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Haunted Ecologies
In these fifteen stories of ecological horror and dark fantasy, Farrenkopf delves into the depths of environmental decay and cursed ecosystems, searching ancient forests for elder gods and swimming the oceans with nameless things that live in the deep.
In “Mother’s Wolves” an academic searches for her disappeared mother under the guise of a gray wolf rehabilitation study in the backwoods of Maine. In “We’ve Been in Enough Places to Know” and “Waterlogged,” an underemployed property manager on Cape Cod traverses the crumbling halls of a seaside luxury condominium as something aquatic sings to him from the flooded basement. “To Tend a Grove” is the story of an eccentric millionaire’s desire to rewild a golf course in the name of an ancient forest deity and the landscaper trapped in his verdant machinations. In “Translations for a Dead Sea” a down on her luck graphic designer retreats to her deceased father’s bayside cabin in order to translate a long-lost poem that will either save the world from environmental collapse or speed up the apocalypse. In “The Tap, Tap, Tap of a Beak” a heartbroken ornithologist must make a pilgrimage to the mountain of bones that is the final resting place for endangered species, but a shady bone collector has other plans for the deceased woodpecker she carries with her.
In these stories, three published here for the first time, we encounter ethical werewolf rearing, murderous tree cults, Weird insectile evolutions, seaside folk horror, corrupt environmental tourism, gothic forest wanderings, eternal plastic pollution, sea-bound cosmic horror, hostile swamp creatures, and the ever creeping threat of climate change. Crack the spine. Step into the trees. Wade into the water. You will always be welcome in these haunted ecologies.
"As the world we live in becomes stranger and darker under our influence, we need art to meet it. Corey Farrenkopf's Haunted Ecologies does this work beautifully. These ecological horror stories are fueled by melancholy, anger, grief, and an abiding tenderness both toward the damaged world and toward ourselves, the fragile agents of nature's destruction. It's an excellent book and I want you to read it."
-- Nathan Ballingrud, author of Crypt of the Moon Spider and The Strange
"In Haunted Ecologies, Corey Farrenkopf combs the cold shores, misty forests, and damp basements of realities not quite our own, conjuring uncanny encounters between the human and the (super)natural in which each is transformed by the other. A dreamy, lush collection that drips, slithers, and crawls from the page." - Kay Chronister, author of The Bog Wife
"These stories are indeed haunted places - full of mist and smoke and monsters and shadows but above all, the mess that makes up the human race. And they're going to stay with me for a long time."
--Amber Sparks, author of And I Do Not Forgive You
“Haunted Ecologies is a collection written in a classic and melancholic voice, filled with a blend of cli-fi and academia that follows enduring families, illuminating collapsing economics and ecosystems, presenting readers with nature metaphors that symbolize the change, turbulence, and turmoil in human lives. At the core theme of these interconnected short stories is the criticism of corporate corruption, wasting landscapes that offer daunting and prophetic futures, continuing memories, things lost and changed through translation, yet it also offers hope, even with the looming end of the world.” —Ai Jiang, Bram Stoker and Nebula award-winning author of Linghun
In “Mother’s Wolves” an academic searches for her disappeared mother under the guise of a gray wolf rehabilitation study in the backwoods of Maine. In “We’ve Been in Enough Places to Know” and “Waterlogged,” an underemployed property manager on Cape Cod traverses the crumbling halls of a seaside luxury condominium as something aquatic sings to him from the flooded basement. “To Tend a Grove” is the story of an eccentric millionaire’s desire to rewild a golf course in the name of an ancient forest deity and the landscaper trapped in his verdant machinations. In “Translations for a Dead Sea” a down on her luck graphic designer retreats to her deceased father’s bayside cabin in order to translate a long-lost poem that will either save the world from environmental collapse or speed up the apocalypse. In “The Tap, Tap, Tap of a Beak” a heartbroken ornithologist must make a pilgrimage to the mountain of bones that is the final resting place for endangered species, but a shady bone collector has other plans for the deceased woodpecker she carries with her.
In these stories, three published here for the first time, we encounter ethical werewolf rearing, murderous tree cults, Weird insectile evolutions, seaside folk horror, corrupt environmental tourism, gothic forest wanderings, eternal plastic pollution, sea-bound cosmic horror, hostile swamp creatures, and the ever creeping threat of climate change. Crack the spine. Step into the trees. Wade into the water. You will always be welcome in these haunted ecologies.
"As the world we live in becomes stranger and darker under our influence, we need art to meet it. Corey Farrenkopf's Haunted Ecologies does this work beautifully. These ecological horror stories are fueled by melancholy, anger, grief, and an abiding tenderness both toward the damaged world and toward ourselves, the fragile agents of nature's destruction. It's an excellent book and I want you to read it."
-- Nathan Ballingrud, author of Crypt of the Moon Spider and The Strange
"In Haunted Ecologies, Corey Farrenkopf combs the cold shores, misty forests, and damp basements of realities not quite our own, conjuring uncanny encounters between the human and the (super)natural in which each is transformed by the other. A dreamy, lush collection that drips, slithers, and crawls from the page." - Kay Chronister, author of The Bog Wife
"These stories are indeed haunted places - full of mist and smoke and monsters and shadows but above all, the mess that makes up the human race. And they're going to stay with me for a long time."
--Amber Sparks, author of And I Do Not Forgive You
“Haunted Ecologies is a collection written in a classic and melancholic voice, filled with a blend of cli-fi and academia that follows enduring families, illuminating collapsing economics and ecosystems, presenting readers with nature metaphors that symbolize the change, turbulence, and turmoil in human lives. At the core theme of these interconnected short stories is the criticism of corporate corruption, wasting landscapes that offer daunting and prophetic futures, continuing memories, things lost and changed through translation, yet it also offers hope, even with the looming end of the world.” —Ai Jiang, Bram Stoker and Nebula award-winning author of Linghun
188 pages, Paperback
First published February 14, 2025
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September 12, 2024A big thank you to the author for an early ARC of the book! Below is my blurb:
HAUNTED ECOLOGIES is a collection written in a classic and melancholic voice, filled with a blend of cli-fi and academia that follows enduring families, illuminating collapsing economics and ecosystems, presenting readers with nature metaphors that symbolize the change, turbulence, and turmoil in human lives. At the core theme of these interconnected short stories is the criticism of corporate corruption, wasting landscapes that offer daunting and prophetic futures, continuing memories, things lost and changed through translation, yet it also offers hope, even with the looming end of the world.
