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Come Sing for the Harrowing
The newest collection from award-winning writer, Dan Coxon, Come Sing for the Harrowing is a terrifying menagerie of the strange and weird. Unsettling, poignant, and always masterfully crafted, these 16 stories are a feast of folk horror where the fine line between the mundane and the malevolent is blurred beyond repair.
With five never-before-published stories as well as tales featured in publications such as Beyond the Veil and Great British Horror 7, this collection is a tour de force from one of the most talented rising stars in the horror fiction landscape.
With five never-before-published stories as well as tales featured in publications such as Beyond the Veil and Great British Horror 7, this collection is a tour de force from one of the most talented rising stars in the horror fiction landscape.
260 pages, Paperback
Published April 21, 2026
About the author
Dan Coxon
49 books78 followersDan Coxon is an award-winning editor and writer based in London. His non-fiction anthology Writing The Uncanny (co-edited with Richard V. Hirst) won the British Fantasy Award for Best Non-Fiction 2022, while his short story collection Only The Broken Remain (Black Shuck Books) was shortlisted for two British Fantasy Awards in 2021 (Best Collection, Best Newcomer). In 2018 his anthology of British folk-horror, This Dreaming Isle (Unsung Stories), was shortlisted for a British Fantasy Award and a Shirley Jackson Award. His short stories have appeared in various anthologies, including Nox Pareidolia, Beyond the Veil, Mother: Tales of Love and Terror and Fiends in the Furrows III. His latest anthology - Isolation - was published by Titan Books in September 2022.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews
January 29, 2026
Reeking with a visceral, weird beauty - each of these jellybean-like tales explore a wide variety of subjects and takes. The author has used different techniques to “spice it up” so it never feels monotonous.
To me it felt a lot like the show: “love, death and robots” and I devoured this - even as someone who reads collections quite slowly.
The writing is incredibly "flavorful": it gives you these quick, sharp nuggets of imagery and world that stay with you long after the story ends. The prose feels expensive and intentional; it completely avoids clinical dryness in favor of a weird beauty that I found addictive.
A few personal favourites:
• "Needles and Pins" & "From the Earth": These were stunning. The world-building is explained so quickly yet feels both grounded while at the same time, horribly ancient.
• "A Broken Vessel": Deeply evocative and expertly plotted for such a short length. Impeccable.
• "The Darkness Below": Set in the caves, this captured that "soaking-wet" - is it or isn’t it - changeling type of folk horror dread that I always find delightful.
• "London Deep": A Lovecraftian surprise that leans into the "unusual doctrine" and "weirdness" that makes speculative fiction interesting. Was not expecting this in this collection.
• "Gorphwysfa": Strange, multifaceted, and the kind of story that leaves you ruminating long after you've put the book down. I can think of karma or passed down curses and the story leaves the reader to ponder through what happened.
I would’ve written a short review of every one of them as they were that good, but for a collection this good, the drawback is that some will always get overshadowed by some others. But that is a problem of plenty which is always a good problem to have!!
The sheer variety, imagination and the "underlying skeleton" of the world-building kept me completely compelled. If you are looking for a collection that feels like a dark, intricate artifact, this is a must-read.
It kind of felt like Chicken Soup for the Ghoul!!
Thanks to Netgalley for the eARC :)
To me it felt a lot like the show: “love, death and robots” and I devoured this - even as someone who reads collections quite slowly.
The writing is incredibly "flavorful": it gives you these quick, sharp nuggets of imagery and world that stay with you long after the story ends. The prose feels expensive and intentional; it completely avoids clinical dryness in favor of a weird beauty that I found addictive.
A few personal favourites:
• "Needles and Pins" & "From the Earth": These were stunning. The world-building is explained so quickly yet feels both grounded while at the same time, horribly ancient.
• "A Broken Vessel": Deeply evocative and expertly plotted for such a short length. Impeccable.
• "The Darkness Below": Set in the caves, this captured that "soaking-wet" - is it or isn’t it - changeling type of folk horror dread that I always find delightful.
• "London Deep": A Lovecraftian surprise that leans into the "unusual doctrine" and "weirdness" that makes speculative fiction interesting. Was not expecting this in this collection.
• "Gorphwysfa": Strange, multifaceted, and the kind of story that leaves you ruminating long after you've put the book down. I can think of karma or passed down curses and the story leaves the reader to ponder through what happened.
I would’ve written a short review of every one of them as they were that good, but for a collection this good, the drawback is that some will always get overshadowed by some others. But that is a problem of plenty which is always a good problem to have!!
The sheer variety, imagination and the "underlying skeleton" of the world-building kept me completely compelled. If you are looking for a collection that feels like a dark, intricate artifact, this is a must-read.
It kind of felt like Chicken Soup for the Ghoul!!
Thanks to Netgalley for the eARC :)
January 31, 2026
thank you to netgalley and the publisher's for providing me with this ARC copy.
someone tell why do i have such bad luck with arcs? i went into this super eager, thinking it would be just what i needed; a refreshing collection of short stories, specifically horror, to get me out of this slump. it sounded super intriguing and like a quick easy read. no, it really wasn't.
overall this just felt like such a mixed collection. some of the short stories made no sense, seeming like they had been thrown together through a quick idea, having no real plot, nor ending. there were a rare few which did really interest me, but majority did not.
the first five for so stories were desperately boring, and despite the foreword claiming they said more than full length novels, i would beg to differ. sometimes the 'message' was painstakingly obvious. other times it was random plot points thrown together with an ambiguous ending masked as 'horror'. whilst i did find some of the later short stories to be interesting, the vast majority had me bored and confused, as if coxon dreamed them up one night and just couldn't come up with an ending for his premise.
my favourite's from the collection were 'the darkness below' - an eerie short story which blurs the lines of reality and shows a glimpse of a crazed father having delusions about his son, but leaves the readers pondering who they truly believe. a very interesting story that was SO well done, compared to the title piece which was confusing and should not have made the cut. i enjoyed 'bodies on the dance floor', however, like many of the other short stories, the ending was not well thought out and ended in an abrupt way to make for a dramatic shift.
another favourite was for me was 'clockwork' - a psychological horror of somebody losing their father and discovering an automaton he created and buried, which they then rebuild to relive the day they murdered their father.
these two stories that i enjoyed the most showcased that when coxon leaned into the psychological horror side of the stories and they were a bit more thought out, he can create really good stories. however, when the stories were clearly only written from a brief spark of inspiration and haphazardly ended either far-fetched or ambiguously, the product was much worse. leaving your ending on a broad cliffhanger only works so many times.
overall, this collection had a few interesting highlights that definitely stood out, but there were so many short stories in here that really didn't hit that i can't rate this higher.
someone tell why do i have such bad luck with arcs? i went into this super eager, thinking it would be just what i needed; a refreshing collection of short stories, specifically horror, to get me out of this slump. it sounded super intriguing and like a quick easy read. no, it really wasn't.
overall this just felt like such a mixed collection. some of the short stories made no sense, seeming like they had been thrown together through a quick idea, having no real plot, nor ending. there were a rare few which did really interest me, but majority did not.
the first five for so stories were desperately boring, and despite the foreword claiming they said more than full length novels, i would beg to differ. sometimes the 'message' was painstakingly obvious. other times it was random plot points thrown together with an ambiguous ending masked as 'horror'. whilst i did find some of the later short stories to be interesting, the vast majority had me bored and confused, as if coxon dreamed them up one night and just couldn't come up with an ending for his premise.
my favourite's from the collection were 'the darkness below' - an eerie short story which blurs the lines of reality and shows a glimpse of a crazed father having delusions about his son, but leaves the readers pondering who they truly believe. a very interesting story that was SO well done, compared to the title piece which was confusing and should not have made the cut. i enjoyed 'bodies on the dance floor', however, like many of the other short stories, the ending was not well thought out and ended in an abrupt way to make for a dramatic shift.
another favourite was for me was 'clockwork' - a psychological horror of somebody losing their father and discovering an automaton he created and buried, which they then rebuild to relive the day they murdered their father.
these two stories that i enjoyed the most showcased that when coxon leaned into the psychological horror side of the stories and they were a bit more thought out, he can create really good stories. however, when the stories were clearly only written from a brief spark of inspiration and haphazardly ended either far-fetched or ambiguously, the product was much worse. leaving your ending on a broad cliffhanger only works so many times.
overall, this collection had a few interesting highlights that definitely stood out, but there were so many short stories in here that really didn't hit that i can't rate this higher.
