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Supernatural Noir

by Ellen Datlow (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Gregory Frost (Goodreads Author) (Contributor), Paul G. Tremblay (Contributor), Richard Bowes (Contributor), Melanie Tem (Contributor), Lucius Shepard (Contributor), Jeffery Ford (Contributor), Laird Barron (Contributor) , more…

3.68 of 5 stars 3.68 · rating details · 116 ratings · 40 reviews

A hit man who kills with coincidence... A detective caught in a war between two worlds... A man whose terrible appetites hide an even darker secret... Dark Horse once again teams up with Hugo and Bram Stoker award-winning editor Ellen Datlow (Lovecraft Unbound) to bring you this masterful marriage of the darkness without and the darkness within. Supernatural Noir is an ant...more

Paperback, 397 pages

Published July 12th 2011 by Dark Horse Comics (first published June 28th 2011)

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Oct 26, 2011 Steve rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime-badness-noir, horror

I have to admit, I had some reservations over Ellen Datlow’s Supernatural Noir. Oh, I definitely wanted to read it since it contained stories by a number of writers I admire. But the whole thrust of the collection – Supernatural Noir – reminded me a bit of Datlow’s previous effort, Lovecraft Unbound, which contained a number of great stories, along with about a 100 pages of filler. In that effort, Datlow set out to have a collection of Lovecraft stories that were not, on surface at least, identi...more

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Jul 15, 2011 Kathryn rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: netgalley-or-first-reads, mystery, short-stories, anthologies, fantasy, horror, crime

Supernatural Noir is a fusion of genres which many readers may be inclined to pick apart and overanalyze. Many of the stories were barely noir, just the tiniest sliver of atmosphere present, and many of the supernatural elements did not mesh well with that atmosphere. I can not recommend this book to fans of detective noir fiction. I can recommend it to fans of horror and urban fantasy, which I am. Still, no matter your specific genre tastes, there are at least a few stories for everyone here.

M...more

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Oct 20, 2011 Sara Thompson rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: netgalley

I picked up this collection of short stories with the idea I would read a few and then do a quick review. The concept is a little lost on me. Noir is a genre that often includes the Mafia and private detectives. It's not a genre I read (with some exceptions). But I didn't think about that when I selected this book from NetGalley. I love horror and supernatural and that was all I saw.
This book was an odd collection. The reason I say the concept is lost on me is that I didn't get the reason why so...more I picked up this collection of short stories with the idea I would read a few and then do a quick review. The concept is a little lost on me. Noir is a genre that often includes the Mafia and private detectives. It's not a genre I read (with some exceptions). But I didn't think about that when I selected this book from NetGalley. I love horror and supernatural and that was all I saw.
This book was an odd collection. The reason I say the concept is lost on me is that I didn't get the reason why some of these stories were considered Noir vs just horror or paranormal. Quite a few stories didn't fit into my understanding of the Noir genre. That may be due to my inexperience with the genre. No matter.
This collection was beyond my expectations. Most of the stories were dark and creepy just they way I like them. Some didn't reveal their supernatural element till nearly the end which lulled me into believing someone had let just a good story slip through.
Some felt forced but those were few compared to the number that just sucked me in and left me wondering when it was over. I couldn't put it down. When I hit that last page, I was disappointed. I wanted more.
Reviewing collections is always difficult for me because I have a difficult time sharing stories without wanting to sit down and talk about each one. Supernatural Noir had sixteen stories and that's a lot to share. I didn't love them all, in fact I think the first story was my least favorite but it still pushed me to continue. I think the first story "The Dingus" gave me a real noir experience as a man searches for a killer only to find that it's not what he expected. (Later a story talks about a dingus that is completely different and really made me feel like this story was more bizarre).
To say what is my favorite is hard but I can tell you which will stick with me for awhile.
The Absent Eye - a story of a boy who loses his eye to discover he can see these strange spirits. Eventually left in an institution he learns how to communicate and agrees to discover what happens to them when they disapper so that the spirits will help him escape. It's a haunting story about commitment and the lengths a person will go for freedom.
Along those same lines is But For Scars about a young woman who escapes an institution because her mother's ghost haunts her bed. The girl makes her way to her old house to find one of her mother's lovers living there. She kills herself in his room, leaving the ghosts with him. (That's a terrible explanation and you will understand when you read it but it's the best I can do).
I do think I have a favorite now that I think about it some more - The Last Triangle. A man finds himself in withdrawal in an elderly woman's garage. She lets him stay and helps him get straight. What she wants in return is his help to save a life. A powerful, touching story about faith, compassion and strength that still makes me feel things long after I have read it.
Pick up a copy of Supernatural Noir. I will warn, this is not a book for children. There is swearing but that's the least of the problems after all the violence and sex. A fun read for any adult who likes paranormal/supernatural and wants to see a different sort of darkness when it comes to the world.

