Perdidos en la oscuridad y otras excursiones

by John Langan, Rafael Martín Coronel (Illustrator), Alberto Chessa (Translator)

Perdidos en la oscuridad y otras excursiones es una antología de trece relatos del autor estadounidense John Langan. Son relatos atmosféricos, ambiciosos y originales que enmarcan el horror a través de múltiples elementos como el cine, el mundo académico o las leyendas familiares.

Los relatos incluidos son:

Madame Painte: en venta: un gnomo de jardín que se vende con una advertencia es el centro de este relato trágico y espeluznante. Perdidos en la oscuridad: una película exitosa que empezó siendo un documental cuenta la leyenda de una mina habitada por una misteriosa mujer. Mi padre, el doctor Frankenstein: en forma de notas a un ensayo, esta historia nos lleva a través de la vida de un científico obsesionado por el fin del mundo y los desastres nucleares, arrastrando en su locura al hijo. Una canción escuchada solo a medias: las nereidas llegan a un pequeño río de Nueva York y causan un terrible accidente. El oleaje del profundo mar: un viaje de vuelta a casa infeliz en el que la protagonista se verá asaltada por un traje de buzo maldito. Haak: ¿Y si el dios Pan se hubiese condenado a vivir entre los mortales para expiar un crimen? Acompañamos a Conrad en un viaje fantástico por un lago mágico de Suiza. Breakwater: Por mucho que hayas preparado tu plan de huida, hay fuerzas insondables y oscuras que no se pueden controlar. Lo mejor es no involucrarse con ellas, y mucho menos acostarte con el marido de una gran bruja. Errata: ¿Y si las erratas fueran un portal de entrada de un demonio?Natalya, la reina de los perros hambrientos: Carl acompañará a su amigo Hunter en un viaje al más allá, para ayudarlo contra su hermana Natalie y su horda de perros hambrientos. Óscar regresa de entre los muertos, lanzando profecías: Óscar es un lagarto doméstico resucitado que puede ver el futuro y lanza macabras profecías sobre los humanos que lo rodean. La rebelión de Alicia: Alicia ya no está en el País de las Maravillas, sino que ha conseguido cambiar la realidad y vive en el mundo contemporáneo, hasta que los Tweedle Dees dan con ella. Mordido por la serpiente. O por qué (todavía) me encanta el terror: cómo una historia corriente sobre un tipo corriente en plena de crisis de mediana edad se convierte en un cuento fascinante sobre una isla poblada de serpientes. Dientes que rechinan y ritmos trepidantes: los zombis salen a bailar en primavera, ¡cuidado con ellos!

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Weird Fiction, Collections, Audiobook, Anthologies

384 pages, Paperback

First published August 5, 2025

About the author

John Langan is the author of two novels, The Fisherman (Word Horde 2016) and House of Windows (Night Shade 2009), and two collections of stories, The Wide, Carnivorous Sky and Other Monstrous Geographies (Hippocampus 2013) and Mr. Gaunt and Other Uneasy Encounters (Prime 2008). With Paul Tremblay, he co-edited Creatures: Thirty Years of Monsters (Prime 2011). He's one of the founders of the Shirley Jackson Awards, for which he served as a juror during its first three years. Currently, he reviews horror and dark fantasy for Locus magazine.

John Langan lives in New York's Hudson Valley with his wife, younger son, and many, many animals. He teaches at SUNY New Paltz. He's working toward his black belt in the Korean martial art of Tang Soo Do.

Reviews

[Gyalten Lekden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lyrical, thought-provoking, and unsettling horror, again and again! I enjoyed every story in this collection and really enjoyed a handful of them. Langan has an ability to modulate his writing and tone from lush, dense and all-encompassing to stripped-back, bare, and unrelenting as needed for each story, which is wonderful. His prose doesn’t tend toward muscular or sleek, though, instead always feeling a little indulgent but in the best of ways. He can create so much character and atmosphere in a single paragraph that his writing always feels like it is under your skin, showing you a new reality from the inside out. His characters are genuine and heartfelt, and each feels perfectly realized in whatever world he places them, (one that probably has an overcast sky and shadows that you can only see moving from the corners of your eyes). Yet his stories have a playfulness to them, even when they are dark, smothering your hopes for a simple world organized by natural laws. His love for and belief in literature is clear in the thematic heft and density of thought (and occasionally prose) that he imbues every story with. He also has mastered the art of a satisfying ending to short form horror. Whether his endings end in his protagonists’ success or their eternal damnation he always manages to give you something unexpected. I find myself gasping out loud, both in glee and horror, at the sheer beauty and audacity at many of these stories, whether that be at the endings’ twist or at some other revelation along the way. He is very light with blood and gore; they exist in some of these stories, but at a distance. Instead, he wants to shock your mind, to fill you with a sense of dread only occasionally relieved by delight but always infiltrating your thoughts. As such his stories feel like a psychological itch, beings that worm their way into your subconscious.