HAUNTED ECOLOGIES is a collection written in a classic and melancholic voice, filled with a blend of cli-fi and academia that follows enduring families, illuminating collapsing economics and ecosystems, presenting readers with nature metaphors that symbolize the change, turbulence, and turmoil in human lives. At the core theme of these interconnected short stories is the criticism of corporate corruption, wasting landscapes that offer daunting and prophetic futures, continuing memories, things lost and changed through translation, yet it also offers hope, even with the looming end of the world.
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March 29, 2025HAUNTED ECOLOGIES bursts, BLEEDS with a respect and reverence of Nature from veins of sorrow. Corey Farrenkopf brings an elegant, quiet desperation to these poignant tales of humanity's actions against our world and each other: mysteries and wonders still exist but are not infinite resources.
April 22, 2025
I wrote this book, so I legally have to give it five stars...such are the author laws...but here are some nice things other authors I greatly admire said about my collection:
"As the world we live in becomes stranger and darker under our influence, we need art to meet it. Corey Farrenkopf's Haunted Ecologies does this work beautifully. These ecological horror stories are fueled by melancholy, anger, grief, and an abiding tenderness both toward the damaged world and toward ourselves, the fragile agents of nature's destruction. It's an excellent book and I want you to read it."
-- Nathan Ballingrud, author of Crypt of the Moon Spider and The Strange
"In Haunted Ecologies, Corey Farrenkopf combs the cold shores, misty forests, and damp basements of realities not quite our own, conjuring uncanny encounters between the human and the (super)natural in which each is transformed by the other. A dreamy, lush collection that drips, slithers, and crawls from the page." — Kay Chronister, author of The Bog Wife
“The intricate eco-horrors of Haunted Ecologies skillfully thread the needle between sorrow and transformation, between collapse and survival. These stories are steeped with regret for the choices that we've made, but Farrenkopf still throws us a lifeline - the possibility that something will survive, even if it's monstrous, even if it costs us.”--Nadia Bulkin, author of She Said Destroy
For everyone who has taken the time to read my book, I really appreciate it :)
"As the world we live in becomes stranger and darker under our influence, we need art to meet it. Corey Farrenkopf's Haunted Ecologies does this work beautifully. These ecological horror stories are fueled by melancholy, anger, grief, and an abiding tenderness both toward the damaged world and toward ourselves, the fragile agents of nature's destruction. It's an excellent book and I want you to read it."
-- Nathan Ballingrud, author of Crypt of the Moon Spider and The Strange
"In Haunted Ecologies, Corey Farrenkopf combs the cold shores, misty forests, and damp basements of realities not quite our own, conjuring uncanny encounters between the human and the (super)natural in which each is transformed by the other. A dreamy, lush collection that drips, slithers, and crawls from the page." — Kay Chronister, author of The Bog Wife
“The intricate eco-horrors of Haunted Ecologies skillfully thread the needle between sorrow and transformation, between collapse and survival. These stories are steeped with regret for the choices that we've made, but Farrenkopf still throws us a lifeline - the possibility that something will survive, even if it's monstrous, even if it costs us.”--Nadia Bulkin, author of She Said Destroy
For everyone who has taken the time to read my book, I really appreciate it :)
November 12, 2024
Review in the November 1, 2024 issue of Booklist and on the blog here: https://raforall.blogspot.com/2024/11...
Three Words That Describe This Book: menacing, immersive, eco-horror
From my draft review:
An immersive volume, each story firmly places the reader in the natural world– from malicious forests to soggy condos to the open ocean– allowing them to experience the setting alongside the fear.
Like the very best eco-horror, these stories are menacingly askew, offering readers a world that is just outside their reality, and yet, close enough that the terror hits close to home similarly to Annihilation by VanderMeer, What Moves the Dead by Kingfisher, and Breakable Things by Khaw.
Three Words That Describe This Book: menacing, immersive, eco-horror
From my draft review:
An immersive volume, each story firmly places the reader in the natural world– from malicious forests to soggy condos to the open ocean– allowing them to experience the setting alongside the fear.
Like the very best eco-horror, these stories are menacingly askew, offering readers a world that is just outside their reality, and yet, close enough that the terror hits close to home similarly to Annihilation by VanderMeer, What Moves the Dead by Kingfisher, and Breakable Things by Khaw.
January 1, 2026
Haunted Ecologies is a collection of 15 ecological horror stories that asks the question: What happens when nature turns against us? Who is responsible for the damage and the consequences? Murderous trees, sea beings, creepy insects, swamp creatures, and the threat of climate change are just some of the scares portrayed here. Despite that, the stories are empathetic and at times even heartbreaking, as the characters come to understand what it means to adapt to a new way of life.
Full review here.
Thank you to the author for a review copy.
book blog | twitter | instagram
Full review here.
Thank you to the author for a review copy.
book blog | twitter | instagram
February 2, 2025
This is one of those collections that feels hard to pin down. Farrenkopf undoubtedly writes horror, and also easily errs into weird, but those don't feel like the through line here as much as the title of the collection is. These are places and people undergoing change, haunted by failings and ideas.
I love the bookend stories, 'We've Been in Enough Places to Know' and 'Waterlogged' quite a bit, although 'Fences and Full Moons' is perhaps my favorite. 'Fences and Full Moons' highlights what I'd say is Farrenkopf's signature strength, which was on full display in his debut novel, Haunted Cemeteries,' which is writing about horrific, sometimes truly dreadful things, but doing so from a place of empathy. There's a level of authorial care and tenderness that punches through these stories. It's the kind of hope that good horror stories can sometimes attempt but fail to express, and even if you don't pick it up on a first reading of each story, it's there.
Haunted Ecologies brings hope into otherwise desolate reflections of our own horrors and shows what a tender, deft touch can elevate stories from beyond core tropes and settings and make them something special.
Note: I received an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
I love the bookend stories, 'We've Been in Enough Places to Know' and 'Waterlogged' quite a bit, although 'Fences and Full Moons' is perhaps my favorite. 'Fences and Full Moons' highlights what I'd say is Farrenkopf's signature strength, which was on full display in his debut novel, Haunted Cemeteries,' which is writing about horrific, sometimes truly dreadful things, but doing so from a place of empathy. There's a level of authorial care and tenderness that punches through these stories. It's the kind of hope that good horror stories can sometimes attempt but fail to express, and even if you don't pick it up on a first reading of each story, it's there.
Haunted Ecologies brings hope into otherwise desolate reflections of our own horrors and shows what a tender, deft touch can elevate stories from beyond core tropes and settings and make them something special.
Note: I received an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
February 5, 2025
This is a fantastic debut with a lot of creative and literary pieces in it. Full of themes of environmental decay, this collection is like The Fall of the House of Usher for the climate change era. This collection is not for you if you need a conclusive ending but is a great read if you're interested in exploratory and climate-focused fiction with creative premises.