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Sep 21, 2011 Karen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, specfic

Some good stories in this collection--Datlow is a career anthologist and she can put 'em together. There is a little bit of Usual Suspects syndrome, and a few stories that aren't so much Noir as just Dark, but I'm not a genre purist, so. Standouts for me included Nick Mamatas's The Dreamer of The Day, and Paul Tremblay's The Getaway. Brian Evenson's The Absent Eye is also (as usual for Evenson) creepy, atmospheric, and impeccable in tone, but I thought the resolution was a little bland. Joe Lang...more

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Aug 01, 2011 Pandem rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: paranormal, fiction

My experience with short story collection leaves me with one general rule of thumb about them: in any given collection, most stories will be just okay, a few will be standouts, a few will be bad or worse. Supernatural Noir falls right into line with that rule.

While none of the stories are outright terrible, most are just fair to middling. There are some standouts, however; Melanie Tem's "Little Shit," Joe Lansdale's "Dead Sister," Tom Picirilli's "But For Scars," and, surprisingly, Caitlin R. Ki...more

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Jun 27, 2011 Chris King Elfland's 2nd Cousin rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Fans of Hard-boiled Crime Fiction, Fans of Dark Fantasy

NOTE: This review was first published at The King of Elfland's 2nd Cousin on June 22nd, 2011. If you enjoy it, check out what else is there!

First, let me start by saying that I love noir fiction and film. Give me a good hard-boiled detective story, and I’ll lap it up – typically not looking for much beyond entertainment. I also love dark fantasy and horror, and so the thought of blending them in a new anthology fittingly titled Supernatural Noir sounded great to me. Throw in one of the best ed...more

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Jun 29, 2011 Cecelia rated it 3 of 5 stars

I’ve been acclimating to the darker side of fantasy. I still don’t want to give myself nightmares, so I tend to take that type of thing in small bites. Luckily for me, Dark Horse just released an anthology of short stories – edited by the one and only Ellen Datlow – called Supernatural Noir, and the entries are brief enough to fit my specifications. The combination of traditional film noir elements with the supernatural also made for interesting (and sometimes disturbing) reading.

It would be ver...more

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Jun 14, 2011 Karissa rated it 4 of 5 stars

I got an eGalley of this book through NetGalley(dot)com. This is an anthology of stories that focus on the dark, dirty, and supernatural parts of human society. Definitely a collection for adults as there is a lot of swearing, violence, and sex in these.

Highlights for me were The Dingus by Gregory Frost (I loved the dark atmosphere in this story and really enjoyed the ironic ending), Little Shit by Melanie Tem (loved how the plot was spun out and again great irony), The Last Triangle by Jeffrey...more

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Jun 08, 2011 Chibineko rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: dark-horse, netgalley, anthology, cool, creepy, drug-addict, fairies, demons, gothic, horror, magic, male-lead-character, murder, mystery, supernatural, thriller

It doesn't matter how you like your supernatural tales. Modern, retro, a touch of gothic... there's a little bit of everything in this collection of short stories. Just don't be surprised when you end up going back over some of the stories just to figure out everything, though.

Dark Horse has really outdone itself with this book. Like I said above, you'll find a lot to like in this collection. You'll find some stories that you'll just go batty over, others that you won't be able to peel your eyes...more

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May 20, 2012 Jamie O'Connell rated it 2 of 5 stars

Positives: This collection veers into very different territory! Rather than the typical zombie, werewolf, spook material, these stories blend the 1940s/ 1950s noir with the supernatural. Fairy wars, private dicks, dangerous women, and evil elves all share space here. A few standout stories: Jeffrey Ford’s “The Last Triangle,” Joe R. Lansdale’s “Dead Sister,” and Brian Evenson’s “The Absent Eye.” This collection also focused on theme, character, and plot rather than the cliché trap of violence. T...more

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Sep 22, 2011 Eric rated it 2 of 5 stars

Recommended to Eric by: Watch The Skies

This is actually a better book than a 2 star rating might suggest. My biggest issue was preconcieved notions.

