The Outcast Hours

by Mahvesh Murad (Editor), Jared Shurin (Editor), Sam Beckbessinger (Contributor)

"These are the stories of people who live at night: under neon and starlight, and never the light of the sun.

These are the stories of poets and police, tourists and traders; the hidden and the forbidden; the lonely and the lovers.

This is their time.

The Outcast Hours gathers over two dozen brand-new stories from award-winning writers across genres and continents, including bold new fiction from Marina Warner, Frances Hardinge, China Miéville, Sami Shah, Omar Robert Hamilton, Kuzhali Manickavel, Will Hill, Indrapramit Das, Silvia Moreno Garcia, Jeffrey Alan Love, Maha Khan Phillips, and many, many more."

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Anthologies, Horror, Science Fiction, Fiction, Literature

314 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 19, 2019

Reviews

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I adored the first anthology by the editor duo so much that I did not hesitate for a single second before requesting this one and immediately starting to read it. Mahvesh Murad and Jared Shurin do have a great way of building anthologies and even though I did not love this one as much, I will still be on the lookout for more work by these two.

These stories all take place at night, in the liminal spaces that entails, and span a wide array of genres. For me, the first half of the anthology was by far the stronger one with some absolutely stunning stories that make me excited to check these authors out. The second half and the micro-stories by China Miéville who are interspersed throughout did not work for me, however. Here I found myself skim-reading and often not caring at all.

The anthology starts very strong with a quiet horror story by Sam Beckbessinger, Lauren Beukes, and Dale Halvorsen: The Book Will Find You. I adored this story about grief and anger and supernatural beings, and the brilliant way it climaxes. I have been eyeing Lauren Beukes’ books for ages and really need to check her stuff out. I found Will Hill’s It Was A Different Time incredibly angering and wonderfully constructed. My personal favourites of the bunch were Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Sleep Walker and Frances Hardinge’s Blind Eye, both authors whose work I have wanted to read for ages. I should really get on with it.

I appreciate how varied this anthology was and how widely different in tone and style the stories were allowed to be. For me that is always a positive in an anthology because it gives me the opportunity to read outside my comfort zone without having to spend hours reading things I am not enjoying that much.

I received an arc of this book courtesy of NetGalley and Rebellion Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

You can find this review and other thoughts on books on my blog.

[Lukasz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual rating: 3.5 /5

I have a love/hate relationship with anthologies. I always read one. Sometimes it takes me two days to finish it, sometimes a few months. I enjoyed Murad & Shurin's Djinn Falls in Love Anthology, so once I learned about Outcast Hours I knew I had to read it. Thanks to NetGalley I could do it few months before official publication date (February 2019).

The anthology focuses on things that happen at night. Most assembled stories treat the topic seriously touching darker sides of human existence. Lovers, thieves, predators, nightmarish beings, ghosts, trolls make an appearance. Here's my short take on each story with ratings of sorts.

With short stories, I don't focus on positives and negatives. I rate the level of my enjoyment - for example, one of the stories that got one-star from me is very well written. But it bored me to no end in just a few pages. I simply know other readers will love it, though.

So, all the ratings below are 100% subjective and don't reflect the quality of the writing/choices made by the editors.

This Book Will Find You by Sam Beckbessinger, Lauren Beukes and Dale Halvorsen - 4/5

intimate, dense and depressive account of a relationship that finished horribly wrong. Told by a self-loathing narrator, it's poignant, infuriating and immersive.

It was a different Time by Will Hill - 2/5

A young man working night shift finds an older guy with a gun sitting by the swimming pool. During a forced conversation, they touch many subjects, especially bullying and abuse (verbal/sexual). Treat is as another #MeToo discussion voice, only it adds nothing new to the topic.

Ambulance Service by Sami Shah - 3/5

I like Shah's writing. Ambulance Service is a good story, but it lacks the punch of Reap from Djinn Falls in Love Anthology or creativity of Djinn-son duology. Solid story nonetheless.

Blind Eye by Frances Hardinge - 4/5

Erin, a professional and discrete babysitter, receives a call. A pair of siblings needs her to take care of a child for the night. Business as usual, except the couple is adamant that the child can't fall asleep. For when she does, strange things will happen.

Excellent, a bit sad and delightfully weird story. Well worth the read.

Sleep Walker by Silvia Moreno-Garcia - 2/5

Well...Basically, it's a story about nothing. Or everything, if you're ready to create the tale in your imagination. Some will love it. I didn't.

Bag Man by Lavie Tidhar - 4/5

Think an older version of Liam Neeson plays an agent (?) who takes things from point A to point B, no questions asked. A band of teenagers robs him. It won't do. Mayhem ensues. There's little moral to the story, but it's fun. In a loud and violent way.

Gatsby by Maha Khan Philips - 3/5

It takes a scene from Great Gatsby (sort of) and twists it nicely. A dark, well written and punchy story. I liked it.

Swipe Left by Daniel Polansky - 3/5

A bit crazy. Nicely written. The ending disappointed me. It prooves that speed-dating can go terribly wrong.

MiDNIghT MaRAuDERS by Matt Suddain - 5/5

Here's the secret - I want to be Matt Suddain when I grow up. I absolutely love his witty, unpredictable writing. It tells the story of the feud between BEReZOv and VAnzaNT, owners of two drug dispensaries in a small, decent city. In the end, there's no place for two of them.

Suddain's Monsters&Collectors is one of my all-time favourite books. He can pack more creativity (and absurd) to one sentence than many readers to a whole book.

Absolutely loved it.

Everyone Knows that They're Dead. Do you? by Genevieve Valentine - 3/5

The author starts a dialogue with the reader, trying to make him analyse his reactions to the unveiling story. It was interesting and clever, but had no long-lasting effect on me.

The Collector by Sally Partridge - 4/5

Bennie is a retro guy. He loves the eighties and collects all kinds of memorabilia. He finds a fantastic pony, but someone scams him. It won't do. Bennie sets on a mission to recover the pony. Hilarious, even in darker moments.

The Patron Saint of Night Puppers by Indrasit Das - 2/5

Well. It's an example of the story many readers will love, that didn't impress me at all. I guess that if you liked The Devourers, you'll like it as well.

Tilt by Karen Onojaife - 2/5

It's about a woman who always liked the things she liked too intensely. Not bad, but it didn't engage me the way other stories did.

In the Blink of a Light by Amira Salah-Ahmed - 3/5

It touches the subject of restricted lust and other things. An OK story, but not more for me.

The Dental Gig by SL Grey - 4/5

I liked it a lot. It demonstrates the hardship of tooth fairies' corporate life and proves their profession isn't based on a good business model.

One Gram by Leah Moore - 2/5

Not for me. Forgettable story and characters.

This Place of Thorns by Marina Warner - 1/5

Descriptive, tiring and boring.

Not Just Ivy by Celeste Baker - 3/5

Not bad at all. Interesting idea, good execution.

Dark Matters by Cecilia Ekback - 5/5

It has it all - great, punchy first line, distinct voice, interesting story about Death and Resurrection. Excellent one.

Above the Light by Jesse Bullington - 4.5/5

Strong opening, interesting story, intriguing ending. It's the story about joys and dangers of night hiking through Alpes. Very good. I loved an eerie atmosphere and skilfully built feeling of dread.

Welcome to the Haunted House by Yukimi Ogawa - 3/5

Interesting and unusual. Weird in a good way. Experience it yourself.

Rain, Streaming by omar Robert Hamilton - 3/5

A dialogue between a man and Val. Well structured but I didn't care for the narrator's voice.

Lock-In by William Boyle - 1/5

I didn't like the story and its' directionless, troubled heroes. I'm sure readers will relate to them, though.

The Night Mountain by Jeffrey Alan Love - 2/5

I guess it can be described as atmospheric, but it left me cold.

A Partial Beginner's Guide to The Lucy Temerlin Home for Broken Shapeshifters by Kuzhali Manickavel - 3/5

I liked it a lot. I have only one complaint - it was too short.