November 30, 2025
*Thanks to NetGalley, CLASH, and Dan Coxon for this ARC. This review contains my honest, authentic thoughts and opinions.*
4.5 rounded up. These stories were hella unsettling. I read somewhere that they have Midsommar vibes, and they absolutely do. It was like the equivalent of that phobia people have of a bunch of holes? The creepy-crawly feeling was pervasive throughout this collection. I will definitely read more from Coxon.
4.5 rounded up. These stories were hella unsettling. I read somewhere that they have Midsommar vibes, and they absolutely do. It was like the equivalent of that phobia people have of a bunch of holes? The creepy-crawly feeling was pervasive throughout this collection. I will definitely read more from Coxon.
April 1, 2026
3.5⭐️
I read, Come Sing for the Harrowing by Dan Coxon without knowing exactly what to expect, and I emerged feeling both captivated and unsettled in the best way. Dan Coxon has a talent for crafting stories that subtly penetrate beneath the surface and linger long after reading. This collection of sixteen stories exemplifies that talent, leaning more toward the eerie than the explosive, more haunting than horrifying.
What impressed me most was the atmosphere. Many of these stories are immersed in a damp, liminal sense of unease, evoking the feeling of traversing a place that seems familiar yet behaves oddly. The strong sense of place is consistent throughout, and even as the settings change, that underlying tone of discomfort persists.
I also appreciated the diversity within the collection. Some stories delve into folk horror, others into the quietly uncanny, and a few venture into the surreal. While not every story resonated equally with me as is always the case with anthologies those that didn’t connect as strongly still offered compelling ideas and striking imagery that lingered.
Coxon’s writing demonstrates a restraint. He avoids overexplanation, and that ambiguity works to his advantage. Some stories conclude in ways that deliberately leave resolution open, which might frustrate some readers but for me, it deepened the lingering sense of disquiet.
If you’re seeking loud, visceral horror, this collection may not satisfy that craving. However, for those who prefer quieter, stranger, more poetic horror that lingers in the mind for hours, it’s an essential read.
Overall, this is a thoughtfully crafted, atmospheric collection that I’m glad I explored even if it occasionally left me feeling unmoored, which is undoubtedly the point.
My thanks to both NetGalley and Clash Books for a free e-arc and an honest opinion.
I read, Come Sing for the Harrowing by Dan Coxon without knowing exactly what to expect, and I emerged feeling both captivated and unsettled in the best way. Dan Coxon has a talent for crafting stories that subtly penetrate beneath the surface and linger long after reading. This collection of sixteen stories exemplifies that talent, leaning more toward the eerie than the explosive, more haunting than horrifying.
What impressed me most was the atmosphere. Many of these stories are immersed in a damp, liminal sense of unease, evoking the feeling of traversing a place that seems familiar yet behaves oddly. The strong sense of place is consistent throughout, and even as the settings change, that underlying tone of discomfort persists.
I also appreciated the diversity within the collection. Some stories delve into folk horror, others into the quietly uncanny, and a few venture into the surreal. While not every story resonated equally with me as is always the case with anthologies those that didn’t connect as strongly still offered compelling ideas and striking imagery that lingered.
Coxon’s writing demonstrates a restraint. He avoids overexplanation, and that ambiguity works to his advantage. Some stories conclude in ways that deliberately leave resolution open, which might frustrate some readers but for me, it deepened the lingering sense of disquiet.
If you’re seeking loud, visceral horror, this collection may not satisfy that craving. However, for those who prefer quieter, stranger, more poetic horror that lingers in the mind for hours, it’s an essential read.
Overall, this is a thoughtfully crafted, atmospheric collection that I’m glad I explored even if it occasionally left me feeling unmoored, which is undoubtedly the point.
My thanks to both NetGalley and Clash Books for a free e-arc and an honest opinion.
April 1, 2026
Come Sing For The Harrowing does not simply unsettle, it summons. Coxon crafts a collection of stories that, together, are like a ritual unfolding. Each piece is another step deeper into something watchful, unforgiving, and even a bit ancient. This is a collection of horror at its most insidious. It is a space where the land is alive, the past refuses to stay buried, and the ordinary becomes irrevocably wrong. The atmosphere resembles the surreal horror of the movie Midsommar, as described via the publisher, and I tend to agree. Coxon doesn't give us shocks. Instead, he lets the dread and despair coil slowly and tightens it in each passing page. His prose is controlled and beneath it hums something feral. These stories pivot on grief, isolation, and longing, then tie the supernatural elements into these painfully human truths. This makes the horror feel like a sledgehammer to the heart. Moments of haunting imagery combine with the true terror of inevitability. Coxon gives readers a sense that the characters of each story were always heading toward these endings, pulled by forces beyond comprehension. There is remarkable range across the collection, yet each story is tethered by the same dark roots. You are left with an uneasy sense that maybe you have witnessed something you weren't supposed to, but you were unable to look away. With a foreword from the legendary Brian Evenson, and it's first and titular story, Come Sing For The Harrowing, really set the tone for the entire book and I could not recommend it more. Thank you CLASH Books for sending me a gifted copy for review. You can preorder this via CLASH Books site. Keep an eye out for it April 21st, 2026!
April 1, 2026
Come Sing for the Harrowing by Dan Coxon. Expected April 21, 2026 from CLASH Books.
I first heard of Dan Coxon when Clay McLeod Chapman posted about the anthology, Unquiet Guests, that Coxon edited. When I saw that Coxon had his own collection coming from CLASH, I knew I had to read it.
I find when I’m reading a review that rates every story, I kind of tune out so I won’t be doing that here. As with any collection, I like some more than others but overall, this one lands at 4.5 for me.
Some of my favorites were-
The title story- Midsomer-esque.
A Broken Vessel- a robbery that goes wrong.
Vile Jelly- a deal with a devil?
Clockwork- I remember this one as “Cog father”.
Needles and Pins- lads gone camping.
Long Gone- rock and roll story told through interviews.
I was delighted that each story transported me and made me feel things in a limited amount of pages. I found each story unique and interesting, delivering horror as a simmering, slow burn rather than a slap in the face. Characters made bad decisions, and the atmosphere had me gulping for a breath.
Highly recommend for anyone that enjoys folk horror, short stories, slow burn horror.
I love the linocut look cover art by Matthew Revert. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC!
I first heard of Dan Coxon when Clay McLeod Chapman posted about the anthology, Unquiet Guests, that Coxon edited. When I saw that Coxon had his own collection coming from CLASH, I knew I had to read it.
I find when I’m reading a review that rates every story, I kind of tune out so I won’t be doing that here. As with any collection, I like some more than others but overall, this one lands at 4.5 for me.
Some of my favorites were-
The title story- Midsomer-esque.
A Broken Vessel- a robbery that goes wrong.
Vile Jelly- a deal with a devil?
Clockwork- I remember this one as “Cog father”.
Needles and Pins- lads gone camping.
Long Gone- rock and roll story told through interviews.
I was delighted that each story transported me and made me feel things in a limited amount of pages. I found each story unique and interesting, delivering horror as a simmering, slow burn rather than a slap in the face. Characters made bad decisions, and the atmosphere had me gulping for a breath.
Highly recommend for anyone that enjoys folk horror, short stories, slow burn horror.
I love the linocut look cover art by Matthew Revert. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC!
January 5, 2026
Come Sing For The Harrowing by Dan Coxon is a dark and immersive horror anthology that delves into spirits, witches, folklore, and unsettling fantasies, keeping the reader thoroughly entertained from beginning to end. Each story stands apart with its own distinct tone and idea, making the collection feel fresh and unpredictable throughout. What truly works in its favor is the author’s ability to craft complete, impactful narratives within a limited space, never letting the horror feel rushed or shallow. It is difficult to single out a favorite because every story offers something unique—some chilling, some eerie, and others deeply atmospheric. A few tales are so richly imagined that they easily have the potential to be expanded into full-length novels. Overall, this anthology stands out as one of the most engaging and entertaining horror reads of 2025, appealing to readers who enjoy variety, dark imagination, and well-executed short-form horror storytelling.
Read more at https://bibliophileverse.blogspot.com...
Read more at https://bibliophileverse.blogspot.com...
November 17, 2024
Dan Coxon surprises, unnerves, and - mostly importantly - scares with this fabulous short story collection. I'm still mulling over which stories are my favourites but it's a very strong collection in general, with great variety in style and subgenre.
