good to great, many don’t resonate with me. As someone who is relatively new to cosmic horror, I’m not sure if I was the target audience for this particular anthology.

That said, I found some favourites in the collection and would love to see more from these talented authors. Effigies of Monstrous Things by Pedro Iniguez and Fractures of Her Reflection by Amanda Headlee were standout stories for me.

However, I felt that some stories ended just as they were starting to build momentum. If these authors had more space to develop their narratives, I might have enjoyed more of the stories. But as I mentioned earlier, I don’t think I’m the ideal reader for this genre.

I’d like to thank NetGalley and RDS Publishing for gifting me the e-book in exchange for my honest review. I’m just sorry I didn’t enjoy it as much as I had hoped.

Beyond the Bounds of Infinity is an inclusive anthology focusing around the theme of cosmic horror. Within, the stories hold narratives involving body horror and transformation/disfiguration, haunted locations that drive the characters mad, creatures , objects, ideas, and entities that exist outside of our realm of knowledge, and, most importantly, one story with creepy, creepy children.

As with every anthology that exists, many of the stories are a hit, and some could use improvement. I found that a lot of the shot stories within Beyond the Bounds of Infinity would have been perfect to be expanded into novellas, or at the very least, just longer works overall. Every story within this collection was superb, but many met the downfall of "not enough pages." That said! The ideas presented in this collection, again, were superb! There is a diverse array of cosmic horror ideas that come through from front to back, and the range of the actual cast of characters is equally diverse, whether at times more blatant or more subtle.

Overall, this is both a fascinating and thought provoking collection of short stories that anybody who wants to read modern day cosmic horror should pick up.


Stand out stories within this anthology are:
The Silent Letter, Chris Nelson
Effigies of Monstrous Things, Pedro Iniguez
Cracks, Mary SanGiovanni
The Things We Did In The Dark, Julia Darcey
A Dampened Embrace, Christopher Hann
The Eye of God, Rachel Searcey
Passage, Cyrus Amelia Fisher
Gyges, Vaughn A. Jackson

Thank you RDS for providing me a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!

rating: 2.5/5 ⭐️s, rounded to 3

Well, this was definitely one bizarre book. There were a few stories that I liked and some that felt too slow for me. I had a very busy summer, so I wasn't able to finish the book in time for publication.

Like with all collection books, this could be a mix of good and bad for you. Give it a try if you think it'll tickle your fancy!

Happy reading!

As is the case with all short story collections, this was a mix of experiences, some good some less good. Unfortuanatley a fair amount didn't do it for me as much as I hoped they would, although I think some of them would have been better if they had been longer and the author had been able to build things up more! That being said, this showcases a variety of voices and I'm sure there is something for everyone. Personally my favourites were Fractures of Reflection (which features the horrors of OCD), Six Underground (in which we follow some underground (mis)adventures) and On the Shore of Midnight (which features a strange church and night time explorations).

A collection of horror stories, mostly of the cosmic variety, featuring diverse authors and characters. Between BIPOC, queer, and disabled characters there's a decent amount of variety in who's represented. While I appreciate the inclusivity, I felt the collection to be lacking even with a couple good stories.
A fair bit of the stories were misses for me. Primarily I found a lot of the stories to lack substance and to be kind of boring. I noticed the stories were approximately the same length which gives it a more consistent feel but I think also contributes to the issues I had with the stories. I did enjoy a couple of them though. Namely The Birth of Sound by Timaeus Bloom, Fractures of Her Reflection by Amanda Headlee, and Effigies of Monstrous Things by Pedro Iniguez, which was my favorite. Effigies of Monstrous Things has a wonderfully creepy ending that I adored and it feels the strongest of all the stories. Whereas I appreciated the vibes of The Birth of Sound which reminded me of Welcome to Night Vale. The incorporation of OCD in Fractures of Her Reflection felt raw which I appreciated. Outside of those I did like the ending of Six Underground by Vicky Velvet but the story didn't hit as hard as the other three mentioned.
While I wouldn't discourage anyone from reading this collection I wouldn't recommend it either. There are other horror collections with diverse representation that are better in my opinion.

I liked several of the stories:
-Fractures of Her Reflection
-Live Free or Die
-Six Underground
To name a few of them. There were some I skimmed through but not that many

Thank you to NetGalley and RDS Publishing for allowing me to read an ARC of this book. This is a book of short horror stories, written by various authors. Some stories I really liked, while others were not enjoyable. I found it hard to get into because I felt the stories just weren't for me.

This anthology is mix of cosmic and folk horror. It was great to see cosmic horror from diverse voices and perspectives. All these stories veer toward the weird side which is a big plus for me.

