The Shadows That We Carry

by William Beck, Jacob Marsh, Lawrence Harding

This anthology gathers 20 stories of the bogeymen that follow us into adulthood. The monsters that shadow us for our entire lives

Featuring tales by:
Jacob Marsh, Lawrence Harding, L.b. Shimaira Tom Coombe, Rami Ungar, Mir Rainbird, Eric Nash, Samantha J Bryant, Oli Jacobs, Gree, Theodore Snapdragon, Autumn Rain Christine Cunningham, Bruce Buchanan, Anna Orridge, J. Neira, Anna Verner Alexander Hay, Louise Conway, William Beck

373 pages, Paperback

Published May 7, 2026

Reviews

[Annette Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Shadows That We Carry is a delightfully spooky anthology of campfire style horror stories by a talented collection of Indie authors. The twenty stories feature all kinds of monsters including several of the human variety and range from campy slasher style thrills to the quieter more insidious stories that are just disturbing enough to linger in the back of your brain and reemerge just when you are ready to close your eyes. As with any anthology collection some stories I enjoyed more than others but given the variety and quantity of stories I am pretty sure that every reader will find something to enjoy here. Particular favourites of mine were The Second Shining Orb by Lawrence Harding, it feels like the kind of ghost story that has been told and retold for generations because of how creepy it is. I also enjoyed how atmospheric The Static Man by Rami Ungar, the idea of losing oneself has long been one of my biggest fears. Apartment of the Damned by Theodore Snapdragon is another that I found myself thinking about long after I finished reading while The Revealing Ringtone by Bruce Buchanan was a delightfully modern take on The Tell Tale Heart. Given the origin of the anthology I could not think of a more fitting way to close it out than the delightfully meta #HorrorWritersChat Night by Louise Conway.
This was a wonderfully macabre collection and the contributors should be very proud of what they have managed to achieve.