October 17, 2024
Come Sing for the Harrowing is a new, wonderfully weird horror-based short story collection by Dan Coxon. There were several really good stories in here. I found I appreciated the slightly longer ones more than the stories that were just a few pages. I particularly loved “Bring Them All Into The Light,” “The Darkness Below,” “A Broken Vessel,” and “Bumblethatch.” A story doesn’t have to be long to be good and Coxon does an excellent job in demonstrating that in a lot of these tales. Some of his descriptions alone were chilling. However, there were quite a few tales that ended abruptly just as I felt they were getting started. I found myself saying “heyyyyy” several times when a story would just end. My main complaint was that he occasionally changed the names of characters by accident. A character named Jack was later referred to as Jake. A character named Kirstie was referred to several times as Katie and then it changed back to Kirstie for the rest of the story. It kind of jerked me out of the story and it happened in one of the best ones. Coxon played with folk horror, revenge horror, psychological horror, grief horror, and even toyed with some sci-fi horror. Overall, this collection had a little bit of everything for a horror lover. Special thanks to Goodreads for the free copy. 3/5 stars
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March 19, 2026I've read three anthologies edited by Coxon, to all of which he also contributed, and if I hadn't liked them all (albeit sometimes with reservations), I wouldn't have requested this collection of his own stories from Edelweiss. But even spaced out over several months, a whole book of just him ended up feeling samey. There's a commendable effort not to just go through the standard folk horror checklist every time, but in places the variety of settings – tower block, tropical holiday, old-time gangsters – starts to feel more like a cheery motivational poster assuring you 'You don't need a village to have a pagan village conspiracy!!' The worst of it is, I'm pretty sure that I would have enjoyed any of these pieces individually had I encountered them in isolation; the construction is sound, the mood efficiently conveyed, and, like Aickman, Coxon knows when to pull the camera away so that unease doesn't lapse into mere ick. And even in company, a couple of the tales were distinct enough to work, like Clockwork, in which an automaton is used to dramatise the inner repetitions of trauma, or Grains Of Sand, where a risen mummy works as a security guard at Brixton Tesco.
January 1, 2026
"Come Sing for the Harrowing" is a relentless anthology where each story is more horrifying than the last. Coxon preys on the fear of the unknown, masterfully blending Lovecraftian dread with modern folk horror.
The standout for me was "From the Earth," an unsettling, melancholy story about a young girl who hears the voice of god.
The standout for me was "From the Earth," an unsettling, melancholy story about a young girl who hears the voice of god.
January 6, 2025
Coxon has a gift for creepy stories, but unfortunately all too often he starts from a shaky conceit - his skills enable him to do great things with those, and yet you can't really have great stuff when the foundations are wobbly. Still, these shots of dread are well worth reading, so four stars it is.
December 11, 2025
With thanks to the author, publishers CLASH Books, and NetGalley for providing me with a DRC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
A nice little collection of fun and quirky short horror stories. None especially scary, and really probably more supernatural than horror I would say, but entertaining nonetheless and overall a quick and enjoyable read.
A nice little collection of fun and quirky short horror stories. None especially scary, and really probably more supernatural than horror I would say, but entertaining nonetheless and overall a quick and enjoyable read.
December 7, 2025
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC
An easy read, I had fun! It was a nice quick collection with some pretty creative story ideas, although some felt a bit half-baked or not fleshed out enough, and a couple followed a prescriptive bait and switch premise as a vehicle for the horror to start.
An easy read, I had fun! It was a nice quick collection with some pretty creative story ideas, although some felt a bit half-baked or not fleshed out enough, and a couple followed a prescriptive bait and switch premise as a vehicle for the horror to start.
December 27, 2024
Full review at Happy Goat Horror:
https://happygoathorror.com/2024/12/1...
Dan Coxon does not disappoint with this collection of short horrors that had me thoroughly entertained from start to end.
https://happygoathorror.com/2024/12/1...
Dan Coxon does not disappoint with this collection of short horrors that had me thoroughly entertained from start to end.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Come Sing For the Harrowing by Dan Coxon
4.38 rounded down to 4 🔮orbs
Est. Pub. Date: April 21, 2026
Clash Books
On the precipice of evil….
💡 Orbs Prologue: You, dear reader, have embarked on a nightly stroll through your neighboring forest, where smells of pine trees litter the air. Upon a dirt-filled clearing, you notice something rather miraculously odd. A giant book cover standing 6 meters high and almost as wide comes into view. Slightly opaque, the cover depicts a disturbed woman sketched in a vibrant red, glumly posing in front of black, barren trees. As you approach the anomaly, some cracks along its surface become clear, and with them, the makings of some sort of door become apparent. Puzzled, scared even, you can’t help but feel a natural inclination to investigate what might be inside. As you push through the "entryway," a creaking sound screeches through the airwaves, and you find yourself in an elegant foyer, complete with shiny checkerboard tiles, an elaborate Gothic-style dual staircase made of dark chocolate mahogany, and the most beautiful shimmering chandelier you have ever laid your eyes upon. "Hello there, friend! We have been expecting you. I am Orb, and it is my supreme honor to invite you to Coxon Manor!”
🧐 A small glimpse: 18 stories. Author Dan Coxon unleashes his writing prowess and clearly invites readers on a journey into tales of psychological and physical terror. Coxon’s varied subject matter will hold the reading audience captive while needling them with numerous torture devices. Nothing remains safe here. Relationships suffer, and retribution becomes mandatory. For what could be more apropos than a thief being bamboozled or a scorned wife having the last laugh against the philandering husband? Wildly varied, the stories touch upon human nature at its worst. Some of the tales I particularly enjoyed:
Needles & Pins: A tale about infidelity and the makings of revenge. 5/5
Clockwork: A father’s creation to help alleviate his daughter’s trauma. 5/5
From the Earth: Two peas in a pod discover a world they don’t recognize. 5/5
Vile Jelly: A man named Cleeves has an appetite for strange things. 4.5/5
A Broken Vessel: A heist gone wrong. 5/5
👍 Orbs Pros: A sublime variation! Every story Coxon writes feels unique and interesting. It became abundantly clear rather quickly that these stories were well-concocted and beautifully executed. The creepy vibes remained constant throughout my reading experience. Prose! Coxon can write a haunting short story! While remaining quite digestible, I never felt the stories lacked substance. Visceral! Devastating scenes toiled around in my head, causing a myriad of intense emotions. One after another, goosebumps rose, and tiny beads of perspiration raced down my forehead. After the final page was read, I felt a sense of satisfaction. Dan Coxon had led me through a labyrinth of a ghastly maze, and yet somehow, insanely, I was eager for further exploration in his creative worlds.
👎 Orbs Cons: Having read a fair number of collections lately, I am fairly confident in saying that it is extremely unlikely that you will “love” every story. Is this a con? Perhaps! By the very nature of short story collections, readers may be put off by a presumed lack of immersion or cohesion that one might encounter in several smaller stories jammed into one book. I understand, and I am here to state that I have been that person. For years, I wrongly accused these books of being simply unfinished works or thoughts and ideas that couldn’t make the final cut. I am here to say, this was a mistake! I began approaching these books much like a food buffet where I could pick and choose, try new things without the long time sync to figure out, “You know what, this isn’t that good." Still, I accept that all folks have their preferences.
Highly Recommended! This was a great experience. Coxon will definitely be an author that I will keep an eye on in the future. A fine example of a creative mind, putting pen to paper, and thoroughly entertaining the reading audience in an oh-so-delightful ghoulish way. Highly, highly recommended!
💡 Orbs Epilogue: You turn your head to notice this person in sophisticated butler’s attire. “Orb, your name is Orb?” you question. “Why, yes! I am Orb. Please have a look around, for there is much for you to see. I will run along to the kitchen and fetch some tea for you.” As Orb heads off, you hear a man calling out on the far side of the room, “Luke, is that you, Luke?” Trying to answer, you are rudely interrupted by the skitterings of scarab beetles, traveling like a small dark army off down the hallway. Not to be outdone, you notice a bowl sitting upon a console table with what appear to be eyeballs of various colors staring up towards the ceiling. You squint your terror-filled eyes, remaining dumbfounded. Small chips of rock begin descending one flight of stairs as the sound of hammering overtakes echoes throughout the space. Clink, clank, clink... Materializing from thin air, the remnants of a man strapped to a large wooden wheel appear. He bleeds profusely from numerous bodily gashes, his voice silenced. Who is he, and is he still alive? As more haunting sounds begin to overlap, you are overtaken by fright, senses overloaded. You retreat and push through the way by which you came, in hopes that you might save yourself. Upon landing face first on the frigid forest floor, for a split second, safety makes its triumphant return. It is only then that you notice the enormous paws of a predator standing angrily in your path. A bear? Its powerful jaws open as a deafening roar erupts, indicating you, dear friend, are on tonight's menu. Through the portal, Orb stands in the entryway, wickedly grinning, and holding a steaming cup of tea on a silver platter. "I guess it was all a bit too much for them!"
