All the Hidden Places: Stories

by Cadwell Turnbull

From award-winning author Cadwell Turnbull comes a brilliant collection of short stories, including old favorites and brand-new adventures

Fourteen stories. Unseen places that lie just within, beneath, beyond our reality.

A father and daughter traverse postapocalyptic America seeking safe haven and the truth about why the world ended. Three siblings write intimate letters as their society slips ever deeper into dystopia.

On an island where locals use cooperative AI to survive hurricanes, a journalist returns home to cover their story and reconnect with her past. A wayward god sets out to find the source of all gods. But can they survive to tell the tale?

After a whimsical attempt to teleport proves successful, a couple finds that their conflicting feelings about the event are threatening their marriage. In a world where multiple souls can inhabit the same body, a recovering addict confronts his family about a terrible secret.

A monster who lives on human blood finds her undoing in the loneliness she carries within her heart.

In his debut collection, acclaimed novelist Cadwell Turnbull takes readers across an omniverse of monsters, gods, and people, all trying to make peace with the parts of themselves they don’t want others to see. Until they are forced to face all their hidden places.

Genres: Short Stories, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction, Dystopia, Anthologies

299 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2026

About the author

Hello, I'm Cadwell Turnbull, author of the science fiction novel The Lesson and the Convergence Saga.

My short fiction has appeared in The Verge, Lightspeed, Nightmare, Asimov’s Science Fiction and a number of anthologies, including Jordan Peele's Out There Screaming. My short story “Loneliness is in Your Blood” was selected for The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018. My short story "Jump" was selected for the Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019.

The Lesson was the recipient of the 2020 Neukom Institute Literary Award. My novel No Gods, No Monsters was the winner of a Lambda and a finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award. We Are the Crisis was a finalist for the Manly Wade Wellman Award and an Ignyte Award.

Reviews

[Laura]

Having previously enjoyed everything I’ve read by Cadwell Turnbull, I was very happy to pick up this collection. I’d read one story in the collection before (“Wandering Devil”) but the rest were new to me.

The collection spans a lot of different genres: horror, science fiction, and fantastical elements are all represented. The moods are also really varied; stories range from devastating to quietly thoughtful to hopeful, and in each each story the author handles complex underlying themes compellingly.

Some of my favourite stories include “The Letters Triptych,” an epistolary in a dystopian future of work farms and extreme labour exploitation, “All the Hidden Places,” a post-apocalyptic journey of father and daughter through a world of monsters, and “When the Rains Come Back,” a thoughtful story about a future where an anarchist community has to decide how to navigate external pressures amidst an international community with very different values than its own.

All in all, this is a really excellent collection I’d definitely recommend.

Content warnings: murder, death, gore, sexism, terminal illness, chronic illness, grief, abusive relationship

Thank you to ­Blackstone Publishing, NetGalley, and the author for providing me an ARC to review.

[Meg]

Cadwell Turnbull is one of my favorite speculative fiction writers, and this collection of short stories demonstrates why. He asks challenging questions of the fabric of our realities from governments to monsters to gods to spacetime. I love that there is a sequence of connected stories that build on one another but stand alone very well, too. Turnbull distills the chilling nature of the universe into concise and moving stories.

I meant to read just a few of stories at a time, but found myself drawn in and listening to the audiobook in only a few sittings. It's narrated by Dion Graham, Bahni Turpin, January LaVoy, and Ron Butler, and I enjoyed that they rotated through stories that suited each of their narration styles.

If you are a fan of short stories, I do recommend this as an introduction to his writing. If you prefer longer narratives, I recommend picking up No Gods, No Monsters. He tackles similar themes in both short- and long-form writing.

Thank you to Blackstone Publishing for an eARC. All the Hidden Places is out 9/1/2026.

[2TReads]

I will always return to Turnbull's writing not just for the complexities of the ideas that he transforms into engaging and alluring stories, but for the humanity that is almost always at the centre of his writing. He gives us complex beings that are selfish, selfless, confused, afraid, angry, loving, and losing. The stories collected here include ones that I have read and loved before like Wandering Devil, Monsters Come Howling in Their Season, and A Tech Mage Comes to Visit; which all put at the centre characters that are living their lives their way but are also questioning what else is out there, can they change, and what awaits them when they finally make a decision to step out to mee the future.

