A series of micro-collections featuring a selection of peculiar tales from the best in horror and speculative fiction.
Dark bleatings, my lovely tribe. I finally had time to sit down and enjoy one of my several unread ‘Shadows’ books, so I picked this little beauty by Charlotte Bond. The theme of this is fairy tales, though Charlotte’s retellings (plus one original) are not quite what you might remember…
Let’s dive into the stories!
Hessian Sky
A woman breaks down on a foggy night in Iceland and seeks shelter at a local inn. There’s one room available but the landlord is extremely reluctant to hand over the key, though he eventually does. There’s something wrong with the room, you see.
She wakes up in the middle of the night to find a man in her room with a sack, and therein the devilish problem lies.
I loved this story so much and thought it was a great opener.
A Wolf in the House
A refreshingly original take on a classic tale. A girl has a bad feeling about her stepdad, whose interest in her doesn’t seem particularly paternal, or appropriate. Luckily for her, she learns of a way out of this increasingly dangerous predicament. Great story, and I love the layers of meaning in its title.
The Wild Hunt
There’s a recurring theme of deals being struck in this collection, I’ve just noticed. But who can resist a good deal?
A woman and her teen daughter visit an odd little town over Christmas, which has a disturbing annual tradition involving wreaths of holly. These are very important, these wreaths. This story is so full of dark magic that it made me think ahead to the festive season this year. I will be putting a nice holly wreath on my door, for no reason or anything, I just suddenly feel it’s imperative I have one.
Teeth in the Shadows
This is a fantasy about a young woman named Chiara who discovers something pretty unsettling about the King. It’s public knowledge that he’s been carrying around his somehow impeccably preserved, severed, dead wife’s hand for 2 years, but there’s something else going on with him that only Chiara pays enough attention to to realise. Oh, and there are beasties!
The Watcher in the Woods
This is a totally original fairy tale and I love it, it’s my favourite in the collection. A man follows a family tradition of being a watcher in the woods. People who go into these woods tend not to come out, and so this man follows the family duty of trying to stop them entering, or quickly finding them and guiding them out. It’s creepy but is ultimately packed with morality and kindness, something I for sure could use more of these days. I found it uplifting.
I really enjoyed this collection. The takes on the stories were so fresh and interesting and unpredictable, and the writing is just beautiful. I’d definitely recommend it, particularly to those horror fans that grew up on fairy tales appreciating the darkness in them.
If you’d like to check out the book or the author, I’ve popped some links below for you:
Bleeeat!
Happy Goat Horror 
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