February 20, 2025
There are three original stories to this collection:
Growth/Decay
Dredging the Bay
To tend a Grove
The other12 of them have appeared in collections, anthologies and magazines between 2020 and 2023.
Btw. the author has been interviewed by Mike Davis (YouTube).
As an early summary there's one big reason why Farrenkopf's stories are of great interest for me:
It's about humans first. Some really authentic-feeling humans, human relationships and feelings are hooking me at the beginning of a story. Afterwards, there might be some horror. Or, at least, some weird plants of animals. A dystopian future. Some bad climate fiction. You name it.
The stories
I have some personal favorites, which I will examine a bit more in detail, but even for the ones I want to dive deeper into, there's always something I can relate to. A very old friendship. Some real-feeling online-dating. Family connections. Grief of a family member.
Some stories haunt me more than others. Some have a twist, some just a twist-free ending. Sometimes I feel as if the story could go further, other times it's a clear ending, there won't come anything after (maybe even, because the perspective figure has been eaten).
I had fun. And I am in awe of the author's ability to write about humans. Especially about humans which might be (slightly) different from himself, like single women or older widowers with adult children.
The burnt floor
My favorite!
Look at the first sentence
"Bronski and Janet saved for three years but could only afford a room on the burnt floor."
There are so many answers and questions here. Obviously, Bronski and Janet do not have enough money for something they are really desperate to do (thus, the savings for three years). And even then, they can only afford the "burnt room". What is the burnt room? Why is it burnt, anyway? Is that even legal? That alone hints at some sort of dystopian future, which it absolutely is (in my eyes).
Bronski and Janet want to do a certain kind of holiday with their two kids, before they are too old to enjoy it. That's why they settle for the burnt room, even if it is a grave threat to their health (which is somehow the spookiest part of the whole collection). They have to wear respirators all the time.
Anyhow, as a mother myself, I can relate only too well. Bronski's perspective feels very real to me. Even as this is only a ten-minute-read, the story just sucks me into it and its world. Makes me afraid much more than any kind of classic monster!
The part about taking the kids to a nice place for money one cannot really spend reminds me of the novel Hum in a nice way. Or not so nice, as both futures are dystopian like hell!
Mother's Wolves
The perfect title for this story. Mia (the first person narrator, who is currently doing her dissertation and also is teaching classes in university) and one of her students, Leo, regularly visit the forests of Maine in search of wolves. Those might be extinct in Maine, nobody has seen (or heard) any since years.
Both of them have another motive to do this research, though.
Leo fancies Mia, and she is aware of his affection and patient, although he sometimes is clumsy in his attempts to gain her affection and even mansplains her in her research (which is handled very nicely by her and entertaining while reading).
Mia, on the other hand, does not really look for wolves.
She looks for her mother, who vanished in the woods five years ago, doing the exact same research as Mia and Leo are doing now.
This story absolutely lives by the details, the depths of the characters (mainly Mia, but also the absent mother, Leo and even a side character who appears only briefly) and the honesty, by which mainly Mia is described. I can feel the longing that Mia feels for her mother. I feel her. Her longing, even the longing for her mother by her body is described very subtly. I feel the loss. The hope.
A great story with a great ending.
Growth/Decay
I particularly liked this one. It's a great example of Farrenkopf's skill to combine spooky stuff with very common, daily struggles of very normal people. (I think there is a horror author who lives on this kind of thing for a couple of decades.)
Fences and Full Moons
"They'd accepted that Cam was a werewolf."
Well, another one of those cool first sentences. It gets even better. Obviously, the research about his son being a werewolf goes like this:
"His father, Clark, watched fifty-seven YouTube videos from other parents ..."
Well. YouTube has everything, doesn't it?
"Cam was in fourth grade, hair sheared into a bowl cut, front teeth coming in crowded."
This is a very short story and it's not free of humor, at least not for what I read from it. Having a kid in school as well (third grade, not fourth, and not a werewolf), some of Cam#s problems, with bullies and otherwise, ring familiar to me.
The Tap, Tap, Tap of a Beak
Alva rides the train with a box full with bones. There's a lot to smile about in this story, too. at least first. But then a man offers to buy the box from her. She does not want to sell. There's a severe sonflict of interest which puts suspense in this story.
Exoskeletons
That's a great one. It's perfect in its hintings on dark stuff in the past of the story's protagonist Lark. He is in a bad situation, after a divorce living in the trailer of his uncle, who does not talk to him any more (but his aunt still does so, one of the few who still does). Obviously, there was a really bad accusation in Lark's recent past. Even his parents do not talk to him any more.
I really like how the relationships are described, especially the one between Lark and his elderly aunt Jillian. The dialogues are just great!
Plus, in retrospective, Lark's marriage to Harriet and their sex life is shown in a really interesting way, which makes Lark to one of the most interesting (not necessarily nicest) figures in a short story so far.
The ending is very dark indeed.
Dredging the Bay
This might even count as a criminal short story, which is very difficult to write. It's a 25-minute-read, so one of the longer ones. And clearly one of the stories which is not only about horror, but about something else, something almost everybody will be able to relate to: Family ties and traditions. And, more specific, about belonging to a place (or not belonging). Ron, the protagonist, is not from the peninsula, but his (not dead) wife was, and now, his son is as well. It's also a very dark ending.
Just look at how Ron is described:
"Ron lacked a smartphone. He disliked technology, worried about cancer. He hated the thought of devices pressed against his body. He'd read articles on the subject, blamed their invisible fingers for his wife's brain cancer. Mel would have gone four years that October."
The Man of Reeds and Seaweed
Very dark and in a spooky way a very convincing ending. What happens if you are consequent and follow the rules without compassionately checking them first? It could be read as a metaphor. All so more horrific then.
To tend a grove
The longest (about 45 minutes) story in the collection, plus, the only first-person-narrator, which was nice for a change. Here, as well as in some other story, the commitment von the protagonist to a person who is acting in a more than questionable way is well supported by their long relationship, which has started during their youth (and had a long break due to a trauma for his friend, Lucas, which also turns out to be important for a plot twist). Plus, the term "eco horror" fits very well, as this is (partly) about some really icky cause to kill trees (hundreds of them in a really well-described and not so tasty way).
Translations for a dead sea
That’s an even more subtle story, seemingly about the worsening of daily life, probably due to Climate Change (rising sea level, lack of drink water), and the apocalypse always in sight.
It’s about two adults (Laura and Ray) that also share a bed. Ray has daughters and is worried about them. Both have recently lost somebody, Ray, his wife,Laura has lost her father. Laura’s father has left something that might work. She describes it as science, but the frontier to some kind of magic, some kind of spell seems not very thick here to me.
