Silent Nightmares: Haunting Stories to Be Told on the Longest Night of the Year

by Chuck Palahniuk (Editor), Michael Bailey (Editor)

For fans of Out There Screaming and Never Whistle at Night, a chilling anthology of tales centered around the longest nights of the year, with modern horror authors like Alma Katsu and Josh Malerman paying homage to the time-honored Victorian tradition of ghost stories, edited by Chuck Palahniuk and Michael Bailey.

Great writers of centuries past like Charles Dickens, Edith Wharton, and Bram Stoker understood that darkness is always hiding amid the holiday cold and cheer, revealing sinister secrets. That in the stillness of winter, when the world is wrapped in a blanket of snow, the festive spirit masks the lurking horrors that dwell beneath the surface.

From haunted halls to malevolent delights, from vengeful spirits of the past to creatures lurking in the shadows, expect to encounter beings that celebrate the season in frightful ways in this Victorian-inspired horror anthology.

Join Chuck Palahniuk, Michael Bailey, Josh Malerman, Joe R. Lansdale, Alma Katsu, Ramsey Campbell, Cynthia Pelayo, Gabino Iglesias, and more for stories that promise nostalgia and dread, reminding us that sometimes the most silent nights can be the deadliest.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Adult, Christmas, Short Story Collection

320 pages, Hardcover

First published September 29, 2026

About the author

Written in stolen moments under truck chassis and on park benches to a soundtrack of The Downward Spiral and Pablo Honey, Fight Club came into existence. The adaptation of Fight Club was a flop at the box office, but achieved cult status on DVD. The film’s popularity drove sales of the novel. Chuck put out two novels in 1999, Survivor and Invisible Monsters. Choke, published in 2001, became Chuck’s first New York Times bestseller. Chuck’s work has always been infused with personal experience, and his next novel, Lullaby, was no exception. Chuck credits writing Lullaby with helping him cope with the tragic death of his father. Diary and the non-fiction guide to Portland, Fugitives and Refugees, were released in 2003. While on the road in support of Diary, Chuck began reading a short story entitled 'Guts,' which would eventually become part of the novel Haunted.

In the years that followed, he continued to write, publishing the bestselling Rant, Snuff, Pygmy, Tell-All, a 'remix' of Invisible Monsters, Damned, and most recently, Doomed.

Chuck also enjoys giving back to his fans, and teaching the art of storytelling has been an important part of that. In 2004, Chuck began submitting essays to ChuckPalahniuk.net on the craft of writing. These were 'How To' pieces, straight out of Chuck's personal bag of tricks, based on the tenants of minimalism he learned from Tom Spanbauer. Every month, a “Homework Assignment” would accompany the lesson, so Workshop members could apply what they had learned. (all 36 of these essays can currently be found on The Cult's sister-site, LitReactor.com).

Then, in 2009, Chuck increased his involvement by committing to read and review a selection of fan-written stories each month. The best stories are currently set to be published in Burnt Tongues, a forthcoming anthology, with an introduction written by Chuck himself.

His next novel, Beautiful You, is due out in October 2014.

Reviews

[Srivalli Rekha · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 Stars

One Liner: Not Victorian-inspired horror; just some dark stories

The official blurb describes the book as a ‘chilling anthology of tales centered around the longest nights of the year, paying homage to the time-honored Victorian tradition of ghost stories’. It specifically calls the book a Victorian-inspired horror anthology, reinforcing the theme. Words like nostalgia and dread are also used.

So, does the book deliver on these claims? Let’s read and find out.

My Thoughts

Foreword: The Longest Night of the Year and the Afterword: The Ghost of Dickens Past have some interesting information about the longest night of the year (winter solstice/Christmas).

Each story is accompanied by a single illustration inside a card. Think of it as a dark oracle deck. TBH, the illustrations were really good, much better than many stories in here.

With twenty stories promising horror, the collection should have been great. Sadly, it seems that our idea of Victorian-inspired horror does not match. A majority of these stories fall into the psychological thriller/suspense category. Only a few are atmospheric or have the gothic vibe, the sense of dread, or a strong presence of nostalgia.

Moreover, the ones with dysfunctional families feel similar despite being different. Though I read only two stories per day, I had to take a break for a day or two due to the sense of déjà vu I got from the collection.

Anyway, here’s a short commentary on each story, written immediately after I read it.

Father Christmas by Brian Evenson: A short read that leaves quite a lot to imagination. Tries to be atmospheric, but doesn’t really succeed.