There were a handful of stand out stories in this anthology. Live Free or Die by Danny Brzozowski is about a trans teacher taking on a bigoted occult group. Effigies of Monstrous Things by Pedro Iniquez is about a father living in a run down apartment with his daughters with unspeakable secrets hiding just under the surface. The Things We Did in the Dark by Julia Darcey involves women performing rituals in a dark pit. Burning Slumber by Jessica L. Sparrow is a supernatural indigenous story. Finally, Gyges by Vaughn A. Jackson gives a very unique exorcism story. All these stories were rated 5 stars for me.

I would recommend this collection to those who want to see more diversity in there horror anthologies.

I almost set myself up for this one but seeing S.A. Cosby’s name on the cover kind of sunk me in. It’s not that any of these stories are “bad writing” I’m just not a big fan of cosmic horror and this anthology had more “misses” than “hits.” A lot of talented writers and if cosmic horror is your go to you will probably love this anthology so really go read it and find out.

When I saw this book on netgalley as a cosmic horror short story collection that focusses on diversity and overcoming the bigotry often baked into the idea of "the Other" in horror, I knew I had to read it. Having read a bunch of Cosmic horror recently as well I also thought I'd know what to expect. And yes, some of the pieces here do fit very well into the typical tropes (cult that wants to summon a God with too many tentacles, weird ocean creatures by the seaside, trying to appease an angry God through sacrificing young girls to it etc), but many of them manage to either takes the tropes and turn them into something new and interesting through a reversal of roles (Life Free or Die by Danny Brzozowski is a great example of the scary cult in the forest that wants to sacrifice the MC to their God, but manages a great Reversal of roles that would make Lovecraft spin in his grave. And that's beautiful!). Other short stories do things with Cosmic Horror that I haven't really seen done before (such as eldritch music in The Birth of Sound). The anthology also explores many topics such as racism, sexism, transphobia, mental illness, poverty and homophobia and does, as promised, extend the Genre further to marginalized voices.
There weren't any short stories I disliked and quite a few I really loved, such as "The Silent Letter" by Chris Nelson, "Six Underground" by Vicky Velvet, "Cracks" by Mary SanGiovanni, "The Things We Did in the Dark" by Julia Darcey, "A Dampened Embrace" by Christopher Hann, "24 Points" by S.A. Cosby, "On the Shores of Midnight" by Marnie Desdemona and "Burning Slumber" by Jessica L. Sparrow.
In general, if you enjoy horror or weird fiction I can absolutely recommend you to dive into this collection and enjoy!

Starting now I also wrote a short list with some thoughts on each piece as well as some trigger warnings I think apply to each piece, slight spoilers ahead:

