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Harlan County Horrors

by Mari Adkins (Goodreads Author)

4.23 of 5 stars 4.23 · rating details · 30 ratings · 4 reviews

Harlan County Horrors is a regional based horror anthology by Apex Magazine submissions editor Mari Adkins. It will feature stories by Alethea Kontis, Debbie Kuhn, Earl Dean, Geoffrey Girard, Jason Sizemore, Jeremy Shipp, Maurice Broaddus, Robby Sparks, Ronald Kelly, Stephanie Lenz, Steven Shrewsbury, and TL Trevaskis.

Paperback, 178 pages

Published October 1st 2009 by Apex Publications

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Apr 30, 2011 Bill rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Harlan County Horrors, edited by Mari Adkins, is billed as an anthology of regionally-inspired tales. With Harlan County being in the heart of coal country, one might expect a number of the tales to touch on aspects of mining, and that assumption is correct. However, there’s more to Harlan than the mines; for one thing there’s the people themselves, and where there are people, scary stories are sure to follow. These twelve stories are a showcase for tales of Kentucky coal country by a fine crop...more Harlan County Horrors, edited by Mari Adkins, is billed as an anthology of regionally-inspired tales. With Harlan County being in the heart of coal country, one might expect a number of the tales to touch on aspects of mining, and that assumption is correct. However, there’s more to Harlan than the mines; for one thing there’s the people themselves, and where there are people, scary stories are sure to follow. These twelve stories are a showcase for tales of Kentucky coal country by a fine crop of writers, many of them with close ties to the state.

The lead story, “The Power of Moonlight” by Debbie Kuhn is a bitter lesson about a woman scorned and the folly of rash acts. It was a very good selection to kick off the anthology. Maurice Broaddus’ “Trouble Among the Yearlings” is a subtle tale that captures well the claustrophobia of being trapped in a mine. In “Spirit Fire”, Robbie Sparks weaves a tale that warns about making a deal that seems too good to be true.

Ronald Kelly’s “The Thing At the Side of the Road” has a darkly humorous twist – at first. “Inheritance” by Stephanie Lenz was my favorite of the collection, and possibly the scariest story of the bunch. I also liked Alethea Kontis’ “The Witch of Black Mountain”, another woman scorned tale that turns out a bit differently for the protagonist than does “The Power of Moonlight.”

Do the stories capture the feel of Harlan County? Having never been there it’s difficult for me to say. What the tales do capture is a feeling of loneliness, of desperation, and of a hardscrabble existence in a remote place where good paying jobs are few and far between. Pulling coal from the ground pays well, but takes its toll on everyone eventually, and many don’t survive the task. The stories also capture the natural beauty of the area, with its dark, rugged mountains and thickly-forested gullies and streams; towns that seem to still cling to a century ago, and people who could have lived in any time period during the last thousand years.

One criticism I would offer on Harlan County Horrors is that not all of the tales are horror stories per se; many are, but some seem more science fictional than truly horrifying – though horrific elements are definitely present – and one or two defy clear categorization. None of this is necessarily bad; the stories are uniformly well-written and engrossing, but not all met my expectations. That’s a tall order in any case for an anthology; part of the reason why so many anthologies seem a hit-or-miss proposition is precisely because each reader brings a different perspective and different expectations to any book.

Regardless, Harlan County Horrors is a worthy addition to any horror collection. At 180+ pages it’s not an overwhelming reading project, but the stories themselves are page-turners, bringing me to the end of the book sooner than I wanted. It is a satisfying read and, at $16 for a trade paperback-sized edition or $5 for a download, it’s well worth the money.

(This review originally appeared on the horror and dark fantasy webzine Flames Rising.com)(less)

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Oct 04, 2011 Janet Harriett rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: short-story-collections

This collection has a broad mix of styles and subjects, centered around Harlan County, Kentucky. The titular horrors range from things that go bump in the night to things that splat your loved ones' internal organs on the SUV window. Such diversity means that the stories aren't relying on hillbilly stereotypes, and not all of the horrors are necessarily homegrown. Readers unfamiliar with the region can still find plenty to latch on to. As someone unfamiliar with that area and coal mining, I got...more

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Nov 05, 2009 Kristopher rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

An anthology of stories set in the hills and coal mines of Harlan County, Kentucky. Since my dad's from Kentucky and I've spent plenty of time in that region, I was pretty interested in this book.

Like most themed anthologies, there was a lot of overlapping ideas between the different stories. Even if each of the "miners discover something evil deep in the mine and it escapes" story was good on its own, reading them back to back got repetitive.

A few standouts though were Geoffrey Girard's "Psyc...more

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Mar 30, 2013 Jessica Nelson rated it 4 of 5 stars

An engrossing anthology that will keep readers up (reading!) all hours of the night, there's a little of something for all horror lovers. From aliens to vampires and more, all set in the mountains of Harlan County, KY.

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May 27, 2012 Preston Halcomb rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

May 03, 2012 Jason Sizemore rated it 5 of 5 stars

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About Mari Adkins

I am a southern gothic fiction writer from a coal mining community in southeastern Kentucky.

Midnight, After Midnight, Midnight's Heir, Heir's Starlight, Starlight's Shadow, and Promise of Midnight are all books in my "Harlan Vampires Series" - or HVS (or "Hillbilly Vampires") as it's called in places around the 'net.

I've also started a Young Adult series set in the HVS universe.

As well as a writ...more

More about Mari Adkins...

Books by Mari Adkins

Enter At Your Own Risk: Old Masters, New Voices

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