DARK SPORES
STORIES WE TELL AFTER MIDNIGHT
VOLUME 4
PUBLISHED: JANUARY 7TH, 2025
PUBLISHER: CRONE GIRLS PRESS
LENGTH: 358 PAGES
ANTHOLOGY OF 37 AUTHORS, 32 STORIES/5 POEMS
MULTI-GENRE/MOSTLY HORROR
ANTHOLOGY OVERVIEW: There are many ways to approach an anthology as a reader. There are many ways to appreciate it. This is one of those enormous efforts by all involved that deserves immense praise. I also think as a reader, looking at this if you wanted to read something that has a little bit of everything for you then Anthologies are the way to go and this one, it has a nice place in the hearts of those who like a little fright, a little cynical chuckle, and just some downright good short story writing with a side of mushrooms.
What is spectacular here is really beyond spectacular. However let me be completely candid right up front and say there are 37 stories here, 5 of which are prose (and that's an awesome idea in itself and more on that a little bit later), but not all are going to hit and not all are going to hit in that spectacular way I just mentioned. To be even more candid nothing is awful here either. Especially craft wise, for me it comes down to personal preference of the kind of horror I like and so here is my perspective on what I loved, liked, and why.
I am going to start by generally saying I do not envy what the editors and publishing team had to sort through to get it to where they felt it needed to be. I can't imagine the choices they had to make, not just with the stories themselves, but then creating a rhythm and a nice flow for those crazy enough like me to want to read this cover to cover. Obviously, anyone who publishes an anthology knows that's not usually how these things are tackled by a readership, but its also not unusual that a readership would do that. Most often we go to the authors we love and know first and then read around it. While I had several friends and colleagues who appeared, and was already a fan of few of them before this, I decided to go cover to cover.
The first thing I will say about that experience is Carol and Rachel really have a great feeling for how to arrange these stories so they do have a flow into one another and they do have a nice cadence to them based on the tone of the story itself. I also thought there were great choices as to where the poetry should go here. Each time it felt like a nice inhale or exhale for this reader. All that being said there is a pivot point for me where it was like banger after banger, starting at Tonia Ransom's "Butterfly Hisses" and it goes for a good period. The middle and the end of this collection are where you really get the spectacular aspects I was referring too. There are 3 stories, 3 outliers, if you will, that I would classify as not being in either of those sections, one of which was my favorite story of the entire collection, that make up my Top 10. Having those outliers I think makes this a more solid cover to cover read even still.
I love that the theme really shows its spirits in different ways here, from the tones, the genres, and the pacing. I know the editors would say they were lucky to get this but they deserve a lot of credit for recognizing this and finding a way to fit it all in. I will say a few kind of center around a similar theme or try to reach the same conclusion but even still for the most part there is probably a story you would like if you like certain different approaches to the macabre and speculative. Not all stories are gross, which I think was a smart distinction made here too. Not all stories are even what I would classify as true horror, some have horrific elements, some rely more on the instincts of the pacing in a horror type sytory, and some justify their selections by being a little more avant-garde and plain ole weird.
So my goal here is to get you the experience I had in going from cover to cover but realistically you probably don't want that experience. I can't write about all 37 efforts in grand detail (nobody wants to read that) but I will give you my Top 10 in no particular order (except I will name my favorite and point that tone out as so) and for the others I will give you all at least one thing I loved about each story and what type of story it is, so if you are a fan of that type of story you can go right to it if you wish. Of course, I and the publisher hope you read every story and do what I did and go cover to cover. To which I will say that experience was well worth it for this reader. I really loved more than I just liked or didn't like here.
So let's start going through each story right here and I will give you my one sentence good for each of them, then I will expand on the top 10 and my favorite.