Cause and Effect by Alma Katsu: Set in a building for sure, but not horror. While it does use trauma, it ends up as a psychological drama. No Gothic vibes either. The first was better, I guess.

Always Winter by Mari Ness: Umm… not sure what that was supposed to be. Not horror, again. Slice of life, maybe. No idea about the period, but maybe post-WWII (sugar shortage was mentioned).

Tidings by Ramsey Campbell: Finally, a creepy slow-burn horror, more on vibes, but delivers the chills too. A slightly longer story, too.

Shine a Light by Zoje Stage: Oh, good one again! While it still uses similar themes, the horror element is apparent, and I love the ending!

A Season for Reflection by Wil Dalton: That’s a great title, imo! Similar themes of a dysfunctional family with a ghost, but it manages to stand out on its own.

Kingston by Chuck Palahniuk: Umm… that’s dark (borderline sadistic psycho kind) with a narrator who couldn’t care less. The combo works to make it a psychological thriller, but not really horror. (and if one of the editors wrote this for what’s supposed to be Victorian-inspired horror, we are really looking at the theme from different perspectives).

We Have Always Been Red by Annie Neugebauer: Uh ohh… trigger for pandemic, anti-mask, anti-vax. Listing them out for those who want to avoid the topic. While it is horror of its own kind, I’m not a fan of using the setup to write psychological horror. Totally a personal choice.

A Life Not Lived by Joe R. Lansdale: Very much a thriller rather than a horror with trigger warnings for abuse, killing animals, and graphic murders. Naturally, set around Christmas and in a hospital.

Circle Back by Neil Krolicki: A story of a proper nutcase. Had to applaud the writing style, even if I was alternating between rolling my eyes and shaking my head at the narrator. TW: death of a dog (pet)

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year by Joe Hart: Oh… now this is gothic horror, the kind I was expecting from the anthology. Terrific!

God's Wife by Lisa Morton: If you haven’t guessed already, story of a cult, a woman, some magic (that somehow tries to combine Mexican shaman and Sanskrit mantras), and a sense of fear. Decent attempt, but I didn’t really feel the pressure, fear, or unease.

Loki's Story by Eugen Bacon: Umm… a retelling or a sequel fanfic? No idea, honestly. Felt very much introspective and philosophical, and the tone was so distant that it didn’t make me care for the story.

The Cheapest State of Perfect Grace by Gary A. Braunbeck: A story of a girl who escaped home and is trying to find… peace(?). It reads a bit like a fever dream, but the voices from her past root the story in reality. Again, more of a psychological thriller/drama.

Rapture by Michael Bailey: Umm… this is a religious one. God falls to earth (?), his light blinds someone, a police officer comes, and something happens. I… this went over my head. Like, total whoosh!!

Christmas in Goblin by Josh Malerman: A standup comedian’s stage fright spirals into madness. At this point, I no longer look for horror from this anthology. Sigh!

Steam by Krissy Eliot: Ohh… gothic horror when I give up hope! This was creepy but not overly so. The recurring sentences were used so well to establish the sense of unease and tension.

Lost Hearts by Cynthia Pelayo: An attempt at a gothic and dark story with a touch of Dickens’ inspiration. But underdeveloped to make a strong impact.

The Singing Children by Gabino Iglesias: Oh, this is good! A nice, creepy, atmospheric horror set in a village. A break from dysfunctional drama. Phew!

Yuletide Games with the Suicide Kings by Jonathan Maberry: Dark and kinda crazy. Starts to make sense halfway through the story. Trigger for suicide (graphic).

To summarize, Silent Nightmares has interesting stories and some scary ones, too, but the collection and my expectations did not match. If you want to enjoy the stories more, don’t read the blurb or look for horror. Just think of them as creepy stories set around Christmas.

Thank you, NetGalley and S&S/Saga Press, for the eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

#NetGalley #SilentNightmares

[Matt Milu · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read it early (Thank you NetGalley), but during those overly sugary sweet holidays festivities, it will be so grounding to read these stories! They were all pretty eerie and some sent chills up my spine! 4 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️!

[The Bookish Elf · Rating 3 out of 5]

At three in the morning on Christmas Day, in an alley behind a Walmart, a police officer in a Santa hat hands a Breathalyzer to a small man in a faded red robe. The man has drunk nothing but bottled water, there are hundreds of empties around him, and he is surrounded by a multiplying supply of white bread and frozen fish sticks. The device reads 1.45 percent. The officer slaps it against his thigh, resets it, and makes him blow again. It reads 1.45 percent again. That story is called "Rapture", it is by one of the two editors, and it is the best indication of what Silent Nightmares by Chuck Palahniuk is actually like.