Many thanks to Clash Books for the ARC through NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion.
4.38 rounded down to 4 🔮orbs
Est. Pub. Date: April 21, 2026
Clash Books
On the precipice of evil….
💡 Orbs Prologue: You, dear reader, have embarked on a nightly stroll through your neighboring forest, where smells of pine trees litter the air. Upon a dirt-filled clearing, you notice something rather miraculously odd. A giant book cover standing 6 meters high and almost as wide comes into view. Slightly opaque, the cover depicts a disturbed woman sketched in a vibrant red, glumly posing in front of black, barren trees. As you approach the anomaly, some cracks along its surface become clear, and with them, the makings of some sort of door become apparent. Puzzled, scared even, you can’t help but feel a natural inclination to investigate what might be inside. As you push through the "entryway," a creaking sound screeches through the airwaves, and you find yourself in an elegant foyer, complete with shiny checkerboard tiles, an elaborate Gothic-style dual staircase made of dark chocolate mahogany, and the most beautiful shimmering chandelier you have ever laid your eyes upon. "Hello there, friend! We have been expecting you. I am Orb, and it is my supreme honor to invite you to Coxon Manor!”
🧐 A small glimpse: 18 stories. Author Dan Coxon unleashes his writing prowess and clearly invites readers on a journey into tales of psychological and physical terror. Coxon’s varied subject matter will hold the reading audience captive while needling them with numerous torture devices. Nothing remains safe here. Relationships suffer, and retribution becomes mandatory. For what could be more apropos than a thief being bamboozled or a scorned wife having the last laugh against the philandering husband? Wildly varied, the stories touch upon human nature at its worst. Some of the tales I particularly enjoyed:
Needles & Pins: A tale about infidelity and the makings of revenge. 5/5
Clockwork: A father’s creation to help alleviate his daughter’s trauma. 5/5
From the Earth: Two peas in a pod discover a world they don’t recognize. 5/5
Vile Jelly: A man named Cleeves has an appetite for strange things. 4.5/5
A Broken Vessel: A heist gone wrong. 5/5
👍 Orbs Pros: A sublime variation! Every story Coxon writes feels unique and interesting. It became abundantly clear rather quickly that these stories were well-concocted and beautifully executed. The creepy vibes remained constant throughout my reading experience. Prose! Coxon can write a haunting short story! While remaining quite digestible, I never felt the stories lacked substance. Visceral! Devastating scenes toiled around in my head, causing a myriad of intense emotions. One after another, goosebumps rose, and tiny beads of perspiration raced down my forehead. After the final page was read, I felt a sense of satisfaction. Dan Coxon had led me through a labyrinth of a ghastly maze, and yet somehow, insanely, I was eager for further exploration in his creative worlds.
👎 Orbs Cons: Having read a fair number of collections lately, I am fairly confident in saying that it is extremely unlikely that you will “love” every story. Is this a con? Perhaps! By the very nature of short story collections, readers may be put off by a presumed lack of immersion or cohesion that one might encounter in several smaller stories jammed into one book. I understand, and I am here to state that I have been that person. For years, I wrongly accused these books of being simply unfinished works or thoughts and ideas that couldn’t make the final cut. I am here to say, this was a mistake! I began approaching these books much like a food buffet where I could pick and choose, try new things without the long time sync to figure out, “You know what, this isn’t that good." Still, I accept that all folks have their preferences.
Highly Recommended! This was a great experience. Coxon will definitely be an author that I will keep an eye on in the future. A fine example of a creative mind, putting pen to paper, and thoroughly entertaining the reading audience in an oh-so-delightful ghoulish way. Highly, highly recommended!
💡 Orbs Epilogue: You turn your head to notice this person in sophisticated butler’s attire. “Orb, your name is Orb?” you question. “Why, yes! I am Orb. Please have a look around, for there is much for you to see. I will run along to the kitchen and fetch some tea for you.” As Orb heads off, you hear a man calling out on the far side of the room, “Luke, is that you, Luke?” Trying to answer, you are rudely interrupted by the skitterings of scarab beetles, traveling like a small dark army off down the hallway. Not to be outdone, you notice a bowl sitting upon a console table with what appear to be eyeballs of various colors staring up towards the ceiling. You squint your terror-filled eyes, remaining dumbfounded. Small chips of rock begin descending one flight of stairs as the sound of hammering overtakes echoes throughout the space. Clink, clank, clink... Materializing from thin air, the remnants of a man strapped to a large wooden wheel appear. He bleeds profusely from numerous bodily gashes, his voice silenced. Who is he, and is he still alive? As more haunting sounds begin to overlap, you are overtaken by fright, senses overloaded. You retreat and push through the way by which you came, in hopes that you might save yourself. Upon landing face first on the frigid forest floor, for a split second, safety makes its triumphant return. It is only then that you notice the enormous paws of a predator standing angrily in your path. A bear? Its powerful jaws open as a deafening roar erupts, indicating you, dear friend, are on tonight's menu. Through the portal, Orb stands in the entryway, wickedly grinning, and holding a steaming cup of tea on a silver platter. "I guess it was all a bit too much for them!"
Many thanks to Clash Books for the ARC through NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion.
April 23, 2026
A gorgeously powerful and often disturbing collection of tales where the uncanny feelings are delivered brilliantly. Strongly recommended!
Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...
Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Anthologies always take me a bit longer to read than a novel, even if they're the same length. I feel ambivalent about this one, which seems to be a new edition of a folk horror anthology after the original publisher folded ~2024. This is billed as "uncanny folk horror" but I would agree with I think that this edition introduces two new stories, bringing us to 18.
1. Come Sing for the Harrowing- A teen starts a new job at a medieval fair, and someone is watching.
2. The Wives of Tromisle- A daughter returns home to find that her 70 year old mother is pregnant.
3. Bring Them All Into the Light- A father buys a run-down cottage, then builds a hilltop church.
4. Bumblethatch- A schoolgirl sees her bullied friend who's returned from the dead.
5. A Broken Vessel- A stranger invites a group of friends to help him rob a farm.
6. Vile Jelly- The servants serve the Earl of Gloucester after he loses his eyes in King Lear.
7. From the Earth- A young woman is imprisoned because she hears the voice of God.
8. Our Sister of Blackthorn- A true crime podcaster decides to investigate her childhood best friend's disappearance.
9. Bodies on the Dance Floor- A man goes to the club with his coworkers and sees the guy he bullied as a child.
10. Clockwork- After an abusive father dies, his kid starts finding pieces of an automaton in the garden.
11. Needles & Pins- A man drinks on a camping trip with the guys after a breakup.
12. The Darkness Below- A father takes the family to Gough's Cave, and his son wanders off.
13. Long Gone (Slight Return)- A music journalist interviews former bandmates about the strange disappearance of their lead singer.
14. In Flickering Light- A film editor recalls working on a film with a famous director who loved women.
15. Gorphwysfa- A man moves into a nursing home and starts finding scratches on his body.
16. Grains of Sand- An old Egyptian mummy works at a Tesco and recognizes the girl he once loved.
17. London Deep- A man searches his missing engineer brother's apartment.
18. Beyond the Beach, the Trees- A sweaty man is at a resort and sees someone who looks like his dead friend.
As a collection, some of these stories started to blend together. I felt like I read too many cult sacrifice stories for a single anthology, for example. And some were more "strange" than "horror,," like Clockwork. My favorite stories were Clockwork and Vile Jelly, though Bring Them All Into the Light was good too. Honestly, I think I would enjoy reading these stories in collections, I just felt like an anthology of all of them was too much of the same vibe.
Only a couple of these were actually creepy, but they were generally inventive and original. I felt like many of these endings needed to go slightly further, because they felt like they just ended suddenly. It felt a little unresolved, too often.
Thanks to Netgalley and CLASH Books for the ARC.
1. Come Sing for the Harrowing- A teen starts a new job at a medieval fair, and someone is watching.
2. The Wives of Tromisle- A daughter returns home to find that her 70 year old mother is pregnant.
3. Bring Them All Into the Light- A father buys a run-down cottage, then builds a hilltop church.
4. Bumblethatch- A schoolgirl sees her bullied friend who's returned from the dead.
5. A Broken Vessel- A stranger invites a group of friends to help him rob a farm.
6. Vile Jelly- The servants serve the Earl of Gloucester after he loses his eyes in King Lear.
7. From the Earth- A young woman is imprisoned because she hears the voice of God.
8. Our Sister of Blackthorn- A true crime podcaster decides to investigate her childhood best friend's disappearance.
9. Bodies on the Dance Floor- A man goes to the club with his coworkers and sees the guy he bullied as a child.
10. Clockwork- After an abusive father dies, his kid starts finding pieces of an automaton in the garden.
11. Needles & Pins- A man drinks on a camping trip with the guys after a breakup.
12. The Darkness Below- A father takes the family to Gough's Cave, and his son wanders off.
13. Long Gone (Slight Return)- A music journalist interviews former bandmates about the strange disappearance of their lead singer.