The newer stories that left an impression on me were Loneliness Is In Your Blood, Soul Jars Singing in the Night, and When The Rains Come Back. He explores loss, grief, and what happens when the world potentially becomes dystopic and the power plays that will come into effect. Turnbull likes to interrogate systems of power within societeies and within relationships as well and I think that is what is most compelling about his writing.

[Dan Trefethen]

Best known for his novels, this is collection of short stories that Turnbull wrote in the spaces between writing novels. It consists of his entire published output of short stories to date.

Turnbull mainly uses a 'classic' technique of positing a science fictional change and seeing how it plays out in his characters' lives. They are crisp, effective stories that read as much like thought experiments as they do character studies. They're both. Putting your characters through the technological wringer and seeing how they come out the other end is an honored technique in SF.

Many of the stories are centered around the island of St. Thomas, where Turnbull grew up. This is especially true for the hurricane story, 'Monsters Come Howling in Their Season'. It's an AI story but mainly one about adapting to hurricanes. In this age of drastic climate changes, it may be the more relevant.

The longest is the story suite titled 'The World Above, A Triptych'. It consists of three separately titled stories about gods making gods and how to recognize (or find) your place in the world.

A multiple personality story (about people in a relationship who are multiples) is 'Soul Jars, Singing in the Night'. Once you figure out what's going on, it's quite engaging. There's a kind of werewolf story, and another about gifting lifetime to others. Turnbull uses a number of different SFnal topics to interrogate relationships. He wants his characters to realize their place in the new world and be able to adjust to it.

So should we all, in this new world of ours.

[Steph (starrysteph)]

Cadwell Turnbull has such a unique voice, and this journey across his unique omniverse was haunting, touching, and profound.

Like any collection of short stories, some resonated with me more than others, but I wasn’t disappointed in any of these reads. I really appreciated the shifts in tone and the different flavors of each piece, but they all felt connected and relevant to each other. It’s a journey of investigating the vulnerable, tucked-away parts of yourself and also what the world wishes to cover up.

There are dystopian elements, futuristic technology, animalistic & monstrous transformations, reflections on gods and creators and what we inherit, and so much more. But as large and creative as these stories get, they all feel quite tender and very human.

Super short notes on each story:

Wandering Devil: A lifelong wanderer finds himself tempted to settle down. A sad piece about what we inherit with a bit of a supernatural edge.
Mediation: A woman struggles to readjust to life after the death of her husband - and the AI therapist her children prompted her to install might just push her over the edge. A story about grief, mourning, and the ways we acknowledge life after loss.
Jump: A young couple teleports one day, and it tears them apart. He can’t stop trying to make it happen again, and she’s desperate for him to move on. A fascinating little story that captures the feeling of being a creative, communication within relationships, and the lifetime repercussions of a one unrepeatable magical moment.
The Letters Triptych: Three separate letters from three siblings as we get further and further into a dystopian future, where survival is measured by success and those at the bottom are cryogenically frozen. This was a longer story, quite haunting, and an unsettling look at how quickly things can tip into oppression.
All the Hidden Places: A father takes his daughter on the run in a post-apocalyptic world where most have died from a monstrous plague. I definitely saw hints of No Gods, No Monsters in this one. A story of monstrosity, community, and the things we lock away.
Monsters Come Howling in Their Season:. A journalist and a scientist survive a hurricane in St. Thomas with the support of an AI focused on accessible-to-all knowledge. A gentler, more optimistic look at the way artificial intelligence could make communities stronger. There are themes of communal history and the feeling of your home shifting without you when you’ve been away.
There, She Didn’t Need Air to Fill Her Lungs: A group of friends does a challenging hike up to Fishtail Peak, where the boundaries between worlds blur and magic fills the air. A sort of a meditation on how we’re all torn between worlds sometimes, and leave a bit of ourselves - our magic - behind to fit in. This one was creepy and captivating.
When the Rains Come Back: An anarchist island community has a tough decision to make amidst a drought. A futuristic rumination on governance and community on a galactic scale, but also a story of a father’s relationship with his daughter as she grows up, and how the small choices we make impact everyone’s future.
Loneliness Is in Your Blood: A soucouyant recounts her life story, from her power as a young woman to her devastating loneliness. It’s a very short piece on monstrosity, sacrificing for the next generation, and unbearable isolation.
Shock of Birth: Imagine leapfrogging from universe to universe, noticing each “edit”: a state no longer exists, a country no longer exists, or you’re now in a totally different body.
A Tech Mage Comes to Visit: An orphan watches a tech mage fix the cooling box in his home, and a new wave of possibilities opens. Sort of a pre-chosen-one story, where our narrator is speaking with the knowledge of his future life and all of its complications, but describing the moment where the door unlocks with such tenderness and joy. And how fantasy and joy and imagination can sustain you when you’re small and suffering.
Soul Jars, Singing in the Night: In this world, every body contains multiple souls - or alters - that are sometimes new and born from intense emotion or shared suffering, and sometimes passed down generationally/ancestrally. Two kids have to confront their mom about the truth of their history with their dead father and his alter. I found this concept fascinating, especially in regards to familial trauma.
The World Above, a Triptych: A young creator pushes the boundaries of her maker’s world in order to understand her part in it. A bored druid in an infinite library has the strange whim to open a new book and gently falls into its pages. A godly being contemplates the precise beginning of their existence, while an angel begs for their help. This is a connected trio about our innate need for knowledge, even when the answers don’t serve us and we’re forced to endure terror after terror - and about what makes life worth living.
If Only Time Permits: In a world where life expectancy is an exact science and people can give each other time, a wife has to decide how much to offer her terminally-ill husband, knowing exactly how much life she has left herself. A story of love, sacrifice, and the cost of knowledge.