--MUSHROOMS IN OUR BLOOD Written by CLAY MCLEOD CHAPMAN - I love the meta-ness of this, its kind of almost a prologue-like story to get you prepared for what's to come. "You're infected ready" - great line (maybe one of my favorites in the entire anthology) TYPE OF READ: PSYCHOLOGICAL INTERNAL HORROR
--SWAMP FEVER Written by JAMIE LACKEY - I like how this felt like the start of an interesting story. There is a great paragraph in which the grandchild gives up their deep fear in a nicely written passage. TYPE OF READ: PSYCHOLOGICAL/CREAURE SPECULATIVE FICTION
--THE EPIGEOUS DEAD Written by JAMES CHAMBERS - One of the better back and forth stories here, good use of dialogue that moved the narrative TYPE OF READ: PARANORMAL HORROR ( a touch of psychological)
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--THE PARASITIUM Written by M LOPES DA SILVA - One of 2 stories, in which my favorite ways Mushrooms get introduced. I also like that this has a weird and twisted dare I say happy ending to it. TYPE OF READ: BODY HORROR
--POINT ZERO Written by LEE MURRAY - Our 2nd poem by one of the masters of prose on this planet. Lee Murray has such a deft touch and does something unique I have never experienced in a poem before, a sort of POV Switch and it works. TYPE OF READ: POETRY
--**TOP 10 SELECTION** BUTTERFLY HISSES Written by TONIA RANSOM - This is my favorite way mushrooms get introduced. Finally, we get a shrooming drug story and we get it in the middle of the woods. YES!! I mean if that isn't the set up of all set-ups but the fascinating thing about how Tonia writes all this, like we are the 5th guy. There is a great back and forth here between the actual 4 guys that fed into the characters' emotional states and gives us as an audience a nice feeling as if we swallowed the shrooms ourselves. There is a cool subversion to the Final Girl and the don't fuck with what you don't understand tropes here too. I love how quickly Tonia can shift the conversation from casual to harrowing, that's a really nice skill set on display here. TYPE OF READ: SUPERNATURAL/DREAD HORROR
--**TOP 10 SELECTION** THE CYCLE OF CONSUMPTION Written by REBECCA ROWLAND - There is a cool foreshadowing written here that I think really plays into one of the stronger endings in this collection. I love the one-room concept here too, a short film within a short story idea. I love the antagonist, one of the best-developed ones in this collection, she is like a twisted Cliff Claven (don't have time to educate you, google it). The pacing here is nice too but really the payoff is the prize ending with this one. TYPE OF READ: SUPERNATURAL/BODY HORROR
--**TOP 10 SELECTION** FRUITING BODIES Written by VICTORIA NATIONS - This whole story has an interesting tone that I found has this very literary but almost David Lynch-like horror sensibility. Almost as if the horrific was as happy-go-lucky as a visit to Pleasantville or a framework like that of Beetlejuice without the comical absurdity, like a dark cloud with a silver lining or endless handkerchief joke that you never laugh at. There's an interesting twist and yes with this story I mean it literally but really I like that the faux history is nicely explained in a careful sprinkling and not info dumped on us here. There is a nice bit of religious fervor and political windshielding that adds to the perspective we get as an audience but it is truly tainted because there is a really cool idiom that also normalizes the behavior of the curious who play as an unreliable narrator for us. Another great example of a weird pseudo-happy ending that works. TYPE OF READ: BODY HORROR/SURREALIST
-- DEVILISH DEEDS Written by CANDACE NOLA - This was really close to being a Top 10 selection for me, but there is a similar story later into the collection that I think approaches the same subject with a little more tongue and cheek. Not to say this is bad because it has a more Grimm Fairy Tale feel to it but hey, I guess, I am really liking the happy endings here. Maybe because the world is a Grimm fairy tale right now and while that is unfair to Candace, I will still say this is an excellent story. Although Nana from this story might argue this one has just as happy an ending, as it can, but for really one person, or more apt one deity. I loved the combination of fairy tale meets horror here. Candace has this really nice way of being cheeky and sort of cynical while maintaining this very stern bravado about protecting the lore. It's a cool way to read a story like this. TYPE OF READ: SUPERNATURAL/FAIRY TALE HORROR
--**TOP 10 SELECTION** FUN GUS Written by PEDRO INIGUEZ - This plays nicely into a very familiar theme of online dating nightmares but obviously in a unique way that incorporates fungus. I know you now see it too. I dig the interaction and the comfortable manner in which this sets us up for the inevitable. We can all feel that thought in the back of our heads, "sounds too good to be true". There is a very nice foreshadowing that happens within the "text messages"that I liked when it rears its ugly head, no pun intended. I like the break from the conventional storytelling here and how this plays like a visual conversation that forms a story. Maybe one of the most unique approaches to this subject for this anthology within this collection. TYPE OF READ: BODY HORROR
--NOTHO-PAN: A CITY OF ANGEL WINGS Written by MAXWELL GOLD - I liked the idea of no pulled punches here. This story punches you in the face and gets out of the way. I like the little toss-in of lore here and the POV it takes in doing so. TYPE OF READ: GORE