14. In Flickering Light- A film editor recalls working on a film with a famous director who loved women.
15. Gorphwysfa- A man moves into a nursing home and starts finding scratches on his body.
16. Grains of Sand- An old Egyptian mummy works at a Tesco and recognizes the girl he once loved.
17. London Deep- A man searches his missing engineer brother's apartment.
18. Beyond the Beach, the Trees- A sweaty man is at a resort and sees someone who looks like his dead friend.
As a collection, some of these stories started to blend together. I felt like I read too many cult sacrifice stories for a single anthology, for example. And some were more "strange" than "horror,," like Clockwork. My favorite stories were Clockwork and Vile Jelly, though Bring Them All Into the Light was good too. Honestly, I think I would enjoy reading these stories in collections, I just felt like an anthology of all of them was too much of the same vibe.
Only a couple of these were actually creepy, but they were generally inventive and original. I felt like many of these endings needed to go slightly further, because they felt like they just ended suddenly. It felt a little unresolved, too often.
Thanks to Netgalley and CLASH Books for the ARC.
September 15, 2024
The best part about being a publisher is being the first to read an incredible book. That is the case with Dan Coxon's newest collection of short horror fiction, "Come Sing for the Harrowing." It's at times touching, gruesome, and thought-provoking, but the language is visceral and the imagery haunting.
"Come Sing for the Harrowing" - A boy works a summer job at an off-brand theme park and gets more attention than he bargained for.
"The Wives of Tromisle" - One woman's quest to find closure after the death of her child brings her to a remote island with a strange overseer.
"Bring Them All Into the Light" - A family on vacation finds a perfect spot for building...but what they build conjures power beyond their imagination.
"Bumblethatch" - Revenge is sweet, especially for one teen girl's otherworldy heartthrob.
"A Broken Vessel" - When a group of thieves take on an easy job to steal from an older home, they have no idea of the hidden strings that are attached.
"Vile Jelly" - A violent act. A terrible price to pay. A strange tale ripped from the background of one of Shakespeare's great plays.
"From the Earth" - Arwen has a gift that keeps her a prisoner in her small town. But can she learn to use it to waken one who will set her free?
"Bodies on the Dance Floor" - A young man bumps into an old friend from school in a busy bar. But their conversation turns strange as it becomes clear that nothing is what it seems to be.
"Clockwork" - A young woman has a strange compulsion to dig up an unidentifiable object she finds in her late father's garden.
"The Darkness Below" - One father's tale about taking his wife and children on an excursion to a cave. But what goes in is not necessarily what comes back out.
"Long Gone (Slight Return)" - A found-footage record about mysterious disappearance of a famous rock star as told by his closest friends.
"In Flickering Light" - A videophile and filmmaker reflects on the missed love of his life and her obsession with a strange movie.
"Gorphwyfsa" - The same spot, but in two different times. Yet, there is one thing that binds them—a malevolent and vengeful force.
"Grains of Sand" - Tep is a modern mummy looking for love in all the wrong places. But when he finds Daisy, could it be he's finally found true love at last?
"London Deep" - One man's search for his missing brother will take him on a journey into the weird.
"Beyond the Beach, the Trees" - A vacation to a tropical paradise sours quickly when one man is approached by a familiar stranger bearing a dead friend's face.
"Come Sing for the Harrowing" - A boy works a summer job at an off-brand theme park and gets more attention than he bargained for.
"The Wives of Tromisle" - One woman's quest to find closure after the death of her child brings her to a remote island with a strange overseer.
"Bring Them All Into the Light" - A family on vacation finds a perfect spot for building...but what they build conjures power beyond their imagination.
"Bumblethatch" - Revenge is sweet, especially for one teen girl's otherworldy heartthrob.
"A Broken Vessel" - When a group of thieves take on an easy job to steal from an older home, they have no idea of the hidden strings that are attached.
"Vile Jelly" - A violent act. A terrible price to pay. A strange tale ripped from the background of one of Shakespeare's great plays.
"From the Earth" - Arwen has a gift that keeps her a prisoner in her small town. But can she learn to use it to waken one who will set her free?
"Bodies on the Dance Floor" - A young man bumps into an old friend from school in a busy bar. But their conversation turns strange as it becomes clear that nothing is what it seems to be.
"Clockwork" - A young woman has a strange compulsion to dig up an unidentifiable object she finds in her late father's garden.
"The Darkness Below" - One father's tale about taking his wife and children on an excursion to a cave. But what goes in is not necessarily what comes back out.
"Long Gone (Slight Return)" - A found-footage record about mysterious disappearance of a famous rock star as told by his closest friends.
"In Flickering Light" - A videophile and filmmaker reflects on the missed love of his life and her obsession with a strange movie.
"Gorphwyfsa" - The same spot, but in two different times. Yet, there is one thing that binds them—a malevolent and vengeful force.
"Grains of Sand" - Tep is a modern mummy looking for love in all the wrong places. But when he finds Daisy, could it be he's finally found true love at last?
"London Deep" - One man's search for his missing brother will take him on a journey into the weird.
"Beyond the Beach, the Trees" - A vacation to a tropical paradise sours quickly when one man is approached by a familiar stranger bearing a dead friend's face.
April 23, 2026
The Old Gods Unionize
BWAF Score: 6/10
Come Sing for the Harrowing opens on a boy named Jack standing in his underwear in a basement, being measured for a sackcloth tunic by a man called Big Mike. Big Mike smells like pig fat and onions. It is Jack’s first day at a medieval theme park called Historytown, where he has been hired to fork hay in a fake stable, and the scene proceeds with the casual indignity that tells you immediately the boy is going to be offered up to something. Not figuratively. In this collection, boys left standing in sackcloth are always going to be offered.
Dan Coxon writes folk horror in the English mode: heath and hill and brook, pagan survivals in the gorse, old gods still in business out where the Wi-Fi gets spotty. When he is on, which is often enough to respect, he knows which notes matter. “The Wives of Tromisle” is an Innsmouth homage done right, a woman arriving on an island to find her septuagenarian mother pregnant by a bearded man who smells of the sea. “Bumblethatch” gives us Iris Penny, a village girl narrating in dialect, telling the story of a dead boy’s courtship in sentences that sound half-lifted from a folk song and cured in cow parsley. “Beyond the Beach, the Trees” has an image at its center I will not forget in a hurry, and I will not be thanking Coxon for that.
Then there is the other half of the book, which is the title story again. A man goes somewhere rural. A thing watches him from the trees. A wooden frame is built. A crowd gathers with produce. A mother is present with a washcloth. The mothers in this book are busy women. By the fourth time the old gods turn up hungry, a reader starts suspecting they work a regional circuit, and that divine appetite is a pretty boring goddamn cycle when it is the only engine on offer.
Coxon is an editor by trade, a good one, with a World Fantasy Award for an anthology and a shelf of commissions that other writers are grateful for. It shows in both directions. His sentences are clean. His pacing holds. What he has not quite forgiven himself for is the strange sentence, the kind an editor red-pens and a writer fights to keep. The women in his stories pay for this. They come in ready to play wives and mothers and sisters. They play them. They are excused from the page.
The strongest stories are strong because Coxon lets the landscape stay strange for its own sake. The middling ones are middling because they are folk horror doing what folk horror is supposed to do.
BWAF Score: 6/10
Come Sing for the Harrowing opens on a boy named Jack standing in his underwear in a basement, being measured for a sackcloth tunic by a man called Big Mike. Big Mike smells like pig fat and onions. It is Jack’s first day at a medieval theme park called Historytown, where he has been hired to fork hay in a fake stable, and the scene proceeds with the casual indignity that tells you immediately the boy is going to be offered up to something. Not figuratively. In this collection, boys left standing in sackcloth are always going to be offered.
Dan Coxon writes folk horror in the English mode: heath and hill and brook, pagan survivals in the gorse, old gods still in business out where the Wi-Fi gets spotty. When he is on, which is often enough to respect, he knows which notes matter. “The Wives of Tromisle” is an Innsmouth homage done right, a woman arriving on an island to find her septuagenarian mother pregnant by a bearded man who smells of the sea. “Bumblethatch” gives us Iris Penny, a village girl narrating in dialect, telling the story of a dead boy’s courtship in sentences that sound half-lifted from a folk song and cured in cow parsley. “Beyond the Beach, the Trees” has an image at its center I will not forget in a hurry, and I will not be thanking Coxon for that.
