Wilted Pages: An Anthology of Dark Academia

by Ai Jiang, Christi Nogle, Gabino Iglesias

Wilted Pages is a new Dark Academia anthology from Shortwave Publishing featuring stories of gloomy buildings, secret societies, futuristic boarding schools, gothic yet modern aesthetics, and occult learning.

Wilted Pages features new stories from...

Genres: Dark Academia, Horror, Short Stories, Fantasy, Anthologies, Ghosts, Ebooks

274 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 19, 2023

About the author

Ai Jiang is a Chinese-Canadian writer, Ignyte, Nebula, Bram Stoker Award winner, Hugo, Astounding, Locus, Aurora, and BFSA Award finalist, and an immigrant from Changle, Fujian currently residing in Toronto, Ontario. Her work can be found in F&SF, The Dark, The Masters Review, among others. She is the recipient of Odyssey Workshop's 2022 Fresh Voices Scholarship.

Reviews

[Zana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wouldn't have picked up this indie anthology if it wasn't for the dark academia theme and Ai Jiang being one of my favorite short story writers.

Overall, this was a disappointment. As another reviewer mentioned, it seems that some of the stories aren't truly dark academia, but dark academia adjacent.

A lot of the stories aren't really anything eye-opening. Some are just plain bad. I did appreciate some of the authors instilling their culture into the stories, which provided such a great and much needed twist to ye olde staid academia.

I just wanted more out of these stories, especially since a lot of them are written by well-established and award-winning writers.




Ijo de Ken Sos Tu? by Jennifer Fliss
3/5 stars

Leyla, a Sephardic Jewish student, is sent to a boarding school filled with secrets. Her Christian roommate doesn't tolerate her.

I liked the inclusion of bits of the Ladino language and its relation to Sephardic Jews. I learned something new here! But overall, this is the kind of short story that almost makes its mark, but falls short due to its length. I think with this kind of story, you almost have to feel something for the MC to feel the force of the ending. But sadly, I felt nothing at all, either for the MC or the ending.



The Girls of St. X by Simo Srinivas
3.5/5 stars

Eunice goes through her daily life before undertaking a huge test at her exclusive girls school.

Loved the local vernacular used in this story. It takes me back to my childhood in Singapore.

The dark academia vibes are definitely here in this story, transposed in another continent. And strangely, it works. The story gets too convoluted though. There are too many ideas for it to be tight enough to work as a short story. I'd read this if it were a fully fleshed novelette.



Humanities 215 by Jo Kaplan
3/5 stars

The professor teaches an online class where nobody turns on their cameras. In a bout of frustration and loneliness, she befriends a chatbot to vent her grievances.

This is straight up academia, so I really wanted to like this. But the MC is only referred to as "The Professor," which created such a huge distance between myself as the reader that it was hard to feel any sympathy for her character.

And like another reviewer mentioned, this feels more STEM adjacent than dark academia.



Hugging the Buddha's Feet by Amber Chen
4/5 stars

Xu Fengmao is a young scholar who's family is struggling to make ends meet while they try to support him in his studies.

Amber Chen! I was excited to read a short story from her since she has an upcoming fantasy novel.

I quite liked this one! The dark academia theme really worked in this ancient China speculative story. Loved the vibes. The theme isn't something we haven't seen, but placing it in this setting really worked out. So far, this is the only story I've really paid attention to.



In Vast and Fecund Reaches We Will Meet Again by Cyrus Amelia Fisher
2/5 stars

I had no idea what this one was about. Something about literally growing a house in the MC's body? And a House with a capital H?

This is one of those ~all vibes, bare minimum plot~ stories and while I did like the vibes and the writing, I had no idea what the hell was going on.

After skimming through it again, I still have no idea what happened or why it happened.



Applicatio by John Langan
1/5 stars

A crumbling military academy is being shuttered and the remaining faculty and students are left to deal with the outcome.

It's like the author didn't even try. There was no lead up and the scary thing just happened out of nowhere. This is just... not good.



Higher Powers by Steve Rasnic Tem
2/5 stars

Darla, a Religious Studies student, applies for a position at Pembroke House so she can have access to its library.

This started out well enough with great characterization and the beginnings of a plot. Then it devolved into utter nonsense and a weird psychosexual thing with the MC's professor/victim and I was just not into it.