Where Silent Nightmares by Chuck Palahniuk Sits

First, a correction that the cover invites. This is not a Palahniuk collection. It is an anthology of twenty stories by twenty writers, compiled by Michael Bailey and Chuck Palahniuk, who contribute a foreword, an afterword and one story each. Readers coming for four hundred pages of Palahniuk will get about fifteen.

What it is instead is a deliberate revival. The pitch is that the Christmas ghost story was a Victorian industry before it became a curiosity, and that the holiday has worse things underneath it. Bailey's foreword names them: Krampus with his birch switch, Grýla with her sack, the Yule Cat hunting anyone who got no new clothes, the Wild Hunt, and the Mari Lwyd, a horse skull on a pole that comes to your door and demands a rhyming contest. Against that lineage, Silent Nightmares by Chuck Palahniuk is not a novelty item.

The roster is the real selling point, and it is unusually wide. Ramsey Campbell, Joe R. Lansdale, Alma Katsu, Josh Malerman, Lisa Morton, Gabino Iglesias, Jonathan Maberry and Cynthia Pelayo are all here, alongside writers with far smaller profiles: Mari Ness, Wil Dalton, Krissy Eliot, Annie Neugebauer, Eugen Bacon. The spread matters, because the famous names are not the ones who win.

The Argument the Book Has With Itself

Most anthologies have no thesis. This one has two, and they contradict each other.

Bailey opens in earnest: comfort at midwinter is a lie, the solstice was survival rather than celebration, and this book is a reclamation. Palahniuk closes by taking that apart with cheerful materialism. Why did the Victorians love a Christmas ghost? Three answers, none mystical. Gift-giving is anticipation chemistry and Christmas afternoon is the crash. Cheaper lighting stretched winter evenings, British periodical numbers went from under 150 in 1800 to nearly 5,000 by 1900, and editors kept short ghost stories on hand purely to fill the leftover pages of a folio. And, borrowed from a British Library curator, domestic carbon monoxide peaked on Christmas Eve, and it causes hallucinations.

He turns sincere only at the end, on the observation that belief in a thinning veil at the solstice is prehistoric, and that Dickens used the form for social reform. The stories in Silent Nightmares by Chuck Palahniuk fall on both sides of that split, and a reader who notices the argument gets more out of the running order.

The Best of the Twenty, and What Chuck Palahniuk Adds

Four stories are worth the price on their own, and only one is by a name you will know.

Mari Ness's "Always Winter" is a time loop in which it is Christmas every day, indefinitely, and the world has quietly reorganised around it: shops shut, supply chains failing, a family counting time in Christmases while eating pancakes they no longer want. Wil Dalton's "A Season for Reflection" gives an elderly widow a dead husband who appears only in reflective surfaces and takes her body while she sleeps, told in the voice she uses to forgive him. Gabino Iglesias's "The Singing Children" puts thirty children at a village tree line at night, singing in the faces of the dead, and lets a widowed farmer work out what is wrong by watching dogs that will not approach. And Bailey's own "Rapture" is the funniest and angriest piece here, a procedural joke about field sobriety tests that turns out to be about waste.

As for the man on the cover: "Kingston" is Palahniuk doing precisely what Palahniuk does, in first-person plural, with a Nebraska cousin who has found God and a laser pointer. It is the most aggressive thing here and the likeliest to make someone close the book, and its closing symmetry does not justify the pages spent on it. His afterword is better than his story.

Where Silent Nightmares by Chuck Palahniuk Gives Ground
There are no content warnings anywhere in the book. It contains sustained child abuse, a child kept in a cage, rape, a euthanasia in forensic detail and an infant abduction, and it is sold as a seasonal gift. That is an editorial failure rather than a matter of taste.
The devices cluster. Three stories end with the narrator taken by a cloaked or skeletal figure. Three are set at the bedside of a dying parent. Read in order, the repetition shows.
Twenty stories in 269 pages means several never get room to land. At sixteen it would be stronger.
The tonal gear changes are brutal. Two of the heaviest stories about long-term abuse sit a few pages from Jonathan Maberry's closing comedy, in which four characters score each other's suicides on splash pattern and duration. Nothing prepares you.
Read It If, Skip It If

Silent Nightmares by Chuck Palahniuk knows which shelf it belongs on.

