Where The Weird Things Are Volume 2: A Travel Guide to the Freaky and Fantastic of Australia and Aotearoa

by Clare Rhoden (Editor), Grace Chan, Australian Speculative Fiction

Where the Weird Things Are Volume 2 is a Speculative Fiction travel guide to the freaky and fantastic of Australia and Aotearoa. Let our fifteen authors take you to places they know like the back of their hand and share their tales of local legends and monsters. We hope you enjoy this trek across Australia and New Zealand, and that you survive unscathed. This anthology features original stories by Grace Chan, Rue Karney, Rebecca Fraser, Jo Hart, Matthew R. Davis, Rachel Nightingale, Dane Divine, Helena McAuley, Erin Munzenburger, Natasha O'Connor, Mikhaeyla Kopievsky, Tim Borella, Eleanor Whitworth, J. Palmer, Jordyn Presley and Emma Louise Gill.

266 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 27, 2023

About the author

Clare Rhoden started making up stories early and never stopped. She writes sci-fi, fantasy and historical fiction with loveable characters, adventurous plots and awesome world building.
Clare loves books, books, books, dogs, cats, craft and gardening.
Oh, and her husband - forever.
Clare is a writer, editor and reviewer from Melbourne Australia.

Reviews

[Milt Theo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having reviewed some pretty good anthologies of 2023, I have to admit that the second volume of 'Where the Weird Things Are' is among the very best. The writing is consistently of high quality, the editing is superb, the ideas original, and the stories quite memorable. I will mention some I really liked: the opening story, "The Bowl" by Rue Karney was a gripping tale of skating, with ghosts, and the price you gotta pay to enjoy skating among them; an absolutely brilliant story, with the best writing in the entire anthology. I'd never heard of Karney before, I will definitely hunt down more of her stories. Grace Chan's "The Devil’s Hair" was another fantastic entry, with a jaw-dropping ending. Mikhaeyla Kopievsky's "Sea Mist Shore Witch" is unmissable: deeply atmospheric, thoughtful, and ending on a very moving note. Tim Borella's "Mirri" deserves to be in best SF anthologies, very descriptive and ecologically minded as well. Matthew R. Davis' "Trash and Treasure" was seemingly written from the heart, a very weird story about losing a loved one. Emma Louise Gill's "Love to Travel Local" was great fun for penguin lovers, whereas Dane Divine's "The Garage" was a perfect monster short story. Overall, this is an easy 5/5 stars!.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 15 short stories are:
- The Bowl
- Ducking Hell
- The Devil's Hair
- 20th Century Elf
- Sea Mist Shore Witch
- Rain Dance
- Clarrie's Dam
- Miri
- The Curse of Curtis Falls
- Terriswalkers Terraerengerie
- Trash and Treasure
- Love to Travel Local
- Follow the Water
- Gothic Queen
- The Garage

These are plot-driven horror stories, some dark and some gory. They each have their own interpretation of weird stories. My favourite are The Bowl, The Devil's Hair, Gothic Queen, and The Garage.


I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Jeanne Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Volume 2 of the Where the Weird Things Are collection; it is a collection of short stories about Australia & Aotearoa.

I received a free copy of this boxset via Booksprout and I am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Kat M]

This was a Great collection of stories, it does a great job in creating everything that I was looking for. Each story was what I was hoping for and thought it was written perfectly.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.