Twisted Tongues by Michael A. Reed
3/5 stars

Edgar, a student in a boarding school, has a monster twin that hungers for students.

Finally! Another decent short story! The beginning was pretty shaky since it was hard to pinpoint who was talking/thinking and doing. But once I caught on what was going on, it was a pretty creepy dark academia themed story. The Dyslexia monster's voice was a little too much though.



The Allard Residency by Brian Evenson
3.5/5 stars

A couple is invited to a residency in another country. Einar, the academic, accepts it so he can use the legendary library's resources.

This started out really great, with mysterious vibes and a creepy library. The mystery/thriller aspect went up a few notches, but after the wild climax, everything just abruptly ended.

But I'll say though, this was one of the better stories in this anthology. It's dark academia adjacent enough that it fits the theme.



The Library Virus by Hussani Abdulrahim
3/5 stars

A virus, where its victim vomits books, spreads across Dangana Memorial Community School.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. The author did really well with setting up the mood. I loved that this wasn't your typical Western dark academia. The lead up was both mysterious and creepy.

But the ending seemed really abrupt. Just as I was getting settled into the story, it ended quickly.



The Occupation of the Migratory Library of Oanno by RB Lemberg
4.5/5 stars

Oresia finds out that the university is closing the Migratory Studies Library.

Wow, I really liked this one! It's dark academia but also make it weird fiction. You've got an actual dark academia setting at a university, with a relatable issue of budgets and lack of funding. And actual academics. And a magic library.

Anyway, I'd love to read more from this author.



Tiny Hearts in the Dark by Gabino Iglesias
4/5 stars

Sandra wants to add more field work to her dissertation about newborn murders in the mountains of Puerto Rico.

This is one of those dark academia adjacent stories. Part of it takes place in the university, while the other part takes place in the field. The MC is an anthropologist so this tracks.

I studied anthropology so I'm biased when I say that I liked this story. It's both creepy and academic at the same time. Dead babies and begging your advisor for more field work to include in your dissertation? Oral histories and memory. Hell yeah.



Parásito by Ana Hurtado
2.5/5 stars

Something about eating bugs and a creepy professor.

The creepy vibes were there, but I had no idea what was going on or why. Things happened just because.

Like what was up with the bug eating? And the professor's a creep who tells his students to eat bugs while also preying on his female students? Wtf.



The DaVinci Chip by Suzan Palumbo
2/5 stars

A researcher takes revenge on her ex who stole her research.

This feels like a very basic "researcher taking revenge on an ex who stole their research" story with no interesting plot twists. I was bored.



An Inordinate Amount of Interest by Ayida Shonibar
3.5/5 stars

Kiran is accepted into a BA program, but they're forced to give up parts of themselves in order to pay for tuition.

This was pretty cool and held my interest. I see hints of Ai Jiang's Give Me English. Maybe I liked it because it's written in second person and plays with perception. Not to mention that the forced poverty is fucked up.



Preservation of an Intact Specimen by Premee Mohamed
2/5 stars

Camilla, a researcher, is forced to work with a sexist, misogynistic classmate from her past.

This was really really long. And really boring. I did like the revenge ending though. But then again, I like reading about terrible women doing terrible things.



Those Shining Things Are Out of Reach by Octavia Cade
1/5 stars

The MC is a librarian who talks to a ghost?

There wasn't really a story here. I had no idea what the point was. I read it twice and still had no idea what the story was supposed to be.



Her Finished Wings by Marisca Pichette
3/5 stars

The MC is slowly turning into a monster.

Okay the creepy vibes were definitely creepy here. Interesting start to the story (masturbation? really??) but the whole demon lover and demon transformation thing was done really well. Same with the feelings of alienation in undergrad.



Those Who Teach Pay Knowledge Forward by RJ Joseph
3/5 stars

Georgia, a teacher in Texas, worries about her student, Calvin, when he misses school.

This is definitely a dark academia adjacent story that's barely dark academia. But it was a sweet, magical story, so I can't hate.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I sped through this because I couldn't get enough. Each story got better and better. There's everything in here from Dark Fantasy to literary to horror, all with a feminist/BIPOC bent. Nogle and Jiang have put together pretty much a perfect collection.