Read it if:

You want the Victorian seasonal ghost story taken seriously. Campbell, Pelayo and Morton are each in direct conversation with Dickens or M. R. James.
You read anthologies for discoveries. Ness, Dalton, Eliot and Iglesias are the reason to buy this.
You like range. Folk horror, pandemic polemic, pulp crime, prose-poetry and two stories with nothing supernatural in them at all.

Skip it if:

You need to know what is coming before you read it. This book will not tell you.
You are buying it for Palahniuk. One story, one afterword, a shared compilation credit.
You want cosy. There is none here, including in the stories that end warmly.
Content Notes

Across the collection: prolonged abuse of a child by a parent, with confinement; rape, described; the sexual humiliation of a teenager; suicide depicted, including a teenager's and a parent's; a dog killed in veterinary detail, and another killed on a neighbour's complaint; a dying woman smothered; an infant taken; sustained domestic violence and coercive control, forgiven by the victim; serial murder of women, including dismemberment; body horror involving teeth, eyes and skin; mass atrocity invoked through the names of real perpetrators; impalement and public torture; pandemic illness and harassment of disabled people. Several stories end without rescue.

The Last Word

The subtitle promises stories to be told on the longest night, and that is worth taking at face value, because the book is unusually easy to read aloud. Most pieces run fifteen to twenty minutes. Several are built on a repeated phrase that works better spoken than silent: Krissy Eliot's narrator calling her husband a loving, practical man who kept her free of worry, over and over, while the thing in the basement breathes.

What keeps the collection honest is how often it declines the supernatural. Alma Katsu's has no ghost at all, only a woman on a hospice night shift who recognises a name on a door and decides what she is owed. Dalton's has a ghost but does not need one. Gary Braunbeck's reads as a girl's journey into a glowing snowdrift and then reveals on the last page what she was actually doing. The scariest material in Silent Nightmares by Chuck Palahniuk is domestic, and the editors seem to know it, which is why the vampires come last. Buy it for the writers you have not heard of. Do not give it to anybody without saying what is in it.

[Josh Hitch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok Overall

Has twenty horror tales of varying quality probably closer to a 2.5. These multi author collections are tough. They try to be for everyone but that just makes them for nobody. Really through the first 18 tales, there were just three (Ramsey Campbell, Joe Lansdale, and Joe Hart) that I though were great. The others were ok to quite bad and pointless. Was looking at two stars at best, though the final two tales (Gabriel Iglesias and Jonathan Maberry) were bangers and saved it a bit. So really 15 out of 20 were at best ok and really didn't do anything for me. The foreword and afterword were ok and had some interesting historical tidbits. What really gets me is this was a collection that the theme was the winter solstice and they talked about the history of the gothic ghost tale. Well very few in this collection (including a couple I liked) really fit this theme. Oh they mention the solstice and the longest night of the year but most did not have the right feel that a true gothic had.

Can't recommend, the five authors I mentioned had great tales but that's only a fourth of the book. It was a slog, most of the time. I read short story collections one tale at a time between novels/longer works and I got to the point I was dreading going back to this collection. Really I read the final two tales together to get this out of the library and was shock that they were both excellent. Definitely kept me from giving it a one.

[Xanadu · Rating 4 out of 5]

A superb selection of authors fills out this slay-ride of an anthology, which has a bumpy start that turns into a smooth journey after the halfway mark. Bailey contributes a great mood-setting intro, but I found his description of some of the authors as legends (in context of stories in the tradition of Charles Dickens) to be a little misleading. That being said, many of the current top names in speculative fiction are represented in this collection. Highlights include entries from Josh Malerman (no surprise there), Brian Evenson, Jonathan Maberry, Joe Hart, Lisa Morton, Gabino Iglesias, and Bailey himself. Ending with a literary summation of the preceding material and its tradition, Chuck's arrangement of stories, illustrations and essays is ideal for maximizing the reader's satisfaction. Ellen Datlow fans will be duly impressed with the quality and cohesion of this collection.

Wrap up in a warm blanket next to your fireplace or gas lamp if you want to stay warm enough to linger in this Silent Night .

A cryogenic thank you to Edelweiss and Simon & Schuster for the ARC.

[Jen Self · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great read! This collection contains 20 seasonal horror tales by 20 authors. No matter what your favorite trope is, there is something here for you to enjoy! And I have to mention the illustrations by Orion Zangara - they are AMAZING! If you are looking for horror for the upcoming holiday season, add this to your TBR!

[Lucas · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 out of 5

I really enjoyed majority of these stories. They kept me interested and wanting to read on to the next one. A couple did fall a little short, but that didn't take away from the overall experience.
Perfect if you're looking for spooky holiday stories.