--A DARK INFESTATION Written by ARIAN KHAIM - I like there's a clean up crew for a horror story. It reminds me a little of A CABIN IN THE WOODS. I also like the idea of the characters' knowing what is coming or at least assuming so, assuming the risks of the danger awaiting is a nice way to get us as an audience invested. TYPE OF READ: PARANORMAL
--WOLD Written by JEF ROUNER - The characters here are fun. I love their naivete and that harnesses a sheer ignorance is bliss with it too. It makes the body count fun. I love the greaser age-like feel of this too, like a Rod Sterling meets Art Bell concoction in a Reverned Horton Heat video (again no time, google it). TYPE OF READ: DARK FANTASY--**TOP 10 SELECTION** A DARK SPORE GROWS IN THE ROT Written by RACHEL BRUNE - I have to be honest when this story started I was like, ugh another walk in the woods to find the evil fungus story coming but then this story took me, shook me, and wow ripped up the fabric of that design quickly. I love how this turned. A very nicely written dread pace that is aided by a neat sentence that hooks you, like as if we were in Crystal Lake hearing Jason's music, and we all know what that meant when that happened. This is a much slower burn, which I also appreciated, kind of like holding on to the very edges of reality but the unraveling ultimately takes over and the way that's written, chef's kiss. TYPE OF READ: SURREALIST/DREAD
--OF TEETH AND MUSHROOMS Written by NICOLE GIVENS KURTZ -- There aren't many writers who write Detectives better than Nicole. I love the nuances, quips, and quirks she adds to the cadence of the ideal of that character arch. It helped sell the grossness of the encounter here with the fungi. TYPE OF READ: DARK SUSPENSE
--**TOP 10 SELECTION** THE MUSHROOM CHILD Written by SAMANTHA BRYANT - The idea that your mind plays tricks on you is a familiar theme here in this collection but I love the way in which Samantha incorporates it here. She comes at it with a nice rose-colored glasses ideal and an even more frustrating (a good reader-type frustration where we are meant to be that) character curiosity. I love the slow descent here too, a very nice way to induce panic and dread, all while initially maintaining the opening tone until she just can't anymore. That gives it this nice 3rd act push writing style, if you will, to the climax. I love the old-school ending too, very Creepshow, Tales from the Crypt-like. I also love that she gets us in and out of the read, sometimes that's a lot harder to do with a story like this than its not. TYPE OF READ: DREAD/BODY HORROR
--THE GREENHOUSE Written by CAROL GYZANDER - This story is written in a different tone, like a Terms of Endearment type tone or like Osage County-ish, much more grounded to everything else before and after it is and I really like that change. What it also does when the horror comes is it smacks you in the face. Yet the savviness of the writing doesn't change in that stark contrast, it in fact leans on the established tone to try and find the way out and add more to the audacity of the situation. I liked that idea a lot in reading this. TYPE OF READ: SUSPENSE/DREAD
--THE MUST OF YOUR BODY COVERS ME Written by SUMIKO SAULSON - I think Sumiko read Samantha's story and got inspired, that would be awesome but I know that's not the case, maybe? Anyway this a great example of how the Anthology benefits the poetry and vice versa as this is such a great prose for this section. I love the visuals in this poem itself, very vivid, and something tangible you can feel. I love that when it comes to poetry. TYPE OF READ: BODY HORROR/POETRY
--THE ANGELS OF SCRUGGS COUNTY Written by DANIEL ROOP - There is something about knowing a character and defining them for an audience; and that works pretty good here. I think the 1st person POV was the right choice for that too. It sells the wickedness within here in a way I don't think an outside POV could have. TYPE OF READ: DREAD/PSYCHO
--TENDER FLESH Written by ELIZABETH TWIST - I like the idea of the foilage being the unassuming antagonist and how it comes to be that amidst the questionable company it is keeping in the humans of this story. That is nicely written here. TYPE OF READ: LOVECRAFTIAN
--CORDYCEPS ANGELUS Written by ROB GRIMOIRE - Another story that uses a word pattern to be almost like a chaptering for the reader. There is a nice discovery element to Rob's writing that I quite enjoyed, even (and honestly more so) when it got graphic. I love the movement here, methodical and precise, which of course plays well to the character we are living this through. I loved what I imagined visually here and how vivid that was in my mind. TYPE OF READ: DYSTOPIAN/SCI-FI/BODY HORROR
--**TOP 10 SELECTION** BUTTONS Written by RE CARR - This was the first story to make my skin crawl in this collection, the creepy factor here is not gross nor truly graphic until the climax, and even then this is the type of graphic that is warranted and should be celebrated if you are a decent human. This effect on me is done with a nice precision of the levels in which this becomes creepier and creepier. I love how the angst within the lead character grows as it grows within the reader. That is a skill hard to accomplish and RE Carr masters it here. Not many of these stories are designed to make you cheer for the end. I love the Blair Witch meets Everyday Italian (or pick any instructional cooking show on Food Network really) style of all this too. More so if you are a chef or cooking show fan, there is something nice about how precise and beautifully detailed the cooking aspects of this story are too. I love how it played into the tropes for those types of shows. TYPE OF READ: SUSPENSE/FOUND FOOTAGE