I'm not sure exactly what I expected from supernatural noir. I haven't ever had a big desire to get into mystery / detective type stories so my thoughts on noir before this were nebulous at best. Visions of supernatural noir summon thoughts of films like "Cast A Deadly Spell" or "Big Trouble In Little China" for me. After reading this series of short stories my expectations are set for th...more

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Oct 10, 2011 Donna rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: best-bitten

I've got a short line-up of anthologies lately. First and foremost, the formatting on this digital galley was absolutely atrocious. To the point where I couldn't even read it on my eReader, atrocious. There were a few pages a story section that I could read but then the pages would double up and snap to microscopic print that I couldn't enlarge. I tried reading it but I ended up giving myself a migraine. So I ended up tethered to a computer to read this one and had the stories been bad, I would...more I've got a short line-up of anthologies lately. First and foremost, the formatting on this digital galley was absolutely atrocious. To the point where I couldn't even read it on my eReader, atrocious. There were a few pages a story section that I could read but then the pages would double up and snap to microscopic print that I couldn't enlarge. I tried reading it but I ended up giving myself a migraine. So I ended up tethered to a computer to read this one and had the stories been bad, I would have dropped it like a bad habit. Not only did this take me longer to read but, as I said, I was tied to a computer to read it and since I don't have a laptop, it was a major inconvenience. But I kept reading it because I really liked what I was reading.

So putting the formatting issue aside, I really did like these stories. Trust. For how put out I was reading SUPERNATURAL NOIR, I would have stopped REALLY quickly if I didn't like it. Even if I somewhat liked it, I would have stopped because the format was an issue. But I didn't. I kept reading. Had I had this book in a normal print version, I would have flown through it, I liked it that much.

And now I'm back to reviewing an anthology of stories; an issue for me as I stated in my review of FEAR last week. Well, with SUPERNATURAL NOIR, each story was distinct enough to showcase the uniqueness of each author but at the same time all of their themes blended together seamlessly, each complementing the last as the book went on. Datlow did an amazing job of compiling such similar yet vastly different stories into one book.

What you have to understand with noir is that it's a bit over the top. Normally it's not really my thing but seeing as this was of the supernatural variety, I wanted to see what it was all about. And I really liked it. Yes, some of the stories read a bit like DICK TRACEY meets SUPERNATURAL but all of the stories had personality and I certainly can't deny them that. They stood out against the rest of the "normal" supernatural stories out there because of that noir effect, and I think it made them all the better.

My favorites were 'The Getaway' by Paul G. Tremblay (about a guy driving with a semi-prostitute that ends up at an inn, stalked by wooden gnomes), 'Comfortable in Her Skin' by Lee Thomas (about two women escaping battered pasts only to be sucked into a whole new world thanks to a wayward wolf hide) and 'The Maltese Unicorn' by Caitlin R. Kiernan (about a post-WWII female detective working for the wrong side trying to make a run for a crazy whore house owner). There's just this overwhelming grit to all of them that will leave you a little uncomfortable when you're done. I like it when my stories do that. It means they've actually moved me.

I wouldn't say the stories are inherently scary but there is some level of horror aspect to all of them (although the one with the gnomes was pretty freaky). The noir is more underlying, existing more in the personalities of the characters than in the overall story itself so if you're not big on it, you'll still probably get a kick out of them anyway as they're not dripping in it. But they definitely should be read for the supernatural aspect. They're different kinds of horror stories, playing into all manner of horror, not just your standard spooks. For that I can greatly appreciate what SUPERNATURAL NOIR has to offer, as would any genuine horror fan. It's a deviation from all of the other regular horror out there and will certainly leave a lasting impression even after you close the cover.(less)

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Jun 21, 2011 Sharon Tyler rated it 4 of 5 stars

Supernatural Noir is a collection of short stories collected and edited by Ellen Datlow that will be published June 22 2011.The collection is a great group of stories that combine the noir flavor with events and people with of paranormal persuasion. Stories include tales of love, frightening lawn gnomes, magical artifacts, a hit man killing with coincidence, horrible appetites hiding worse secrets, and a detective stuck between two worlds. All of the tales were dark, with magic and irony playing...more

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Jun 29, 2011 Gef rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc, e-books, personal-favorites

The ARC of this anthology came at the perfect time, as my reading tastes this spring and summer have been tuned to the noir and dark fantasy genres. So, to see a slew of authors each offer up short stories with a blending of elements from both genres, with Ellen Datlow expertly compiling the stories together, well ... let's just say this might have been the perfect summer read for me this year.