[Charissa Wilkinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book courtesy of NetGalley for the purpose of a fair and honest review.

Overview: What do you do when Christmas is just around the corner, and you want to read a horror story? You might not have time for a full novel, as the family and festive obligations seem to eat up the free time. And you might want a story that fits the season. This short story collection is set on the build up to Christmas, as all the stories start around the winter solstice. The stories are written by some of the leading horror authors including Chuck Palahniuk, and Joe Lansdale. Who does the collection work? Let's find out.
I received this book courtesy of NetGalley for the purpose of a fair and honest review.

Overview: What do you do when Christmas is just around the corner, and you want to read a horror story? You might not have time for a full novel, as the family and festive obligations seem to eat up the free time. And you might want a story that fits the season. This short story collection is set on the build up to Christmas, as all the stories start around the winter solstice. The stories are written by some of the leading horror authors including Chuck Palahniuk, and Joe Lansdale. Who does the collection work? Let's find out.

Dislikes: Horror stories have one tiny problem for me. They seem to skirt the edges of nihilism, and that is part of what makes the genre work well, when it lands for me. Yet, skirting that edge makes it so easy to fall directly into nihilism as a whole. If you prefer more hopeful stories, that makes this genre a hard one to get into.

Likes: Joe Lansdale's story was great. Really, what would you do if you found yourself reading a serial killer's mind?

Conclusion: This book was a little darker than I like, but it was pretty good. If you like seasonal horror, then this book is for you. Enjoy the read.
Dislikes: Horror stories have one tiny problem for me. They seem to skirt the edges of nihilism, and that is part of what makes the genre work well, when it lands for me. Yet, skirting that edge makes it so easy to fall directly into nihilism as a whole. If you prefer more hopeful stories, that makes this genre a hard one to get into.

Likes: Joe Lansdale's story was great. Really, what would you do if you found yourself reading a serial killer's mind?

Conclusion: This book was a little darker than I like, but it was pretty good. If you like seasonal horror, then this book is for you. Enjoy the read.

[Valarie - WoodsyBookworm · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's so hard to give a rating to a collection of stories because you're always going to have your highs, lows, and absolute standouts. Overall, Silent Nightmares was a mixed bag. A few stories didn't really feel like they fit the theme for me. I was hoping they'd all be very obviously Christmas or winter holiday related but there were a few that seemed to just kind of happen during the winter season and even then there was only mere mention of the season like "it's winter" and that was it. 

That being said there were absolutely some standout stories here. Joe Hart read the assignment and ran with it for his story "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year". He brought out all the big guns like Christmas lights, snow, the winter doldrums, and freaky fae creatures straight from a Guillermo del Toro nightmare. The holiday spirit was alive and well (and bleeding all over the place) in his story.

Another great story was "The Singing Children" by Gabino Iglesias. If creepy children are singing in the woods, you can bet I'd be turning around to go home and lock my doors. There was a great moment in this one where the main character states: "sometimes silence is just a hole the things in the woods like to fill with your screams". Chills (literally and figuratively). 

The artwork before each chapter was awesome. I love artwork in books, especially as chapter headers. More artwork in books please!

Overall, Silent Nightmares was a good time and it definitely introduced me to some authors I'm going to be looking to pick up more from in the future.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

**.5

I tend not to enjoy horror and am sick of half the year being taken over by Christmas, so this book was really not for me. The only reason I read it is that I have Palahniuk flagged, and since his name is on it, was added automatically to my queue, without me realizing that it wasn't a new novel by him, but rather an anthology of second rate stories by others. Which is more my fault than anything else, but I decided to give it a try anyway.

There were a couple of halfway decent stories, but most were mediocre. The Christmas theme ended up bothering me less than I thought it would, as many were more solstice oriented and a couple even included Hannukah. But it didn't make the stories any better.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of short stories written by several authors. The short stories can be haunting, and can be your worst nightmare if they come to life. If you’re craving a dark winter seasonal read, this is perfect for you. Over 20 short story collections that will give you nightmares for almost a month.

The narrators, Raphael Corkhill, Janina Edwards, Helen Laser, and Jonathan Todd Ross all did a great job with the collection of short stories. Being able to use a variety of tones and inflections throughout the collections with a variety of narrators really helped to keep me engaged.

A very special thanks to Saga Press Books and Simon Audio for the gifted copy and ALC.