What is this really about? Maybe about difficult choices, but also about what’s left when we will be gone (which is true for all of us). Also about hope, about lying to people we care for.
Waterlogged
Reminds me a bit of Kelsea Yu's A scarcity of sharks, at least in its premise. Glen studies (and tries to feed) a sea beast, then watches a man die. But that's not enough, afterwards the police suspect him that he has something to do with the man's death (especially as the body never was found). Glen has to be afraid that he will be put to prison, but also, that nobody cares for the beast if he's not around.
That's an interesting priority, but I absolutely bought it!
Growth/Decay
Dredging the Bay
To tend a Grove
The other12 of them have appeared in collections, anthologies and magazines between 2020 and 2023.
Btw. the author has been interviewed by Mike Davis (YouTube).
As an early summary there's one big reason why Farrenkopf's stories are of great interest for me:
It's about humans first. Some really authentic-feeling humans, human relationships and feelings are hooking me at the beginning of a story. Afterwards, there might be some horror. Or, at least, some weird plants of animals. A dystopian future. Some bad climate fiction. You name it.
The stories
I have some personal favorites, which I will examine a bit more in detail, but even for the ones I want to dive deeper into, there's always something I can relate to. A very old friendship. Some real-feeling online-dating. Family connections. Grief of a family member.
Some stories haunt me more than others. Some have a twist, some just a twist-free ending. Sometimes I feel as if the story could go further, other times it's a clear ending, there won't come anything after (maybe even, because the perspective figure has been eaten).
I had fun. And I am in awe of the author's ability to write about humans. Especially about humans which might be (slightly) different from himself, like single women or older widowers with adult children.
The burnt floor
My favorite!
Look at the first sentence
"Bronski and Janet saved for three years but could only afford a room on the burnt floor."
There are so many answers and questions here. Obviously, Bronski and Janet do not have enough money for something they are really desperate to do (thus, the savings for three years). And even then, they can only afford the "burnt room". What is the burnt room? Why is it burnt, anyway? Is that even legal? That alone hints at some sort of dystopian future, which it absolutely is (in my eyes).
Bronski and Janet want to do a certain kind of holiday with their two kids, before they are too old to enjoy it. That's why they settle for the burnt room, even if it is a grave threat to their health (which is somehow the spookiest part of the whole collection). They have to wear respirators all the time.
Anyhow, as a mother myself, I can relate only too well. Bronski's perspective feels very real to me. Even as this is only a ten-minute-read, the story just sucks me into it and its world. Makes me afraid much more than any kind of classic monster!
The part about taking the kids to a nice place for money one cannot really spend reminds me of the novel Hum in a nice way. Or not so nice, as both futures are dystopian like hell!
Mother's Wolves
The perfect title for this story. Mia (the first person narrator, who is currently doing her dissertation and also is teaching classes in university) and one of her students, Leo, regularly visit the forests of Maine in search of wolves. Those might be extinct in Maine, nobody has seen (or heard) any since years.
Both of them have another motive to do this research, though.
Leo fancies Mia, and she is aware of his affection and patient, although he sometimes is clumsy in his attempts to gain her affection and even mansplains her in her research (which is handled very nicely by her and entertaining while reading).
Mia, on the other hand, does not really look for wolves.
She looks for her mother, who vanished in the woods five years ago, doing the exact same research as Mia and Leo are doing now.
This story absolutely lives by the details, the depths of the characters (mainly Mia, but also the absent mother, Leo and even a side character who appears only briefly) and the honesty, by which mainly Mia is described. I can feel the longing that Mia feels for her mother. I feel her. Her longing, even the longing for her mother by her body is described very subtly. I feel the loss. The hope.
A great story with a great ending.
Growth/Decay
I particularly liked this one. It's a great example of Farrenkopf's skill to combine spooky stuff with very common, daily struggles of very normal people. (I think there is a horror author who lives on this kind of thing for a couple of decades.)
Fences and Full Moons
"They'd accepted that Cam was a werewolf."
Well, another one of those cool first sentences. It gets even better. Obviously, the research about his son being a werewolf goes like this:
"His father, Clark, watched fifty-seven YouTube videos from other parents ..."
Well. YouTube has everything, doesn't it?
"Cam was in fourth grade, hair sheared into a bowl cut, front teeth coming in crowded."
This is a very short story and it's not free of humor, at least not for what I read from it. Having a kid in school as well (third grade, not fourth, and not a werewolf), some of Cam#s problems, with bullies and otherwise, ring familiar to me.
The Tap, Tap, Tap of a Beak
Alva rides the train with a box full with bones. There's a lot to smile about in this story, too. at least first. But then a man offers to buy the box from her. She does not want to sell. There's a severe sonflict of interest which puts suspense in this story.
Exoskeletons
That's a great one. It's perfect in its hintings on dark stuff in the past of the story's protagonist Lark. He is in a bad situation, after a divorce living in the trailer of his uncle, who does not talk to him any more (but his aunt still does so, one of the few who still does). Obviously, there was a really bad accusation in Lark's recent past. Even his parents do not talk to him any more.
I really like how the relationships are described, especially the one between Lark and his elderly aunt Jillian. The dialogues are just great!
Plus, in retrospective, Lark's marriage to Harriet and their sex life is shown in a really interesting way, which makes Lark to one of the most interesting (not necessarily nicest) figures in a short story so far.
The ending is very dark indeed.
Dredging the Bay
This might even count as a criminal short story, which is very difficult to write. It's a 25-minute-read, so one of the longer ones. And clearly one of the stories which is not only about horror, but about something else, something almost everybody will be able to relate to: Family ties and traditions. And, more specific, about belonging to a place (or not belonging). Ron, the protagonist, is not from the peninsula, but his (not dead) wife was, and now, his son is as well. It's also a very dark ending.
Just look at how Ron is described:
"Ron lacked a smartphone. He disliked technology, worried about cancer. He hated the thought of devices pressed against his body. He'd read articles on the subject, blamed their invisible fingers for his wife's brain cancer. Mel would have gone four years that October."
The Man of Reeds and Seaweed
Very dark and in a spooky way a very convincing ending. What happens if you are consequent and follow the rules without compassionately checking them first? It could be read as a metaphor. All so more horrific then.
To tend a grove
The longest (about 45 minutes) story in the collection, plus, the only first-person-narrator, which was nice for a change. Here, as well as in some other story, the commitment von the protagonist to a person who is acting in a more than questionable way is well supported by their long relationship, which has started during their youth (and had a long break due to a trauma for his friend, Lucas, which also turns out to be important for a plot twist). Plus, the term "eco horror" fits very well, as this is (partly) about some really icky cause to kill trees (hundreds of them in a really well-described and not so tasty way).
