Howls From Hell: A Horror Anthology

 “The loop of punishing time spinning eternally, degrading what remained of her until there was nothing left. The weight of infinity pressed down on her – the past, present, and future pulling in all directions at once. In an entropic universe, there is no restoration without destruction, no give without take.”

– Alex Wolfgang, Suspended in Light

😈I received an e-Book of this story from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair review!😈

Howls From Hell is a horror anthology collecting together sixteen stories of the dark, macabre and twisted from a lineup of emerging genre authors. This was another book I requested through NetGalley, and admittedly, I didn’t know too much about it beforehand. I was mainly sold on the fact that Grady Hendrix had provided the foreword (he is/was an admin of the r/horrorlit community on Reddit, which is actually where the HOWL Society was formed), and as one of my favourite modern horror authors, I was curious to see what this would be like – and I think it’s safe to say I was genuinely blown away.

The majority of the authors in this collection were completely new to me which, as I’ve probably mentioned in all my past reviews of anthologies, is one of my favourite things about them – whilst it’s great to read new stories from familiar names, it’s just as exciting to discover fresh talent on the horror scene, or authors that I hadn’t heard read stuff from previously. In regards to this collection, there were so many original stories from authors who I’ll be keeping a keen eye on. The writing was of a consistent high quality, and each writer had a unique authorial voice. The variety on display was fantastic too – there are stories of monsters and demons, of terrifying sci-fi visions and psychological descents, from secrets unearthed in Egypt to twisted fairy tale retellings.

I would be hard-pressed to narrow this collection down to a handful of personal highlights, as each entry was wonderfully unique and engaging. The second story in the collection, titled The Pigeon Lied and written by J.W. Donley, was a remarkably original story about demonic houses of Hell and one man’s quest to get himself a hat (a symbol of status in said Hell houses). Suspended in Light from Alex Wolfgang charts a film student’s encounter with a haunted film from the 1920s titled The Balance of Decay, and was a deliciously unsettling example of the “cursed media” theme.

Christopher O’Halloran’s vision of a warped sci-fi future, Possess and Serve, follows officers of the Assumed Control Unit, a department with the ability to possess citizens in an attempt to defuse situations and prevent crime. This outing explores the implications of such technology in truly unnerving fashion, melding an inspired science-fiction narrative with a tale of abuse of power and moral dubiousness. In Joseph Andre Thomas’s skin-crawling It Gets in Your Eyes, a woman develops an infection in her eye, and takes a trip into a living hell of grotesque body horror sure to make any reader wince. And that’s only a handful of the stories on offer – I’d strongly urge any fan of the genre to go out and discover the rest of this anthology for themselves. By turns amusing, thrilling, and genuinely horrifying, Howls From Hell is a stellar read, and marks both publisher and its authors as ones to watch.

Despite being a fairly frequent browser of the r/horrorlit community on Reddit, I wasn’t aware of the HOWL (which stands for Horror-Obsessed Writing and Literature) Society that had been born from that community, and I’m thankful to this anthology for bringing it to my attention. It sounds like they’re doing terrific work in providing a space for horror authors and readers alike to unite over a love for all that is creepy and macabre. I’ll definitely be keeping a keen eye on this community as it continues to grow, and looking out for future HOWL Society Press releases – if they’re of the same quality as this debut, I’m already excited.

VERDICT: One of the most varied, unusual and imaginative anthologies I’ve read in a long time, Howls From Hell is sure to offer a little something for all genre readers. This book runs the gamut of all sub-genres and flavours, from tales of cursed media, ecological horror, demons and much more besides. This collection is a true labour of love and it shows – stories built on pure passion for the genre, and authors that are sure to have bright careers in the industry wherever their writing takes them next. An incredible example of the horror anthology, done to perfection.

It’s a full ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ from this reviewer. I also want to say a humongous thank you to both the publisher HOWL Society Press, and to NetGalley, for providing a copy and giving me the chance to read and review it.