There is a great diversity in this collection in terms of style: one story is told entirely in endnotes, another is almost entirely a (fictional?) dialogue between father and son on a car ride, while yet another takes the form of a magazine article about the 10-year anniversary of the re-release of a cult horror film and interview with that film’s director. Not all the stories are experimental or have meta elements, but Langan elevates even the simplest structure with prose that is inviting and all-embracing.

The penultimate piece in this collection started as an essay for Becky Siegel Spratford’s recent collection Why I Love Horror, but as it blossomed into being 4x the request word count it found a home in this collection, and in it he explains his continued and perpetual love for the genre by writing a horror story within the essay, talking about the artistic choices that get to be made, the way it affects the reader, the way it affects the writer, the relationships and ideas the genre always to take center stage, and more. How he manages to combine a non-fiction, personal essay with a compelling horror story stripped to its barest of bones is a testament to his command of the craft. In her introduction to the essay he eventually turned in Becky Siegel Spratford refers to him as “the author of your favorite horror author’s favorite horror novel of this century,” and each of the stories in this collection, as weird, disquieting, and surreal as many of them may be, are similar celebrations of his talent and skill.

(Also, he includes Story Notes at the end which explain the genesis of each story and so on, and while the stories easily stand on their own without this it is a really wonderful addition to the book, helping the reader feel invited into his world).

[Gabrielle (Reading Rampage) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love John Langan. I know he's not everyone's cup of tea, but in the realm of horror short stories, few people can do what he does. Few people have not only the imagination but the technical skill to build a story that unsettles like he does.

Granted, he has a special place in my heart because one of his short stories actually shook me out of my funk and motivated me to start writing again a few years ago. That's priceless, in and off itself, and while I am not enthusiastic about the concept of creative writing classes, I would love to be his student. This guy understands the delicate and intricate mechanisms that make stories unfold and trap a reader like very few other people do.

Even if you don't like horror stories, his writing is a masterclass, and this collection has a few direct winks to his job. One story is a cheeky example of auto-fiction. Another breaks down his own process to integrate horror elements into stories that otherwise seem ordinary. Another plays beautifully with is job and his relationship with former students' work.

Obviously, I can't recommend him enough. To everyone. And this one is a good place to start, because the squeamish readers won't have to deal with too much blood and gore, there are no jump-scares waiting for you around the corner of each page.

But if you want to see what it's like to be a true master of the niche art you have chosen to make yours, look no further.

I'm going to go back to my own manuscript now, and hopefully, what I've learned from John will make it's way into my pages.

[Brennan LaFaro · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've said it before and I'll undoubtedly say it again: John Langan is one of the top, if not the top, modern horror writer churning out short fiction. His ability to turn on a dime from literary to pulp is worthy of study, and as a writer, I often find myself trying to do just that before being whisked away into the narrative. Lost in the Dark seems to embrace meta/experimental structures in greater number than previous collections, sometimes acting as a nod to Tremblay's work. Think footnotes in a text, a reader email pointing out errors, a documentary, an essay on the genre, all spun into story, with Langan, on more than one occasion, inserting himself into the mix. If meta is not your thing, there is plenty to love in the rest of the collection. My favorite entry was "Oscar Returns From the Dead, Prophesying", a story about a possessed gecko that should be ridiculous, and winds up being the most terrifying entry in the collection. Other stand-outs include "Haak", "Natalya, Queen of the Hungry Dogs", and "Snakebit, Or Why I (Continue to) Love Horror".

