37 review for Horror for RAICES: A Charitable Anthology

1. 

   4 out of 5

   Briar Page – Jan 01, 2020

   A better-than-average anthology for a good cause! I'd describe most of the stories in here as really interesting and unusual but flawed-- which, honestly, I'll take over entirely competent but dull any day of the week-- and a few as utterly fantastic. "Emperors of Jinn" by Usman Malik was a particular standout-- it reminds me of a lot of Kelly Link stories, and particularly the experience of reading those stories for the first time as a teenager. I'm left with a haunting sense that I understand A better-than-average anthology for a good cause! I'd describe most of the stories in here as really interesting and unusual but flawed-- which, honestly, I'll take over entirely competent but dull any day of the week-- and a few as utterly fantastic. "Emperors of Jinn" by Usman Malik was a particular standout-- it reminds me of a lot of Kelly Link stories, and particularly the experience of reading those stories for the first time as a teenager. I'm left with a haunting sense that I understand what's going on-- or *almost* understand it-- but when I try to put it into words, or explain it through logic (even fantasy logic), it slips ever so slightly beyond my grasp. Anyway, Malik's prose is beautiful but unobtrusive, his child characters are realistically shitty, curious, and naive, and I always enjoy reading weird fiction that draws on cultural traditions I'm not familiar with. Other stories I liked particularly were "A Children's Tour of the Facilities" by Kurt Fawver, "Drone" by Gemma Files, "It's Always Summer in the Tower" by Jessica McHugh, "The Town Manager" by Thomas Ligotti (a reprint, and one I must've read 5 times at this point, but it's just as funny and upsetting every time), "Mercury" by Livia Llewellyn, and "House of Windows" by Paul Tremblay (what if the House of Leaves were pastel?). I'm super jazzed to see Billy Martin/Poppy Z. Brite getting his hand back in the goth- horror- fiction- about- snotty- disaffected young people game, although "The Goose Girl" has some pacing problems; the ending action seems way too abrupt and truncated after the leisurely, slow-build character study lead-up, to the extent that this almost feels like a shaggy dog story. Then again, that may have been the point!

2. 

   5 out of 5

   Tom – Feb 02, 2020

   This is an extremely good anthology, in my opinion. Not just because the cause is good, but because the stories themselves are excellent. There was only one story I didn't enjoy, but I think it boils down to me disliking that author's style, not the quality of the story. There's a wide array of styles of horror here, and several stories I wouldn't even really call horror, like Laird Barron's contribution (though I LOVED his story). There are examples of lots of different styles, such as literary This is an extremely good anthology, in my opinion. Not just because the cause is good, but because the stories themselves are excellent. There was only one story I didn't enjoy, but I think it boils down to me disliking that author's style, not the quality of the story. There's a wide array of styles of horror here, and several stories I wouldn't even really call horror, like Laird Barron's contribution (though I LOVED his story). There are examples of lots of different styles, such as literary weird like what you might get from an Undertow book, or post-apocalyptic stories, or Ligotti-esque jaundiced decaying dread (more than just Ligotti's own story), horror/noir, you name it. Obviously, the cause supported by this anthology cannot receive enough attention. I don't want this review to just be about the real life horrors that the we are committing in the United States, but of course it influenced my decision to back the GoFundMe and get the ARC for this book. If you purchased this book to support the cause of defending innocent children and their families, just know that the book itself is an excellent book. If there were no other context for this book, my review would be the same. Nightscape has knocked it out of the park here. If you like horror, weird fiction, magical realism, pulp, or really just any sort of genre fiction, you should pick this one up. If you want to support RAICES, you should pick this up.

3. 

   4 out of 5

   Eileen – Aug 13, 2020

   Don't let the subtitle fool you: this is a quality anthology, not just a bunch of scary stores slapped together to hopefully raise a few bucks. Pretty much all the top living Weird Fiction authors except Caitlin Kiernan are represented: Thomas Ligotti, Ramsey Campbell, Poppy Z. Brite, Nadia Bulkin, Gwendolyn Kiste, Paul Tremblay, Laird Barron, Farah Rose Smith, Gemma Files, Jeffrey Thomas. (Hopefully Jayaprakash Satyamurthy will soon reach that tier. He is criminally underrated.) So yes, this is Don't let the subtitle fool you: this is a quality anthology, not just a bunch of scary stores slapped together to hopefully raise a few bucks. Pretty much all the top living Weird Fiction authors except Caitlin Kiernan are represented: Thomas Ligotti, Ramsey Campbell, Poppy Z. Brite, Nadia Bulkin, Gwendolyn Kiste, Paul Tremblay, Laird Barron, Farah Rose Smith, Gemma Files, Jeffrey Thomas. (Hopefully Jayaprakash Satyamurthy will soon reach that tier. He is criminally underrated.) So yes, this isn't actually "mainstream" horror most people think of, like Stephen King or Dean Koontz. Some of the pieces I wouldn't even consider horror at all, just stories with Weird or paranormal elements. Barron's "Soul of Me" was more properly science fiction, while Sonya Taaffe's "ζῆ καὶ βασιλεύει" was historical fantasy. Great variety overall. Ligotti was a winner, as usual. The only one I recognized from having been published elsewhere was "There's a Bear in the Woods" by Nadia Bulkin.

4. 

   4 out of 5

   Tom Duffy –

5. 

   5 out of 5

   Ilana Singerman –

6. 

   4 out of 5

   Amara –

7. 

   5 out of 5

   SmokingMirror –

8. 

   4 out of 5

   Sarah –

9. 

   5 out of 5

   Drew –

10. 

    5 out of 5

    Lucian Clark –

11. 

    5 out of 5

    Ryan Clifton –

12. 

    5 out of 5

    Aiden Merchant –

13. 

    4 out of 5

    Lou –

14. 

    4 out of 5

    Laura –

15. 

    4 out of 5

    H –

16. 

    5 out of 5

    Robert Wilson – Dec 20, 2019

17. 

    4 out of 5

    REMEMBER UKRAINE NOW ReadingReindeer –

18. 

    5 out of 5

    Meagan –

19. 

    4 out of 5

    Whitney –

20. 

    5 out of 5

    John Thompson –

21. 

    5 out of 5

    John Robinson –

22. 

    5 out of 5

    Lukasz –

23. 

    4 out of 5

    Castiel Cas –

24. 

    4 out of 5

    莫娃 –

25. 

    5 out of 5

    Kate –

26. 

    4 out of 5

    Roisin –

27. 

    4 out of 5

    Spencer –

28. 

    4 out of 5

    Sydney Scothon –

29. 

    5 out of 5

    Irene –

30. 

    4 out of 5

    Rachel –

31. 

    5 out of 5

    Gail –

32. 

    4 out of 5

    Jill –

33. 

    5 out of 5

    Laura –

34. 

    5 out of 5

    Cari –

35. 

    5 out of 5

    Deanne –

36. 

    4 out of 5

    Key Reads –

37. 

    5 out of 5

    antxto –