Then there is the other half of the book, which is the title story again. A man goes somewhere rural. A thing watches him from the trees. A wooden frame is built. A crowd gathers with produce. A mother is present with a washcloth. The mothers in this book are busy women. By the fourth time the old gods turn up hungry, a reader starts suspecting they work a regional circuit, and that divine appetite is a pretty boring goddamn cycle when it is the only engine on offer.
Coxon is an editor by trade, a good one, with a World Fantasy Award for an anthology and a shelf of commissions that other writers are grateful for. It shows in both directions. His sentences are clean. His pacing holds. What he has not quite forgiven himself for is the strange sentence, the kind an editor red-pens and a writer fights to keep. The women in his stories pay for this. They come in ready to play wives and mothers and sisters. They play them. They are excused from the page.
The strongest stories are strong because Coxon lets the landscape stay strange for its own sake. The middling ones are middling because they are folk horror doing what folk horror is supposed to do.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Come Sing For The Harrowing is a collection of folk horror stories from Dan Coxon. In my experience, it is rare to find a collection that is very consistent in quality - typically, there are a few stand out stories, but Coxon manages to hit a dependable tone and quality throughout.
The stories collected here often have very classical horror settings – a haunted house, a remote coastal town, a dilapidated farm, insular communities, abandoned tunnels beneath a city – but manages to do them in a fresh way that doesn’t feel trite or cliché. The tension builds well, often from very mundane starts (a family stumbling on a cottage for sale whilst on holiday, a woman visiting her estranged mother) and typically end in an ambiguous way, allowing the reader their own interpretation of the story. In general, the stories have a classical feel, but with modern language, similar in quality and style to the standalone statements in The Magnus Archives, for example.
Despite the very consistent quality, there were still some stand outs for me, more speaking to my own taste in horror stories. These include:
• Bring Them All Into the Light – This story starts with a family on holiday, driving on a remote country road, when they pass a cottage for sale. They immediately fall in love with the place, sell their house and move in. It’s a great tale of obsession and negligence, as the father becomes enamoured with a quiet hilltop that is on the cottage lands.
• Our Sister of Blackthorn – This is a very urban take on the insular community frequently found in folk horror, set in a crumbling council estate. It is almost Joel Lane-esque in its depiction of urban decay and squalor, and it is told in an inventive way, with the primary characters being a true crime podcaster and their interviewee
• Clockwork – One of the darker stories, despite (depending on interpretation), nothing supernatural occurring, with the horror being more psychological. It features a woman, who, after her abusive father’s death, finds a Victorian automaton buried beneath his garden.
• The Darkness Below – Probably the darkest story, and another psychological horror. A family goes on holiday to Cheddar Gorge, and visits one of the caves there. Their son goes missing briefly during the visit, and after he is found, the father has an uncanny sense that he is not the same person.
The stories collected here often have very classical horror settings – a haunted house, a remote coastal town, a dilapidated farm, insular communities, abandoned tunnels beneath a city – but manages to do them in a fresh way that doesn’t feel trite or cliché. The tension builds well, often from very mundane starts (a family stumbling on a cottage for sale whilst on holiday, a woman visiting her estranged mother) and typically end in an ambiguous way, allowing the reader their own interpretation of the story. In general, the stories have a classical feel, but with modern language, similar in quality and style to the standalone statements in The Magnus Archives, for example.
Despite the very consistent quality, there were still some stand outs for me, more speaking to my own taste in horror stories. These include:
• Bring Them All Into the Light – This story starts with a family on holiday, driving on a remote country road, when they pass a cottage for sale. They immediately fall in love with the place, sell their house and move in. It’s a great tale of obsession and negligence, as the father becomes enamoured with a quiet hilltop that is on the cottage lands.
• Our Sister of Blackthorn – This is a very urban take on the insular community frequently found in folk horror, set in a crumbling council estate. It is almost Joel Lane-esque in its depiction of urban decay and squalor, and it is told in an inventive way, with the primary characters being a true crime podcaster and their interviewee
• Clockwork – One of the darker stories, despite (depending on interpretation), nothing supernatural occurring, with the horror being more psychological. It features a woman, who, after her abusive father’s death, finds a Victorian automaton buried beneath his garden.
• The Darkness Below – Probably the darkest story, and another psychological horror. A family goes on holiday to Cheddar Gorge, and visits one of the caves there. Their son goes missing briefly during the visit, and after he is found, the father has an uncanny sense that he is not the same person.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Despite some repetition in themes (sibling relationships, suicide, revenge, bullying, sacrifice to supernatural entities), mood and atmosphere (weird, resigned, melancholic), and manner of resolution (abrupt and ambiguous), Dan Coxon's collection does impress with its complex and haunting imagery, original premises, and simply genius writing.
"Come Sing for the Harrowing" collects eighteen stories, seven of which are original to the collection. Brian Evenson's introduction pinpoints the themes as belonging somewhere between weird fiction and folk horror, though the tales seem to me as much folk as urban, rural, cult and vacation horror as well. Be that as it may, readers expecting folk horror will be pleasantly surprised to find the genre mixed with several different kind of tropes, even sci-fi tropes, unsettling Lovecraftian elements, and strong vibes of existential dread. The result is sheer brilliance every time.
The stories I heartily recommend are the titular "Come Sing for the Harrowing" (a young man working in a immersive historical attraction discovers the awful truth behind it), "The Wives of Tromisle" (daughter visits her old mother, who turns out to be pregnant!), "Bring Them All Into the Light" (my favorite - a father devotes himself blindly to the building of a church on a hill in his newly bought property), "Our Sister of Blackthorn" (my second favorite - a true crime podcaster seeks to discover the truth behind an old friend's disappearance in her hometown), "Clockwork" (a daughter unearths bits of a Victorian automaton in her late father’s garden), "The Darkness Below" (the transcript of a father's confession, after he stopped recognizing his own teen son), and "Long Gone (Slight Return)" (my third favorite, and utterly creepy - the transcript of a series of interviews about a band member who stops recognizing himself).
Special mention: "In Flickering Light" (visceral cinema horror)!
Anyone seeking a deeply immersive reading experience, stories wildly inventive and anxiety-inducing, should give this book a try. Several times it felt as if the proverbial abyss looked right back!
April 18, 2026
Arc recieved from Netgalley
This collection of short stories wanted to be weird and they sure were weird. I’m not quite sure it’s the kind of weird they wanted though. Every story felt like I was dropped in the middle of each plot and then was pulled out before they were truly done. I understand that each story was its own thing but most short story collections have some sort of through line, theme, or something that groups them together. I’m fine with that tie only being the writing style but this collection didn’t even have that. If you told me each one was written by a different person who didn’t have any idea of the other stories, I would believe you. This collection just felt like the leftovers that didn’t make it into other collections.
The shortness of each story also really worked against them. I never cared for any of the characters because we never really got any details about them. Their deaths or trouble meant nothing and didn’t have any impact on me. We also got no reasoning for anything that happened. Why would a mother sacrifice their kid slowly? Why would a house need a blood sacrifice? Why did anything happen in any of these stories? We never got a true resolution which just felt frustrating and made each story hard to start since I knew it wouldn’t end with any kind of closure.
I also have an issue with the few female characters in this collection. We never got a female main character which would have been fine with the supporting women weren’t major red flags. They were never written in a good light. If they didn’t end up as a sacrifice, they were the one luring men to their end. They were slimy, terrible people and really felt like a tool for the author to work out his ill will against women. I really did wonder if he even liked women by the end.
The only reason this book is getting 3 stars is because some of them had good premises. If the ideas were as bad as the executions, I would have DNF’ed this book after the second or third short story.
This collection of short stories wanted to be weird and they sure were weird. I’m not quite sure it’s the kind of weird they wanted though. Every story felt like I was dropped in the middle of each plot and then was pulled out before they were truly done. I understand that each story was its own thing but most short story collections have some sort of through line, theme, or something that groups them together. I’m fine with that tie only being the writing style but this collection didn’t even have that. If you told me each one was written by a different person who didn’t have any idea of the other stories, I would believe you. This collection just felt like the leftovers that didn’t make it into other collections.
The shortness of each story also really worked against them. I never cared for any of the characters because we never really got any details about them. Their deaths or trouble meant nothing and didn’t have any impact on me. We also got no reasoning for anything that happened. Why would a mother sacrifice their kid slowly? Why would a house need a blood sacrifice? Why did anything happen in any of these stories? We never got a true resolution which just felt frustrating and made each story hard to start since I knew it wouldn’t end with any kind of closure.