[Tom L · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Langan’s latest anthology, Lost in the Dark and Other Excursions is another winner from the most consistently creative horror author working today.

To me the most stand out story of the bunch was Natalya, Queen of Hungry Dogs. A friend goes to help another friend at the end of his life resolve issues from a near death experience as a child. This story captures reminiscing with a friend on the good times so perfectly and then drives right in to balls-to-the-walls horror / adventure as the two plunge in to the beyond to fight the forces of darkness from his past.

Breakwater was also an outstanding revenge story that was wonderfully crafted from start to finish.

As John Langan has done in the past, he includes “story notes” which provide bits of insights to the stories. I find myself flipping to the back of the book after each story to read the associated story note right away.

I highly recommend all of John Langan’s work, and Lost in the Dark and Other Excursions is a worthy continuation of his style and work.

Thank you to publisher Word Horde for a digital advanced reader copy!

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know I have said this before, but Langan is my favorite living author. When I read him I feel like I am entering a Hellenic Temple, not restored or abandoned, but one which never stopped being used. Its only update in the past two millennium being a kind of gothic ornateness acquired in the middle ages and seamlessly grafted on top.

As usual, the eponymous story is the best in the collection, though my personal favorite was Breakwater- a rare example of me not choosing the novella length tales as I usually do.

My only nitpick is "The Shetlands?" Come on John, its Shetland. Just like its Orkney and not "The Orkneys". But I jest in good humor. Ive been to both back in the day when I used to live in Scotland. They really are the best places to take a trip to.

I also must reiterate a point on Langan's work that I have made before: his inclusion of detailed author notes at the end that provide context for each story should be standard practice for every story collection. Its best to leave these until done with everything else and then consume them all at once at the end, seeing the process of idea to authorship and the context that brings it about.

[Curtis · Rating 5 out of 5]

People always hype up how insightful the Story Notes are in the back of the book, then you flip to them and it always boils down to "So I got invited to write for an anthology and the theme was werewolves so I thought, hey, maybe I should write a werewolf story."

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Langan is one of my absolute top, favorite authors, and I've mostly loved everything I've read by him. Until now. It's not a bad collection of stories, it's just not nearly his best work. There were three stories included that I'd read in their previous publications, but as two were among the longest in the book I didn't bother rereading them, and the third, "Breakwater," I did reread only to realize it was a decent, but no great tale. While "Lost in the Dark" stood out as the most captivating story in the book, others just couldn't keep my interest - mainly "My Father, Dr. Frankenstein" and "Snakebit," which started as an essay for the Why I Love Horror essay anthology but ended up being a much longer piece of writing Langan instead included here, which failed to interest me in fully reading (part of the issue was likely due to it heavily relying on John Keats' poem "Lamia" which I've never read and knew little about). I'm disappointed I just couldn't relate to this latest collection more, but I'll call it 3.5* rounded to 4.

[Gatorman]

Had to DNF this one. The stories are so boring and go nowhere interesting. Can't continue this for another 200 or so pages. Oh well.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a pretty eclectic collection; there's no theme or throughline to tie them all together (not that that's a bad thing). The quality of writing here is high, but some tales are more satisfying than others. There's also a handful of self-inserts and stories which are grim takes on already existing public domain books, both of which I find distracting. If you don't share my hang-ups then go for it, it's still very enjoyable.

Natanya is the clear standout here for me, 10/10.

For quick takes on the individual stories, check below!


