GREAT BRITISH HORROR 10 continues the annual series showcasing the best in modern British horror. Every year, the series will feature ten British authors, plus one international guest contributor, telling tales of this sceptred isle.
The 2025 edition, SOMETHING PECULIAR, features eleven more previously unpublished stories from authors at the very top of their game.
Dark bleatings, my lovely tribe! Oh, what’s this I have here? An awesome anthology from the officially-award-winning Black Shuck Books? Let’s dive right into the stories before getting to my overall verdict…
‘Forest’ by Holly Blades
This story is told from the first-person perspective of a tree, which I found very enjoyable in terms of viewpoint. It felt like a tale about marking the passage of time, and the absorption of knowledge and emotion. It takes a skilled writer to craft a story like this, because there’s a danger that making the main character a completely static being could make the story itself static. No worries here though. It was a fluid, smooth ride, and a very interesting opener.
‘Cemetery Black’ by Alexander Milner
This one is also written in the first person, but this time from a blogger’s perspective. Said blogger teams up with a journalist (blogger has a disdain for journalists) to investigate fae type creatures, the Sluagh. My favourite thing about this one is that I thought I was getting some good, old-fashioned Gaelic folklore, but it also veered into modern gothic territory. Kept me guessing throughout!
‘Under the Similitude of a Dream’ by Timothy J Jarvis
A small group of people are set on a mission in a game. This had a sense of timelessness and created a mild disorientation as I read it, because we switch between the real world and the gaming world. Mysteries seem to be leaking out of the virtual and into the physical realm, which was very jarring. This wasn’t a favourite (I’m not the perfect audience for this kind of story), but don’t get me wrong, it’s good!
‘Urchin Barren’ by Tim Major
Ewww this one made me feel uneasy almost all the way through. A location scout called Billie goes to a quiet coastal town to scope out the beach and surrounding area for a film. She meets a repulsive woman called June, who insists that the area is perfect, and that more people are needed. There’s an implication about what’s in store for outsiders. Folk horror vibes, extremely creepy, and put me on edge. An instant favourite.
‘The Way Through the Woods’ by Marian Womack
I really like this one; it’s somehow tragic but also peaceful. A woman, a songwriter, is also a wife, mother, and chronic pain sufferer. Her life is riddled with it, and it’s isolating. I can, unfortunately, relate to this as a chronic pain sufferer myself. Being in pain all of the time is exhausting, and not just physically – there’s a strain that comes with trying to shield your loved ones from worrying about you, so you pretend nothing is going on. I think the author captured this woman’s mindset so effectively.
‘Acolytes of the Famished Giant’ by John Langan
You know, I really love it when I’m reading horror and the phrase ‘the old ways’ or something similar comes up. Because the old ways always tend to involve sacrifices. This is a very tense story about a family visiting Granda, and the old dude giving his young grandson a knife, which his mother verily disapproves of. It’s not just a gift for the sake of a gift…
Another favourite.
‘Hollow’ by Guy Adams
Everyone is eating everything – pets, each other, brick walls. Apparently, they all have a void to fill. Very short. Very…eaty. And entertaining.
‘Web’ by Sarah Brooks
A couple bond over their interest in superheroes. The woman isn’t afraid of spiders but pretends she is so her boyfriend can feel heroic, though this plan backfires….
There is certainly strife here, but I think perhaps the meaning got lost in translation for me and went over my head. Probably because the second I read the word ‘spider’, I went into fight or flight mode.
‘Seven Encounters with Peculiar Hawkins’ by Emma J Gibbon
A guy becomes mildly obsessed with a very weird woman called Peculiar (and that she is). She’s an enigma that always seems to be everywhere, knows things about people and their futures, predicts life events, administers Botox, and holds seances. This one was fun for me. I like weird.
‘The Recollection’ by Danie Ware
Someone is getting kicked out, but they don’t know why. They only know that her “kind” are not allowed in. I don’t know what it says about me that I found it oddly relatable, though I don’t think I quite got it, overall.
‘Confetti’ by Mark Morris
A couple have a bit of a stressful past. She used to be engaged to the guy’s best friend, who died by ‘misadventure’ when he went out to the back garden after his stag party, naked, and died of exposure sleeping against the pear tree. The new guy gets quite preoccupied with the tree and the idea that the dead guy might not be altogether gone…
Another favourite.
Overall, I found this an easy, breezy read. The writing is consistently good from tale to tale, and though there were a few stories in there that weren’t my personal cup of tea, I’d say that all of the authors brought something different and delightfully odd to the table. I would happily recommend this to fellow horror fans.
If you’d like to check out the book or the press, I’ve popped some links below for you:
SOMETHING PECULIAR: GREAT BRITISH HORROR 10 (AMAZON)
Bleeeeat!
Happy Goat Horror 
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