[- ̗̀ saku ̖́- · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, this was... underwhelming. While I appreciated the different cultural aspects that are often absent from dark academia novels, I also couldn't shake the feeling that many of the authors only had the vaguest, if any, idea of what dark academia actually is. Some of the stories barely had an academic setting at all. Many of the stories were very STEM, while only a few were humanities/arts focussed. Of course STEM subjects can be dark academia too, but they are not what the genre typically features, so that abundance of STEM was somewhat confusing. Overall, I liked only a few stories, was meh on many, and heavily disliked quite a few as well.

[Dana]

The stories in this anthology were vastly different in how they appealed to me. A few knocked it out of the park, but many I did not enjoy at all.

Because of the huge discrepancies, I don't want to give a rating. Stories range from 2-5 stars, so I can't settle on a rating overall.

[Daniel Mowery · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alright class, please turn to page—well turn to any page, really—so you may find incomprehensible horrors; the depths of human heartbreak, suffering, and capacity for evil; or worst of all: the all too real pervasive attempts to destroy individuals and institutions who seek only to teach, educate, and move their communities and the world at large forward. Class, your assignment is due before your untimely death, and will be the largest percent of your soul for the semester. I pray you read the syllabus.

Thesis: Jiang and Nogle have amalgamated a gripping collection of dark academia stories from a wide and engaging scope of writers. Whether the quest for knowledge goes too far, or sought for revenge and bloodletting, or to liberate from oppression and ignorance, or to lament the lamps extinguished, this sweeping diaspora delivers a balance of soft sci-fi, gothic, dark fantasy, supernatural, and good old fashioned human monsters. The collection is broken up into six parts, as it is written on the skull-headed crow’s fountain: Haunting, Sacrifice, Obsession, Knowledge, Revenge, and Hope.

While all good stories, my favorites were “In Vast and Fecund Reaches We Will Meet Again” by Cyrus Amelia Fisher, and “An Inordinate Amount of Interest” by Ayida Shonibar, “Humanities 215” by Jo Kaplan, & “Hugging the Buddha’s Feet” by Amber Chen.

Argument: There seems to be a recurrent criticism toward this collection on the loose interpretation of academia, or where academia in a given story was nothing more than a blurry backdrop or passing mention. I at first shared this concern. My experience in academia, restricted to high school and undergrad, only knew libraries and classrooms, and I completely neglected the centuries of graduate studies abroad and field research, as well as the orbiting fields of museums, libraries, residencies, workshops, and laboratories as parts of academia. So despite some initial reservation, I opened myself up not as a persnickety peer of learning, or as a critic, but as a student learning the facets of academia, international culture, and global and intersectional spheres of learning that were previously unknown to me before. Homogenous education breeds only the same syllabi again and again, and the slow erosion of knowledge by overworn and preapproved ideology. Heterogenous and inclusive literature, perspectives, and intellect, are truly what structures strong nations, institutions, educations, literary works.

Conclusion: Wilted Pages is a spooky, emotional, thought-provoking, and often terrifying collection that I thoroughly enjoyed.

[David Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like I start the review of every anthology with caveats, and this won't be any different. Short fiction is very hit and miss for me, and my unwritten (though written in many reviews) rule is that if there are three or more stories I can call out as memorable, an anthology has succeeded. Wilted Pages certainly hits that metric.

The stories in this volume tend toward the literary and experimental, a bold choice in any collection. There are some very long stories, a lot of first person narrative, a lot of choices where style trumps plot. For me the best stories in this one were:

Hugging the Buddha's Feet by Amber Chen. This has the feel and power of a parable, and is told in that style. It's a story of desire and ambition and the cost of success. Very memorable.

In Vast and Fecund Reaches We Will Meet Again by Cyrus Amelia Fisher - a story of social commentary, familial love, belief in things that are offered by those who don't have your interests in mind, but their own. It is a short story with enough world-building to stretch to a novel.

Applicatio by John Langan is one of the few stories that departs from the more esoterica tales - a fairly straightforward almost pulpish story about a downsizing university, and one staff member's plans for the future.

The last one I'll mention is The Occupation of the Migratory Library of Oanno by R. B. Lemberg. I like this one because it has the feel of stories from the old Amazing Adventures, and Weird Tales days... and because... libraries.

This is an interesting anthology. Hats off to editors Ai Jiang and Christi Nogle - and I would be remiss in not mentioning the beautiful cover and packaging by Shortwave Publishing. A solid anthology of very diverse and interesting tales.