Now, being an anthology, this book offers up a mixed bag, even if does seem like the theme narrows the...more The ARC of this anthology came at the perfect time, as my reading tastes this spring and summer have been tuned to the noir and dark fantasy genres. So, to see a slew of authors each offer up short stories with a blending of elements from both genres, with Ellen Datlow expertly compiling the stories together, well ... let's just say this might have been the perfect summer read for me this year.

Now, being an anthology, this book offers up a mixed bag, even if does seem like the theme narrows the borders in which the authors can play. The truth is that noir fiction can be pretty damned diverse, and throwing in a supernatural bent only offers more freedom. It boils down to tone, I suppose. In any case, an anthologist like Ellen Datlow is about as reliable as they get when it comes to getting the best from the best.

Right off the bat I was charmed by a gritty heist story by Paul Tremblay called "The Getaway." A getaway driver speeds his cohorts out of town after a botched robbery, only to find the leader of the pack isn't in the car anymore. He's just disappeared, and the rest start to wonder just what the guy they robbed might have had to do with it. This was had a good deal of tension and a cool bit of paranoia.

A great little tale of the wayward soul seeking redemption came from Jeffrey Ford's "The Last Triangle." A washed-out addict winds up at the end of his rope and going through a rough bit of rehab in an old woman's house. But she doesn't throw him out, and instead recruits him into helping her investigate a mystery involving some rune-like symbols graffitied around town. The dichotomy of the two characters felt familiar, but the magical flavoring and Ford's way of moving the story along made it feel unique. Quite liked this one.

After that came Laird Barron's "The Carrion Gods in Their Heaven." Young women hiding out in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, hiding out from the law and the men in their lives, are swept up in a local legend and an animal hide with some powers that imbue through whoever wears it. A damned strange story with an ending that really packed a punch. It wound up being one of my favorites from the bunch.

A bit of a quirky one came from Joe Lansdale's "Dead Sister," which had a fella hired by an alluring woman to find out who is digging up her sister's grave each night. I found this one creepy as heck, but with an odd bit of humor to it that kept the rather macabre subject matter from being too gruesome.

Those are just a few samples of what you can expect from the anthology. Sufficed to say that I didn't really find any of them to be a disappointment, and I was really happy to finally get a chance to sample the works of some authors I've not read from yet, but have heard tons of praise for. It's just about as good as I could ask for from a themed anthology and I hope there is second volume sometime down the road. I suspect Supernatural Noir could be a wellspring of stories if this batch is any indication. (less)

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Jan 30, 2012 Paul rated it 4 of 5 stars

How can you combine two kickass genres and not get something doubly kickass? By not ensuring that all stories are supernatural and/or noir. There are cases where the inclusion of a story seems to stem from a ticking publication deadline. Some of the stories are beautifully written, imaginative, eerie, and perfectly executed. And some are abysmal. Skip the stories that bore you after the first page and consume the rest like jewels caked in mud, if you were one to eat jewels in the first place. Th...more

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Nov 08, 2011 M rated it 4 of 5 stars

Published by Dark Horse comics, this anthology rolls the twisted world of the supernatural up with the gritty realm of noir for a criminally eerie set of tales. A monstrous construction called the Dingus, the child-like social worker dubbed Little Shit, a magical animal skin, and a teenage cutter all find fear and sympathy within these pages. I could have done without the PI schtick found in Dead Sister and a few other tales, and easily could skip the unnecessary erotica found in The Maltese Uni...more

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Jun 07, 2011 Sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: noir, urban-fantasy

Meh.

It's not bad, but it's not great either. It might be worth picking up just for the Caitlin Kiernan story. The rest, well, it'll depend on how you like your short stories. Personally, I like them to feel self-contained and complete (Peter Beagle is brilliant at this, but alas, he's not in this anthology). Too many of the stories feel like they lack a proper end.