CW: murder, death, gore, body horror, abusive relationships, child abuse, sexism, gaslighting, terminal illness, chronic illness, mental illness, grief

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(I received an advance reader copy of this book; this is my honest review.)

[Ishaan]

This year, I have become a huge fan of Cadwell Turnbull, just in time for the release of this short story collection. As with any short story collection, there are some stories that resonated more with me than others, but all of these felt at the standard I’ve come to expect from Cadwell Turnbull’s writing. I would say most of these stories are science fiction, but in his style, there is also plenty of horror and fantasy worked in.

There are other components that I associate with his writing: the majority of the stories are set in the US Virgin Islands, and often have queer characters. I didn’t check this while reading, but I believe that every story has a black main character, except for one with a Nepali main character and a black side character. As someone who knows very little about the Virgin Islands except through Cadwell Turnbull’s other work, I appreciated how many stories there were to tell within that setting, and I also appreciated when we got stories in totally different settings too. I believe his wife is Nepali, so it was sweet to see Nepal incorporated into his work.

A lot of the stories are about similar topics to the Convergence Saga, such as mages, Afro Caribbean monsters, and gods. There is a short story called The World Above which is set in the same cosmos as the Convergence Saga. If you haven’t read the Convergence Saga, I think it still works, but the names of some characters might go over your head. A lot of other stories are near future sci-fi stories exploring some kind of new technology.

There are a few that involve artificial intelligence, which I found interesting, because it is most likely not what we have branded as AI today, aka generative language models. I still get a bad taste from reading about things that are called AI, but I respect that Cadwell Turnbull seems to have wanted to explore more hopeful and community oriented approaches towards artificial intelligence. So many of the stories featuring new technologies are not even about if these new technologies are inherently ethical; instead they explore how the technologies affect human relationships, which is a perfect use of sci-fi.

I’ll say a bit about each of my favorite stories now. The Letters Triptych might be my favorite out of the whole collection. It is made of three letters written by three family members in a near-future dystopian setting. Each of the characters offers a different perspective as the scale and horror of cryogenic technology expands, and the end still ties it together so well. It has the perfect blend of the personal and the political.

There, She Didn’t Need Air to Fill Her Lungs is one of the several short stories in this collection that are hard to pin into a genre. I would describe it as a type of horror or sci-fi or fantasy about characters who accidentally find themselves at gaps or slips in the fabric of reality, where suddenly the laws of physics don’t quite apply for a second. I really enjoyed this one because it was set on a hike, and was written primarily with the pronoun “we” (which I believe could be called first person plural perspective) and it was so creepy.

