From the Bookshelf of Spells, Space & Screams: Collections & Anthologies in Fantasy, Science Fiction, & Horror…

When Things Get Dark

Ellen Datlow (Editor),

Joyce Carol Oates

Start date: December 15, 2021

Finish date: January 14, 2022

Discussion: Previous Books of the Month

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Previous Books of the Month

The Mammoth Book of Fantasy (April 2024)
By Lena , Of the Short Story Kingdom · 48 posts · 17 views

last updated Jan 03, 2025 08:12AM

Twenty-First Century Science Fiction: An Anthology (January 2024)
By Lena , Of the Short Story Kingdom · 72 posts · 15 views

last updated Dec 29, 2024 04:17PM

What Members Thought

Jan 12, 2022 Fiona Knight rated it really liked it

Shelves: horror, anothologies

This was a really strong collection of stories written as tribute to Shirley Jackson - she's not just her own horror genius, but inspires the best in other authors, too.

As usual with anthologies I enjoyed some more than others, but there weren't any flat out duds - and there was a great number of really good ones. Group read with Spells, Space and Screams, which is always a good time!

So, some of the standouts - Laird Barron's Tiptoe was top of the pile for me, it was layered, ramped up slowly, a ...more

24 likes · Like · see review

Jan 04, 2022 Lena rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, anthology

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TipToe by Laird Barron ★★★★★
”Wait… were you aware?”
“Of what?”
That sent shivers all the way up my spine and down again for more. I listened to the end three times.

Take Me, I Am Free by Joyce Carol Oates ★★★★½
That story was so short yet so painful. A little girl is put out with the trash by a mother with severe postpartum depression. Not everyone was meant to be a mother but that’s a bell you can’t unring.

In the Deep Woods; The Light is Different There by Seanan McGuire ...more

8 likes · Like · see review

Jan 09, 2022 Canavan rated it really liked it

✭✭✭½

“Funeral Birds”, M. Rickert ✭✭✭
“For Sale by Owner”, Elizabeth Hand ✭✭✭✭½
“In the Deep Woods; The Light Is Different There”, Seanan McGuire ✭✭✭✭
“A Hundred Miles and a Mile”, Carmen Maria Machado ✭✭½
“Quiet Dead Things”, Cassandra Khaw ✭✭✭
“Something Like Living Creatures”, John Langan ✭✭✭✭½
“Money of the Dead”, Karen Heuler ✭✭✭✭½
“Hag”, Benjamin Percy ✭✭✭
“Take Me, I Am Free”, Joyce Carol Oates ✭✭✭
“A Trip to Paris”, Richard Kadrey ✭✭✭✭
“The Party”, Paul Tremblay ✭✭
“Refinery Row”, Stephen Graham Jone ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Oct 23, 2021 Amanda rated it it was amazing

Shelves: to-read-again, read-in-2021

coming - fantastic collection. Well over 5 stars.

2 likes · Like · see review

Oct 18, 2021 Icy-Cobwebs-In-Space rated it it was amazing

Shelves: a1-netgalley, a1-i-own-books, 2021_horror, 2021_alphabet_challenge, 2021_ha_authors_a-z, 2021_reads, 2021_read-the-world_challenge, 2021_netgalley, october_2021_reads, 2021_halloween_ha

Editor Ellen Datlow determined this Anthology as a tribute to the late, lamented, exceptional author Shirley Jackson, and that each writer included here should work out in his or her story the effects of Shirley Jackson's work on the individual authors collected here. In both aims she has succeeded admirably; with each page I turned, I perceived the spirit of Ms. Jackson looking on, reading with me, wry and ironic smile intact. WHEN THINGS GET DARK is truly homage to Shirley Jackson, and a remar ...more

1 like · Like · see review