The Birth of Sound by Timaeus Bloom: eldritch music, short and sweet and scary tw: loss of bodily autonomy
Fractures of Her Reflection by Amanda Headlee: a woman's repetitive behavior due to OCD might literally be the only thing that keeps the world standing, I liked the dread but a bit more explanation on why characters besides the main character acted that way would have been nice, also shoutout to this story for including a disabled character, which I loved! tw: mass death, apocalypse, gaslighting from a medical professional, hospital, injury, past death, car accident mention, past abuse
Life Free or Die by Danny Brzozowski: A nonbinary teacher is fired from their job after getting doxxed online, very reminiscent of the real case of AV Schwandes and other teachers caught up in the anti trans panic, on their way home they get kidnapped, the reversal of transphobic white supremacists as the scary Lovecraftian cult is fun but unfortunately this short story feels a bit unfinished to me and as if it tried to do a bit too much for such a short story, I would love to see an extended version though and I really enjoyed the author's writing style, tw: transphobia, misgendering, discriminatory firing, attempted human sacrifice, white supremacy, hate crime, injury
*FAV* The Silent Letter by Chris Nelson: an investigation of an eldritch word, very SCP-esque, but interesting and fun and I adored the dread it built, tw: death, coma, gore, body horror
Effigies of Monstrous Things by Pedro Iniguez: a rotting housing complex and its inhabitants stuck in poverty and a single father trying his best to keep his daughters save, fun! Fucked up but fun! tw: child death, murder, body horror, gore, unsanitary living conditions
*FAV* Six Underground by Vicky Velvet: a couple is trapped underground slowly running out of air, soooo fucked up, i love a good cave creature and transgender wrongs! tw: child death, murder, violence, confined spaces
You Have Joined the Livestream by Jessica McHugh: Two ghost hunting bros (including all the worst frat bro stereotypes from homophobia, sexism, patriotism and covid denial) are challenged to go to an incredibly haunted location by their haters, fun and with a satisfying end, tw sexism, covid denial, police brutality, homophobia
*FAV* Cracks by Mary SanGiovanni: A teacher notices some children's obsession with a glowing stone. Then people start getting into accidents. Scary and I love a protagonist you just can't vote for (no matter how much you understand their actions). Fun!!! tw: graphic injury, accident, death, child murder
*FAV* The Things We Did in the Dark by Julia Darcey: Two girls sacrificed to serve a dark god and keep him from destroying the world, really atmospheric and interesting and heartbreaking, tw: violence, physical abuse as punishment, death, confinement, human sacrifice (in a way), blood, body horror
In the House, There Were Teeth and There Were Eyes by Ichabod Cassius Kilroy: A lonely man and a fucked up house. Very fun. I love it when architecture weeps and droops and fucks up your life <3, tw: death, body horror
*FAV* A Dampened Embrace by Christopher Hann: A family worshipping an eldritch god and the son that tried to change this legacy, scary and fascinating! tw: death, murder, body horror
*FAV* 24 Points by S.A. Cosby: a father-son-uncle hunting trip goes very wrong, really great horror that manages to be both cosmic and grounded in the natural world and so even more terrifying, tw: suicide, cannibalism/self harm/self-mutilation, injury, death, gore
*FAV* On the Shores of Midnight by Marnie Desdemona: a grieving woman on the seaside searching for a church hidden by the tides, lyrical and with very interesting imagery, tw suicide, harm to animals, drowning, vomiting, starvation, death
The Eye of God by Rachel Searcey: two sisters are stranded on a small island and their food reserves are running low, manages to portray the isolation and desperation really well, tw starvation
Like Ants We March by Jorja Osha: A black boy starts hearing the voice of a friend shot by police through his radio and has to deal with the intense racism of his community, very intense and vivid, tw: police brutality, murder, racism, gun violence, death
*FAV* Burning Slumber by Jessica L. Sparrow: Colonization as eldritch horror, incredibly well done and super interesting! tw: gore, violence, murder, colonialism, self mutilation, eye gore, mention of sexual assault
Passage by Cyrus Amelia Fisher: A group of sailors and a witch trapped in endless ice as the ship captain has to decide if her loyalty truly lies with her crew, very The Terror with added eldritch beast, very fun tw murder, unsanitary food, starvation, cannibalism, death, self harm for ritual purposes
The Comfort of a Cold Pit by Michelle Tang: the old servant of a God meets her successor, i love textile art in horror fiction, so that was cool! Very emotional and introspective, but I enjoyed it! Tw past familial and spousal abuse, death, eye gore
Gyges by Vaughn A. Jackson: urban fantasy meets cosmic horror when a detective who knows some alchemy takes on the creature possessing a little girl, it was fine but might work better as a longer work to really explain the worldbuilding further, tw child endangerment, blood, fire, severe burns
Beggars Can't be Choosers by L. Marie Wood: A director desperately trying to find a good script to work with as his higher ups are pressuring him to deliver something good, okay, but not really my style, tw death, kidnapping (in a way?)

First of all, very grateful to RDS Publishing to have read the ARC! This review is also posted on Goodreads.

Like most anthologies, there will be some stories that you loved and some that you didn’t. I’m glad to say that I enjoyed my time with each story in this anthology. Inclusive cosmic horror stories? I was more than happy to read this. From the first story, I was extremely intrigued. By the second one, I was hooked. I think my favorite one has to be Live Free or Die by Danny Brzozowski. Mini series soon? Movie? Please?

This was a fun and interesting read and I highly recommend to anyone who loves cosmic horror and appreciates inclusivity. I’d love to read more anthologies like this and will be going on the hunt soon!

When I think of cosmic horror, my mind always jumps to an unusual place; Albert Camus and the feeling of the absurd, the knowledge that understanding our universe is something we all naturally desire but fundamentally cannot grasp. To me, that's what cosmic horror is best at exploring because the entire genre of weird fiction is about encountering the unknowable, discovering things that push the boundaries of human comprehension so far the mind breaks. There are no answers, only the madness of infinity.


Unfortunately, much of the history and common tropes of this genre are steeped in racism and reactionary thinking as the man commonly credited as the father of the genre, H.P. Lovecraft, was a bigot who feared immigrants, non-white people, electricity, and radios. Lovecraft's 'unknown' was informed and shaped by his myopic worldview. Because of how foundational his work is to weird fiction, this coward's hate has percolated through the genre like a subliminal message from one of the horrors he created.