Contrary to what you may assume looking on ratings, it's one of the best anthologies I've ever read. All of the stories felt neat and well written. I couldn't relate to some POVs. I didn't like some descriptions or plots. But I'm sure others will love the stories that didn't impress me and find my favourites boring or forgettable.

My three favourite stories are:

MiDNIghT MaRAuDERS by Matt Suddain
Dark Matters by Cecilia Ekback
Above the Light by Jesse Bullington

I highly recommend experiencing The Outcast Hours. Just don't expect that every story will charm you.

[Robin (Bridge Four) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review was originally posted on Books of My Heart

Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

2.5 Stars
 
The Outcast Hours is not my typical read.  First, it falls on the darker side of things and then, it is an anthology.  I generally don’t read a lot of those since usually they have a short story by one or two authors I know and the rest aren't as important to me.  But I thought I’d give this a try, based of the darker side of life premise.

There are twenty-five different stories in this, which just seems like a lot.  What happened for me is the stories I’m interested in were too short and the ones I was not interested in were too long.  Plus jumping from short story to short story was all a little disjointed. They all have a similar theme but some funny dark, others ewe dark and a few had a Tales from the Crypt vibe.  I think you get what I’m saying.

The good thing about this anthology is every story is a single complete tale.  There are some gems in here a few of my favorites were:

The Book Will Find You -  Sam Beckbessinger, Lauren Beukes & Dale Halvorsen

It was a seriously creepy tale of a same sex relationship gone so many shades of wrong and the extremes one partner was willing to go to in order to bring back the person they lost.  It was creepy, sad and utterly disturbing.

Blind Eye – Frances Hardinge

Think about a babysitter for criminals and this is her tale of one very special job she takes with a child that the caretakers warn her to never let fall asleep.  It was a quick story steeped in the supernatural and I really liked it.

MiDNIghT MaRAuDERS – M. Suddain

Set in a different culture and time it is the story of a smaller town that has a new drug store pop up.  It appears that the town is just not big enough for the two of them and they go to war with one another. It is a well-paced funny story with some great shenanigans in it.  This is what happens when armatures try to break into places.

A Partial Beginner’s Guide to the Lucy Temerlin Home for Broken Shapeshifters – Kuzhail Manickavel

This is a funny list of things to do and not to do upon arrival to the Home.  It is really short but just made me want to know more about this world. I would totally read a full-length book about someone just getting to this home and all of the challenges they would face in it.  I was so sad that it was over just as it was beginning.

All the other stories for me were okay, some more memorable than others but each definitely dark.  There aren’t many happy endings and there were some that you really wanted the main person to just die for being so awful a person.  A few tried to have some sort of significance to the world today like using Tinder or the MeToo movement. But most kept it to move of a UF/fantasy realm.

The real question, is this for you?  Well if you just want a few quick stories to read before bed and set aside perhaps to come back to every now and again, then probably yes.  If you like ambiguous endings or ones that are not happy in nature, then again probably yes. But if what you are looking for is a real connection to characters and feeling ‘in’ the story then probably not.  Like I said, these are short and there are so many it was really hard to feel attached. Only a few stories even stick in my mind a week after reading it.

[8stitches 9lives · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having always been fascinated by the night and darkness The Outcast Hours was a no-brainer. We are all so used to reading books in which events take place in the light of day, but, here, each story takes place under the cover of darkness; it really is quite refreshing and makes this collection rather introspective in nature. There is a diverse range of contributors from all around the world, and some of the writers included are China Mieville, Will Hill and Francis Hardinge, but as with all anthologies, some tales are more compelling than others. However, all are well written and intriguing in their own way.

There are stories that are creepy, powerful, original and thought-provoking, and the fact that this is a cross-genre collection means that there is something here for everyone - fantasy. thrillers, horror, science fiction and contemporary, to name a few. The authors hail from all over the globe, and their shorts include diverse characters with LGBTQIA+ backgrounds, so if you are looking to challenge yourself to move out of your comfort zone and try to appreciate a multitude of genres and new authors this a great way to do so.

Many thanks to Solaris for an ARC.

[K.J. Charles]

A collection of shorts collected by the editors of the magnificent The Djinn Falls in Love & Other Stories (possibly my favourite antho ever and you should go get it right now) based around the concept of night people or people doing stuff at night. This is a pretty loose concept and the anthology is varied accordingly. I felt it suffered from that--some stories seemed completely unrelated except for a few things happening at night.

It had some brilliant pieces--Sami Shah's fantastic tale of a day in the life of a Karachi exorcist ought to be a novel, and the Lauren Beukes co-authored opener is a superb horror--and some duds, of which the Marina Warner was the standout, though I can't say I got the point of the interpolated China Mieville shorts. Overall more good than bad, which is as much as one can usually ask from an anthology, but suffers by comparison to either The Djinn Falls in Love or the publisher's almost equally glorious Not So Stories.

[David Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm grateful to the publisher for a free advance e-copy of Mahvesh Murad and Jared Shurin's new anthology themed around night and the dark, via NetGalley, so that I could take part in the book's blogtour. When I heard this anthology was coming out, I knew I would have to read it!

Why did I want to read these stories? Not only do the editors have a seriously impressive track record - and look at the authors' names! - but the theme, night, is something that's always intrigued me and fired my imagination. One of the stories here notes that "By the time you're twelve you have a pretty good idea of whether or not you like the night". I think that's right. Old enough to get over - or mostly get over - the terrors of childhood, not old enough to appreciate some of the darker realities: your view can be set then, only to be moderated, not erased, by subsequent experience.

Me, I love the idea that, while I doze in my warm bed, there are people in neon lit spaces working; travellers make their way by nightbus or midnight train to who knows where; restless people sit in airports surrounded by their luggage; a pack of Nighthawks out of Edward Hopper's dreams prop up a bleak bar; and so forth. Recently I read about a woman living on the edge of London who, when she can't sleep, gets the nightbus into town and visits a particular Soho cafe. Respect to her for that - I'm not so much of a night owl myself though I will stay up reading but I'm fascinated by the idea of the night. It's just fuel for the imagination and positively drips with atmosphere, sentiment and anticipation.

Of course, that attitude may reflect a degree of privilege on my part, as a man with a secure home who lives in a safe and sleepy English village (even if we do sometimes appear in Midsomer Murders). Other perspectives are available and often, of course, the night is threatening, especially for women ("not for all the gold in the world would she have stepped outside the car in that moment" states the unnamed young woman in Sleep Walker by Silvia Moreno-Garcia "Because the night was yawning.")

So, all that said, what about the stories? The book contains 26 full length stories arranged into nine sections, each unopened by an enigmatic "microstory" by China Miéville. The stories in the book engage with all aspects of the theme: some are, perhaps only "coincidentally" nighttime stories, and might as easily be set in day (or are even notionally nighttime, as one set during the long Northern summer so while it is chronologically "night", actually it's as bright as day), others demand the nocturnal in some way, featuring security guards or a woman on shift at a dog hotel - while still more have that "something of the night" about them. In genre, they range from horror, to crime, science fiction, fantasy, noir and romance and everything in between.

This is, overall, a strong collection of stories. I had my favourites - for example Everyone Knows That They’re Dead. Do You? by Genevieve Valentine is a well-turned out ghost story, whose twist is that it's a very meta, self-aware story which stops every so often to ask the reader questions, point out what's happening structurally ("Susan has invoked the past, one of the early warning signs of a ghost story") and discuss where things might go. That sounds as though it shouldn't work, but the interventions rather add to the tension, giving the whole things a taste of preordained doom. It also has some neat characterisation, especially of reigned women mixed up with unpleasant men ("She's pretty sure she doesn't want to actually marry Greg any more, now that she knows he's a fucking grave robber...")

