If I had to pick a favorite type of horror, it would likely result in me debating the merits of cosmic horror versus folk horror, and how they blend together so well anyway so I shouldn’t have to be forced to choose between them. That is to say, when I saw the cover of The Gathering Dark: An Anthology of Folk Horror I didn’t even check the author list, I just pre-ordered it blindly. You had me at the arson witch.

Like most anthologies, I liked some stories more than others, but there are none here that I thought were bad. One or two had an ending I felt was rushed but it wasn’t enough to ruin the story overall, just took me out of it. I started reading this shortly after finishing His Hideous Heart and was surprised at how similar the overall feel was. I don’t think this was advertised as a YA book, but I suspect it might have been pitched as one since all the stories feature teenagers, it comes with a content warning in the beginning, and many of the details that might make it a bit too much for a young adult audience are only alluded to. Only one, The Burning One by Shakira Toussaint, is ambiguous as to what age the protagonist is. So in the end there are no newlyweds renting a room in a creepy hotel in a strange town where they uncover a murderous sex cult. I don’t think it’s any reason to avoid reading this book; it’s still good, it’s just by dint of the age of the protagonists, there’s some cliches and tropes of folk horror that do feel a little missing.

That doesn’t mean that all the stories lack teeth. The Tallest Poppy by Chloe Gong had a scene that made me squirm. I was sick in bed with COVID when I read it and I was struggling to focus a little, and wasn’t following the scene all that well. Then something happened and I had to go back to understand what I was reading. Immediately I had to skim a big part of it because I felt squeamish. Well done. Stay by Erica Waters also opens with a grandmother suffering from Morgellons disease trying to get her grand-daughter to take it seriously, and it doesn’t get descriptive with what she ends up doing with her skin but what a way to open a story. I was apprehensive from the start, always a good sign with a horror story, and I really liked the twist in the end that really made the beginning even more fucked up to think about.

I think my favorite story might have been one of the less creepy ones, Ghost on the Shore by Allison Saft. In terms of ghost stories, I’ve read ones like it before. The Fisherman by John Langan came to mind since they both involve bodies of water that return the protagonist’s dead loved ones, or do they? Is something just wearing the face of the dearly departed? But Ghost on the Shore takes it in a different direction. Instead of a dead wife, it is a dead best friend to whom the protagonist longs to share a secret, and the ending is sentimental in a way that is often hard to land without feeling schmaltzy, but I really think Saft landed it well. It was emotional and evocative and also set in West Texas which I think is a little underrated as a folk horror setting. The desert is creepy, I promise, come give us a little more love.
The Gathering Dark was edited by Tori Bovalino and I do recommend it if you’re looking for an anthology with spooky vibes, but don’t want anything that is going to feel too heavy or be too difficult to read. If you’re a parent, I would think this is perfectly fine for a teenager to read, but full disclosure I was reading Stephen King by 13 so I might not be the best to gauge that.  But look, I turned out okay. Mostly.

Megan C