In Raw Dog Screaming Press' new anthology Beyond the Bounds of Infinity, editors Vaughn A. Jackson and Stephanie W. Pearre along with a long list of diverse writers seek to reclaim and explore the horrors of the unknowable, inclusively expanding on the genre without defaulting to tired problematic tropes.


Weird is what you sign up for with an anthology like this; many of these stories are plain bizarre. Like many cosmic horror stories, a lot of these heroes don’t make it out alive; others still find themselves cursed, changed, or absorbed completely by the forces that condemn them. Sisyphean boulders of the unimaginable kind crush heroes, others choose to be consumed knowing their choice is rebellion against a system they can’t possibly understand.



Part of the fun in reading a horror anthology is the feeling of surprise you get from opening each new story. In these stories, if the Lovecraftian other exists, the trope is inverted serving as a metaphor for power like in “Live Free or Die” by Danny Brzozowski, a trans school teacher is ostracized and fired by their smalltown and makes a startling discovery. Cosmic evil makes for a great metaphor. To me, living under American capitalism can feel like cosmic horror, dark powerful forces, indifferent to your suffering and using you for their gain. Pedro Iniguez’s “Effigies of Monstrous Things” uses the genre to make this connection with a single father, struggling with community college, and trying to keep his kids safe in an unsafe building the landlord won’t repair. Anything he does to help ends up doing harm as he tries to keep the black mold growing in their apartment at bay.


Other highlights for me were S.A. Cosby’s story “24 Points” about a hunting trip gone woefully awry. Cyrus Amelia Fisher’s “Passage,” about an icy trip to pay homage to a cruel god, a story that explores what happens when we place obligation over our nature. L. Marie Wood’s story “Beggars Can’t be Choosers" sees a Black couple reading through scripts chock full of stereotypes as they look for a story for their next film made to please interdimensional aliens drunk on human culture.


I suspect this will be best enjoyed in small sips rather than a big gulp. I occasionally found myself reeling from whiplash as I jumped from one alien pot into the next, but the experience was overwhelmingly pleasurable. In the introduction Vaughn A. Jackson appropriately tears down H.P. Lovecraft’s infinitely quoted notion that the oldest fear is the fear of the unknown; instead charging that the oldest fear is the fear of being alone. It’s wonderful that cosmic horror is growing as a genre and leaving the past behind. This book helped me grapple with some of my own fears, believe it or not. I can see this book making most people feel a little less alone.


I’m now going to give a brief review of some of my favorite stories, but only the ones I can keep as close to spoiler-free as possible. If you’re like me and prefer reading your anthologies blind, stop here. But do come back after you read it if you want to compare notes.


"The Birth of Sound" by Timaeus Bloom

The central conceit of this story, from a science nerd standpoint who loves cosmic horror, feels like such an obvious notion that it’s surprising someone hadn’t used it sooner. A radio DJ hears something special and as the reader, you're invited to his broadcast.


"Fractures of Her Reflection" by Amanda Headlee

A wicked little story about trauma. Dava has a compulsion, she’s certain the world will end if she doesn’t perform a simple, seemingly meaningless ritual every morning. This story was a wonderful exploration of how trauma can other you, and cast you as an outsider or stranger. It also seems to grapple with the idea that sometimes, the hard part of awareness, is being right when nobody else can see it.



"Effigies Of Monstrous Things" by Pedro Iniguez

This was one of my favorite stories in the anthology. It starts with a dizzying opening that will have you wondering if you missed something before plating you with reagent-grade dread as the ending brings the whole thing full circle. This story feels grounded, you can see this single father's plight and believe these things are happening until they turn. Poverty makes for a cyclical pattern of loss here, and the cosmic horror speculative fic flavor is cleverly used to build a feeling of inevitability that, while firmly rooted in weird fiction, feels real.


"Cracks" by Mary SanGiovanni

This was a dark little story about normalcy bias, denial, and the terror of seeing something nobody else seems to notice. When some grade school children find a glowing rock and begin acting strangely, their school teacher begins to notice suspicious coincidences. This one was the best kind of wicked and has an ending that will drop your jaw.



"A Dampened Embrace" by Christopher Hann

This story has one of the greatest first pages I’ve read in a while. It’s surreal, peaceful and serene. It’s also incredibly weird and gross. We open with a narrator whose mother has died, discovered the grave has been robbed, and has been contacted by their father saying he’s found a mermaid. That should be all the setup you need to get you interested.


Beyond the Bounds of Infinity was released on 7/10/24 and is on shelves now.


I received an advance reading copy free in exchange for honest feedback and am leaving this review voluntarily.