[Li · Rating 5 out of 5]

The creativity in generating terror in each of these in the collection is impressive. It would be difficult to rank them on most scary. The nursing home one, the closet one, and the singing children ones are up there. Imagery from them will stay with me for a long time. I enjoyed reading Chuck's afterword on the origin of the genre of Christmas horror short stories. I knew the authors were excellent at what they have included in this collection but reading their bibliographies at the end impressed me even further.

[Kirk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Silent Nightmares edited by Chuck Palahniuk & Michael Bailey is a mixed bag of horror short stories that range from slightly scary to terrifying. A few stories grouped together dealt with hospice and dying, which is horrific in another way. Overall I enjoyed the collection and it introduced me to new authors. Authors who I have read before and drew me into this collection include Alma Katsu, Zoje Stage, Chuck Palahniuk, Josh Malerman, and Gabito Iglesias. I loved the artwork that preceded each story. ARC was provided by Saga Press via NetGalley. I received an advance reading copy for free and I am leaving this feedback voluntarily.

[Nici Sorrells · Rating 3.75 out of 5]

Silent Nightmares, edited by Chuck Palahniuk, is a great collection of dark and creepy stories. I enjoyed the variety of stories and the different ways each author explored fear and horror. Some stories really stuck with me and left me thinking about them long after I finished reading. If you enjoy horror and unsettling tales, this is definitely a collection worth checking out! Thank you, NetGalley, for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Lindsey (endless_tbr_list) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll admit, I am 100% a Christmas-time girl - the lights, scarves, hot beverages, and tunes all bring me so much joy - so when I saw a horror anthology themed around the holiday season, it was the mashup I knew I had to try. As I progressed through the pages I realized just how thin the line between cozy cheer and terrifying dread can be.

Anthologies are often tough to rate because the stories vary not only in author but also in subject, so not everything is going to be my cup of tea exactly, but I still had a good time braving the dark and chilling with this one!

Standouts (not necessarily favorites, but definitely those that stuck with me):
- Always Winter by Mari Ness
- Tidings by Ramsey Campbell
- We Have Always Been Red by Annie Neugebauer
- God's Wife by Lisa Morton
- Rapture by Michael Bailey
- The Singing Children by Gabino Iglesias

Thank you to Saga Press and NetGalley for the ARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Lili Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall a good collection of short horror stories. There are some standouts here for sure. Because these are short stories I am not giving individual reviews because I'd likely let out some spoilers, but I will say that if you are a fan of horror and like it in quick-read form, these hit the spot!
Thank-you, Saga Press, for this complimentary copy. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

[J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to both #NetGalley and Saga Press | S&S for providing me an advance copy of the #horroranthology, Silent Nightmares: Haunting Stories to Be Told on the Longest Night of the Year, with edits by Chuck Palahniuk and Michael Bailey.

#SilentNightmares is a collection of #shortstories set during winter holidays and written in the vein of Victorian ghost tales. Some of the stories are written by well-known authors, whereas others spawn from new voices curated by the editors. The foreword specifies that the intention of the anthology is to remind readers of the original sentiment associated with the winter solstice: fear.

Before the modern symbols of hot cocoa, schmaltzy carols, and festive tidings of good cheer were attributed by the likes of Norman Rockwell, Coca-Cola, and Hallmark, the winter solstice was considered a night of survival. This assortment of haunted tales are meant to embody and evoke that initial spirit anew. Think eerie and unsettling, more so than gory and traditional horror, with a heavy emphasis on grief. Approach the anthology with an open mind, and readers may find a contemporary ghost tale that can be passed down for generations.

While unusual, I recommend skimming the Afterword prior to reading any of the stories since it helps frame the goal and tone of the anthology. Stand outs in the collection include: A Season for Reflection, We Have Always Been Red, A Life Not Lived, Circle Back, The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, and Christmas in Goblin.

[librariSAM · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for access to an e-ARC for review.

This, to me, was like most other anthologies I have read - hit or miss. In this case, a few of the stories were fantastic, a couple were just okay, and a couple more were not great. Everyone has different tastes so that number might fluctuate depending on what kind of stories you enjoy. For me, this was worth reading, but just barely. What I can say is that every author featured in this novel is a great writer. None of my qualms with the stories I didn't like were with the writing. I liked the uniqueness of the stories being set during Christmas-time, that was a fun way to connect all the stories.

I may have missed it somewhere in the book but I did not see trigger warnings and I believe this novel very much needs them. Some of the stories were very very heavy and had a ton of triggers in them. One of the stories was so odd and unsettling that I felt ill after, even though it wasn't inherently gory or scary.

I really enjoyed the illustrations at the beginning of the stories. They were really well done and added something to the novel.

