Folkloric - An Anthology of Folk Horror
Published by Sentinel Creatives (full list of contributing authors at the bottom)
Find out more here: Folkloric on GoodReads
This is a short story anthology with 16 horror stories about myth and folklore from around the world.
Overall a pretty solid collection of spooks!
It's dark and gritty and interesting, and without having the strongest knowledge of various folklore, I've now looked up several creatures from the stories to learn more (and this is a positive! I love learning about this stuff).
The stories span from the high north of Finland, to the swamps of Louisiana, to Inca (I think) myth, central European, Welsh/Celtic, native American, biblical and more.
They all did a great job of weaving in real history with the mythical aspects and dark fiction. A few of the stories were a little on the longer side and didn't quite capture me, but most were a fantastic blend of eldritch, twisted, gory, and dark.
There is no contents warning as I've seen, and as this is a horror collection it does get a little grim. That said, I don't think any of the stories were too much, and the main grimness comes in the form of gore and the themes brought up and explored.
My favorite story was Shadows in the Blood (Xan van Rooyen) about a dark witch (the Prättäkitti) possessing young women and girls in the forests of Finland/Sweden/Lappi.
The story was heartbreaking, not only for the historical implications (so many poor women were burned at the stakes), but also the tension of the MC risking life, limb, and reputation to try and save them. The author seamlessly weaved in queer representation and it added depth and layer to the characters and the storyline. The sudden snippet of gore was both shocking and wonderfully grotesque and the ending had me grinning as only a good horror story can!
Honorable mentions also goes to:
Cherimoya Promises (Miranda Dahlin). I loved this Inca/South American/Chile myth as this isn't something in my history repertoire. I also have a thing for tragic horror and this one truly sank my heart at the end!
Twiglet (R.T Wenzel). Welsh/Celtic myth is a fave of mine. This story started off very dark and made my skin crawl several times. But the description of this wooden woman slowly becoming human was very tender and the final switch of betrayal not one I saw coming.
Fire Above, Below, Forward, and Behind (Errick Nunnally). Eldritch horror is great horror! This is one of the only stories with a sorta real happy ending and it fitted well. The writing was solid and the tension of following this group of slaves trying to escape across mine-filled dark waters was intense!
All in all Folkloric is a good collection of dark tales and well-written stories. I really appreciated the representation of myths from so many different places.
I received this collection free in return of my honest review.
Folkloric features stories by:
C. L. Werner
Felix Blackwell
Eneasz Brodski
Errick Nunnally
R. T. Wenzel
Miranda Dahlin
Xan van Rooyen
Rowland Bercy Jr.
Trey Henry
Thomas Canfield
Madison Kilian
Justin Fillmore
Scotty Milder
Mark Oxbrow
J. L. Royce
Max Hallam
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