I am so thankful to RDS Publishing, Netgalley, and the wonderful contributors who made this book possible. This unfortunately wasn't for me, but I am still really thankful for the opportunity to review this one.

"Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC!

This book begins with a foreword by the editor about how he was inspired to create this anthology; to put together a collection of diverse cosmic horror stories by diverse authors to push back against the genre's racist and xenophobic origins.

This anthology does exactly that. There are a good variety of authors of different races, orientations, gender etc. and the stories are also incredibly varied in terms of character diversity, plots, and Horrors™️. This anthology recasts marginalised people as the protagonists of their stories, with some stories even subverting cosmic horror's xenophobic origins to portray the oppressors as what they are.

My enjoyment varies from story to story, as do the writing styles, but for the most part I found most of the stories to be at least interesting and engaging. Some of the stories take on more experimental approaches to storytelling, though some attempts are more successful than others.

I'm going to go ahead and shout out some of my favourite stories from this collection, in no particular order.

My personal favourite was The Silent Letter by Chris Nelson. The author does an excellent job of setting up the premise and nails the writing. I was totally unnerved reading it and had to take short breaks between sections.

Effigies of Monstrous Things by Pedro Iniguez begins quite straightforwardly, but the set up pays off big time. The twist is excellent, and the gore was gruesome. I am not good at visualising in my head, but the descriptions were so vivid it gave me the ick. In a good way!

Another story I quite enjoyed was Fractures of Her Reflection by Amanda Headlee. Although I found it to be among the less terrifying stories of this collection, the premise is really interesting, and I found the protagonist to be rather compelling. I wish there was more of this story, I would love a whole book of this, but I suppose the beauty of short fiction is that it makes you crave more. Unrelated, but while I was reading the hospital scene the song Chihiro by Billie Eilish came on, and it was like watching the epic climax of a movie with an amazing soundtrack, which elevated my experience of this story for sure.

The Things We Did in the Dark by Julia Darcey was rather straightforward, but surprisingly tender and sad.

In the House, There Were Teeth and There Were Eyes by Ichabod Kassius Kilroy is super weird, possibly the weirdest story here. I have no idea what's going on, but I liked this. I think. (Also the author has the coolest name ever.)

I have included the list of stories, as well as content warnings, although it's possible that I may have missed some, and I'm straight up not sure how to warn for some things without giving spoilers, so do be warned.

The Birth of Sound - Timaeus Bloom
CW: none?

Fractures of Her Reflection - Amanda Headlee
CW: gaslighting from a medical professional, medical content, hospital, injury, past death, car accident mention, past abuse

Live Free or Die - Danny Brzozowski
CW: transphobia, hate crime, blood, injury

The Silent Letter by Chris Nelson
CW: death, coma, gore, body horror

Effigies of Monstrous Things by Pedro Iniguez
CW: body horror, gore <- every other story has this, but take this one seriously

Six Underground by Vicky Velvet
CW: death, violence, confined spaces

You Have Joined the Livestream by Jessica McHugh
CW: sexism, misogyny, implied murder

Cracks by Mary SanGiovanni
CW: death, injury

The Things We Did in the Dark by Julia Darcey
CW: blood, death, darkness, confinement, confined spaces

In the House, There Were Teeth and There Were Eyes by Ichabod Kassius Kilroy
CW: blood, death mention, body horror, blood, bodily fluids

A Dampened Embrace by Christopher Hann
CW: death, body horror

24 Points by S. A. Cosby
CW: death, gore, body horror, injury, self-mutilation

On the Shores of Midnight by Marnie Desdemona
CW: death, starvation, vomiting, drowning

Like Ants We March by Jorja Osha
CW: death, off page police brutality, gun violence mention

Burning Slumber by Jessica L. Sparrow
CW: self mutilation, eye gore, colonisation, mentions of sexual assault, murder

Passage by Cyrus Amelia Fisher
CW: death, starvation, non-graphic cannibalism, self harm for ritual purposes, blood

The Comfort of a Cold Pit by Michelle Tang
CW: past physical parental abuse, non-explicit eye gore

Gyges by Vaughn A. Jackson
CW: blood, fire, severe burns

Beggars Can't be Choosers by L. Marie Wood
CW: a little blood, held hostage"

I feel like with any anthology, there will be stories that resonate and stories that don't. For me this had a lot of misses or stories that maybe needed to be developed into longer works. My favorite story by far was Effigies of Monstrous Things by Pedro Iniguez. It left me thoroughly unsettled, which is what I love from horror. I'll also give a shout out to Gyges by Vaughn A. Jackson. Those characters gave me a bit of a chuckle.