The Darkness Beyond The Stars: An Anthology of Space Horror

by P.L. McMillan (Editor), Patrick Barb, Bridget D. Brave

Beyond this rock we call home, horror awaits. Meteors slash through the sky, illuminating terrors beyond our wildest imagination. In the furthest reaches of the coldest cosmic expanse, there are things waiting, whose very existence our minds are not equipped to comprehend.

Can you survive the final frontier?

Featuring 15 stories from some of the best up-and-coming talents in the genre, The Darkness Beyond The Stars is an anthology of space-themed horror that seeks to twist humanity’s greatest aspirations into our greatest fears. This intergalactic collection of terror alien flora threatening homesteaders, survivors of a psychic war facing a reckoning aboard a ship escaping Venus, a traitorous scientist is launched from an airlock but doesn’t die, a woman waking from hypersleep with no memory—but a very real sense of looming danger, and more.

Editor and author P.L. McMillan invites you to blast off with a collection of short stories that’ll teach you to fear the carnage of the cosmos.

Praise for the anthology

"The old tagline claims that in space, no one can hear you scream. The stories here offer plenty of far-flung screams in a chorus of voices and cadences. Exploration, the future, the stars, the cold of the cosmos — these are all lonely concepts that are wide open to the power of horror, and this selection of familiar indie horror names and new favorites sets the coordinates of the genre to new frontiers.” — Michael Wehunt, author of Greener Pastures and The Inconsolables

" The void beckons and these authors have answered forcefully, their volatile transmissions filtered through the cold unknown, burning right through the page before impact." — Andrew F. Sullivan, author of The Marigold and The Handyman Method

“The Darkness Beyond The Stars forces us to confront the lull of the unknown, emphasizing both its dangers and allure—of wanting to know yet being afraid to know. The stories are at times claustrophobic and suffocating, yet they can also bring comfort through unease in the unfamiliar. The anthology holds tales of isolation that fester darkness within the mind and take you on journeys of which you are unsure if you might return—if you even desire return upon its conclusion.” — Ai Jiang, Nebula finalist and author of Linghun and I AM AI

“Eerie, thought-provoking, and dynamically sequenced, this anthology of space horror travels light-years ahead of its time. From investigations of the liminal to the limitless, from near-Earth to far-flung exoplanets, these stories chart new courses in terror for those bold enough to go not only to the stars, but also beyond-where the edge of sanity lies.” — TJ Price, author of The Disappearance of Tom Nero

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Science Fiction, Anthologies

237 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 31, 2023

About the author

P.L. McMillan is a writer whose works have been known to cause rifts in time and space itself…

Well, not quite. But writing often makes her feel that powerful.

P.L. McMillan is a Canadian expat living in the States, after having taught English for three years in Asia. With a passion for cosmic horror and sci-fi horror, P.L. McMillan sees every shadow as an entryway to a deeper look into the black heart of the world, meant to be discovered and explored. Infatuated with the works of Shirley Jackson, H.P. Lovecraft, and Ridley Scott, her dream is to create stories of adventure, of chills, of heartbreak, and thrills.

Her short fiction has appeared in a variety of anthologies and magazines such as Cosmic Horror Monthly, Strange Lands Short Stories, Negative Space, and AHH! That’s What I Call Horror, as well as adapted to audio forms for podcasts like NoSleep and Nocturnal Transmissions. In addition to her short stories, McMillan’s debut collection, What Remains When The Stars Burn Out, and debut novella, Sisters of the Crimson Vine, are available now.

Besides being a fiction writer, PLM has experience as an editor (Howls from the Dark Ages and The Darkness Beyond The Stars: An Anthology of Space Horror), hosts PLM Talks on Youtube (interviewing peers and professionals in the horror industry), and is the co-host of a horror writing craft podcast, Dead Languages Podcast. On top of all that, PLM does digital illustrations and artwork for anthologies and her merch shop.

