I can feel the spooky season sneaking up on me, even though it’s still over 100 degrees in Las Vegas. Despite the desert heat, The Fiends in the Furrows sent shivers down my spine. This collection of folk horror stories from editors David T. Neal and Christine M. Scott inspired dread that haunted me throughout the week.
Here’s an overview of the tales you’ll encounter:
- Sire of the Hatchet – Coy Hall: The executioner is called to town to mete out justice but is unnerved by the thing tracking them in the woods.
- Back Along the Old Track – Sam Hicks: The Sleators family makes a visitor’s respite from the city one that they will never forget.
- The Fruit – Lindsay King-Miller: A couple beholden to harvesting the menacing fruit trees surrounding their town attempt to keep the whispers at bay.
- The Jaws of Ouroboros – Steve Toase: The Earth opens its maw to consume itself but there is money to be made if you’re daring or stupid enough.
- The First Order of Wahleyville’s Divine Basilisk Handlers – Eric J. Guignard: A young man’s faith is tested when basilisks visit his town.
- Pumpkin, Dear – Romey Petite: An unhappy wife connects with the land and finds a way to claim what’s hers.
- The Way of the Mother – Stephanie Ellis: Belief is a powerful thing, and the wayward minds in this village must learn the old ways or be punished.
- Leave the Night – Zachary Von Houser: A man stumbles into an isolated town and struggles to grasp the events unfolding around him in his alcoholic haze.
- Revival – S.T. Gibson: A young girl finds friendship among the snakes that serve in the reverend’s revivalist sermons.
Each story leans heavily into isolation and forces the reader to leave the comforts of their modern, busy city. Throughout the collection, you will become an outsider in a strange place or a resident of that strange place. Wherever you end up, plan to be made uncomfortable and feel totally out of your element. Every author generates these feelings in horrific ways whether roots ominously stalk you through the woods or a drug crime lord exploits you to do their bidding. The readers are at the mercy of strangers and their beliefs, and the modern world feels so far out of reach that it creates so much unease and hopelessness at times.
The stories also turn up the fear by punishing the main character’s curiosity. When we find ourselves in unknown situations, it’s human to want to collect more information and try to make sense of what’s happening around us. But when the characters ask questions or seek out information it makes their situation so much worse. You’re either made more uncomfortable with the shifty way everyone avoids your questions or they take it as an opportunity to reveal the horrors to you. In a horror context, it’s cruel and also incredible to watch these characters attempt to take back some power in the situation, only to have their efforts hurt them more and more.
The summer heat may be lingering, but you can find relief in the chills inspired by this collection. The Fiends in the Furrows is guaranteed to generate foreboding and fear, the only question is, when do you let the haunting season begin?
Rating: The Fiends in the Furrows – 9.0/10
-Brandee