Or Indrapramit Das's The Patron Saint of Night Puppers which examines the life of a young woman surviving the gig economy in Vancouver, living from task to task. As she sets out to a night's work at a dog hotel one Hallowe'en we sense Kris actually doing something she enjoys, and gradually learn why her lonely life is completed by spending a night with these loyal, abandoned animals. A sad story yet one with real feeling and heart, it gives a chilling sense of a young woman's everyday fears when on the street alone after dark ("she hoped it wasn't a man, because it wasn't easy to cross over to the other side of the road on Terminal") as well as the fears and hopes of the dogs she cares for ("The dogs surrounded her in worship and terror, begging for guidance. They loved Kris. They feared Kris. They asked only that she love them like their human families once had, only to abandon them here for who knew how many forevers...") I know it seems weird to quote those passages together but the way Das weaves together Kris's approach to the dogs and their vulnerability with her own life.

And there's SL Grey's The Dental Gig which reminded me of Terry Pratchett at his best. This non-so-sweet little fantasy revolves around the lives of the fairies who collect children's teeth, but it's far from being a soothing fairytale as we see the worst features of the modern workplace feature, not least a very dubious product resulting from all the activity. Another of my favourites, not only for the weird but successful mashup produced here but for the sharp characterisation, the credibility of the whole thing and a surprising ending. Or One Gram by Leah Moore in which Bette, an alienated young wage slave, scratches a living doing nightshifts at a pub where the customers are unpleasantly hands on ("Bette's attention was dependent on which of the customers were acting like pricks") and the management pitiless. How much can Bette take? And what will she do if she decides she's had enough? A naturalistic story where the nighttime breathes off the page and the moment to moment tasks Bette must complete jostle with her feelings to produce a tension that crackles off the page.

But there are so many strong stories here. The very first story in the book, This Book Will Find You by Sam Beckbessinger, Lauren Beukes and Dale Halvorsen is out and out horror, fitting for the hours of darkness. Something must be done at 3am - not before, and not after. Focussing on a woman driven to the edge of reason by what she's encountered, this was a chilling opener to the anthology.

Picking up the vibe of the #MeToo age, Will Hill's It Was a Different Time is set amongst the tawdry glamour of fading Hollywood, staging a nighttime encounter in which an abuser rails against the inevitable.

Sami Shah's Ambulance Service describes Nazeem's ("Karachi's only exorcist") nighttime shift at the Edhi Ambulance Centre, which serves the more esoteric emergency needs of the city's night hours. In what reads like a taster for a longer novel (please!) we see a range of supernatural crises defused with skill and aplomb and I enjoyed reading about these from a quite different religious/ mythical perspective to that with I'm familiar.

Sleep Walker by Silvia Moreno-Garcia is one of those stories that intrigues by what it doesn't reveal. Why has the city fallen on hard times? (Or perhaps they all do, in the end?) What is the mysterious, nocturnal "show" that eager men drive so far - to such a place - to see?

Francis Hardings's Blind Eye picked up a different aspect of the nighttime economy - wondering who looks after babysitting for the less... regular... nighttime workers. And then it takes an even darker twist. I enjoyed reading about Erin and the way she's found of making a living.

Bag Man by Lavie Tidhar is something of a romp, setting a noir-ish gangster ridden tale in the scruffy backstreets of an Israeli town, spinning a tale worthy of Hitchcock as hoodlums, youths and, perhaps, terrorists vie for possession of a veritable McGuffin of a briefcase.

Maha Khan Phillips' Gatsby alludes to her original both in the theme of a lavish 20s- themed party thrown for Karachi's gilded youth by the mysterious Saqib, and in the role that Saqib himself plays in relation to Ra, a young woman who's missing her friend. Evoking a real sense of 20s decadence and even wickedness, it left a thrill of terror with me.

Swipe Left by Daniel Polansky brilliantly blends the dating adventures of a rather self-absorbed young man (the story punctuated by his online evaluation, selection, and assessment of potential partners) with an older form of hunting behaviour. Nicely done horror.

MiDNIghT MaRAuDERS [sic] by M. Sudan would be striking as cli-fi even if it were no more than that. Set in a Russian town in the Arctic Circle post some unspecified future disaster, there is mention of the Water Wars in Africa, sea levels have risen, towns been submerged and "Families with radios search for voices, or music, or some other sign the world still exists" it focusses on Lidya and her family's involvement in a dust-up between two rival chemist/ drugstores - both rather splendid establishments but caught up in a struggle involving local politicians, the Mob and the happily drunken, drugged-up townsfolk. It's great fun, with a bit of a bite (13 year old Lidya seems old beyond her years).

Sally Partridge's The Collector rather chillingly distils the essence of an unreconstructed young man working as a security guard in a Cape Town gated community ("He stopped talking to the residents after a while, in case he said the wrong thing about the Jews or working mothers"). It's one of those stories where a minor incident suddenly sends everything off the rails, revealing a real sense of rage and entitlement. A chilling story.

Tilt by Karen Onojaife opens among the peeling romance of a suburban casino in West London. Iyere has suffered a loss and drifted into gambling, something that wakes her up and gives her a thrill. A meeting with a new croupier reveals Iyere's past and present her with a choice about her future. A sad story, which presents Iyere with a choice.

In the Blink of a Light by Amira Salah-Ahmed is another story in which lives change in an instant. Contrasting the parallel lives of a wealthy young party girl and the pair of poor, if devout, young men who run the light and sound decks at the events she attends, it seems to show worlds, cultures, classes in collusion. And that never ends well.

Marina Warner's This Place of Thorns is a story of the present or near future Middle East focussing on the lives of desperate refugees, people who just want their lives back. The thorns of the title are bushes that yield myrrh, in what is only the first of a series of Biblical parallels. A tender, sad and touching story.

Not Just Ivy by Celeste Baker is a nice fantasy, which Baker tells partly in her protagonist's Caribbean island patois (dipping in and out depending on setting and who she's speaking to). Arriving for a mini break in the sun, the unnamed advertising exec whose job is selling dubious remedies has what amounts to a spiritual experience which, as in Warner's story, seems to be mediated by plant life. It's a story where the experience is more important, I think, than the consequence - a moment of changed life with the future left uncertain.

Dark Matters by Cecilia Ekbäck is set in Finland, where a family of Seventh-Day Adventists is abut to meet a challenge that tests their picture of the world. Featuring Death, Resurrection and a perspicacious older woman, the story very clever shows us events through a child's eyes, leaving much unclear but creating a moving and true through-line, even if the ending is a bit sad.

Above the Light by Jesse Bullington is my favourite story in this volume. Exquisite in detail, it describes the lives of two young people who have taken to a strange hobby - night hiking. As they grow older they meet yearly to pursue this, becoming more and more proficient and taking greater and greater risks. As the demands of adult life crowd in, escape to the moonlit hills or the woods becomes more and more (and moor!) precious - but how long can this go on? If you've ever walked at night and felt that something else is moving around you... or wondered whether you were in a dream or waking remembering a dream... or just felt life closing in... then this story is for you. Just wonderful.

Yakima Ozawa's Welcome to the Haunted House teases by hinting that the point is for the collection of bizarrely animated household objects introduced as characters to, somehow, achieve freedom and safety. But actually it's darker than that and there is real horror here.

William Boyle's Lock-In is a tender story about a young girl growing up in a New York suburb in the 80s. Over the course of a night she has an opportunity to strike out on her own - a creepily effective section, especially when she's alone on the subway train with a man she doesn't know - but also has to reassess what she thought was secure in her life. An enjoyable story, where the night does seem to catalyse a change - but what change?

Jeffrey Alan Love's The Night Mountain is a gloriously obscure take, whether dream quest, spirit journey or account of real travel isn't clear. perhaps it has aspects of all three. Perhaps it's about fatherhood. In any case there is a true sense of the night as an uneasy place that must be got through. Whatever it means this is an effective and haunting story.

A Partial Beginner’s Guide to The Lucy Temerlin Home for Broken Shapeshifters by Kuzhali Manickavel is a delightfully bizarre set of instructions - or warning - for dwellers in the eponymous Home. Conjuring up a vision of Hogwarts' evil twin, this is funny and scary and operates by prodding all those buttons from other forgotten stories that tell you how such a place might operate. Clever and beguiling.