I also have an issue with the few female characters in this collection. We never got a female main character which would have been fine with the supporting women weren’t major red flags. They were never written in a good light. If they didn’t end up as a sacrifice, they were the one luring men to their end. They were slimy, terrible people and really felt like a tool for the author to work out his ill will against women. I really did wonder if he even liked women by the end.
The only reason this book is getting 3 stars is because some of them had good premises. If the ideas were as bad as the executions, I would have DNF’ed this book after the second or third short story.
April 18, 2026
Come Sing For The Harrowing is the newest collection of stories by British Fantasy Award Winner, Dan Coxon.
The book is a re - release as whilst it was originally published in 2024, the original publishers Weird Little Worlds went bust and the book hid in the publishing wild until Clash Books picked it up in 2025.
The collection is a compendium of stories based around folk horror but warped through a modern lens.
There are eighteen stories in the collection ranging from out and out folk horror such as the title story to subliminal horror that plays with the senses.
Rather than going for out and out horror, Coxon teases the reader, giving them the opportunity to use their own imaginations as to how the stories end, each one creeping into the back brain to give that sense of u ease that slowly creeps down tge spine, reminiscent of writers like Robert Aickman or Ramsey Campbell.
As with all story collections, some hit harder than others, whilst some don’t have as much lustre as some of the shining stars, particularly when the ending is too open or the story cuts short with little resolution.
One of the things that really jarred me was the use of language in some of the stories, particularly The Darkness Below which unfortunately was spoilt by the use of Americanisms and stereotypical views of bikers that resembled old fashioned American bikers rather than their British compatriots. And whilst the story has a really good idea behind it, the language really boggled me. I don’t know if this was an editorial decision or a stylistic one, but ultimately it didn’t work.
All in all, Come Song For The Harrowing is a good collection of folk horror / Weird Fiction that on some occasions dials the creep factor up to ten, but unfortunately some of the stories missed their mark.
It will be interesting to see what his new novella Where Once He Stood is like when it comes out in May.
The book is a re - release as whilst it was originally published in 2024, the original publishers Weird Little Worlds went bust and the book hid in the publishing wild until Clash Books picked it up in 2025.
The collection is a compendium of stories based around folk horror but warped through a modern lens.
There are eighteen stories in the collection ranging from out and out folk horror such as the title story to subliminal horror that plays with the senses.
Rather than going for out and out horror, Coxon teases the reader, giving them the opportunity to use their own imaginations as to how the stories end, each one creeping into the back brain to give that sense of u ease that slowly creeps down tge spine, reminiscent of writers like Robert Aickman or Ramsey Campbell.
As with all story collections, some hit harder than others, whilst some don’t have as much lustre as some of the shining stars, particularly when the ending is too open or the story cuts short with little resolution.
One of the things that really jarred me was the use of language in some of the stories, particularly The Darkness Below which unfortunately was spoilt by the use of Americanisms and stereotypical views of bikers that resembled old fashioned American bikers rather than their British compatriots. And whilst the story has a really good idea behind it, the language really boggled me. I don’t know if this was an editorial decision or a stylistic one, but ultimately it didn’t work.
All in all, Come Song For The Harrowing is a good collection of folk horror / Weird Fiction that on some occasions dials the creep factor up to ten, but unfortunately some of the stories missed their mark.
It will be interesting to see what his new novella Where Once He Stood is like when it comes out in May.
April 19, 2026
Come Sing for the Harrowing by Dan Coxon brings all the folk horror it promises in its title (and the title of the first story) and its cover art. It also brings body horror, cosmic horror, the supernatural, and ROCK AND ROLL! and addresses topics like mental illness, generational trauma, and body dysmorphia. And they say horror is not “real” literature.
Many times, I have to read a story collection a bit at at time because they all start running together, so I’ll put it away and read something else. Not so with Come Sing for the Harrowing. Though they were all clearly Coxon’s voice, there was a mix of sub-genres and even styles with some very linear stories and some that just created a feeling or an atmosphere. And a couple where I had no idea what was going on, but I liked it. (Guess which ones?)
One of the standouts of the collection for me was the title story, Come Sing for the Harrowing - maybe a little bit because the first pages made me think of the time I spent in Colonial Williamsburg when I was working at a bookstore there but also mostly because the folk horror was perfectly creepy (and a little sad).
I also liked [title redacted: spoilers!] - there’s just something so eerie about being erased as if you never existed.
Needles & Pins was kind of fun to read as a woman realizing the first person male narrator was kind of a dog to his girlfriend but was so sad about her breaking up with him, he needed to go camping with his buddies.
The last one I’ll mention specifically is Beyond the Beach, the Trees because I have never related more to a character who doesn’t want to sweat in their own room on vacation because same.
Thanks to NetGalley and CLASH Books for the advance copy for my unbiased review.
Many times, I have to read a story collection a bit at at time because they all start running together, so I’ll put it away and read something else. Not so with Come Sing for the Harrowing. Though they were all clearly Coxon’s voice, there was a mix of sub-genres and even styles with some very linear stories and some that just created a feeling or an atmosphere. And a couple where I had no idea what was going on, but I liked it. (Guess which ones?)
One of the standouts of the collection for me was the title story, Come Sing for the Harrowing - maybe a little bit because the first pages made me think of the time I spent in Colonial Williamsburg when I was working at a bookstore there but also mostly because the folk horror was perfectly creepy (and a little sad).
I also liked [title redacted: spoilers!] - there’s just something so eerie about being erased as if you never existed.
Needles & Pins was kind of fun to read as a woman realizing the first person male narrator was kind of a dog to his girlfriend but was so sad about her breaking up with him, he needed to go camping with his buddies.
The last one I’ll mention specifically is Beyond the Beach, the Trees because I have never related more to a character who doesn’t want to sweat in their own room on vacation because same.
Thanks to NetGalley and CLASH Books for the advance copy for my unbiased review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
4.5/5⭐, rounded up
A very interesting and unsettling collection of short stories from this (new to me) author. I noticed this book has a foreword from the incredible Brian Evenson, and that absolutely tracks, because Coxon writes those kinds of weird, quietly horrific and eerie tales that go in the most unexpected directions and linger on in your hind brain long after it’s over. It’s a solid collection with nary a dud in the bunch.
Exceptional highlights for me were:
• Long Gone (Slight Return) – this one seemed like a definite homage/take on Manic Street Preachers and the real-life great mystery of Richey – it really hit for me, leaving me sad and nostalgic and brought up those 30-year-old memories
• A couple of excellent shorts with heavy cosmic and Lovecraftian overtones in The Wives of Tromisle and London Deep
• Bring Them All Into the Light, Our Sister of Blackthorn, and Come Sing For the Harrowing are folklore horror in the vein of Midsommar and the Wicker Man
• Tales of madness and disconcerting psychological horror in The Darkness Below and Gorphwysfa are the kind where you’re not sure if the characters are losing their minds or are truly haunted by entities, and are done so well you feel haunted yourself just from reading them
A really amazing collection of horror tales that has a little bit of everything and all well written. I need to go get some more Coxon books!
My thanks to NetGalley and CLASH Books for the ARC. I am leaving this review voluntarily; all opinions are my own.
A very interesting and unsettling collection of short stories from this (new to me) author. I noticed this book has a foreword from the incredible Brian Evenson, and that absolutely tracks, because Coxon writes those kinds of weird, quietly horrific and eerie tales that go in the most unexpected directions and linger on in your hind brain long after it’s over. It’s a solid collection with nary a dud in the bunch.
Exceptional highlights for me were:
• Long Gone (Slight Return) – this one seemed like a definite homage/take on Manic Street Preachers and the real-life great mystery of Richey – it really hit for me, leaving me sad and nostalgic and brought up those 30-year-old memories
• A couple of excellent shorts with heavy cosmic and Lovecraftian overtones in The Wives of Tromisle and London Deep
• Bring Them All Into the Light, Our Sister of Blackthorn, and Come Sing For the Harrowing are folklore horror in the vein of Midsommar and the Wicker Man
• Tales of madness and disconcerting psychological horror in The Darkness Below and Gorphwysfa are the kind where you’re not sure if the characters are losing their minds or are truly haunted by entities, and are done so well you feel haunted yourself just from reading them
A really amazing collection of horror tales that has a little bit of everything and all well written. I need to go get some more Coxon books!
My thanks to NetGalley and CLASH Books for the ARC. I am leaving this review voluntarily; all opinions are my own.