Some of the writers take the noir in the title more seriously than others, but in the end you have a bunch of nasty little tales wit...more

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Jul 12, 2012 Querus Abuttu rated it 3 of 5 stars

Welcome Reader,

Please join me as I travel on a journey through the anthology titled, "Supernatural Noir." My review will be in stages as I read through the shorts. I'll try not to include any spoilers, but share my impressions instead. If I fail, my apologies in advance. I'm not supernatural. Just a humble reader, consumer of horror and avid writer.

This anthology starts out with an "Introduction" by the editor, Ellen Datlow. I enjoyed her description of "Noir Fiction." She paints it as, "...nota...more Welcome Reader,

Please join me as I travel on a journey through the anthology titled, "Supernatural Noir." My review will be in stages as I read through the shorts. I'll try not to include any spoilers, but share my impressions instead. If I fail, my apologies in advance. I'm not supernatural. Just a humble reader, consumer of horror and avid writer.

This anthology starts out with an "Introduction" by the editor, Ellen Datlow. I enjoyed her description of "Noir Fiction." She paints it as, "...notably dark, brooding, cynical, complex, and pessimistic." Datlow describes Noir Fiction as "...thick with criminality and rife with betrayal," and states she feels there are only a scant number of Supernatural Noir stories. The editor highlights her love for dark edgy tales which contributed to her desire to edit this book.

As I started reading the first story, "The Dingus," by Gregory Frost, what hit me dead on was that this should not have been the starting story of the anthology. It was a fairly enjoyable read, but not the page turner that should have set the tone for the book. Frost's story was rather slow paced at the beginning and picked up toward the end, and there were places where 'passive voice' made the prose too cumbersome. The last paragraph of page 15 took me right out of the story with several "had" and "had been" phraseology in the text. This error (I call it an error) occurred in other places as well, and I noted an overuse of the pronoun "he" on pages 27 and 28. Aside from that, I thought Frost's story was solid and creative. I loved his monster creation, which you simply must read to appreciate. Still, this story would have been better presented in the middle of the book, and would have read better if it were just a bit cleaner.

Paul Tremblay's "The Getaway," was the second read in this anthology. I admit up front that I'm not a fan of stories written in present tense, and there's a ton of narration in these pages that make it a stiff piece to read. The main character visualizes and reminisces quite a bit, and then finally on pages 35 to 38 we get to some dialogue, but it's an overly verbose argument as to whether or not one of the other characters is actually in the trunk of a car during a getaway. I found myself skimming through the story, through what seemed like nothing but a perpetual state of confusion among characters, and when I finished the tale I felt as if I'd gone on a wild car ride that ended up at a dead end. I guess I expected more, and perhaps it's there and I missed it, but after reading this story three times I can't really say I found anything intriguing about it.

I took a gulp and another chance at reading the third story in this book titled "Mortal Bait," by Richard Bowes. It takes the Private Investigator route in this piece, and at this point I'm trying to remember how many stories I've read that have P.I.'s as a main character. But I easily know the number. Way too many. Passive voice creeps into this story on the first page. It's about as subtle as a 2 ton brick dropped on a gallon of jello, and again I found myself skimming. By page 50 I was more than a little disappointed. I expected a description of hours old coffee to be something other than "old and tired." Day old coffee could be 'blatantly bitter, festering like the anger of a woman waiting for her cheating husband to come home late from work again.' But "old and tired coffee?" And this piece included elves and fairies in it, which (to me) didn't fit the definition of 'Supernatural Noir.' With all of the writers out there who probably submitted to this anthology, I expected something much more "noiry."

A couple of writers I really respect told me this anthology was very good, but by the time I finished the third piece I began doubting their judgement. "Mortal Bait" didn't hook me, and could have seriously benefited from a shave and a haircut.

While reading, I began to wonder if this anthology suffered from a pressing deadline. Passive voice and excessive pronouns in the stories made the work in this book seem like a mish-mashed compilation of rushed prose. Maybe my standards are too high, or maybe because I spent $19.99 on this bound copy I expected my money's worth. But by this point, I wished I'd just borrowed a used copy from someone instead.