When the Rains Come Back is set in a far future world where all kinds of governments and economies exist, and people can always change their nationalities to find the government style that suits them. The characters we follow are from a small anarchist island government facing drought and exploitation by larger governments, but it’s also about the relationship between a father and daughter. This really reminded me of The Dispossessed by Ursula K Le Guin, in the best way.

Loneliness Is in Your Blood is written in the second person, and it is the story of a soucouyant, the Afro Caribbean vampire. I just love vampires, and it was very engaging, and I loved seeing the evolution of the Caribbean from the perspective of this vampire-like monster.

I was provided an Advanced Reader Copy by the publisher for review.

[Insert Name Here]

**Eighteen stories about the strange places just beyond the edge of what we understand.**

## ✶ PRE-READING ✶

Short story collections are always a bit of a gamble. Even when the stories share a theme or atmosphere, you're inevitably going to connect with some more strongly than others.

*It's All the Hidden Places* particularly appealed to me because of its range. These are speculative stories that move between fantasy, science fiction, dystopia and the downright strange, all connected by the idea of things existing just beyond what we can see or understand.

## ✶ POST-READING ✶

**As I thought...** there is an impressive amount of variety here.

Eighteen stories is a lot of opportunities to do something different, and Turnbull takes them. There are monsters and gods, post-apocalyptic journeys, strange technologies, altered realities, family secrets and people trying to understand the worlds—and sometimes the bodies—they find themselves inhabiting.

Writing a short story well is difficult. There isn't much space to establish a world, introduce characters, create a conflict and then leave the reader somewhere satisfying, and I was impressed by how often these stories manage to do exactly that.

**It surprised me by...** how much I came to appreciate the stories that didn't explain themselves.

There were definitely pieces where I found myself thinking, *wait, what exactly happened there?* And occasionally I would have liked a little more clarity.

But ultimately, I think that uncertainty works in the collection's favour.

These are stories about things that exist just beyond the edges of our understanding. Giving us a neat explanation for every strange event would sometimes make them less interesting. Speculative fiction doesn't always need to tell us exactly how something works; sometimes it's more satisfying to simply accept that this is the reality we're visiting and see what the characters do with it.

Taken together, the stories create a wonderfully varied collection about people confronting the parts of themselves and their worlds that they'd rather keep hidden.

I wouldn't rush to read it again immediately—I think I'd want to let some of these stories settle first—but I can absolutely see myself picking it up again in the future.

## ✦ RECOMMENDATIONS ✦

**Book Recommendation:** *Her Body and Other Parties* by Carmen Maria Machado, for another collection where speculative ideas become a way of exploring much more human fears and experiences.

**TV or Movie Recommendation:** *Black Mirror*. The stories vary considerably, but there's a similar interest in taking one strange idea and using it to expose something uncomfortable about people.

## ✧ VIBE CHECK ✧

**A colour palette:** midnight blue, bruised purple, smoky grey and the occasional impossible flash of colour.

**A soundtrack:** ambient electronic music with distant voices and sounds that you can't quite identify.

**A season:** late autumn, when the familiar world is still there but somehow feels slightly altered.

**A mood:** uncanny, curious, melancholy and quietly unsettling.

**A scent:** damp earth, old paper and rain coming through an open window.

**A texture:** the feeling of reaching into a dark cupboard and finding something you don't remember putting there.

## Final Thoughts

*It's All the Hidden Places* publishes on the **1st of September**. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.

[Steve's Book Stuff]

I’ve been on a tear with nonfiction books over the summer this year. With the exception of I See You Called in Dead I haven’t reviewed a fiction book since early May. That’s mostly been because this year is the 250th anniversary of the birth of the United States. I’ve been really motivated to read and review mostly history and current events books this summer. And I have a few more along those lines lined up for the next few months.

But it was a welcome surprise when I opened my email earlier this month to find an invitation to review the forthcoming fantasy short story collection All the Hidden Places from one of my favorite authors Cadwell Turnbull.