Translations for a dead sea
That’s an even more subtle story, seemingly about the worsening of daily life, probably due to Climate Change (rising sea level, lack of drink water), and the apocalypse always in sight.
It’s about two adults (Laura and Ray) that also share a bed. Ray has daughters and is worried about them. Both have recently lost somebody, Ray, his wife,Laura has lost her father. Laura’s father has left something that might work. She describes it as science, but the frontier to some kind of magic, some kind of spell seems not very thick here to me.
What is this really about? Maybe about difficult choices, but also about what’s left when we will be gone (which is true for all of us). Also about hope, about lying to people we care for.
Waterlogged
Reminds me a bit of Kelsea Yu's A scarcity of sharks, at least in its premise. Glen studies (and tries to feed) a sea beast, then watches a man die. But that's not enough, afterwards the police suspect him that he has something to do with the man's death (especially as the body never was found). Glen has to be afraid that he will be put to prison, but also, that nobody cares for the beast if he's not around.
That's an interesting priority, but I absolutely bought it!
January 18, 2026
The stories in this collection are more than passionate about ecology and the environment. They want you to imagine worlds where people will gladly sacrifice their own lives for the world to recover and flourish, where they highlight humans' destruction of the natural world due to their own desires. I appreciate Corey's care and delicacy with the subject, how forlorn and beautiful a number of these stories are. My favorites are Translations for a Dead Sea, The Tap, Tap, Tap of a Beak, The Burnt Floor, Dredging the Bay, and Waterlogged.
February 11, 2025
Farrenkopf's title is as clear a statement as any made over the course of these 15 stories: the slow but visceral decay of the Earth and all of the systems that are failing around us. Yet, Farrenkopf doesn't take a cheap route, say "the planet is doomed and we're all gonna die" and leave it at that in place of horror. This collection's true strength is in remembering that 'ecology' is as much about the relations between parts of a whole than any simple organism. When one part fails, the system falls with it.
In "The Tap, Tap, Tap of a Beak", an ornithologist contemplates how she will pass her deceased specimen into the record of history. Will it be memorialized as the last of its kind before extinction? A one-of-a-kind cash prize to an odious private collector? A beloved pet whose remains belong in a haunted resting place from her childhood? This ended up being my favorite story in this excellent collection, typifying Farrenkopf's knack for protagonists who live subsumed by natural horrors and must choose how to respond.
In "Growth/Decay", an amateur botanist becomes more and more drawn into her work in a hostile world, and opts to embrace the plants that understand her, weeds and all. In one of the more immediately frightening stories, the nephew of a fisherman witnesses the sea bear its teeth against overfishing in "Something Aquatic, Something Hungry." Despite the appearance of genuine monsters and supernatural cameos (such as a father learning how to love his werewolf son), Farrenkopf approaches his craft like a scientist, presenting these terrors as interwoven into their ecosystems. It's this knack that I find holds the collection's signature appeal: stories that feel like meditations on a habitat or natural phenomenon that happen to be supernatural rather than folk tales about creepy monsters in the woods. Eco-horror will continue to rise as the climate catastrophe worsens, yet few understand what can stand out about this genre like Farrenkopf. Highly recommended for nature lovers, both of documented and cryptid varieties.
Disclaimer: I received a digital ARC from the author for review purposes. No exchange was made, monetary or for reviews of my work.
In "The Tap, Tap, Tap of a Beak", an ornithologist contemplates how she will pass her deceased specimen into the record of history. Will it be memorialized as the last of its kind before extinction? A one-of-a-kind cash prize to an odious private collector? A beloved pet whose remains belong in a haunted resting place from her childhood? This ended up being my favorite story in this excellent collection, typifying Farrenkopf's knack for protagonists who live subsumed by natural horrors and must choose how to respond.
In "Growth/Decay", an amateur botanist becomes more and more drawn into her work in a hostile world, and opts to embrace the plants that understand her, weeds and all. In one of the more immediately frightening stories, the nephew of a fisherman witnesses the sea bear its teeth against overfishing in "Something Aquatic, Something Hungry." Despite the appearance of genuine monsters and supernatural cameos (such as a father learning how to love his werewolf son), Farrenkopf approaches his craft like a scientist, presenting these terrors as interwoven into their ecosystems. It's this knack that I find holds the collection's signature appeal: stories that feel like meditations on a habitat or natural phenomenon that happen to be supernatural rather than folk tales about creepy monsters in the woods. Eco-horror will continue to rise as the climate catastrophe worsens, yet few understand what can stand out about this genre like Farrenkopf. Highly recommended for nature lovers, both of documented and cryptid varieties.
Disclaimer: I received a digital ARC from the author for review purposes. No exchange was made, monetary or for reviews of my work.
March 5, 2025
This review also appears on The Folklore Podcast website.
Do you ever really know what you’re looking for? A woman hikes through the woods of Maine, ostensibly in search of a species thought extinct, but in reality hoping to capture a howl more human than lupine on her cassette. A woman feverishly works to finish translating the poem her father spent the last years of his life translating - but will it bring utopia or destruction? Teenagers find more than they bargained for running through the forests around town. After all, don’t those shoots look suspiciously like bones sticking out from the newly tilled dirt?
In the fifteen stories that comprise HAUNTED ECOLOGIES (Journalstone, 2025) Corey Farrenkopf blurs the boundaries between conservation and horror. To categorize the book as solely folk horror would be to do it a disservice. In these pages Farrenkopf forces the reader to grapple with the real damage happening to the world around us, and the struggles those who try to right it face. People, after all, rarely wish to hear the dire statistics – if you present the information to them through the guise of art, however, the message will make a far greater impact.
Stories like “Growth/Decay”, “Something Aquatic. Something Hungry”, “Dredging the Bay,” “Green Thought,” and “To Tend a Grove” are beautiful examples of the folk horror genre while “The Burnt Floor”, “Wash'ashore Plastics Museum”, and “The Man of Reeds and Seaweed” function as thought-provoking social commentary. While there is a wry humor to some of the stories, the bulk of them leave the reader unsettled – ending before one might expect. Farrenkopf is masterful at letting the reader draw some of their own conclusions, or at the very least consider the messages of the stories long after they've been read.
While the subject of these stories is a challenging one, Farrenkopf is up to the task of leading the reader through the thorny briars and on towards the clearing at the end of the path. Keep reading and you'll see that there is an option for renewal there for all of us to find. The only question is, are you ready for it? After all, the caterpillar has to dissolve completely before it becomes a butterfly.