Madame Painte: For Sale - Excellent snack. In and out, sufficiently creepy, loved it.
Lost in the Dark - It's interesting but there are maybe one too many layers and it becomes cumbersome. Guy doing interview with a director who did an interview on a DVD commentary where they recall a story told by a classmate that is then told in the movie (although the details are slightly changed) then we step out of all those layers to watch the original footage with the classmate who told the original tale ahhhh. In all its pretty effective but yeah just too many layers that are too similar for my ADHD brain.
My Father, Dr. Frankenstein - This is an interesting idea, to read the footnotes for a book but not the book itself. Some fluff in here that gives me House of Leaves vibes but overall it's fine.
A Song Only Partially Heard - Not crazy about this one, the happenings are somewhat confusing (Seemingly a workplace accident saved a man from being killed by a mermaid? I feel like the mermaid can't cause a rotor to fly off and kill a guy but what do I know. Also she ate very little of him in the end so I don't think that was what was going on) and it ends so abruptly we don't really get to know anyone or have much happen.
The Deep Sea Swell - I enjoyed this one. It's a little on the nose to be haunted by the thing your friend just told you about but it's a short story so I guess we have to cut to the chase. Pretty cool and creepy.
Haak - More fantastical than horrific but still liked it. A little on the nose (again) that he is obviously the Pan described in his story and then he mega confirms it for you at the very end. I get the sort of Peter Pan elements we're doing but I don't know if there's much more to it
Breakwater - I liked this one for the most part but the end is crazy abrupt again. I'm fine with an ambiguous ending but it shouldn't really be at the climax of the story imo
Errata - If I pretend it's not a self insert it's a pretty creepy concept. I liked it.
Natanya - Fuckin sick, this is what I came for. Good characters, very creepy, great ending. There's enough space to breathe here that he ingredients that interlink do so naturally. If I had to nitpick at all I'd say they explained a touch too much about the mechanics near the end, but that's probably just personal preference.
Oscar Returns - Despite a goosebumpsian premise it's actually pretty effective.
Alice's Rebellion - There's something compelling about the idea of sense spreading through wonderland like a memetic virus, but I don't really care for Alice in Wonderland so the references didn't land and the limited arc of the plot didn't save it for me.
Snakebit - This is a very meta story where Langan steps in regularly to speak with us the reader, changes some details on the fly, and talks poetically about his inspirations for the tale he's actively weaving. Weird one for me, it's like having a tasty meal described to you rather than just eating it yourself. It is a unique package but again I'd rather just eat the meal.
Clapping Teeth - So short it's barely worth mentioning. There could be something here if it was expanded upon.

[Esther · Rating 3 out of 5]

i don't understand why it's so hard for horror writers to break the three stars barrier with me. i'm literally so generous and this is my third in a row. but anyway:

madame painte: a nice little appetiser. not substantial enough to rate

lost in the dark: decent 6/10. starts very strong and i like the ending well enough. the movie the story is about is fucking terrible and i can't believe the narration called it 'a smarter Blair Witch' at one point, but that could all have been intentional. got a couple of chuckles out of me even if it was mostly a slog to read

a song only partially heard: 2/10. blegh

the deep sea swell: a high 6, maybe a 7. enjoyed the concept and the execution was pretty good, though the ending veers into scooby doo territory

natalya, queen of the hungry dogs: a high 7. loved the concept, made my heart beat fast at times. could have been a 9 with some light touches (the drinking scene does nothing and goes on forever only to unceremoniously drop all the meat of the story on our heads on the next scene. CUT DOWN THE REDDIT TIER BANTER, SPECIALLY AFTER THE SITUATION GETS SERIOUS) and a 10 if on top of that it also got a satisfying ending.

oscar returns from the dead, prophesising: a high 7. more consistent than natalya but also infinitely less ambitious and creative. pretty fun, though

there are a few more stories in the collection, which i either didn't finish or left to read at a later date. overall, a pretty solid collection. very nice ideas even if the stories don't always land on their feet. cute sense of humour too. will definitely read The Fisherman in the future

[Stijn]

A very diverse set of weird fiction, ranging from metafiction, found footage, cosmic horror, and straight up dark surrealism. Great one.

[Tobin Elliott · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Around us, the air is laden with the conversation and laughter of our fellow diners, but I am talking to you, directly to you, telling you a story that is only for you."

That quote, more than anything sums up the genius of John Langan's writing. He can go deep into a character, or spin the most fantastically weird situation, or relate a scene that could be straight out of your own life, but all the time he's doing it, he's talking to you, directly to you.

Langan writes with a comfortable intimacy that draws the reader in. He shows us the mundane in a new way that makes it interesting, before shattering that mundane with an incredible dread.

And this is why I'm so enamoured with Langan...he scratches that horror itch that many horror authors blithely pass right on by as they detail gory scene after gory scene... Langan slows down and allows you to feel the dread of possibility, the fear of what might happen, of what occurred in that dark area you couldn't quite see clearly.