Turnbull is the author of the fantasy trilogy Convergence Saga. In my review of the last book in the series I called the trilogy “ challenging to read but really well written.” Turnbull is a great writer able to raise issues and explores concepts in a way that can challenge your own notions and make you think.

I loved those books, so of course I said yes to a chance to review this collection.

There are fourteen stories in this collection, including new and already published stories. Turnbull’s great writing is evident from the first page and continues throughout.

The length and subject matter of the stories varies, as do the settings. In fact, I found the progression of story settings interesting. We start with stories in a recognizable near future America, and more or less progress through stories that appear to be set in alternate universes, and then on to high fantasy in the worlds of the gods, before ending back up where we started in a recognizable near future. This progression of settings and the characters within them feels a lot like the arc of the Convergence Saga.

What’s different and new about this collection are the range of themes of the stories. Turnbull remains unafraid of challenging readers with intriguing notions and philosophy wrapped in relatable characters and well crafted prose. Themes range from runaway capitalism to mortality and how and whether we continue on after death, to the origins of the cosmos and beyond.

In one of the stories Turnbull plays with questions of origins and creation - of the cosmos and of human imagination. Heavy stuff, but Turnbull carries it off with his characters and plot. The characters, though gods, show relatable human foibles, and the storyline is structured as a quest - that age old plot device readers will know well and be comfortable with.

I could see several of these short stories developed into full blown novels. For fans of great writing and fantasy stories this is a great introduction to the worlds of Cadwell Turnbull, and, if you haven’t yet engaged in his Convergence Saga, a great entry into that too. I’m happy to again recommend another great Turnbull book.

[Corvus]

I tend to be more of a long form fiction person, but my introduction to Cadwell Turnbull was his short fiction. This led me to several great novels of his that I enjoyed. As a result, I was excited to see All the Hidden Places- a new collection of his short stories come out from Blackstone. As with most short story collections, some are better than others, but overall I enjoyed this book.

ATHP sticks out to me as a collection that is more diverse than many others. One thing that I think sets this book apart is the variety of genres within it. Turnbull has a skill for world building across many different universes. We have everything in this book from old timey fantasy stories to far future tales. We have a zombie-like plague, time travel, body hopping, cryogenics, and lots of dystopias.

Another thing that's interesting is how some of the stories are a cluster of chapters that function as many short stories within specific stories. I describe them this way because they are not just sequential chapters but often stories and completely different characters and plots taking place in the same world.

While all the stories were not for me, part of that is just taste. I've never really been into certain kinds of fantasy. But there were many stories of genres that I adore and felt were well executed. I would love to see "Shock of Birth" be expanded into a full novel. Another favorite was The World Above, a Triptych.

Overall, I think there is something for everyone in here. Fans of a variety of genres can find something for them and also be introduced to and enjoy others they may not have sought out. I look forward to the continuing trajectory of this author and everything he has to offer.

This was also posted to my storygraph and blog.

[Robin]

I wasn't sure what to expect going into this collection of inspiring, haunting tales; I've never read Turnbull's works before so this was purely an impulse decision.

As with any anthology, there will always be a particular few stories that stand out. While I did have a few favorites, I'll say that I was completely engaged the whole way through. Each story has its own theme and tone, and they cover a wide umbrella of fictional genres that I really enjoyed. This author certainly has the skills for creating complex, compelling ideas with scarily relevant dystopias and apocalyptic events.

The most impactful to me was probably 'The Letters Tryptych', an extreme take on human rights violations via extreme worker exploitation as relayed by a trinity of siblings in an epistolary format. Using cryogenic freezing as a means of imprisonment, as well as the concept of national forced labor under the guise of solving unemployment and homelessness is deviously unhinged and totally not out of the realm of possibility considering American politicians. Another favorite was 'All the Hidden Places,' a father-daughter survival duo travelling their way to safety in a monster-infested wasteland; 'Soul Jars, Singing in the Night' is such a creative premise—that multiple souls reside in a single body, taking turns being the primary physical driver of said body. In this one, family secrets and generational trauma take precedent when a set of siblings confront their parent over the mysterious death of their father years prior.