China Miéville's microstories, while never less than fascinating, had less of an obvious link with the nighttime theme. All of them made me want to know more about their wider worlds or characters, though, leaving me receptive for the theme stories that followed - so they served a purpose in stimulating the imagination among the longer pieces.

Finally - that cover catches both the tawdry nightime glamour, with its neon-sign vibe, and the idea of moonlight, setting up the perfect mood for these stories. Close the curtains - is that something moving across the street? Probably not - settle down in your chair, open this book, and experience the darkness...

[Avery Delany]

Thank you to Rebellion Publishing for providing me with an advanced reader copy of The Outcast Hours in exchange for an honest review

DNF @ P159 - Major, major content warnings for a lot of the stories in this anthology. More information to follow shortly but please be aware that there is a lot of violent content in this book as I would hate for anyone to go in, like myself, completely unaware and struggle with the material. Some of the content notices include suicide, spiked alcoholic drinks, drugs, murder, violence, and queer deaths.

[Niki · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is actually 3,5 stars, but let's just round it up to 4, because when this anthology is good, it's GOOD.

A common problem with anthologies, this also was uneven, and the sheer number of stories (24, I think) didn't help. I ended up having to consult the table of contents to remember the stories, apart from my two absolute favourites, "Ambulance Service" and "Above the Light". Especially the latter, it was absolutely brilliant.

**Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book**

[Jypsy · Rating 2 out of 5]

As I was reading The Outcast Hours, I remembered why I don't like anthologies. The short stories are too short, and everything seems disjointed. The premise of night people and creepy shadows is intriguing, but this one is not for me.

[Ying · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most anthologies are mixed bags, however this one was a particularly good mixed bag.

The theme of the book was NIGHT. So most of the stories either take place at night or have night as a theme. So great. There are a mixture of genres but with a theme like "night", the best stories were thrillers.

The goal of the editors was to have diverse writers with diverse characters, and I think they really achieved this. There were LGBT characters, there were biracial characters, there were stories from non-Western cultures, this collection has it all! It is also a mix of genres, some thriller, some surreal.

I think my favourite story was the first one (This Book Will Find You by Sam Beckbessinger, Lauren Beukes and Dale Halvorsen), it really gripped me and set me up for what was to come. I also liked The Night Mountain by Jeffrey Alan Love.

I wasn't a huge fan of the microstories by China Miéville, but maybe I wasn't in the right mindset to read them.

I would definitely consider rereading this anthology. Lots of fun.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full review is here, on my blog!~

Oh anthologies. They are often hit or miss with me, sometimes I love all the stories and sometimes only some. But anthologies are wonderful reads for in-between other books.

This anthology has the theme of the night. Or, perhaps people who are generally at their best at night. I can certainly relate with that! I am one hundred and fifty thousand percent at my best at nighttime. So, of course, I couldn’t resist this one.

I’ll admit that I picked it up mostly for China Miéville’s name being on it, as I love his work. He has 9 ‘microstories’ in this one, that are sort of peppered throughout the book in between chapters. If I’m honest, these were more confusing than anything because with them being only a page or two long and with no real context or titles or anything, they seemed like remnants, almost. They were, however, very well written all the same, but I was still a little iffy on them… but I did find a whole bunch of stories in here that I ended up really liking!! I like how this anthology brings together a bunch of ideas from people of different cultures or backgrounds to tell stories on a similar topic.

Here’s a bit of a close up on some of my favorites!

This Book Will Find You by Sam Beckbessinger, Lauren Beukes, & Dale Halvorsen
This story is about a girl named Kara who finds a book on how to raise a dead lover just in time for having to actually raise a dead lover. It was from the point of view of Kara herself, which was an interesting way of seeing a ritual intended to raise the dead. I thought it was quite well written and interesting, and it took some really interesting and unexpected turns. I was engrossed from start to finish.

Ambulance Service by Sami Shah
The story of Nazeem, who is an ambulance driver in Karachi, and his apprentice Bilal. What made this story interesting is that the calls that they respond to make them more like exorcists than paramedics (though, really they’re something like both). Fantastically written and had me hooked from the very beginning.

Bag Man by Lavie Tidhar
The story of a man named Max in Tel Aviv who is a transporter. He is taking a briefcase from point A to point B when he is robbed of it by a group of thugs, which starts a pretty epic adventure of trying to get that briefcase back. A quick, exciting read!

Gatsby by Maha Khan Phillips
This one was a really enthralling story about a woman in Karachi named Ra who gets invited to a Gatsby themed party at the estate of a wealthy financier who is new in town. And some real shenanigans go down. This one was so hard to put down once it got going. Great stuff!

Swipe Left by Daniel Polansky
A story about a dude named Matt who goes on a Tinder date and it goes… pretty much like a first date goes… until it really, really doesn’t. A short and quite engaging read that had some twists that I wasn’t expecting.

The Patron Saint of Night Puppers by Indrapramit Das
This is the story of a chubby white Canadian gal named Kris who works the night shift at a doggy hotel. Now… as a chubby white Canadian gal named Kristen who in fact loves her some freakin’ puppos, you can imagine I found it rather easy to relate to the main character here… and you’d be right. :)

The Dental Gig by S. L. Grey
Frankie Bell has mouths to feed, and works very hard doing what she does, which is very careful extracting teeth from under the pillows of children. Yep, she’s a tooth fairy, and one who works for a rather strict company. This was a wonderfully unique story and I wished it was even longer!

Dark Matters by Cecilia Ekbäck
This is the story of an eight year old Swedish girl named Irma whose father dies an awful lot. Recently, Death has come to live with them, as has Resurrection, and Irma just seems to take it in stride. Interesting story with an interesting twist!

The Night Mountain by Jeffrey Alan Love
This is the story of a man who takes a journey with his wife and son up a mountain that lives in the night. They are urged to do so by his wife’s brother, a beast-faced man. The man telling the story isn’t that surprised about that part, given how he met his wife. This tale was one of magic and it left me curious for more, and yet satisfied with the end.

The Partial Beginner’s Guide to the Lucy Temerlin Home for Broken Shapeshifters by Kuzhali Manickhavel
This reads like exactly what it sounds like. Rule one: avoid corridors infested with thunderstorms. The thunderstorms aren’t there for research purposes, they’re there because we don’t know how to get rid of them. This was a neat story and it had me laughing more than once. This was my favorite story of the bunch!

All told, I really liked this one! More stories that I liked than didn’t like. Truth be told, I didn’t dislike any of them, though I found one or two of them to just not be for me, but that’s bound to be true of just about any anthology that there is.

Thanks to the authors, editors, and Solaris via NetGalley for the review copy! :)

[Guillermo Querido · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Rounded up from an actual 3.5/5 rating)

Night time is a peculiar thing. To some, it is a harbinger of fear and danger, waiting to prey upon our weaknesses and fallibilities. To others, it provides respite and freedom from the everyday grind, an opportunity to release one’s inner self. For me, it is both friend and foe, harbouring threats and opportunities in equal measure, but does so with the open arms solitude and independence.

The idea of ‘night’ is the focal concept of The Outcast Hours, the latest short story anthology collated by Mahvesh Murad and Jared Shurin. In their introduction, the collators refer to ‘night’ as being “paradoxical: it is private but shared; beautiful but terrifying; soothing but scary.” It is perhaps therefore unsurprising that there is such great diversity among the anthology’s many entries. From gritty and terrifying one moment, to mesmerising and whimsical the next, the collection traverses all corners of the globe, as well as venturing into the otherworldly. Indeed, the stories collected here offer plenty of evidence to support that universal cultural concept that, no matter where in the world you may find yourself, when the sun goes down to end the day the strange but true come out to play.

“That’s often when things happen,” he’d said.
“What kind of things?”
He’d shrugged, “Bad things. People die, people get hurt. That is when human frailty is at its peak.”