Do you ever really know what you’re looking for? A woman hikes through the woods of Maine, ostensibly in search of a species thought extinct, but in reality hoping to capture a howl more human than lupine on her cassette. A woman feverishly works to finish translating the poem her father spent the last years of his life translating - but will it bring utopia or destruction? Teenagers find more than they bargained for running through the forests around town. After all, don’t those shoots look suspiciously like bones sticking out from the newly tilled dirt?
In the fifteen stories that comprise HAUNTED ECOLOGIES (Journalstone, 2025) Corey Farrenkopf blurs the boundaries between conservation and horror. To categorize the book as solely folk horror would be to do it a disservice. In these pages Farrenkopf forces the reader to grapple with the real damage happening to the world around us, and the struggles those who try to right it face. People, after all, rarely wish to hear the dire statistics – if you present the information to them through the guise of art, however, the message will make a far greater impact.
Stories like “Growth/Decay”, “Something Aquatic. Something Hungry”, “Dredging the Bay,” “Green Thought,” and “To Tend a Grove” are beautiful examples of the folk horror genre while “The Burnt Floor”, “Wash'ashore Plastics Museum”, and “The Man of Reeds and Seaweed” function as thought-provoking social commentary. While there is a wry humor to some of the stories, the bulk of them leave the reader unsettled – ending before one might expect. Farrenkopf is masterful at letting the reader draw some of their own conclusions, or at the very least consider the messages of the stories long after they've been read.
While the subject of these stories is a challenging one, Farrenkopf is up to the task of leading the reader through the thorny briars and on towards the clearing at the end of the path. Keep reading and you'll see that there is an option for renewal there for all of us to find. The only question is, are you ready for it? After all, the caterpillar has to dissolve completely before it becomes a butterfly.
March 23, 2025
I am terrible at writing reviews but here goes. If you're into stories about things that could happen if we don't take better care of Mother Earth, this is for you. A group of short stories. Each gives you a little nudge, a reminder, that we need to do better - with a little creepy thrown in. Corey's stories never disappoint.
Give them a try.
Give them a try.
March 5, 2025
Ecology is something this reader cares deeply about, and I gravitate to any fiction that dramatizes the fraught times that we now find ourselves in. Horror and dark fantasy are, to my mind, especially suited to handle this subject matter, since the real world is changing in new and often horrific ways that, frankly, feel otherworldly.
Farrenkopf's new collection captures that feeling in 15 tales that are poetic, moving, terrifying, and straight up weird--our world refracted back at us through a fantastical lens. I mean, if you squint these stories don't seem that unreal. Take "Wash'ashore Plastics Museum" in which a man collects a series of mannequins that keep floating in on the tides, and displays them for the public. Given the amount of waste this world dumps into our oceans, it's not an unthinkable scenario. 'Mother's Wolves' is another favorite that feels oddly familiar, in which a scientist is hunting for wolves that have supposedly gone extinct in Maine. Again, not a future one wishes to think about, but nevertheless...it feels possible. The story is given extra emotional heft with the scientist searching for her lost mother.
But whatever grim prophecies the stories present, it's all balanced out with humor and poetic language. 'The Burnt Floor' reaches a George Saunders level of satire, with a family vacationing at a post-apocalyptic amusement park. 'Something Aquatic, Something Hungry' gives a fun twist on the mermaid (?) myth, and 'Translations for a Dead Sea' leans into New England Lovecraftian creepiness.
My personal favorite is 'Fences and Full Moons' a sweet father & son tale that epitomizes the collection as whole--characters dealing with a changed world in the best way they can. We are all going to be ordinary people dealing with the extraordinary circumstances of climate change and 'Haunted Ecologies' shows that no matter how weird the world gets, humans will remain the same with our human need for love, connection, and hope.
Farrenkopf's new collection captures that feeling in 15 tales that are poetic, moving, terrifying, and straight up weird--our world refracted back at us through a fantastical lens. I mean, if you squint these stories don't seem that unreal. Take "Wash'ashore Plastics Museum" in which a man collects a series of mannequins that keep floating in on the tides, and displays them for the public. Given the amount of waste this world dumps into our oceans, it's not an unthinkable scenario. 'Mother's Wolves' is another favorite that feels oddly familiar, in which a scientist is hunting for wolves that have supposedly gone extinct in Maine. Again, not a future one wishes to think about, but nevertheless...it feels possible. The story is given extra emotional heft with the scientist searching for her lost mother.
But whatever grim prophecies the stories present, it's all balanced out with humor and poetic language. 'The Burnt Floor' reaches a George Saunders level of satire, with a family vacationing at a post-apocalyptic amusement park. 'Something Aquatic, Something Hungry' gives a fun twist on the mermaid (?) myth, and 'Translations for a Dead Sea' leans into New England Lovecraftian creepiness.
My personal favorite is 'Fences and Full Moons' a sweet father & son tale that epitomizes the collection as whole--characters dealing with a changed world in the best way they can. We are all going to be ordinary people dealing with the extraordinary circumstances of climate change and 'Haunted Ecologies' shows that no matter how weird the world gets, humans will remain the same with our human need for love, connection, and hope.
January 25, 2025
The author provided me with a digital review copy. All views and opinions are my own, provided free of charge.
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In Haunted Ecologies , Corey Farrenkopf delivers a collection of stories that manage deliver stories that feel very much rooted in the environs of the authors home, while still feeling relevant to areas across the globe. I don't feel it's a stretch to say that reading Eco-Horror in 2025 is almost akin to reading the news. Admittedly, that probably echoes past sentiments of readers of this genre in prior decades. If anything that's what makes Farrenkopf's collection of tales so important. It's grounded in the NOW, while also directing the reader to look back, calling to choices and actions in our past as a species that brought us to this point. Haunted Ecologies is filled with the ghosts of what was, while gazing at the specters of what could be. I won't lie, these are stories that will give you pause. This is far from a collection of "happy endings", and yet, as you read these bleak and captivating tales, I hope that you, like myself, will come away a renewed desire to keep these tales as fiction. Like any good collection of short fiction, Farrenkopf's book can be opened to any individual story. However, just as the wold is one large ecosystem, comprised to smaller ones, so too are these stories woven together, cover to cover, as one singular holistic literary experience.
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In Haunted Ecologies , Corey Farrenkopf delivers a collection of stories that manage deliver stories that feel very much rooted in the environs of the authors home, while still feeling relevant to areas across the globe. I don't feel it's a stretch to say that reading Eco-Horror in 2025 is almost akin to reading the news. Admittedly, that probably echoes past sentiments of readers of this genre in prior decades. If anything that's what makes Farrenkopf's collection of tales so important. It's grounded in the NOW, while also directing the reader to look back, calling to choices and actions in our past as a species that brought us to this point. Haunted Ecologies is filled with the ghosts of what was, while gazing at the specters of what could be. I won't lie, these are stories that will give you pause. This is far from a collection of "happy endings", and yet, as you read these bleak and captivating tales, I hope that you, like myself, will come away a renewed desire to keep these tales as fiction. Like any good collection of short fiction, Farrenkopf's book can be opened to any individual story. However, just as the wold is one large ecosystem, comprised to smaller ones, so too are these stories woven together, cover to cover, as one singular holistic literary experience.