Like I mentioned above - this was hit and miss for me. It was not as "scary" as I expected but honestly more disturbing and uncomfortable. If this kind of book sounds interesting to you and you like any of the authors that contributed, I recommend giving this a go. Just know that every story isn't for everyone and just enjoy the ride.

[The Belladonna · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Strip away the garlands and wreaths. Tear down the colorful lights. Burn the tree. Peel Christmas down to its bones. The solstice was never a celebration. It's a night of survival. This book is a return to that truth."

The winter solstice - December 21/22 - is the longest night of the year, occurring when the Northern Hemisphere tilts farthest from the sun.

Silent Nightmares is due for release on September 29, 2026.

Delivering some Christmas vibes, Goodreads! This anthology brings Victorian-inspired ghost stories for the winter solstice. It welcomes you into a frost-covered realm of dread, where haunting tales of vengeful spirits and hidden monsters are brought to life. Each story is complemented with a chilling illustration by Orion Zangara Art. It includes contributions from well-known and invited authors, alongside winning entries from a public call with over 2,100 submissions. They are somber gothic tales that use grief and angst as their primary haunting mechanism, favoring unease over gore.

A big Thank You to Chuck Palahniuk, Michael Bailey, NetGalley, and Saga Press for gifting me this advance copy. It was an absolute pleasure to read and review this book.

[Chandler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to Saga for the gifted copy - all opinions are my own.

Silent Nightmares is a winter solstice horror anthology with some heavy-hitting names but an unfortunate lack of Yuletide terror.

While I was excited for winter solstice goodness, most of these stories fell flat on the promise of Victorian-era dread.

I went in to this anthology expecting historical ghost stories and got very few meeting that criteria. A good portion of the stories were very modern and not at all gothic nor supernatural. In fact, more than several were simply modern psychological thrillers.

While most were enjoyable enough and certainly well written and technically solid, my expectations were simply not met overall.

Still, the stories that hit, REALLY hit! Among the ones I loved were: Tidings by Ramsey Campbell, Shine a Light by Zoje Stage, The Most Wonderful Time of the Year by Joe Hart, The Singing Children by Gabino Iglesias, and Yuletide Games with the Suicide Kings by Jonathan Maberry.

Honestly, I do intend to reread the stories I enjoyed when we get closer to Yule. I simply wanted more historical pagan mayhem and less psychological/interpersonal drama that happens to take place in the winter.

[Kendra · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're looking for a dark winter read, Silent Nightmares is a solid choice. It's a short story horror anthology focused entirely on Christmas and winter dread, paying homage to that classic Victorian tradition of telling ghost stories by the fire.

The mix of authors here is unique. You get some massive, well-known names in the horror genre alongside some newer voices pulled from a public submission call. Because of that, it has a really great variety of styles and concepts. Like any anthology, I didn’t love absolutely every single story in the bunch, but the hits definitely made it worth the read. My absolute favorite of the collection was "A Life Not Lived" by Joe R. Lansdale, which was fantastic.

Several of the stories in here fixate on some pretty grim themes, but if you appreciate a darker take on the holiday season, the vibe is spot on. A huge bonus is the fantastic artwork included at the start of each chapter, which really adds to the overall experience and sets the eerie tone before you even start reading.

Thanks to Saga Press and NetGalley for the advance copy!

[Steffany · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an anthology of Christmas themed short horror stories, with EXCELLENT illustrations! The first several stories didn't really catch my interest, but there were a few bangers in the midst, and a couple other unique and interesting ideas that made it worthwhile! (As I always say, anthologies are a bit of a mixed bag. Something for everyone though, different strokes for different folks!) My faves in this were:
We Have Always Been Red by Annie Neugebauer (a pandemic tale!)
A Life Not Lived by Joe R. Lansdale (after a near death experience, someone else's life flashes before our main character's eyes)
Circle Back bt Neil Krolicki (this one was just wild and over the top lol! A woman, obsessed with her recently departed dog, tries to bring his soul back in a ... unique way?)
Yuletide Games with Suicide Kings by Jonathan Maberry (bored monsters killing themselves creatively)
Runners up:
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year by Joe Hart (seasonal affective disorder/portal type thing)
God's Wife by Lisa Morton (cult/magic vibes)
Rapture by Michael Bailey (Jesus is back)

[Baby Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a Goodreads Giveaway for me. A review was optional. Firstly, I have to confess that I love Christmas fiction-- horror,sci-fi, fantasy,romance-- I'm into it.
This collection is excellent for the range and scope of horror and of Christmas tropes. It's got dystopia, body horror, psychological terror, panic rooms, possession. A real plus is the artwork, which is wonderfully macabre in and of itself.
I'm only giving it 4 stars, though, because there were more than two stories that I honestly could see myself reading in my creative writing class. They were really nicely done, but they didn't live up to the rest of the collection, which isn't cheaply priced.
I would say that anyone who likes horror would love to have this collection! Splurge, therefore, this Halloween to Christmas season on your giftee -- even if your giftee is yourself.