--SPROADIKOS OR WHY WE DON'T DATE MUSHROOMS Written by ANGELA YURIKO SMITH - Another nice quick hitting free verse that really springs an atmosphere. I love the chill this prose gives off, very descriptive, with nice action verbs to keep upping the creepy. TYPE OF READ: LOVECRAFTIAN/POETRY
--AN INDISPOSITION Written by TIMOTHY GRANVILLE - I like the way we get to the climax here. I love the denial aspects and the way this twists based on that. Having the POV we have becomes a nice little twist to the unreliable narrator trope here. TYPE OF READ: SUSPENSE/DREAD
--**TOP 10 SELECTION** FORAGING Written by SHANNON SCOTT - So you have been waiting for the story that nudged out Candace Nola's, here it is. I loved the dynamic of the characters here, first the long time friendship that is seemingly doing an innocent little hike but it is anything but; a great set up. Then you get the "foil" for all extensive purposes to no fault of their own, Talia. Whose goo-goo, gaga demeanor keeps us smiling in the face of severe trauma. How dare a baby charm us so, really though her demeanor helps us stay in it too. I love there is that layer because it gives you a different tone to what is happening. I also love the husband and wife freak out, so perfect, and I love all that comes from that. This is just a fun story that shows you how to have fun with horror. I so appreciate that. I love the foreshadowing that turns into the catalyst that turns into the secret, all of that is incredible writing. TYPE OF READ: BODY HORROR/COMEDY
--**TOP 10 SELECTION** NEW MOM GROW KIT: TWO STARS Written by RICK CLAYPOOL - This again another chef's kiss section of an anthology well designed and well thought out to put these stories back to back. On it's own New Mom is an awesome Shaun of The Dead/Warm Bodies toned story. However, what I love that is different from Foraging is how the main character's inflection gives us more humor than the story itself does. I love that duality here and then introducing the sister character, who I imagine is the perfect child, and what she is able to do with virtually the same idea and having those ideas compete and then ultimately torture both kids is such a nice turn here. The tone of this being like an amazon review in storytelling fashion is so clever and works so well. Best ending line of the collection in this one, "Two stars". That made me laugh out loud when reading it. TYPE OF READ: ZOMBIE/COMEDY
--NEW LIFE Written by GORDON LINZNER - This is the final poem of the bunch and it is a neat juxtaposition to how we open the anthology. Where we are again taken on a tour of our own habits and curiosities and rewarded for reading this far. There is a nice do this and you will feel this ideal to this prose that really speaks to the style well. I enjoyed feeling alot of this. TYPE OF READ: INTERNAL PSYCHOLOGICAL/POETRY
--AN UNWANTED GROWTH Written by JO KAPLAN - I think the POV chosen here really helps sell what is really happening vs what perception breads from the character POV and in some sense every other character in the story too. There is this weird Stepford Wives feel here where dismissal and utter cynicism win over the horror until of course, the horror catches up. It's a nice transition, a nice reveal, and I love how even then there is still a tad bit of the arrogance to disbelieve remaining. That's really well done social horror and uniquely fitting to a collection that has so much uniqueness to it. TYPE OF READ: SURVIVAL/LOVECRAFTIAN
--PRETTY MAIDS ALL IN A ROW Written by RANDEE DAWN - Randee can close with the best of them. This story was very close to making my list too. I love the way this is written. There is a cadence here that flows like a netflix show, one of those that has a deep guarded secret. It is visual when it needs to be but it is also so smart in how you see the gears turning for all the characters except maybe Terence, who I am sure of it has a hamster wheel for a brain. This is very reminiscent of a Tim Burton-esque film, the contrast of brightness versus the ugly and how the ugly isn't that bad if we are being honest, as long as you aren't that bad a person, anyway. I especially love how the kids interject and observe here and how Randee writes that with a conviction that plays like our thoughts exactly. There is a somewhat predictable nature to this and of all the stories that could have that, this one is not hurt by it. In fact its like a warm hug because of it. Although I am sure I would share the sentiment of someone else getting theirs in the end but alas maybe we get a sequel for that. TYPE OF READ: SURREALIST/COMEDY
Look Mushrooms are my favorite vegetable, did this collection change that for me, on the contrary, it made me think I am not looking for the right ones to be honest, Okay, seriously though, this is a stellar collection that has some amazing talent on display and I love how it covers so much uniqueness within the horror and speculative fiction realms. I highly recommend a cover to cover run but if you start with the ones that you like in terms of genre, hopefully I categorized those well enough for you, I think you won't stop there and can't help seep into some of the others.
YOU CAN GET YOUR COPY HERE
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