terror. Terror leaves us with lingering fear. But one’s germinating while the other is cascading.” So, fear is when you hear the chainsaw; terror is when Leatherface chases you. That makes sense, but that distinction is rarely evident in these stories. Instead, Datlow’s theme seems to be any story that is supposed to make readers feel creepy but doesn’t involve supernatural phenomena. I’d be okay with that, but half the stories in the collection fail this test.

At least, the best stories in Fears are terrific. All 21 stories were previously published, most of them first appearing in other anthologies in the last ten years. Genre fans have likely encountered some of them in their previous readings, but the source material includes many obscure anthologies (Datlow loves crediting her competition in this field), so all but the most completist of readers should find enough new material to make the collection worthwhile… if they like the selections.

Two stories in Fears date from the 1960s and are two of the best. Joyce Carol Oates contributes an acclaimed genre classic, “Where Are You Going, Where Did You Come From?” A 15-year-old girl left home alone one afternoon is startled by the arrival of two men in a colorful car, asking her to go out with them. She soon realizes that they are considerably older than her and know a lot about her. Their leader gradually coaxes, cajoles, and impliedly threatens the teenager to break down her defenses. What surprised me most in re-reading the story was how a novelette written in 1965 was even more relevant in the social media age, where predators have much greater access to personal information.

The other 1960s story is actually a 1940s story. In “A Lovely Bunch of Coconuts,” Charles Birkin takes readers to a Nazi concentration camp where some inmates are forced to entertain the guards in a rather sadistic fashion. In 1964, readers were more familiar with this type of depravity than they are today, so the story’s ending probably is more shocking now. Another excellent story, Ray Cluley’s “The Wrong Shark,” also has a factual basis. It’s set in Martha’s Vineyard, where Darnell Jackson lived as a boy. In 1975, Steven Spielberg and his production crew arrived to film Jaws. Jackson and many other residents showed up frequently to watch the filming and vie for roles as extras. Jackson stood out because he was the only black person in the crowd. Martha’s Vineyard in 1975 wasn’t the most racially tolerant community, a fact that figures in the real-life horror Jackson encounters… and his reaction when he returns some 40 years later as an adult.

Another story worth noting is “One of These Nights” by Livia Llewellyn. In it, two 15-year-old girls commit a shocking crime in full view of dozens of witnesses, but nobody realizes what the girls are doing until long after they’ve left the scene. The story deservedly won the Best Short Story Edgar Award in 2021. By contrast, the horror in Carole Johnstone’s “21 Brooklands: next to Old Western, opposite the burnt out Red Lion” remains in the dark… literally. A family is terrorized by home invaders one night, and their plight becomes much worse when there’s a power failure. The horror in Sharon Gosling’s “Souvenirs” doesn’t reveal itself until the last page, but the understated prose packs a huge emotional wallop. A dutiful daughter finally persuades her 70-something father, who has been a worldwide adventure seeker, to settle in a retirement home near her. The story’s title hints at what he brings with him to the home.

As I mentioned earlier, Bracken MacLeod contributes “Back Seat.” A homeless father and young daughter eke out a “living” by having the girl break into parked cars at night (with her father’s help). She then pilfers any spare change or even leftover food. One night, she discovers a dead baby in the back seat and must spend several terrifying hours in the infant’s company. The author tells the story from the girl’s point of view as she struggles with what she sees and hears during those hours and what she imagines.

At its best, as in these stories, Fears is an excellent read for horror fans. Unfortunately, the book falls short of those heights frequently. Several stories were hard to follow or understand, even though I read them several times. They include the last story in the book, “Teeth,” by Stephen Graham Jones. This tale has a great premise, a dying cop on the verge of retirement who tries to solve one last case. Human bones keep turning up all over the city, and the police soon determine that they all come from the same body. The bulk of the story is engaging; the last few pages are a confusing mess.

“The Donner Party” by Dale Bailey is easy to understand, however. It’s also a lame attempt at satire. The story’s title should clue readers in about the principal ingredient in the special dish being served at some Victorian England dinner parties. (Read Stanley Ellin’s “Specialty of the House” for a much better take on the same theme.) I think “The Donner Party” was intended as dark humor instead of straight horror. It fails at both, being neither creepy nor amusing. “A Sunny Disposition” by Josh Malerman also squanders a great set-up. A young boy is alone with his dying, blind grandfather. Before the boy can leave, the grandfather reveals something quite shocking. An edited version of this story might have been one of the best in the anthology. Unfortunately, before the big reveal, the boy has to listen to a nearly interminable monologue by Grandpa. I imagine if I were a young boy in that situation, I’d be scared out of my wits. But as an adult reading the speech, I had a more jaded reaction.

I would recommend about half the selections in Fears as stand-alone stories. “A Lovely Bunch of Coconuts” and “Souvenirs,” in particular, will remain with me for a long time. But I struggle to remember three or four others less than a week after I read them, and I doubt I’ll understand them no matter how many times I re-read them. Given an enormous amount of potential source material that would qualify for inclusion based on the somewhat nebulous premise of Fears, that’s a disappointment for an anthology from Ellen Datlow. There’s enough good material here for a three-star rating and marginal recommendation. But I’m afraid this anthology is nowhere near Datlow’s best effort. 

NOTE: The publisher graciously provided me with a copy of this book through NetGalley. However, the decision to review the book and the contents of this review are entirely my own.