Reviews

[Ai Jiang]

THE DARKNESS BEYOND THE STARS forces us to confront the lull of the unknown, emphasizing both its dangers and allure—of wanting to know yet being afraid to know. The stories are at times claustrophobic and suffocating, yet they can also bring comfort through unease in the unfamiliar. The anthology holds tales of isolation that fester darkness within the mind and take you on journeys of which you are unsure if you might return—if you even desire return upon its conclusion.

I’d received an advanced reader’s copy of the anthology!

[Michelle]

This is a really neat anthology of space horror stories. I personally love space horror, and if you're like me you should check out this collection. My personal favorites were Son of Demeter, a story where a man embarking on a long-haul mission starts to experience extreme pain and torture; and Planted in the Soil of Another World.

I did receive a copy of this book directly from the editor.

[Dion Smith]

This is a great anthology of space horror,

What I love most about this anthology is that there is a well round range of horrors, not just different types of creatures, (although there is a few of those in there,) but there is more that just creatures to fear in the great expanse of space.

Usually I give a bit of information about some of the stories, but I don't want to spoil them for anybody, but If you like movies like, Alien, Event Horizon, Buried (not a space movie, but as a similar feel to one of the stories) and Moon, then you will like this book

some of my favourites are
Space Walk by Bob Warlock (great name also)
Son of Demeter by Bryan Young
The Faceless by Ryan Marie Ketterer
The Trocophore by Rachel Searcey
Locked out by Joseph Andre Thomas

[Marina Garrido]

(You can read this review in full at https://www.thesinisterscoop.com/post...)

My first contact with this anthology was at the online launch event hosted by the editor P.L.McMillan. There were live readings by a handful of the authors and just by the short excerpt of their stories presented at this event, I knew there would be gems in this book. I’m familiar with (and a huge fan of) P.L.’s work both as an author and illustrator and now she has proven herself to be a phenomenal editor as well. I’m usually not a huge fan of science fiction so I was surprised by how much I adored so many of these stories. I feel confident in recommending you pick this up even if, like me, the genre isn’t your cup of tea. I did skip over some of the more technical descriptions of the spaceships and how most of the technology works. That being said, it was 100% an issue with me and not the author’s writings/descriptions, the scientific aspects tend to go over my head.

[👑 💀]

As an avid lover of space horror, I was thrilled to pick up a copy of this anthology from Salt Heart Press. I can’t imagine how challenging it was for P.L. McMillan to both edit and illustrate the entire book, but it turned out beautifully. I enjoyed the nice mix of both flash and short fiction along with the various subgenres blended into the cosmic setting.

While I found something to enjoy in every story, the ones that really stood out to me were:

“Red Rovers” by Patrick Barb
“The Vela Remnant” by David Worn
“The Wreckage of Hestia” by Jessica Peter
“Tempest” by Emma Louise Gill
“Last Transmission from the Fedcomm Sargasso” by Bridget D. Brave

[Rachel]

I'm in it and so are a bunch of my friends. What else would I rate it LOL

But seriously, if you like space horror, this is a great collection of an often neglected niche horror genre.

[Dakota Williams]

3.5/5

Mixed bag. I really liked some of the shorts but really didn’t like others.

[Christopher Pate]

A fair collection of scifi/horror tales set in near and far space. Of the 14 stories, most were unmemorable and a few were trite. However, Planted in the Soil of Another World by Dana Vickerson and The Vela Remnant by David Worn were excellent, and well worth the time slogging through the other stories.

More at my blog: https://bookworminthedark.blogspot.com.

[Eugene]

Space. The final frontier, and – given the way things are going on Earth – our only hope for the future. So, what could ever go wrong in space? Well, a lot. A whole lot. Sure, the sci-fi horror genre has informed us of this fact time and time again, but P.L. McMillan has curated an unsettlingly compelling list of stories within her anthology “The Darkness Beyond the Stars” that is more than happy to remind us as to why we might all be better off trying to remain on Earth for as long as humanly possible.

First! This is a P.L. McMillan curated anthology and – although McMillan has declined to grace this anthology with one of her typically excellent stories – she has filled this book with loads of her art. A unique illustration headlines each story and although these illustrations are only black-and-white sketches, they evoke a haunting and hypnotic tone that brilliantly primed me for the story that followed.