The Outcast Hours contains several entries that utilise mankind’s fear of darkness and the unknown to serve their own haunting narratives. While Jesse Bullington’s sublime Above the Light demonstrates just why we have developed a healthy distrust of the night, Indrapramit Das’ equally suspenseful The Patron Saint of Night Puppers reminds us that our own imaginations are often just as untrustworthy. In fact, the concept of trust is one that runs heavily throughout the anthology. Daniel Polanski’s Swipe Left is an interesting modern take on the trope of ‘the hunter becoming the hunted’, Maha Khan Phillips’ Gatsby is a genuinely terrifying tale of misplaced trust with dire consequences, and Yukimi Ogawa’s slightly bizarre Welcome to the Haunted House centres around an outrageous abuse of trust that felt very much like a Tim Burton-esque conceptualisation of the mansion from Disney’s animated version of Beauty and the Beast.

I suppose I should make it clear that The Outcast Hours doesn’t consist solely of scary stories full of evil or malicious characters. Indeed, I found several entries to be particularly amusing and positively entertaining. S.L. Grey’s The Dental Gig, a hilarious imagining of the tooth fairy industry, felt like it would have fit perfectly within Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, while M. Suddein’s Midnight Marauders brought a fun sense of bizarre whimsy to proceedings.

Like a lot of anthologies, some of the entries were much less appealing and interesting than others. Indeed, several of the stories seemed out of place, despite the theme of the collection being somewhat broad and ambiguous. I won’t list them here by name since others may thoroughly enjoy them. However, I will say that they totalled around 25% of the book…and they left me feeling rather underwhelmed and unimpressed. On too many occasions I finished an entry with a sense of ‘Is that it? What was the point of that?’

So, The Outcast Hours is a gripping, but flawed, collection of stories. That is probably of little surprise. Perhaps what is surprising was how it made me consider what ‘night’ means to me and appreciate it for what I believe it is; a time for people to be who they really are and do what they want to.

Notable highlights
- ‘Ambulance Service’, by Sami Shah
- ‘Gatsby’, by Maha Khan Phillips
- ‘Above the Light’, by Jesse Bullington
- ‘Tilt’, by Karen Onojaife
- ‘The Dental Gig’, by S.L. Grey

https://theunseenlibrary.com/2019/02/...

Thanks to Solaris books for an ARC

[Alex Sarll]

A collection of stories which take place at night. That's pretty much it; yes, they do tend towards the genre rather than just being plotless epiphanies after sunset, but there's even room for one or two of the latter. The writers are an impressive selection, though – Lavie Tidhar, Marina Warner, Lauren Beukes, M Suddain and many more. Plus, scattered between the stories proper, little page-long pieces by China Mieville, which have some of the same feeling of overheard nocturnal strangeness as Chris Morris' Blue Jam. One of these, about the real war for which the more famous Transformers are covering, might well be my favourite piece in the whole book. Though I can't be too definitive on that point. You see, the problem is that, particularly with reading this on my 'phone, I soon reached a point where I felt it worked best if I read it at night. And not just commuting after dark over winter, but while doing something at least vaguely on the stop-out continuum. Except even then, one tends to be reading something else at the time, or with someone, or just a bit sleepy. On top of which, I have another strictly nocturnal book vaguely underway on there, hungry for the same times (and still far from finished, because that one isn't subject to the impatience/politeness constraints of being a Netgalley ARC). Meaning that it took me ages to read this, and mostly when I did I was at least a little tipsy, so my specific memories of the stories are often not as specific as they might be. Still, I have resonant flashes of tooth fairies who are oddly short on sparkle, a Gatsby riff, a strange location outside town which only a local can find. And somehow that feels more fitting than a full and calm analysis. Or at least, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[Lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to the publisher for providing me this book to review via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

This is a short story collection and like most short story collections there's a few stories that I enjoyed more than others. The Outcast Hours is focussed around the night and most of the stories are haunting which I quite enjoyed. The stories are also reflective of real life which I thought was amazing and there were a few stories that almost seemed too real. I loved that the stories take place in a range of locations and bring in different religions and cultures. I will definitely read some of these stories again.

There were of course some stories that I found a bit dull or a little too long but I still thought they were okay and then there were other stories that I absolutely loved.

My favourite Stories include; This book will find you, Gatsby, MiDNIghT MaRAuDERS, Everyone knows that they're dead. Do you?, One gram, Dark matters and A partial beginner's guide to the Lucy Temerlin Home for Broken Shapeshifters.

I also enjoyed Sleep Walker, Big Man, The Collector, The Dental gig and Welcome to the Haunted House. I found the majority of the stories to be interesting and I would recommend giving it a try.

[Amy Layton · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an interesting anthology!  I'm always here for short stories, especially when I can't devote myself to an entire book or section of a book before bed.  This was was eerie, freaky, and strange.  Which basically means it's right up my alley.  Perhaps my favorite story was the first--"This Book Will Find You".  Oh, man!  That one really set the precedent for the rest of the tales, and what a good precedent it was.  

The amount of genres this book encompasses, sexualities, races, ways of life.  There's mothers and children and babysitters and nuns.  So.  Good.  This book is perfect for a cold winter night when you're by yourself with a warm blanket and a good cup of tea.  There's much to be unfolded in this book, much to be discovered.

Review cross-listed here!

[Neonila · Rating 4 out of 5]

I seriously wasn't expecting to love this as much as I did, because short story collections aren't usually my cup of tea, but this one certainly surprised me. There wasn't a story which I didn't at least like/was intrigued by, and that honestly speaks volumes.

Some of the stories we're longer than others, but I'd say that all of them were on the longer side of short stories, which really helps you to get into the story. I felt creeped out and honestly in awe sometimes, reading about people sometimes doing terrible things. My favorite stories were: It Was a Different Time, Bag Man and Dark Matters.

Again, the only reason I'm not giving this a 5 star rating is because I didn't love every single story, but I'd still recommend this book to anyone.

[Tanya R · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short stories with one theme to tie them all together - the Night.

As with short story anthologies, some I liked much more than others, but they were all interesting.

[Thesincouch · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most of the stories were a miss for me and I think the theme was too lose but Frances Hardinge and Silvia Moreno Garcia's were stand-outs and worth reading and owning.

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good, some... less good. Ranging from one star, to five. Three seems about right.

[J.D. DeHart · Rating 5 out of 5]

A variety of authors assemble to create a fine anthology of bold, incentive stories that show the brand of stellar creativity this genre has to offer. Highly recommended reading for fans of sci-fi old and new.

[Monique · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel contains stories that take place at night. As such I assumed most of the stories would be horror based as when I think of nighttime stories I think of things that go bump in the night. However that wasn't the case as most of the stories seemed just to feature average citizens during the night doing normal activities.

My favorite stories was Blind Eye by Frances Hardinge with This Book Will Find You by Sam Beckbessinger, Lauran Beukes and Dave Halverson, Ambulance Service by Sami Shah and Sleep Walker by Silvia Moreno-Garcia being my second favorite. The rest of the stories were okay to good. I liked how some stories tried to feature everyday things or events, like blogging or the MeToo movement. I was hoping for more scary stories and as such I found the novel overall just alright.

This Book Will Find You by Sam Beckbessinger, Lauran Beukes and Dave Halverson ★★★★★
A dark story of a PhD student who tries to bring her girlfriend back to life. The reason the relationship fell apart was slowly teased out which was perfect. The story took a different ending than I expected which made it great. One of the better stories in the anthology.

It Was a Different Time by Will Hill ★★★★
A hotel employee and an old actor cross paths at a hotel pool after it's closed. I loved the actors anger at how social views have changed forcing his past misdeeds to come to light and forcing him to face them. A great story that mirrors the MeToo movement.

Ambulance Service by Sami Shah ★★★★
Interesting story of an ambulance driver/exorcism expert. Some of the ghosts the main character encounters I didn't fully understand (as I think they're middle eastern culture based) so I felt like I missed out on parts of the story. Still a great story with a good plot, vivid background and dynamic characters.

Blind Eye by Frances Hardinge ★★★★★
This was the best story in the anthology. When I think of stories based upon the dark of night this is definitely it. It follows Erin, a late night babysitter, who is asked to babysit a six year old girl who cannot be allowed to sleep. It was scary and spooky with an epic conclusion.