Only because my previously mentioned writer friends stated an approval for this anthology, did I choose to press on to the fourth story in the group titled, "Little Shit," by Melanie Tem. FINALLY, here was a story worth reading! Definitely a tale worth my $19.99! This piece of work should have been the first story in the group. It started out at a fairly rapid pace and it kept me reading...not skimming...but actually reading. Pedophilia, psychosocial schemes and themes, borderline entrapment entangled in mind-reading webs...these ideas hit the pages with an intense wave that grabbed me as a real 'noir' story. Tem's pages gave me guilty pleasure and made me want to rip out the first 72 pages of the anthology in order to give it a proper start. Her work is a gem among ordinary stones, and it was a wonderful read. Because of her brilliance, I decided to keep this book instead of tossing it into my recycling, and I will brave reading more. What will I think of the rest? Stay tuned and I'll let you know. I'm not ready to give up on this anthology, yet...(less)

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Aug 15, 2011 Leslie (Working for the Mandroid) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, fiction, galley, horror, magic, shortstories, supernatural, superpowers

Read the full review at Working for the Mandroid

All the stories had elements of classic noir, whether it was the weathered detective, the hot broad that never signals good things ahead, or just the hopeless feeling that comes within a dark world. A lot of the stories involved mobsters or criminals or prostitutes. Sex, both hetero- and homosexual (though only of the female persuasion), was a key element in most of the stories to the point of causing me discomfort as a reader in certain instances...more Read the full review at Working for the Mandroid

All the stories had elements of classic noir, whether it was the weathered detective, the hot broad that never signals good things ahead, or just the hopeless feeling that comes within a dark world. A lot of the stories involved mobsters or criminals or prostitutes. Sex, both hetero- and homosexual (though only of the female persuasion), was a key element in most of the stories to the point of causing me discomfort as a reader in certain instances (but that’s because I’m a prude and don’t like erotica, others might like it better). Overall I would say it's a decent anthology, but I'm not exactly its target audience.

The Good

Dreamer of the Day by Nick Mamatas
The Absent Eye by Brian Evenson
The Last Triangle by Jeffrey Ford
Mortal Bait by Richard Bowes (which was probably my favorite of the entire book)
The Blisters on My Heart by Nate Southard
The Getaway by Paul G. Tremblay
The Dingus by Gregory Frost

There isn’t really any one thing or even handful of things that tie these stories together. Something about the story drew me in, whether it was the mythology of the magic in “The Last Triangle” or the creepy ghosties of “The Absent Eye”. The stories were well-contained, not suffering from too much detail that derailed the plot. My favorite by far was “Mortal Bait”, a story involving the classic noir detective working on a case… and faeries. And not just your ordinary every day Tinkerbell faeries either. Warrior faeries caught up in a war with evil elves. The plot alone would have hooked me, but Bowes also writes a compelling, if a little clichéd, main character, who is sympathetic without coming across as a complete loser.

Then there was the short and sweet trippiness of “Dreamer of the Day”, involving a potential assassination and a really weird old guy who may or may not be able to predict the future. “The Getaway” was a modern day parable about why you should not commit crimes with realistic guys that had what I would imagine would be realistic reactions to crazy shit happening to you.

A lot of these stories had compelling plots that would make them really good ghost stories, such as “The Dingus” and “The Absent Eye”. “The Blisters on My Heart” is probably the only story in the collection involving prostitutes that I liked and that’s because the characters were made sympathetic - the prostitute in question was one of those classic “hooker with the heart of gold” tropes. It probably helped that a number of elements of the story felt like they were lifted straight from Supernatural, if it were an HBO series.(less)

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Oct 25, 2011 Katya rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: anthology, urban-fantasy

Perhaps I just expected too much from this book. Ellen Datlow is a master at pulling together incredible anthologies, and I've followed her from collection to collection and have generally been quite pleased with her gatherings. The title alone - Supernatural Noir - hinted at just the type of urban fantasy that I adore - dark and gritty, with a heavy dash of mystery and a generous sprinkling of magic.

Unfortunately, for me, the elements of noir and supernatural did not marry well in most of the...more

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Sep 29, 2012 Thom (T.E.) rated it 4 of 5 stars

On concept and aspirations I believe it deserves a fifth star. And if Datlow wants to edit another volume of this type, I'll be among the first in line to read it.