[Kat · Rating 2.75 out of 5]

I was SO excited for this one because if there are two things I love, it’s horror and Christmas! Give me all the holiday cheer with a healthy dose of creepy, unsettling, and downright disturbing.
Some of the stories definitely delivered, but others were just...meh. I felt like a few really leaned into that Christmas horror atmosphere I was hoping for, while others fell a little flat and didn't quite give me the creepy holiday vibes I wanted.

Overall, this one didn't fully scratch my Christmas horror itch. I wanted a little more darkness and a little more dread. BUT, if you're newer to the horror genre or just looking for something a bit lighter that won't completely traumatize you, I would absolutely recommend giving this one a try! It just wasn't quite the festive nightmare I was hoping for.
Thank you to NetGalley & Saga Press for the ARC
2.75 stars

[Aimee Beloved Nerdy Auntie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Saga Press for the gifted copy of Silent Nightmares, edited by Chuck Palahniuk and Michael Bailey; all opinions are my own. Now let’s get into it, y’all! 🎄👻 This holiday-adjacent horror anthology brings together a mix of familiar favorites and new-to-me authors for a collection of creepy, unsettling, and downright nail-biting tales that prove the festive season isn’t always merry and bright. My personal favorite was Ramsey Campbell’s story, because I’ve loved his work since college, and getting to read something new from him was a treat for this longtime fan. 🖤 As with any anthology, some stories hit harder than others, but I enjoyed far more than I didn’t and even discovered a few authors whose work I’ll definitely be looking for again. If you like your holiday reading with a generous helping of dread, sinister secrets, and things that go bump in the winter night, add this one to your TBR, because Santa isn’t the only one coming to town!

[kindle.babe · Rating 4 out of 5]

𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚: ★ ★ ★ ★
𝗔𝗥𝗖 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪:

Pull this book out this fall during its release and sit next to the fire with a warm blanket, warm bev and be ready to read some truly great christmas/winter theme ghost stories if you will. Some authors you may already know and some you may not have heard of yet, each story unique and their own and honestly...I enjoyed all of them.

𝗧𝗥𝗢𝗣𝗘𝗦: Horror, Short Stories, Collection, Anthologies, Fiction, Ghost Stories, Winter/Christmas Theme Stories

Thank you NetGalley, Saga Press | S&S/Saga Press, & Chuck Palahnuik & Michael Bailey, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Releasing on September 29, 2026!

[Katie Jae · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF'd at 52%

Read 11 of the stories before calling it quits. When I think of stories centered around the longest nights of the year (around Christmas time) I think of not only Christmas, but winter itself. It's dark, it's cold, in a lot of places it's snowy. That did not fit a lot of the stories I read.

Although some of the stories were fun, I felt that because they were short they missed their full potential. In addition, there was really no commonality within the ones I read. Some were heavily focused on Christmas, others barely mentioned it (or winter) and carried on in a completely different direction.

I really tried to continue on but I just can't force myself to read any more.

[Janna Felix · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Victorian-inspired horror anthology gathers tales centered on the longest nights of the year, with contributions from modern horror authors such as Alma Katsu and Josh Malerman. The stories share a seasonal eeriness, with vengeful spirits and malevolent creatures lurking in the dark. Anthologies vary in quality, and not every story here lands with equal force; some feel slight while others are genuinely chilling. The collection's shared theme gives it cohesion, and the Victorian flavor adds atmosphere.

[Joan Blendowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish there were 1/2 stars - this is really 2.5 read for me. I was really excited to read spooky stories around the Longest Night Solstice. As a lover of all things horror and spooky I found this book to fall flat. Most of the short stories had potential but felt like a rushed teenage campfire tale, or a first draft of a more refined short. Overall I can say I was disappointed. I do appreciate the opportunity to read this ARC, thank you. NetGalley and S&S

[Courtney Ringrose · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

I'll be honest, I didn't read this whole thing. I requested it because I love Chuck Palahniuk. However after reading the first story, I skipped ahead to read Chuck's and then decided I didn't need to spend anymore time on this. I don't know what this is, but it's not worth the read.