Sleep Walker by Silvia Moreno-Garcia ★★★★
A tourist travels to a city to see a show. The reader is never told or hinted at the truth behind the show, we are only told about it through the tourists shock afterwards. Great way to write a story.

Bag Man by Lavie Tidhar ★★★★
Great story about a man's journey to retrieve a briefcase stolen from him. This story has tons of action. The main character is so despicable he's awesome.

Gatsby by Maha Khan Phillips ★★★★
A woman at a party meets a man with an antique collection. The beginning was slow but the ending was great. Although I saw the "twist" I loved the rationale and reasoning. I actually found this story a little scary due to the characters helplessness at the end. Title does not match the story.

Swipe Left by Daniel Polansky ★★★★
Awesome story about a blind date. The ending had an amazing twist that strangely had me giggling.

MiDNigHT MaRAuDERS by M. Suddain ★★★
A new guy opens another dispensary in a small town. Everything is fine until he starts to spread lies so a group of people get together to exact revenge. Okay story but it had no big twist or reveal. Just an average day in an average town in an average story.

Everyone Knows That They're Dead, Do You by Genevieve Valentine ★★★
A ghost story involving a house that goes through three owners. I liked the story overall, especially the mystery surrounding each death. I just wish the story was scarier and less factual.

The Collector by Sally Patridge ★★★★
Great story about a man and his side business. I loved the ambiguous ending. Main character was well written with great depth and complexity.

The Patron Saint of Night Puppers by Indrapramit Das ★★★
Story features a woman who works in a dog hotel. She keeps remembering her childhood dog and contemplates if she should get another dog. Story was kind of boring as nothing thrilling happens.

Tilt by Karen Onajaife ★★★
Alright story that starts off with a woman in a casino and ends with her making a choice of a lifetime. I didn't like the beginning as I had no desire to read about casinos. It started to pick up in the middle.

In the Blink of a Light by Amira Salah-Ahmed ★★★
Omar has a crush on a woman which causes him to be distracted at work. It was a good story, just a bit slow.

The Dental Gig by S.L. Grey ★★
Strange story about a society of tooth fairies. It was alright but nothing special.

One Gram by Leah Moore ★★★
Bette is at work in a bar on an average day. She hates her boss and dislikes her job. The story was very well written but anticlimactic. The ending was lame but I enjoyed reading about Bette's everyday struggles: sexism, a crappy boss, favoritism and a general unhappiness.

This Place of Thorns by Marina Warner ★
Insanely boring story featuring a girl living in a refugee camp. The story focused too much on the meaning of a village and a place within a place. Story felt too pretentious.

Not Just Ivy by Celeste Baker ★★
As hard as I tried I couldn't get into the story due to the Caribbean grammar. I hate bad/weird grammar in any story and this story had tons of it.

Dark Matters by Cecilia Ekbaick ★
Death has come to reside in a young girl's household after her father was resurrected. As hard as I tried I couldn't get into the story as I didn't like reading it through the girl's POV.

Above the Light by Jesse Bullington ★★★
The MC decides to go on a night hike with his best friend where they meet a nightmare come to light. The beginning was far too long as unnecessary past events or thoughts were added. The ending was great as it was both mythical and scary.

Welcome to the Haunted House by Yukimi Ogawa ★
Super strange story that I couldn't get into. It felt too childish and bland.

Rain, Streaming by Omar Robert Hamiliton ★★
The MC participates in an online game to win a prize, Britney. He's hoping to increase his online followers. I didn't like the story, the plot or the prize (women are people not prizes to be won). I liked the addition of online ads invading people's freedom.

Lock-In by William Boyle ★★
A teenager is stuck at a lock-in with some nuns but yearns to be free. The plot was boring as nothing exciting happened.

The Night Mountain by Jeffrey Alan Love ★★★
Not entirely sure what this story was about... broken dreams maybe? It features a box, a mountain and a man.

A Partial Beginner's Guide to Lucky Temerlin House for Broken Shapeshifters by Kuzhali Manickavel ★★
Seven rules to follows for life in this house. The rules didn't make a whole lot of sense as there wasn't enough context. The story felt like seven random ideas strung together to make a story.

[Yasser Ahmed · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Outcast Hours is the latest anthology by Mahvesh Murad and Jared Shurin, following The Djinn Falls in Love and Other Stories from last year. I love stories set at night; a lack of action forces the characters to face their inner troubles, in turn making the story more introspective. That combined with me thoroughly enjoying Djinn a few months ago made this an instant request.

Anthologies, by design, have some similar theme or genre and The Outcast Hours is no different. As can be deduced from the title, it focuses on the night, on those who live and work and thrive in the midnight hours. It’s quite an open-ended theme (especially compared with Djinn’s relative rigidity of requiring a specific supernatural creature) and as a result features a vast array of genres – fantasy, horror, contemporary, slice of life, light science fiction – ranging from the darker aspects of humanity (portrayed both realistically and fantastically) to the hopeful. There are 26 stories, so I will just quickly highlight some that I particularly enjoyed.

This Book Will Find You – Sam Beckbessinger, Lauren Beukes & Dale Halvorsen
This story makes for an excellent start to the collection. It’s an intense, depressing reflection of woman’s recently ended relationship with a spooky framework pushing the story along. The reader follows a heavily self-loathing character trying to atone for the mistakes she made in said relationship and goes about it in a way that only gets more disturbing. Very creepy and entirely engrossing.

Blind Eye – Frances Hardinge
This one has a pretty original concept – it’s about a babysitter who watches children of some unsavoury types. She must take care of a little girl overnight and spooky things ensue. It’s hard to discuss it any further without delving into spoilers so just know that it’s a fast paced, exciting supernatural tale that covers more than expected with an emotional depth that’s often not seen in shorter stories.

Patron Saint of Night Puppers – Indrapramit Das
Despite the title, this was a great little tale – an anecdote almost. It sits firmly in the slice of life category following a night shift caretaker at a dog pound. In sharp contrast to almost every other story in the anthology it’s just another night taking care of dogs. Das sets up easy horror slam dunk tropes then happily subverts them repeatedly.

Tilt – Karen Onojaife
Follows a woman spending her nights at a casino trying to deal with an awful loss and given the option to fix it at a terrible price. I’m a sucker for impossible choices and Tilt delivers in spades with a simple but wonderfully executed premise. Short stories sometimes have a problem with endings, they can feel rushed or just stop arbitrarily. Mostly they end just fine but rarely are they particularly great. Onojaife leaves it on a great hook, revealing nothing but just enough all at once.

Welcome to the Haunted House – Yukimi Ogawa
What a weird story. In a good way of course, but just so odd. I’m not sure if it’s based on some folklore that I’m unaware of but wow it’s just so uniquely interesting. There’s this group of animated household objects à la Beauty and the Beast but they work in a haunted house scaring humans and can’t quite remember why or how they got there. That doesn’t really do it justice, look, read it and you’ll get me.

Lock In – William Boyle
Okay so I love The Catcher in the Rye so Lock In was an easy pick as a favourite. It’s another slice of life style book and is mildly reminiscent of Catcher in its latter half. Betsy is a young teenager who sneaks out of catholic school at night to wander the streets and find a cinema after being disillusioned with her authority figures. The story finishes fittingly but I would like an extension just to see what she gets up to for the rest of the night.

A Partial Beginner’s Guide to the Lucy Temerlin Home for Broken Shapeshifters – Kuzhail Manickavel
First of all, what a fantastic title; I love long, detailed titles like this. Secondly, if only one of these stories should be expanded, it must be this one. It’s a sort of epistolary novel that acts as a welcome guide for an orphanage that brings up a hundred questions despite being one of the shortest stories in the anthology. There’s so much potential here, I need more!