Even if someone isn't a fan of horror or science-fiction, there's such a great range of ideas here that I think anyone can find something they enjoy from this collection.

Thank you to NetGalley, Blackstone Publishing, and the auther Cadwell Turnbull for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

[Alison Faichney]

Dope collection! I think this is my first real introduction to Cadwell Turnbull. I read the Out There Screaming anthology a while back and his short story, Wandering Devil, was featured. All the Hidden Places features fourteen sci fi /horror / fantasy ish tales which are all distinct but still feel connected in many ways. Some stories resonated more than others but none failed to pull me in. I blew thru this collection swiftly and definitely will be looking for more from Turnbull.

My favorites were: Wandering Devil (yes, again), Jump, The Letters Triptych, Monsters Come Howling in Their Season, Shock of Birth and A Tech Mage Comes to Visit. The entire collection gives off Black Mirror vibes in that it’s set in the near future but TERRIFYINGLY easy to imagine becoming a reality. Shock of Birth gives off qntm’s There is No Anti Memetics Division vibes but from a more broad perspective. The Letters Triptych felt a little too on the nose at times. Turnbull is excellent at introducing concepts that are disturbingly conceivable. I loved the way in which the stories bounce perspectives and then gently weave it all together. I also greatly appreciated the very underrepresented US Virgin Islands setting.

Like most (I hope 🥲) in the indie horror community I have a firm anti gen AI stance. Turnbull’s stories tend to be futuristic (/post apocalyptic) and I really appreciated some of the ways in which he showcased potential positive uses of AI. The AI bull is out of the cage and that’s never going back, but this uplifted me a bit with all the horrible AI slop that surrounds us currently. Envisioning AI benefiting humanity without exploiting or being reductive and destructive was a nice reprieve. All in all I definitely will have Turnbull on my radar going forward.

[Kaitlyn]

“All the Hidden Places: Stories” by Cadwell Turnbull is a deep, thought-provoking short story collection that can often be horrific, unsettling, hopeful, and sorrowful. The short stories cover a wide range of topics and genres, but each one has something uncanny about it.

There are stories here for everyone. Whether it’s dystopian, futuristic, supernatural, political, etc., there is a story people will connect with and enjoy. Turnbull is a brilliant writer whose prose not only resonates, but it makes the reader feel affected by what the main characters are experiencing and feeling. To connect emotionally with the characters despite the short length of each story speaks volumes about Turnbull’s writing and the messages each story holds.

Though most collections center around a specific theme or topic, Turnbull has chosen to write about more diverse topics, which makes each story feel different from the ones that came before it. Some of the stories felt too short, and others felt like they ended much too quickly without a satisfying conclusion. Yet, this was still an enjoyable collection with many stories that have potential to become full-length novels due to the vivid world-building and highly intriguing storylines that readers have only scratched the surface of.

“All the Hidden Places,” by Cadwell Turnbull is a highly recommended read for those who love a short story collection that is captivating and powerful in its delivery. Look for this book on its expected publication date of September 1, 2026 and give it a read! Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for inviting me to read a free e-arc copy and the opportunity to share my honest opinion in this review.

[anya]

This was a collection of stories that brought the exact vibes that I expected and I'm very satisfied with that. As always with a short stories, there are hits and misses but even the misses were still enjoyable and interesting.

Cadwell Turnbull's signature style is creepy magical realism that feels like dystopia and speculative fiction that has fantastical elements to it with a sprinkle of interpersonal drama. He has created the perfect mix of genre that works really well for my tastes specifically. Something about a lot of these stories feels very trans vibes in a piscean way but I can't explain it better than that.

The prose is compelling in a way that sucks you into the story right away. I read most of this on the train and the amount of times I felt disoriented after pulling myself out of reading was actually a little dangerous.

The worldbuilding in most of these stories was so rich with in so few pages. I was also really happy about the inclusion of some Convergence Saga side stories in "The World Above, a Triptych."

My other favorites were the titular "All The Hidden Places," "When the Rains Come Back," and "Soul Jars, Singing In The Night." I will be thinking about all of these stories for a while and will most definitely be rereading a lot of them.

Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for the ARC (my first physical ARC!! thank you!).

