The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, Volume 1

By: Paula Guran - editor

Narrated by: Joe Hempel

The supernatural, the surreal, and the all-too real...tales of the dark.

Such stories have always fascinated us, and modern authors carry on the disquieting traditions of the past while inventing imaginative new ways to unsettle us. Chosen from a wide variety of venues, these stories are as eclectic and varied as shadows.

Contains mature themes.

©2020 Paula Guran (P)2020 Tantor

Meh!

Disappointed. The stories and narrator were not engaging at all. I will admit, that in general, I am not a short story fan.

ugh.

I couldn't finish this. It's a very misleading title. Don't waste your time. At least it was free.

Horror? Fantasy? Not quite.

I listened through the entire thing. There maybe a couple of stories worth reading. The rest just uninteresting. As far as horror goes, I’ve read creepier cereal boxes. Fantasy? Technically, yes there is some. A couple of stories are only fantasy because the author shoved the word ‘magic’ in every few sentences.

All-in-all a very disappointing collection of stories.

Poorly Genred mixed bag that spikes high and low

The first thing to note is that overall, I'm very happy that I took the time to listen to this collection. That said, it was only for a few exceptionally high quality stories, there are many duds, mostly in the middle, that were a complete waste of time. What's more, all the best stories were 100% science fiction. Not sci-fi/fantasy mind you, legitimate, culturally relevant science fiction. Horrifying yes but not horror or dark fantasy in genre.

What even is this

Most stories are not interesting either on the horror side or the fantasy side. Some stories read like they were written by 16 y.o. girls going through mental health issues. I see why it was in the free section of audible. Would not recommend this to anyone over the age of 14, but if magical realism is your jam you might like at least 2 of the tales. Most stories are not...linear? Not really the word I'm looking for but the plot of most of them...there is no plot to most of them. No problems with the audible sound quality or narration.