But...the quality varied more than I'd expected. Also, the tonal consistency of the sequencing put me off--like, to the point where a couple of times I set the book aside for a long while.

This isn't "horror-shaded crime stories" or "fantasy meets bleak, urban fatalism"--and the definition of what makes a story both supernatural and n...more

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Jul 16, 2011 Audrey rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011_publish, arc, anthology, supernatural, noir

Tales of crime, misdeeds, sex, and drugs abound in this dark anthology. There are plenty of standard detective and mafia stories for those who enjoy standard noir fiction, but there are also tales that are a looser fit for the theme of supernatural noir. Some tales are heavier on the supernatural than the noir, some the other way around. Either way, there is a broad range of stories presented here.

Some highlights of the anthology for me include Brian Evenson’s “The Absent Eye,” a creepy story th...more

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Jul 05, 2011 PopcornReads rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: scifi-fantasy

The Supernatural Noir anthology contains 16 original dark fantasy stories edited by Hugo and Bram Stoker award winner Ellen Datlow. Datlow says in her introduction that she asked the writers to provide her with “harder-than-nails stories of the supernatural with at least a few of the trademarks of noir.” To read the rest of my review, go to http://popcornreads.com/?p=1029

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Dec 31, 2012 Theresa Glover rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-reading-list

I will admit that I don’t have a lot of experience with “noir” stories or movies, but not because I’m not interested in them. Like many things, since they haven’t been much on my radar, I’ve never made the effort to seek them out. The most “noir” story that I’ve ever read is Falling Angel by William Hjorstberg and I enjoyed it. I’ve read some of the Sin City graphic novels. Their gritty nature, the way they handle the gruesome, grisly aspects of a dangerous world. Reading this book makes me regr

...more

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Mar 30, 2013 Staticblaq rated it 2 of 5 stars

A short story collection that overall was quite disappointing. Ironically, the few stories I felt were quite strong, were actually the most sterotypical of the Noir genre (downtrodden detectives in dirty offices with sexy femme fatales). Overall, all but one story in this collection failed to resonate with me. Disappointing.

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Jan 18, 2013 Mickey Schulz rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: sf-fantasy

Brilliant collection of short stories, several are more Fantasy with a Noir bent, others reverse that. There isn't a bad story in the bunch, however, I expect nothing less from Ellen Datlow who is one of my favorite SF/F editors. The Maltese Unicorn is a brilliant retelling of the Maltese Falcon. Seriously good read!

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Mar 27, 2012 A rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: anthology, supernatural, murder, impluse-purchases, 2012-stack-books

Like any anthology, there are stories you really like and ones you like less. Thankfully in Supernatual Noir there are no poorly crafted tales. I really liked the Jeff Ford story "The Last Triangle," Laird Barron's "The Carrion Gods in Their Heaven," Elizabeth Bear's "The Romance," and Joe Lansdale's "Dead Sister." To note, these four stories are all in sequence in the middle of the book so maybe I was just in a slightly better mood than when reading the rest of the stories :)

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Dec 15, 2011 David Marshall rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is an outstanding anthology put together by the indefatigable Ellen Datlow. Several of the stories deserve to reappear in Best of anthologies at the end of the year.

http://opionator.wordpress.com/2011/1...

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Aug 10, 2011 Nocturne Romance Reads added it

Shelves: paranormal, suspense

"Any Horror advocate would like this anthology and anyone who is not would like it as well. " Read more of Sara D's review on NRR
http://www.nocturnereads.com/Supernat...

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Aug 19, 2011 Sue rated it 4 of 5 stars

Ms. Datlow is one of the best editors and anthologists in the business and her selections are always solid, and often inspired. Very good anthology, but no particular story was outstanding for me in this one.

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Horror

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Short Stories

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Anthologies

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Fantasy

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Mystery > Noir

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Fantasy > Paranormal

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Fantasy > Supernatural

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Fantasy > Urban Fantasy

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Mystery > Crime

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Mystery

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About Ellen Datlow

Ellen Datlow has been an award-winning editor of short science fiction, fantasy, and horror for over twentyfive years.

She is editor of the Best Horror of the Year and has edited or co-edited a large number of award-winning original anthologies. Her most recent are Supernatural Noir, Naked City, Blood and Other Cravings, The Beastly Bride, Teeth, Trolls Eye View, and After (the last three with Ter...more

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