After reading The Djinn Falls in Love, I had an interesting chat with Shurin on /r/fantasy about how he and Murad grapple with their anthologies’ structures for ‘probably too long’ (his words not mine!) so I would be remiss to not quickly give some thoughts on it in this instance. Generally speaking, the stories were well organised. Each tale was very different to its predecessor with shifts in either genre, setting or tone almost every time. In fact, it was so well done that there were two adjacent stories that happened to stick out just by nature of being mildly similar. There were also interludes scattered in every few stories that were an interesting addition. They provided a nice breather every so often, but I don’t think they were really necessary. They were very short pieces of flash fiction that were unrelated and seemed more experimental than anything else.

Ask any book blogger and they’ll say the same thing: anthologies are hard to review. There will always be some great stories, some bad and a lot that fit somewhere in between. Ultimately, I read anthologies to force myself to explore new genres, discover new authors, and see how wildly people’s perspectives interpret a common theme. If the job of the editors is to accomplish these goals, The Outcast Hours is nothing short of a resounding success.

[Bonnye Reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a complimentary ARC of this novel from Netgalley, the compiler Mahvesh Murad, and publisher Solaris. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read The Outcast Hours of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. 'Outcast Hours' was a serious wake-up call for us all. I am pleased to recommend it to friends and family.
pub date Feb 19, 2019
Solaris

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an eARC of this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I'll include a quick little review of each story below. There were a lot of stories in this anthology and I'm not sure it really needed to have so many. There were also little interludes every so often that weren't named as stories but simply numbered in my table of contents. They didn't really work format wise in the eARC version for me because the only way to recognize the story before had ended and you were reading this new interlude was that the words were now italicized. I enjoyed some of the interludes though they were all very weird.

This Book Will Find You 2/5 super dark, pretty weird, and there's a pikachu onesie.

It Was a Different Time 3/5 nice inclusive of #metoo movement, I liked Alex as a character. He's just an average dude. I found the descriptions of LA nice.

Ambulance Service 4/5 This went somewhere completely unexpected! So intriguing.

Blind eye 3/5 interesting enough, I really like the idea of a babysitter for shifty individuals. I found Mia's character and her ability very interesting.

Sleep Walker 3/5 it's hard to rate this one because I feel like we never reach any big climax in the story. It builds and builds to this mysterious show and “the night was yawning” creepiness but then just abruptly stops and returns to the sleepy diner, a changed tourist, and the narrator.

Bag Man 3/5 interesting enough. I didn’t really care about the characters. It’s pretty much like any mob type movie but it follows a delivery man. He never knows what he’s delivering but were told it's important and requires him to have many guns on his person. I found the setting of Israel interesting.

Gatsby 4/5 I really loved this. Once we got into the details of the story some of it was easy to guess but the entirety is so crazy. I love the setting of Pakistan mixed with this Gatsby inspired party. Ran and Saquib were so interesting.

Swipe Left 5/5 I loved this! The stream of consciousness was such a nice touch and that ending!!! Also, I feel like I know a guy just like this narrator.

MiDNIghT MaRAuDERS 4/5 I liked this the feud between chemists and the kind of small-town setting where everyone knows everyone was the perfect setting.

Everyone Knows That They’re Dead. Do You? 4/5 Very interesting. At first, it seemed very close to The Yellow Wallpaper with of the focus on the potentially strange wallpaper by the woman in the story. I liked it dissolve into a ghost story across 3 women. The questions and answers format in between was a little strange.

The Collector 4/5 I didn’t like Bennie. He had some really gross opinions but the collecting bit was really interesting and definitely took a turn from the beginning of the story.

The Patron Saint of Night Puppers 3/5 really not sure what to think of this one. I do love a dog lover though. The comparison between Dee and Oswald was nice.

Tilt 5/5 I really loved this one! The whole theme of everyone making choices and those choices equated to gambling. This was just the right amount of strange and atmospheric and it ended so perfectly.

In the Blink of a Light 3/5 this made me sad. Omar was just a touch too pathetic and the opening with Hassan was hostile. I wanted more from Ranwa’s little POV.

The Dental Gig 5/5 I loved this. The bureaucratic side of the tooth fairy business was an ingenious idea. I can’t believe what the teeth were used to make!

One Gram 4/5 this was such a good read. It’s amazing how much emotion and struggle can be conveyed in a story this short. Bette put up with so much in this and most of it was hard to read. I loved the camaraderie between women in this.

This Place of Thorns 1/5 I did not like this. The style of writing and the voice just didn’t do anything for me. There was a lot of weird info dumps and while there was a nice little twist at the end it could not save this story for me.

Not Just Ivy 3/5 this was really weird. I did not expect it to go where it did. Normally written out accents bother me but this one didn’t that much.

Dark Matters 4/5 interesting to see this through the eyes of a child and find out in the end what was really happening. The child’s understanding of the situation really clouds the reality. Death as a character was interesting but I wished he had been more fleshed out.

Above the Light 3/5 I really enjoyed parts of this but there were a lot of moments where the story wasn’t doing anything for me and I found myself starting to skim it. The language used to describe the night and how the men felt was lovely and the ending was very good.

Welcome to the Haunted 2/5 it wasn’t super interesting and the twist was expected.

Rain, Streaming 2/5 the beginning of this was so interesting and the format really drew me in but the style got really old really fast and it just stopped working for me.

Lock-In 3/5 it was an ok story but not super compelling in any way.

The Night Mountain 5/5 This was just so delightfully strange!

A Partial Beginner’s Guide to the Lucy Temerlin Home for Broken Shapeshifters 4/5 This was fun, I liked how it was all laid out in the list format. The voice of the narrator was so great!

[Runalong · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really enjoyable mix of fantasy, horror and even crime stories set in the night

Full review https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...

[Jen Hoskins · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Outcast Hours, a collection of short fiction from brilliant editors Mahvesh Murad and Jared Shurin, is all about the night. And just like the night, the stories that populate it are frequently unsettling, and full of not-very-nice people. (As such, it's important to warn for suicide, drug use, drink spiking, abuse, and deaths of queer people.) But it’s also full of freedoms—people (and not necessarily people) finding spaces beyond the ordinary in which to stretch and grow. It’s a place without judgement, a place beyond sight.

A liminal space

The microstories provided by China Miéville weave through the collection, dancing around the themes of the stories between which they appear. Slipping into the liminal spaces between stories, these weird fragments embody the spirit of the book: homeless, strange, occupying the between-spaces and no-man’s-land.

Fear in the dark

Some of the stories in The Outcast Hours are downright scary. Makes sense, right? The night is where the monsters live, when the creature from under your bed slips out and into the world of the seen. Some of the monsters in this book really are supernatural, like in Francis Hardinge’s 'Blind Eye', where a childminder for shady people finds herself looking after a child that’s not quite human, and very dangerous.

But others are nothing more than human. Maha Khan Phillips’ ‘Gatsby’ is one such story, where a sense of threat pervades and in the end the outcome is exactly the sort of creeping fear people, mainly marginalised people, carry in the backs of their minds at all times.

In the in-between place, you have stories like Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s 'Sleep Walker’, where despite taking care not to see what’s out there, the main character still needs to fear what lives in a derelict house in her near-future small town. In Celeste Baker’s ’Not Just Ivy’, in which a woman holidaying in the Caribbean near the island of her birth finds herself infected by something alien, it’s up to the reader’s imagination whether there really is something monstrous menacing the protagonist.

There are things out there in the dark, dangerous things, that we rightly fear. But that’s the nature of the night—it’s a space outside of the everyday, where the unusual can come to the fore. Sometimes the unusual has teeth. But that’s the price you pay for absolute freedom.

Honesty and freedom

When you cast off your quotidian self, you expose your own truth. So many stories in this collection are about finding yourself in the darkness. Mind you, that self isn’t always nice or good.

Sometimes that means monstrous, as in Jesse Bullington’s ‘Above the Light’, where a man and his friend encounter something that’s long been on their trail on a night hike in the Alps, or Sam Beckbessinger, Lauren Beukes and Dale Halvorsen’s nauseating opening story ‘This Book Will Find You’, in which a lover discovers that she may not in fact be the hero of her story.

