Spawn: Weird Horror Tales About Pregnancy, Birth and Babies

by Deborah Sheldon (Editor), Geraldine Borella, Jack Dann

A selection of the darkest Australian fiction.
Spawn: Weird Horror Tales About Pregnancy, Birth and Babies taps into anxieties, painful memories and nightmares. Here, your worst fears come true.
Penned by established authors and fresh new voices, these stories range from the gothic and phantasmagorical, through the demonic and supernatural, to the dystopian and sci-fi.
Prepare for a visceral, frightening read.

Featuring work by:
Geraldine Borella
Jack Dann
Renee De Visser
Jason Fischer
Rebecca Fraser
Gary Kemble
David Kuraria
Paul Mannering
Tracie McBride
Samantha Murray
Robyn O'Sullivan
Antoinette Rydyr
Deborah Sheldon
Charles Spiteri
H.K. Stubbs
Matt Tighe
J.M. Merryt
Kat Pekin
Mark Towse
Ash Tudor
Kaaron Warren
Janeen Webb
Sean Williams

Genres: Horror, Short Stories

266 pages, Paperback

Published May 3, 2021

About the author

I'm a multi-award-winning author and anthology editor from Melbourne, Australia. I write poems, short stories, novelettes, novellas and novels across the darker spectrum of horror, crime and noir. My latest titles are the novel Nightmare Reef and the poetry collection The Broonie and Other Dark Poems.
My award-winning titles include the novella Redhead Town and the collection Perfect Little Stitches and Other Stories. My award-nominated titles include the novels Bodily Harm, Cretaceous Canyon, Body Farm Z, Contrition and Devil Dragon; the novella Thylacines; and the collections Figments and Fragments: Dark Stories and Liminal Spaces: Horror Stories.
My short fiction has appeared in many well-respected magazines, been shortlisted for numerous awards, translated, and included in various 'best of' anthologies such as Year's Best Hardcore Horror.
I've won the Australian Shadows 'Best Edited Work' Award three times: for Midnight Echo 14, and for the anthologies I conceived and edited, Spawn: Weird Horror Tales About Pregnancy, Birth and Babies, and Killer Creatures Down Under: Horror Stories with Bite.
Other credits include TV scripts such as NEIGHBOURS, feature articles, non-fiction books published by Reed Books and Random House, stage plays, award-nominated poetry, and award-winning medical writing including Better Health Channel.

Reviews

[Deborah Sheldon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to all the contributors for their wonderful stories, and to IFWG Australia for publishing the anthology!

[Steven Paulsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a Fantastic anthology! I delayed writing a review for this book because I wanted to comment on the individual stories. I made notes. I re-read stories. I thought about it… But pretty soon I realised I was planning a long article and frankly I just don’t have the time. So let me just say I loved this book because (a) the stories were all top class, (b) the diversity of takes on the theme were amazing, and (c) I devoured the book, I couldn’t put it down.

So many anthologies today are made up of stories by writers that are invited to contribute. That’s not to say they’re bad, on the contrary many are excellent. But in the case of this book, the editor and publisher put out an open call to writers except for three solicited stories. That approach meant that there was a huge number of submissions by writers new and established. But the result, based on the editor’s work, is a collection of stories that are diverse, challenging, entertaining, and thought provoking. There’s not a ‘bad’ story in the book.

The theme/title, rather than constraining, as some potential readers might assume, has produced a collection of stories that are horrific, heart rending, and mind blowing. From my point of view, this anthology is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for lovers of horror, weird, surreal, fantastic, bizarre, and science fiction stories.

[Rebecca Fraser · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes anthologies can be a little hit and miss: some stories you love, others not so much. This was absolutely not the case with Spawn. Without exception, I enjoyed each and every story, and was seriously impressed at not only the quality of writing, but the varied and creative interpretations of the central theme. Some of the authors contributing to Spawn are household names in Australian horror, and others are voices I was grateful to discover. All in all, this is one heck of an impressive anthology! Kudos to editor, Deb Sheldon, for gathering together a diversity of quality stories you’ll want to read with the lights on, and remember long after you’ve switched them off.
(Disclaimer: I have a story 'Beneath the Cliffs of Darknoon Bay' included in this anthology, however this in no way influenced my impression of the publication).

[Mark Towse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome collection of stories!

[Allen James · Rating 5 out of 5]

The books inspiration, all about reproduction, got the best out of the writers. I loved all the different kinds of stories. It was amazing to me to see the range of stories people came up with. If you love horror i would highly recommend this book.

[R.A. Goli · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won an eCopy of this book by entering an email competition a couple of years ago and finally got around to reading it. I thought I might submit to the 2nd edition, but having read the high calibre of stories, there’s no way I can compete. The stories in this collection were shocking, weird, well-written, surprising and just plain awesome.

I was taking note of titles to say which was my favourite - but I was practically writing down every story! This was an easy 5 stars for me and the only reason it took so long to finish is because I generally only read it on my train commute to work, and was also reading 2 other books at the same time. If I had to pick a favourite, I’d say Mother Dandelion, by Antoinette Rydyr.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Speculative Horror Fiction is not my regular go-to read and this book reminded me why! Each of these stories ate into my brain and had me squirming with horror filled delight. Such dark yet interestingly diverse stories all around the theme of pregnancy, birth and babies. I certainly would not have recommended this to myself while I was in the breeding stage of life. Definitely a good read in a very dark and squeamish way!

[Michael Fassbender · Rating 4 out of 5]

Birth is generally considered something to celebrate, but balloons and cakes and presents tend to gloss over the reality that the experience is harrowing for those directly involved. It is in this spirit that the anthology Spawn collects a diverse set of horror tales, from psychological and body horror to supernatural tales and ones approaching cosmic horror.

The collection is well-anchored with memorable stories at both ends. "A Good Big Brother" resolves itself with a shocking denouement that will likely seem inevitable after it is over, while "The River Is Deep" takes the book into surprising new directions in comparison with the previous tales. These stories also share another characteristic, namely that they are post-apocalyptic stories, and this is true for a number of other tales in the book. Fortunately, each apocalypse is decidedly different from the others, and only one of them resembles the zombie apocalypse trope. (And there, this is a matter of background rather than having the horror itself depend upon zombies.)

Many of the stories are disturbing (sometimes wonderfully so) while the occasional story resolves in a more reassuring or bittersweet ending. Taken as a whole, they present an entertaining and thought-provoking anthology for horror readers. One hopes that this offering proves successful and talk of further volumes bears fruit.

[Jasmine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting take on a natural process

For the most part, I enjoyed all of the stories. However, there were a few that either did not make sense, or had disappointing endings. None of the stories were bad, and I actually enjoyed reading all of them. I hope that this anthology is reproduced in a second version.

[Dani Ringrose · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an unsettling and delightful collection. Has helped me along the way incorporating more body horror into my writing, and now I wish this collection was being pitched after the draft of my last piece! The stories I preferred more focused on the specific body horror of pregnancy and childbirth, but that's just my weirdo personal preference. Standouts were The Still Warm, Hair and Teeth (even the title had me from the start), A Sense of Belonging, Mother Doll, and The Red Shrine. Looking forward to tracking down some further work from these authors, and keeping an eye on any more anthologies Sheldon edits in the future.








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[Mazie Rudolph · Rating 3 out of 5]

A super fun read. I love the pacing of the short stories and the mix of heavy topics with silly horror scenes. Would recommend!