Dark Stars, edited by John F.D. Taff, is a tribute to horror’s longstanding short fiction legacy, featuring 12 terrifying original stories from today's most noteworthy authors, with an introduction by bestselling author Josh Malerman and an afterword by Ramsey Campbell.
Within these pages you’ll find tales of dead men walking, an insidious secret summer fling, an island harboring unspeakable power, and a dark hallway that beckons. You’ll encounter terrible monsters—both human and supernatural—and be forever changed. The stories in Dark Stars run the gamut from traditional to modern, from dark fantasy to neo-noir, from explorations of beloved horror tropes to the unknown—possibly unknowable—threats.
It’s all in here because it’s all out there, now, in horror.
Dark Stars features all-new stories from award-winning authors and up-and-coming voices like Stephen Graham Jones, Priya Sharma, Usman T. Malik, Caroline Kepnes, John Langan, and more. Created as an homage to the 1980 classic horror anthology Dark Forces, edited by Kirby McCauley, Dark Stars features an afterword from original contributor Ramsey Campbell—a poignant finale to this bone-chilling collection.
About the Author
John F.D. Taff is a Bram Stoker Award short-listed dark fiction author with more than 25 years experience and more than 100 short stories and seven novels in print. He has appeared in Cemetery Dance, Eldritch Tales, Unnerving, Deathrealm, Big Pulp, and One Buck Horror. His most recent work has appeared in The Seven Deadliest and I Can Hear the Shadows. Taff's novella collection, The End in All Beginnings, was called one of the best novella collections by Jack Ketchum and was a Bram Stoker Award finalist.
Industry Reviews
A fabulous collection of heady, inventive, and scary-as-hell novelettes written by many of my favorite horror writers. They'll become your favorites too, if they aren't already.
Paul Tremblay, author of Survivor Song
"Horror author Taff has curated some of the most dynamic horror fiction anthologies in recent years, and his newest is a healthy mix of established horror legends and newcomers."
Booklist, starred review
This collection of suspenseful horror resonates deeply, haunting the soul on many levels.
Brom, author of Slewfoot
A perfect snapshot of modern horror fiction and an essential showcase for its many voices, Taff's Dark Stars is to this generation what Kirby McCauley's seminal Dark Forces was to mine. Brian Keene, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Rising
Dark Stars is a constellation that burns bright, despite its title. There isn't a fading star in this gripping, thought-provoking collection, which showcases the tremendous talent of the writers, and the stylistic and thematic variety of contemporary horror fiction. An anthology that shows why literature that is drawn to the dark side of human experience will never die.
Indrapramit Das, author of The Devourers
"Masterfully bringing together the very best of the best voices in contemporary horror, Dark Stars fairly resonates with an assured sense of sadness, mystery and wonder. As soulful as it is disturbing, these stories linger like smoke long after the reading is done. An absolute treat."
Gemma Amor, Bram Stoker Award nominated author of Dear Laura