[Shane]

This was an ARC from Netgalley, I thank them, the publisher, and the author for providing this advanced review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily. This was an interesting collection of stories...mostly speculative fiction with some intriguing sci-fi elements to some of the stories. I don't know that any story stands out as the best (or the worst) but there were a couple that I was more drawn to. A postapocalyptic story about a father and daughter crossing America to find safety and the truth about the end of the world. A heavy sci-fi theme across multiple stories (teleportation, AI control, sharing or borrowing life time). A story about creatures of the night confronting their own deep-seated loneliness. A god sets out on a quest to discover the ultimate source of all divinities...and many more (there's 14 stories in total). I really enjoyed some of the sci-fi elements but I had a hard time connecting with some of the human elements in some of the stories. I'll give this 3.5 stars, good writing and I'd like to check out more from the author.

[D Dyer]

Turnbull is such a captivating Storyteller and this collection really displays the range of that. It spans futures, fantasy, legends, and heartbreaks, and while I think some of the stories surpass others, the collection doesn’t have a bad one. Personal favorites included “mediation” and “soul jar” both of which in very different ways explore grief and trauma, the first through AI therapy, the second through the hosting of multiple souls in singular bodies and the havoc that can bring forth, and “shock of life” which blends possibilities of past lives and multiple realities to explore how identity is formed.
Many of these stories, deal more in ideas than in brutal, fast paced action but not every one does, we also encounter Caribbean inflected twists on classic monster mythology in the title story and God‘s playing greater more than once.
This was a richly rewarding and substantial collection. That does an excellent job of balancing deep contemplation with forward plot movement.

[Britnee R]

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of All the Hidden Places in exchange for an honest review.
Overall, this was a good collection. A few of the stories really pulled me in, with "Letters of the Triptych" easily being my favorite. It was memorable and kept me engaged from beginning to end. That said, not every story worked for me. Several didn't hold my attention and felt a bit slow, which is ultimately why it took me so long to finish the collection. The variety of genres was interesting—ranging from science fiction to horror and beyond—but because the stories were so different from one another, the collection didn't always feel cohesive.
This was my first time reading this author, and despite some stories not being for me, I'm still interested in picking up more of their work in the future.

[Kera’s Always Reading]

This is a collection that flowed really well from story to story, no matter what order you read the stories in. I enjoy Turnbull's writing and this is a great way to really showcase the facets, with stories ranging from sweet, to bitter, to dark, spanning time and reality... I really think there is a little for everyone in here.

A few of my favorites were Loneliness Is in Your Blood, Jump, Shock of Birth, All the Hidden Places, and Soul Jars, Singing in the Night.

[Jeffrey Riley]

I want to thank NetGalley for the ARC of this book. It has just the right amount of eeriness and a dystopian feel to keep me intrigued. Some of the stories fell a little flat, but the majority were well written and entertaining. “Jump” in particular made an impression on me. This was my first book by the author, but I will definitely give him another try.

[Rebecca]

A collection of dystopian/futuristic short stories. There were a few stories that didn’t grab my attention, but the majority of them were excellent. Every single one was well written and deserve praise for their creativity and thought provoking prose.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to review this collection.

[Lisa Britton]

3.5 ⭐️

All the Hidden Places is a thought-provoking collection of short stories that spans a surprisingly wide range of genres, including horror, dystopian fiction, science fiction, and fantasy. While some stories resonated with me more than others, I really enjoyed how Turnbull manages to make such different stories feel connected. There are recurring themes and ideas woven throughout the collection that give the book a sense of cohesion, even as the individual stories explore very different worlds and concepts.

My favorite stories were “Meditation,” “All the Hidden Places,” “Loneliness Is in Your Blood,” and “If Only Time Permits.” These were the stories that stayed with me the most, whether because of their emotional impact, the questions they raised, or simply how effectively they drew me into their worlds.

Overall, I found these stories to be well written, emotionally evocative, and thought-provoking. Turnbull uses the short story format particularly well, packing a lot of ideas and emotion into relatively small spaces. While not every story resonated with me equally, I appreciated the creativity and variety throughout the collection and found several stories that really stuck with me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the E-ARC and the opportunity to gve my honest feedback.