January 15, 2025
Short story collection centered around eco/botanical horror, climate change, how we treat nature, etc
Rating: 3.5
We kick off the collection with a story about a collapsing condo complex sliding into the sea and a man who's job it is to make sure no one decides to inhabit it or sleep under it's roof. He feels a connection to this place but especially to the sea monster that roams the basement. This story was such a great start to this collection, and it ALSO wraps up the entire book by continuing at the end.
There are some great stories here, as well as a small few that weren't up my alley but it is all around worth the read. There is some great commentary on how humans treat the planet, and the expectations that the planet will retaliate in due time.
The number one story for me has to be ' Growth/Decay ' about a woman who has this innate need to grow plants and nurish them and take care of them and how these plants communicate their appreciation.
OR
'The Burnt Floor', a story of a family willing to risk their health and use their life savings to take a trip to an amusement park.
I knew I would enjoy this book after I read Corey's novel 'Living in Cemeteries'. Thanks again Corey for letting me read your work!
Rating: 3.5
We kick off the collection with a story about a collapsing condo complex sliding into the sea and a man who's job it is to make sure no one decides to inhabit it or sleep under it's roof. He feels a connection to this place but especially to the sea monster that roams the basement. This story was such a great start to this collection, and it ALSO wraps up the entire book by continuing at the end.
There are some great stories here, as well as a small few that weren't up my alley but it is all around worth the read. There is some great commentary on how humans treat the planet, and the expectations that the planet will retaliate in due time.
The number one story for me has to be ' Growth/Decay ' about a woman who has this innate need to grow plants and nurish them and take care of them and how these plants communicate their appreciation.
OR
'The Burnt Floor', a story of a family willing to risk their health and use their life savings to take a trip to an amusement park.
I knew I would enjoy this book after I read Corey's novel 'Living in Cemeteries'. Thanks again Corey for letting me read your work!
June 2, 2025
Haunted Ecologies is an incredible collection of short stories that are haunting, beautiful, sometimes hopeful, sometimes devastating.
Being eco horror, it's not surprising that the stories have such a strong sense of place; you really feel like you're thrown right into the story and can see the salt marshes, hear the beach grass rustling. In addition to having such rich settings, Corey's stories also have incredibly complex, nuanced, and believable characters - an impressive feat considering he only has so many pages to establish his characters!
I was a bit nervous to read this collection since I have so much anxiety about climate change, but I was surprised that reading these stories, while sometimes depressing, was also a really cathartic experience. A lot of the characters had a deep respect for nature and worry about the same things I do (plastics in the water, despeciation, climate loss). My favorite stories feature instances where the protagonists choose to succumb to the power of nature.
Being eco horror, it's not surprising that the stories have such a strong sense of place; you really feel like you're thrown right into the story and can see the salt marshes, hear the beach grass rustling. In addition to having such rich settings, Corey's stories also have incredibly complex, nuanced, and believable characters - an impressive feat considering he only has so many pages to establish his characters!
I was a bit nervous to read this collection since I have so much anxiety about climate change, but I was surprised that reading these stories, while sometimes depressing, was also a really cathartic experience. A lot of the characters had a deep respect for nature and worry about the same things I do (plastics in the water, despeciation, climate loss). My favorite stories feature instances where the protagonists choose to succumb to the power of nature.
January 28, 2025
This is a unique and thought-provoking collection of eco-horror themed short stories.
The best stories in my opinion were The Tap, Tap, Tap of a Beak, Growth/Decay, and To Tend a Grove, which I thought had a fascinating take on how the human race may meet its end. Waterlogged was also very effective, and I liked how it connected back to the first story.
On the whole, this book was a bit hit and miss for me, and I found I couldn't connect with about half of the pieces. A few of the endings were fairly ambiguous, which I generally don't mind, but a couple of stories felt unfinished and could have maybe benefitted from another paragraph or two. However, that being said, everything was quite well written, and I liked the authors overall writing style.
I think there are a lot of interesting perspectives throughout this book, and I believe it to be a very worthwhile read. I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for speculative ecological nightmares or dark environmental fantasy. 3.75⭐️
The best stories in my opinion were The Tap, Tap, Tap of a Beak, Growth/Decay, and To Tend a Grove, which I thought had a fascinating take on how the human race may meet its end. Waterlogged was also very effective, and I liked how it connected back to the first story.
On the whole, this book was a bit hit and miss for me, and I found I couldn't connect with about half of the pieces. A few of the endings were fairly ambiguous, which I generally don't mind, but a couple of stories felt unfinished and could have maybe benefitted from another paragraph or two. However, that being said, everything was quite well written, and I liked the authors overall writing style.
I think there are a lot of interesting perspectives throughout this book, and I believe it to be a very worthwhile read. I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for speculative ecological nightmares or dark environmental fantasy. 3.75⭐️
January 31, 2025
I was lucky enough to read an advance copy of Corey Farrenkopf's debut short story collection, Haunted Ecologies. This is a fascinating assortment of stories that are in conversation with each other. Climate and environmental-bred monstrosities are a returning theme.
The stories show a deft writer's hand in crafting stories with memorable characters trapped in these burgeoning ecological disasters like a tree-climber who went too high and can't find the way down. There is sadness here, the inevitably of a changing planet, but also hope and glimpses of the light at the end of the dark, moss-grown, tunnel.
These stories will linger with me for a long time. Every time I look at a collection of conspiratorial trees, or stretch of mysterious forest, or seemingly innocent beach. I know now there's something sinister hiding there. Waiting.
The stories show a deft writer's hand in crafting stories with memorable characters trapped in these burgeoning ecological disasters like a tree-climber who went too high and can't find the way down. There is sadness here, the inevitably of a changing planet, but also hope and glimpses of the light at the end of the dark, moss-grown, tunnel.
These stories will linger with me for a long time. Every time I look at a collection of conspiratorial trees, or stretch of mysterious forest, or seemingly innocent beach. I know now there's something sinister hiding there. Waiting.
January 12, 2025
This i received as an ARC in exchange for a honest review, and that was not hard for this collection.
Id say this is a 3.75 rounded up to 4.
I have a thing for eco related horror, the planet getting revenge on us for treating her so unfairly and these stories hit that itch really well.
