Book Review: "When Things Get Dark" ed. by Ellen Datlow

Shirley Jackson was a genius of fiction. When I was a pre-teen, I read the book "The Haunting of Hill House" and scared myself silly. It made my list of 20 most terrifying books I've read. Check it out here. After reading that book, my life changed towards what was capable with terror and how horror can create feelings of absolute fright. Since then, I made a point of reading everything Shirley Jackson had written. With things still being discovered and collated to this day, I'm not sure I will ever finish that promise to myself and yet, I cannot wait for the next discovery. My most recent Shirley Jackson book was called "Raising Demons" and it was brilliant. But, I am a bigger fan of her classic mystery and terror. I think far more people need to read Shirley Jackson's short stories as they are some of her best works - the stories are strange realities in which nobody seems to know exactly what will happen. For example: a woman who is being mistaken for another woman but she doesn't know why, and apart from things going bump in the night it is rather things that go bang in the day.

In this book entitled "When Things Get Dark" edited by Ellen Datlow and contains many different stories inspired by the stories of Shirley Jackson. I would say yes, they are all very Shirley-Jackson-esque. There are some that stood out to me and I want to share them with you.

"Funeral Birds" by M. Rickert is a story about a woman who worked as a carer for another woman who has now died. She recalls the memory of her own dead husband as she dresses for the funeral and when she gets there, the atmosphere is smiling at her in sympathy for her job. Unfortunately, she has a strange surprise waiting for her when she gets home and as things fall together with meaning, her life goes into slow motion.

"For Sale by Owner" by Elizabeth Hand is a story about an older woman who likes to explore empty houses. Meeting other women is a big plus and they go to explore a house that states "for sale by owner" outside. As they go and have a 'sleepover' for the night, they now know that maybe this is a house they should have stayed away from. In an act to create a cyclic reality, this short story feels both complete and incomplete at the same time.

"A Hundred Miles and a Mile" by Carmen Maria Machado is a story about a woman named Lucy who has inexplicable events happen to her and in urgency, needs to deliver a message. When a little girl goes missing, things are turned upside down for a short time until answers slowly rise to the surface before they completely disappear again. A short story only a couple of pages long still packs a heavy impact in the fact that it gives the reader a feeling of impending doom.

Many other great stories exist by Joyce Carol Oates, Paul Tremblay and other authors. It is a book of incredibly modern and yet, incredibly Shirley Jackson short stories that are completed by the fact that the thing they have in common - the requirement to create terror. A feeling of doom, the shade coming over you when you realise what is happening, the guessing game you play as the reader to try and get answers to a question you didn't really want to ask - this book is the perfect addition to any Halloween bookshelf and will leave you terrified.