But the stories! What about the stories?

The stories are exceptional. Most fit neatly into the sci-fi horror genre, but there are a few stories that subverted my expectations and toyed with my emotions in unexpected ways. Length wise, readers can expect to chew through a story in about ten to thirty minutes. This is the sweet spot for an anthology like this. If I only have a half-hour to read? Great, I can indulge in a single story and go about my day. If I have the entire evening? Well, I can indulge in the decadence of a whole bunch of stories in a single sitting. Everything is relative, but it’s a nice feeling when an anthology doesn’t ask any more of its readers than what they are able to give.

Some of my favorite stories:

I have a rule. What is that rule? When a grown-ass man starts talking about DMT, run away. But before I could start running, David Worn ensnared me with his story “The Vela Remnant”. In the story, researchers discover a correlation between the remnants of a distant star – Vela – and DMT users. To investigate this correlation, the military commandeers a civilian starship and sets a course for the Vela Remnant. What they find is suitably terrifying as Worn takes the familiar anxieties of interstellar deep space isolation and grinds them into a hellishly unique nightmare.
Carson Winter spins a bleak but nevertheless compelling tale in “The Weight of Faith”. Within, a pair of explorers struggle to understand atypical theological nuances of a doomed culture as they witness its last days. The story is grim, but its sobering indictment of ignorance’s destructive power is undeniable and inspires an existential sort of fear that I think more people should be forced to endure.

When practical, authors often use a term like “hypersleep” to conveniently describe how humans might endure lengthy bouts of interstellar travel. The process is often as nondescript as it is autonomous: go to sleep here, wake up there. But what if – instead of relegating hypersleep to a banal piece of plot-expedition – the potential side-effects of hypersleep were considerably more severe? Well, in his story “Son of Demeter”, Bryan Young takes this often-overlooked sci-fi trope and protracts it into a conceptual decade-spanning nightmare that made my skin itch.

Dana Vickerson brilliantly subverts expectations with her story “Planted in the Soil of Another World”. The story is brief, but Vickerson effortlessly immersed me in the lives of two interstellar settlers as they grapple with the discovery of an invasive species of flora on their homestead. Utilizing a split timeline, Vickerson fills this piece with unease and subtle misdirection and creates a thoroughly unsettling narrative that annihilated my expectations in the very best way. I’m not saying that this is my favorite story in the anthology. But this is my favorite story in the anthology.

That space is scary is not a secret. Millions of sci-fi horror stories have been happy to remind us of that little factoid for the last century or so. But P.L. McMillan manages to execute a unique and terrifying vision with her anthology “The Darkness Beyond the Stars”. Within, her marriage of haunting art and compelling stories doesn’t just remind us of the terror that lurks in the cold embrace of space, but also peels our eyelids open and forces us to confront that very terror. Read it.

Also, don’t litter.

I paid for this book with muh own money. Although I fully admit to being a PLMstan. No shame.

[Alex Wolfgang]

A killer anthology for lovers of space horror, a genre that's never seemed as popular as I think it ought to be. Here you'll find tales of horrific alien life, claustrophobia, paranoia, and isolation. I enjoyed all of them, but some standouts for me included:

The Vela Remnant by David Worn
Tempest by Emma Louise Gill
Planted in the Soil of Another World by Dana Vickerson
Last Transmission From the FedComm Sargasso by Bridget D. Brave

[TT Madden]

Loved seeing all the different types of variance in the stories here, from slow-burn existential horror (yes, the vastness of space, but also gravity itself spun in a very cool way) to more action-centric Mars-rovers-gone-mad. It kept me guessing what was gonna come next in a really fun way, and felt like the authors really stretched their imagination in ways that didn't just rip off easy space horror tropes.

[Philip Chaston]

An anthology of cosmic and psychological horror with out overt glimpses of the Lovecraftian oeuvre, thankfully. These stories are based in a future of colonisation and galactic expansion, hard sf and space opera with wonder inverted by dread. Well handled.

[Augustine Reynoso]

I liked it but I couldn't finish it.

[Vyu]

This is like if a kid wanted to write horror