I had two stand out stories , all were good but these got into my brain.
We've Been in Enough Places to Know and Waterlogged .
I love a good fucked up story about property management , so satisfying sometimes.
All of these to be honest haunt me a little when you think about it, especially with the way things are in the world today, makes you think, and might even make you a little paranoid..
In a world where everything is falling around you, what is worth saving?
What matters most to you?
Check this out and see what is worth it to these characters, some choices are a little darker then others.
Id say this is a 3.75 rounded up to 4.
I have a thing for eco related horror, the planet getting revenge on us for treating her so unfairly and these stories hit that itch really well.
I had two stand out stories , all were good but these got into my brain.
We've Been in Enough Places to Know and Waterlogged .
I love a good fucked up story about property management , so satisfying sometimes.
All of these to be honest haunt me a little when you think about it, especially with the way things are in the world today, makes you think, and might even make you a little paranoid..
In a world where everything is falling around you, what is worth saving?
What matters most to you?
Check this out and see what is worth it to these characters, some choices are a little darker then others.
February 25, 2025
I loved this collection of eco-themed stories. I liked every story, which doesn't happen often, and a few are brilliant. All the themes are very relevant and dealt with in very interesting ways.
Exoskeletons, Dredging the Bay, and Green Thought, are all brilliant. But one story is mindblowingly good and would make the most sad, beautiful, scary, and amazing film.
The Tap, Tap, Tap Of A Beak is one of those stories I won't ever forget, especially given that I have a connection to an aspect of it and talked to Corey about it. This story sheds light on the utter sadness of losing a species forever, and of the ugliness, and lack of humanity in people. It's phenomenal. The best part of this collection is the writing. Glorious stuff. Highly recommended.
Exoskeletons, Dredging the Bay, and Green Thought, are all brilliant. But one story is mindblowingly good and would make the most sad, beautiful, scary, and amazing film.
The Tap, Tap, Tap Of A Beak is one of those stories I won't ever forget, especially given that I have a connection to an aspect of it and talked to Corey about it. This story sheds light on the utter sadness of losing a species forever, and of the ugliness, and lack of humanity in people. It's phenomenal. The best part of this collection is the writing. Glorious stuff. Highly recommended.
October 8, 2025
Farrenkopf wrote the best story from Tiny Nightmares: Very Short Stories of Horror -
We've Been in Enough Places to Know
. It is included here, and I was happy to see the author return to that watery tale in a sequel/continuation that closes this book.
All of these stories serve as cautionary tales proving that it's not nice to mess with Mother Nature. Sometimes things don't even end well for those of us just trying to protect her. Take heed, climate change deniers.
She WILL win . . .
All of these stories serve as cautionary tales proving that it's not nice to mess with Mother Nature. Sometimes things don't even end well for those of us just trying to protect her. Take heed, climate change deniers.
She WILL win . . .
January 17, 2026
I really wanted to love this book, but I found the pacing to be very slow. I really appreciate the meditations on species extinction, and the love of native ecologies. There was simultaneously too much time spent on characterization and too little; I was not given enough time to care about these characters and yet a considerable amount of time was spent developing them. Perhaps developing these ideas into a longer-form story would help with issues in pacing. Perhaps an entire collection on the Heap, for example - which was a premise I found very compelling. The prose was spare, beautiful, and delicate, but it just wasn't enough for me. Some stories were stronger than others, and I see a lot of promise! Unfortunately, I just found it boring.
January 3, 2025
It's hard to know what to do with feelings of despair around climate change and general environmental degradation, and this collection helps navigate the pain and uncertainty of balancing fear of what's to come with hope for change. While dealing with these worries, the characters in Haunted Ecologies navigate relationships and obsessions, trying to decide what is worth saving if the world is ending. Often, in true haunting fashion, we see nature rise up in various forms to take revenge. I especially enjoyed stories like "We've Been in Enough Places to Know," "Mother's Wolves," "Translations for a Dead Sea," "Growth/Decay," and "Green Thought."
January 6, 2025
Haunted Ecologies
By: Corey Farrenkopf
188pgs
JournalStone Publishing
Kindle/ paperback
Feb.14, 2025
Horror
Eco-Horror
If you are a nature lover then this is the story collection for you! A horrifyingly new take on nature and the horror that can come with it. I found myself often going back to re-read a story because I enjoyed it/ was thoroughly creeped out!
If you love the outdoors then snatch this book up, go on a long hike and halfway through, crack this bad boy open and let the horrors commence! I absolutely loved this book being an avid outdoor human this was absolutely right up my creepy little alley!
By: Corey Farrenkopf
188pgs
JournalStone Publishing
Kindle/ paperback
Feb.14, 2025
Horror
Eco-Horror
If you are a nature lover then this is the story collection for you! A horrifyingly new take on nature and the horror that can come with it. I found myself often going back to re-read a story because I enjoyed it/ was thoroughly creeped out!
If you love the outdoors then snatch this book up, go on a long hike and halfway through, crack this bad boy open and let the horrors commence! I absolutely loved this book being an avid outdoor human this was absolutely right up my creepy little alley!
February 5, 2025
Like most of Farrenkopf's work, this short story collection was equal parts hopeful and grim. The sort of eco-horror that fills you with realistic dread but also shines light on the idea that people still care about their environment and one another. My favorite story that is original to this collection was Growth/Decay and I found Translations for a Dead Sea super relatable - loss of a favorite Indian restaurant is a solid reason for bringing forth a salty apocalypse.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 21, 2025
I get what the author was doing and I appreciate and respect their talent. I couldn’t land on the stories being allegorical or horror experienced by real people, more often then not it felt like the former, in a surreal way that actually wound up softening the blow of ecological horror in that the horror of what is happening to the biosphere right now in our world is actually a thousand times more horrifying than what is happening in this collection of short stories.
June 20, 2025
A beautiful collection of eco horror. My favorites were "We've Been in Enough Places to Know," "Waterlogged," "The Burnt Floor," "The Tap, Tap, Tap of a Beak," and especially "Exoskeletons." That last one was weird and wonderful. Def check this collection out!
August 3, 2025
Haunted Ecologies is a collection of short horror stories that invite you to consider the purpose and impact of humans and nature.
Each story had me wishing it continued, with some cliffhangers causing me to question my sanity. A wonderful collection.
Each story had me wishing it continued, with some cliffhangers causing me to question my sanity. A wonderful collection.
December 25, 2025
Absolutely one of my favorites of the year. I had the privilege of meeting the author, and the warmth he exudes—the care he takes with people “IRL”—somehow comes through in his pages. He’s one to watch!
May 13, 2025
Excellent book of short stories! Highly recommend.
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