Sometimes your true self is as simple as a kid who doesn’t have to be likeable or responsible or mature, as in William Boyle’s ‘Lock-In’, or a harrassed woman working at a bar who takes matters into her own hands in ‘One Gram’ by Leah Moore.

Whether the characters in these stories are monstrous themselves or threatened by monsters (or both), they are rarely good people. There are stand-out exceptions though. In Yukimi Ogawa’s ‘Welcome to the Haunted House’, Ogawa shows us love and courage and family amongst monsters. And ‘Dark Matters’ by Cecilia Ekbäck follows a girl as Death comes to live in her house, and she learns how to live with it.

The many faces of night

I can’t begin to cover everything I want to cover about this collection, so I’d better leave it there. All that remains to say is that The Outcast Hours has as many faces as the night, which is as many as those who prefer to roam between sunset and sunrise. Anyone can find their truest self in the darkness. Whether or not that’s a good thing is a judgement that belongs to the daylight hours.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Darkness, demons and deception are some aspects of the night explored in these stories from a variety of cultures and settings. They are linked by the idea of the “Outcast Hours” of the night, when all limits are off, when every type of emotion, including fear, hate and loathing can spring forth. Needless to say, spirits move and all sorts of creatures emerge, but most of the stories relate to far more basic sources of evil – the human kind. With twenty four stories in this book there is so much to choose from, as the various stories end on all sorts of notes, such as hope, grief, fear and acceptance. Some are not easy to read, while others flow smoothly with a definite beginning, middle and end. Some are straightforward short stories, whereas others seem to be like a slice of a bigger tale. I was grateful to be sent a copy of this novel to read and review.
Without going through every story, there are various highlights. There is a story set in Karachi, where there is an unusual emergency service which is much in demand. A hitman goes around determined to find his item that he has been given to deliver. There is an amazing view from the top of a hill, but it is insufficient to divert someone from his conversation and purposes. There is a tale of Egyptian mummies. The night usually brings sleep, but a rather specialist babysitter finds that sleep is not straightforward for some. Some tales depend on modern technology, while others hark back to age old themes. There are probably as many styles of writing as there are stories. My favourite relates to myrrh as symbolically carried at the Nativity, how it is obtained and how the special gifts of a girl can make such a difference when it is released. I like it because it speaks to the nature of hope amid fear and violence. China Mieville has contributed several “Ministories” of about a page in length that run throughout the book to great effect. Sally Partridge contributes a tale of a man who appreciates the night as he can be comfortable in his own world, and he feels the need to safeguard it.
Overall, the hours of night give opportunities for people to behave differently, to forget inhibitions and to reveal their true selves. Violence can be concealed and real feelings allowed to emerge. Many of these are short and therefore need to establish characters, setting and plot quickly, and some succeed better than others. Others are freer in style without having to establish so much. As with any collection of stories written by different audience, even when all follow a strong theme, some stories will appeal more than others, some will disappoint while others work well. This is a powerful and strongly written book which offers great variety of tones and colours, and I recommend it to fans of contemporary writing.

[Sunyi Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nota bene: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, via Netgalley. All my opinions are my own :-)

How does one review a short story collection? Specifically, a large anthology with a wide selection of authors and styles, encompassing both speculative and mainstream fiction? I wasn't entirely sure, and had never tried to write such a review before (especially spoiler-free; what would one talk about when there is no over-arching plot?) but wanted to give it a go anyway.

I started out keeping notes on each piece, and making lists of my favorite stories, but about halfway through I put that list aside and decided to try and reflect on my thoughts in a more holistic way.


There is a lot of content in Outcast Hours, and I took longer than I usually do to read a novel of comparable word count. Part of that was down to Christmas rush and other deadlines, but partly I found that I enjoyed reading a few stories, taking a break, and then coming back for more. Some of the heavier stories required reflection, or sometimes the style of a particular piece didn't suit my mood, so I would instead return to the collection a few days later.

With an anthology of this size, it is likely that not every single story will appeal to every reader. However, every reader will certainly find something they enjoy, and the pieces are well-selected. The anthology creates a kind of mental mosaic of a thousand different humans in a thousand different situations, passing through the shadows of one long night. The experience reminded me of setting off into a vast metropolis, late at night, and encountering a dizzying array of characterful people. Some you like, some you love, a few you loathe--but all are interesting, and all have something important to say.

In short, Outcast Hours is a startling and visceral snapshot of humanity's darkest moments, captured from voices all across the globe. I very much enjoyed it, and found the collection intriguing.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed reading this. Some of the stories didn't do it for me but they had merit. I will list below my review of each.

The microstories throughout the book by China Mieville - 0/5 terrible

This Book Will Find You, Sam Beckbessinger, Lauren Beukes and Dale Halvorsen - 4/5 stars

It Was a Different Time, Will Hill - 2/5 stars - good setting but fizzled out

Ambulance Service, Sami Shah - 5/5 stars omg this was amazingly good

Blind Eye, Frances Hardinge - 2/5 stars meh

Sleep Walker, Silvia Moreno-Garcia - 2/5 good concept but lacking

Bag Man, Lavie Tidhar - 5/5 one of my faves so far

Gatsby, Maha Khan Phillips - 4/5 fun

Swipe Left, Daniel Polansky - 1/5

MiDNIghT MaRAuDERS, M. Suddain - 4/5 should be a longer story. Great

Everyone Knows That They’re Dead. Do You? Genevieve Valentine - 5/5 beautiful

The Collector, Sally Partridge - 5/5 lol

The Patron Saint of Night Puppers, Indrapramit Das - 4/5

Tilt, Karen Onojaife - 3/5

In the Blink of a Light, Amira Salah-Ahmed - 1/5

The Dental Gig, S. L. Grey - 1/5 Great concept, fizzled out

One Gram, Leah Moore - 1/5 didn't connect with me

This Place of Thorns, Marina Warner - 2/5

Not Just Ivy, Celeste Baker - 0/5 I have no idea what I just read

Dark Matters, Cecilia Ekbäck - 5/5 damn near perfect

Above the Light, Jesse Bullington - 4/5 very unsettling

Welcome to the Haunted House, Yukimi Ogawa - 5/5 !!!! So good

Rain, Streaming, Omar Robert Hamilton - 0/5 no idea what was going on here

Lock-In, William Boyle - 2/5 Betsy is horrid.

The Night Mountain, Jeffrey Alan Love - 4/5 nice atmosphere

A Partial Beginner’s Guide to The Lucy Temerlin Home for Broken Shapeshifters, Kuzhali Manickavel - 4/5 entertaining

All in all I think this collection has something for everyone. Give it a try.

[Maxine Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up because some of the stories are absolutely amazing.

The Outcast Hours brings together a large variety of contributors, most I haven’t heard of before. As a result we get an incredibly diverse range of tales. We have a couple based in America, but most of them are set in the Middle East or Europe.
Each tale encapsulates an aspect of the Night. Depending on the writer it could be a horror story, a tale of things that go bump in the night, a tale of redemption, even a tale of facing the ugly side of ourselves.

There are a lot of what I consider, strong stories in here. They grab your attention and pull you along for the ride. The good stories where so good, that I didn’t mind wading my way through a couple of not so good ones. There was only one story in there that I would give a 1 star.

One story that jumped out at me was It Was A Different Time by Will Hill, a scathing look at Hollywoods history and the way the old school men who are now having to answer for their actions, might see the #MeToo movement. The arrogance of John Barker reminds me so much of my Grandad. (I should add my Grandad isn’t that type of creep, just an asshole.) This story was written really well. It is relevent and invoked a rage in me. Damn I wanted to punch John Barker in the face.

Ambulance Service by Sami Shah was fucking brilliant. It was like a super cool version of Ghostbusters. The magic, the characters, I loved it all. This story more than any other has stuck with me until the end.

Outcast Hours has something for everyone. It includes stories by Frances Hardinge, Daniel Polansky (It was everything I was hoping for), Yukimi Ogawa, Lavie Tidhar and many more.
If you like anthologies, dark reads and trying new authors than this is definitely worth a look.
I received a copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.