April 3, 2026
There are few things I love more than a horror anthology and I was really excited to stumble onto Come Sing for the Harrowing. This collection of stories was touted as unsettling folk horror, which immediately piqued my interest. And while there were some absolute stand out stories in my opinion, the collection didn't necessarily stand out to me the way I'd hoped. So let's talk about what worked for me and what didn't.
I had two absolute favorite stories in this collection: The Darkness Below, and Our Sister of Blackthorn. Both felt whole and compelling. The Darkness Below left me with that slightly off-balance feeling of trying to sort out who is telling the truth... and if anyone actually is. Our Sister of Blackthorn ties in a podcast-gone-wrong element in a really interesting way, and that's all I'll say here to avoid spoilers. Both of these stories left me wanting more and I could definitely see at least one of them working as a fully fleshed-out novel.
Now what didn't work for me is solely based on preference. While I do enjoy a lot of folk horror, I'm a bit picky about it and I don't really care much for horror in the vein of movies like Midsommar and Hereditary. I know that style is enjoyable for so many people, though, and if you're one of them this collection is going to be perfect for you from start to finish.
Come Sing for the Harrowing is absolutely still a book I recommend because horror is so subjective. The great thing with anthologies is that you can generally find something in it for everyone and I'm really interested to see which stories are others' favorites, as well!
((While the viewpoints shared are my own, I want to thank NetGalley, CLASH Books, and Dan Coxon for this complimentary copy.))
I had two absolute favorite stories in this collection: The Darkness Below, and Our Sister of Blackthorn. Both felt whole and compelling. The Darkness Below left me with that slightly off-balance feeling of trying to sort out who is telling the truth... and if anyone actually is. Our Sister of Blackthorn ties in a podcast-gone-wrong element in a really interesting way, and that's all I'll say here to avoid spoilers. Both of these stories left me wanting more and I could definitely see at least one of them working as a fully fleshed-out novel.
Now what didn't work for me is solely based on preference. While I do enjoy a lot of folk horror, I'm a bit picky about it and I don't really care much for horror in the vein of movies like Midsommar and Hereditary. I know that style is enjoyable for so many people, though, and if you're one of them this collection is going to be perfect for you from start to finish.
Come Sing for the Harrowing is absolutely still a book I recommend because horror is so subjective. The great thing with anthologies is that you can generally find something in it for everyone and I'm really interested to see which stories are others' favorites, as well!
((While the viewpoints shared are my own, I want to thank NetGalley, CLASH Books, and Dan Coxon for this complimentary copy.))
March 11, 2026
Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC!
Since this book is an anthology, I always find it a bit difficult to rate. With collections like this, every story feels different, so my opinion is usually a bit mixed.
There were quite a few stories I really enjoyed and that genuinely stood out to me. However, there were also a few that didn’t fully make sense to me or left me a little confused. I feel like that happens quite often with anthologies. At first I thought maybe it was just me, but after reading a few other reviews I was actually relieved to see that I’m not the only one who felt that way.
Overall, I did enjoy the book. That being said, I have to admit that some of the weaker stories slightly lowered the overall experience for me.
But I think that’s always the risk when publishing an anthology with multiple stories. I honestly can’t think of one where every single story completely blew me away. There are almost always a few outliers that don’t work as well, and in the end they make the overall experience a little less strong than it could have been.
That said, if you enjoy anthologies, love folk horror and horror in general, but sometimes don’t feel like committing to a full-length novel, this book might be perfect for you.
It’s perfect for reading one, two, or maybe three chapters before bed… just don’t blame the book when you suddenly wake up at 3 am questioning every shadow in your room.
Since this book is an anthology, I always find it a bit difficult to rate. With collections like this, every story feels different, so my opinion is usually a bit mixed.
There were quite a few stories I really enjoyed and that genuinely stood out to me. However, there were also a few that didn’t fully make sense to me or left me a little confused. I feel like that happens quite often with anthologies. At first I thought maybe it was just me, but after reading a few other reviews I was actually relieved to see that I’m not the only one who felt that way.
Overall, I did enjoy the book. That being said, I have to admit that some of the weaker stories slightly lowered the overall experience for me.
But I think that’s always the risk when publishing an anthology with multiple stories. I honestly can’t think of one where every single story completely blew me away. There are almost always a few outliers that don’t work as well, and in the end they make the overall experience a little less strong than it could have been.
That said, if you enjoy anthologies, love folk horror and horror in general, but sometimes don’t feel like committing to a full-length novel, this book might be perfect for you.
It’s perfect for reading one, two, or maybe three chapters before bed… just don’t blame the book when you suddenly wake up at 3 am questioning every shadow in your room.
April 4, 2026
I went into Come Sing for the Harrowing expecting heavy folk horror vibes throughout all the short stories and this wasn’t that. But I didn’t leave dissatisfied. There was a solid range of folk horror, some weird and even sci-fi elements to these stories. I felt that the stories at the beginning had a more folk horror vibe and felt earthy. Some of the descriptions here were evocative. I particularly enjoyed ‘Our Sister of Blackthorn’ which I felt was an interesting urban take on the traditional folk horror trope of rural insular communities vs the outsider other.
Towards the middle of the collection I did feel like it dipped for me. I felt like we lost the cohesion a bit and some of the stories weren’t to my taste.
I feel the last few stories were bangers however. Some stand outs for me were ‘The Darkness Below’ and all stories beyond this one I rated highly. I could talk for ages about the themes in these but won’t so I don’t spoil anything. But these feel like short stories I can come back to and enjoy again and again. My favourites toward the end include aspects that reminded me of changelings, possession and weird, eldritch horrors.
Overall I think this is a solid collection, and while it doesn’t hit you in the face with the scares, it’s subtle approach encourages you to ponder each story and feel thoroughly creeped out in some cases.
Thank you to Netgalley and Clash books for the eARC.
Towards the middle of the collection I did feel like it dipped for me. I felt like we lost the cohesion a bit and some of the stories weren’t to my taste.
I feel the last few stories were bangers however. Some stand outs for me were ‘The Darkness Below’ and all stories beyond this one I rated highly. I could talk for ages about the themes in these but won’t so I don’t spoil anything. But these feel like short stories I can come back to and enjoy again and again. My favourites toward the end include aspects that reminded me of changelings, possession and weird, eldritch horrors.
Overall I think this is a solid collection, and while it doesn’t hit you in the face with the scares, it’s subtle approach encourages you to ponder each story and feel thoroughly creeped out in some cases.
Thank you to Netgalley and Clash books for the eARC.
November 30, 2025
Hmm.
I’ll be honest I expected a lot more from this collection of short stories than I was given. The description was quite misleading. I wouldn’t call these folk-horror, not even horror if I’m to be honest. Nothing bone chilling or eerie, or even anything leaving me in a stupor of “what the hell”.
The writing itself didn’t do much for me either. The stories were somehow too short and too crowded at the same time. There was a habit of dumping way too much information right at the start, leaving me floundering. Why do I have to know the names of every single character in the first paragraph? The endings also came abruptly. It must have been in the attempt to leave the reader shocked and unsettled, but I felt nothing of that sort. Just a constant miss. A story would end and I was just like okay… I guess that’s it then.
Going back to the horror aspect. I’d say it’s less horror and more so loose themes of the supernatural. A bit of folk, others demons or ghosts, and one oddly enough, containing fish people. Perhaps that falls under eldritch? Anyways a lot of this felt uninspired and lackluster to put it frankly. There was only one story here that I liked, this being ‘The Darkness Below’. Wouldn’t recommend reading the entirety of this book and maybe just hopping around and seeing which takes your fancy.
Thank you to NetGalley for the arc!
I’ll be honest I expected a lot more from this collection of short stories than I was given. The description was quite misleading. I wouldn’t call these folk-horror, not even horror if I’m to be honest. Nothing bone chilling or eerie, or even anything leaving me in a stupor of “what the hell”.
The writing itself didn’t do much for me either. The stories were somehow too short and too crowded at the same time. There was a habit of dumping way too much information right at the start, leaving me floundering. Why do I have to know the names of every single character in the first paragraph? The endings also came abruptly. It must have been in the attempt to leave the reader shocked and unsettled, but I felt nothing of that sort. Just a constant miss. A story would end and I was just like okay… I guess that’s it then.
Going back to the horror aspect. I’d say it’s less horror and more so loose themes of the supernatural. A bit of folk, others demons or ghosts, and one oddly enough, containing fish people. Perhaps that falls under eldritch? Anyways a lot of this felt uninspired and lackluster to put it frankly. There was only one story here that I liked, this being ‘The Darkness Below’. Wouldn’t recommend reading the entirety of this book and maybe just hopping around and seeing which takes your fancy.
Thank you to NetGalley for the arc!
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