[Sadie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not every story was 5 stars, but they were all at least 3 stars. I particularly loved Hope, the final grouping.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars, rounded down.

Unfortunately this anthology didn’t work for me at all; maybe I’m the wrong audience. Most of the stories offered a very awkward blend of Dark Academia and horror; the balance never felt quite right, and also many of the stories didn’t really hit the Dark Academia vibes I was expecting. Of course that’s just a matter of personal taste, but in addition, some of these stories just...weren’t very good, from a craft perspective. I’m sorry to say it like that, but in those cases, I really felt like I was reading amateur work that wasn’t quite ready for publication. I think a stronger editorial pass, or maybe a different editorial perspective, would have helped those stories be more successful. I hope this works much better for other readers than it did for me.

That said, there were a few stories that I really liked! Highlights for me:

- “The Occupation of the Migratory Library of Oanno” by R.M. Lemberg: This was easily my favorite story in the book. I’ve had Lemberg on the TBR for a long time, and this really made me want to read their work sooner. A beautiful and unusual story. Highly recommended.

- “An Inordinate Amount of Interest” by Ayida Shonibar: A very interesting and different story, told in ✨ 2nd Person ✨

- “Preservation of an Intact Specimen” by Premee Mohamed: just a very Premee story (complimentary)

- “Tiny Hearts in the Dark” by Gabino Iglesias: An interesting (and creepy) examination of oral folklore traditions

[Roxane Llanque]

This book holds some treasures. I discovered the wonderful "The Occupation of the Migratory Library of Oanno"by RB Lemberg. It was by far my favourite, a love letter to academic passion and the transcendental nature of knowlegde and seeking. And also one that gently mocks the common quirks of academics, I laughed and recalled serveral of my old professors in the interviewed researcher :) A must-read!

"Tiny Hearts in the Dark" by Gabino Iglesias was another great read, delving right into the battle between personal ethics, academic integrity, and family bonds, that can so often be at war especially for BIPOC academics.

These two tales stay with you, one leaving a pleasant, the other a darker tingle in your heart.

[S.J. Townend · Rating 4 out of 5]

A diverse collection of education-themed horror with many new and familiar names from the horror-writing scene.

My personal favourite was Twisted Tounges by Michael A. Read - a surreal, engaging take on learning disabilities.

I also loved the stories by Suzan Palumbo, Gabino Iglesias, Brian Evenson (obvs, I could drink his prose all year and still thirst for more), Simo Srinivas, and Jo Kaplan.

I skipped a few stories as they became a little complicated for my bird brain, but that says more about me than the fabulous content of this book!

Highly recommend this collection. Reading it was an enlightening, unsettling learning curve!

[Tomasz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sorry, can't give this anthology more than three stars. It seemed oddly drained of energy, practically lethargic in places. Nothing really striking within (Tem's story, I think, came closest to really remarkable), and while no stinkers, either, some pieces seemed... not much more than competent, and when there is that shortage of energy, mere competency isn't enough to captivate this reader. A bit of a pity, an opportunity mostly squandered.

[alanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this over the course of a few months. There is a real range of stories, some I enjoyed more than others (typical for an anthology), but none I would consider below 3/5. The top stories for me, in the order they appear in the anthology, were:
Tiny Hearts in the Dark - Gabino Iglesias
The DaVinci Chip - Suzan Palumbo
An Inordinate Amount of Interest - Ayida Shonibar
Preservation of an Intact Specimen - Premee Mohamed
Those Shining Things Are Out of Reach - Octavia Cade

[Groucho42 · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short stories that's "dark academia." Sadly, most are mediocre and the mood goes to idiotic far more than horror. I'm not sure if they're really bad or just not my thing. Given I wasn't sure what it was, I'll give it an average.

[Candice Azalea Greene · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hadn't read any dark academia before this short story collection so I wasn't sure what to expect. Some of the stories were decent. Only a few were really good--scary even. But most were just ok. Still, I enjoyed reading a new-for-me genre and will most likely read more of it.

[John Keegan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good anthology. Nothing particularly scary, but some of the stories were spooky, which was good for the season!

[Marcos Gutiérrez · Rating 1 out of 5]

I dont like this

[Alyssa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5