The front half of this book is stacked with brilliant story after brilliant story. The centrepiece story, "Natalya, Queen of the Hungry Dogs" didn't quite hit as I'd hoped it would, and while I wasn't crazy about "Alice's Rebellion"—mainly because it takes a LOT to get me to enjoy anything ALICE IN WONDERLAND-related these days, I did appreciate the underlying message. And, while "Snakebit" was interesting, and had some great bits, it felt like it had overstayed its welcome a bit (though the quote at the beginning of this review does come from it).

Even with all that, the weakest of the stories here still had a lot to love, and the first eight are each knocked-out-of-the-park homerun exercises in horror storytelling.

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

I usually love Langan's short stories and i go in knowing they'll be a bit wordy and cerebral but these stories just seemed a bit dry and did not hold my interest much. I think it would be a stretch to really call this a horror collection. The writing is still great, I just wasn't engaged with most of the stories. The titular story was probably my favorite and had the most eerie atmosphere. It was a fun idea of his to make several of the stories seem like they were things that actually occurred by inserting himself and other authors or people he deals with.
While this one was a bit of a dud for me i will still be eagerly anticipating his next release.

[Lewis Housley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Praise the gods for John Langan. This collection is fantastic, all the stories are top-notch. In John's work, you don't just experience the stories, he pulls you into them until you are a co-conspirator. On top of being just damned fine works of Weird Fiction, John brings so much heart to it that you can't help but, as the kids say, feel all the feels.

Amazing work, highly recommended.

[L.J. Zapico · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hablamos sobre el libro en https://youtu.be/TTvS25MECvA?is=VBtSn...

[myreadingescapism · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

[Micah Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haak and Lost in the Dark are worth it alone. Best read with space between stories.

[Román Sanz Mouta · Rating 4.25 out of 5]

https://elyunquedehefesto.com/perdido...

Volver a la acerada prosa de John Langan, un referente de la literatura del terror en nuestros días que será atesorado por generaciones futuras tanto en novela como en relato, supone un placer. Está al nivel de cualquier clásico. Porque regresar a un lugar conocido, que no seguro ni feliz, envuelve, absorbe y atrapa para no dejarte salir, como a los personajes y sus funestos destinos. En esta compilación, además, lo afronta desde un prisma más experimental, pues narra cual documentalista desde dentro de la producción, o contando cómo se escribe un cuento a la vez que nos lo cuenta, quizá a base de notas, cartas y referencias de una investigación olvidada, y cual si fuere un profesor (que también lo es) compartiendo anécdotas en clase, desde un narrador fiable en primera persona y otro ajeno e insensible, cuasi científico, como describiendo a las hormigas que pisa. Este es el muestrario del miedo que nos ofrece, para nuestra solaz, el amigo Langan. Y deja recuerdo. Prometido. Vamos a desglosar los relatos para que sepamos dónde nos metemos, porque entrarás, créeme, entrarás al juego nefando.

Madame Painte: en venta: empieza fuerte narrando en segunda persona cómo entras en una tienda de antigüedades y encuentras una peculiar figura. El dueño del lugar, siniestro, te cuenta la historia de la pieza, todavía más siniestra, y sus efectos, que pudieren ser la solución a cualquier problema, sobre todo el tuyo. Un cuento indirecto, retorcido y que ahonda en la psique humana y en cómo los deseos se transforman en odios.
Perdidos en la oscuridad: título y relato estrella del volumen. Se expone desde una perspectiva académica y a modo de reportaje periodístico, cuasi historia, la grabación de una película concebida como documental y que cautivó a público y crítica, para, en el presente, recontar la historia de lo acontecido con nuevas claves de lo que sucedía en esas grutas y cómo afectó a todo el equipo; secuelas y severas consecuencias que perduran. Lo tiene todo: mitología, sustos, exploración, metraje perdido, monstruo, maldiciones y un pretérito maldito. Mi favorito dentro del alto nivel.
Mi padre, el doctor Frankenstein: se articula a partir de las notas elucubradas para la reseña de un libro, a través de las cuales se habla de cine, de literatura, de política, de guerra, de circunstancias y coincidencias extraordinarias. Muy experimental, te deja satisfecho.
Una canción escuchada solo a medias: un accidente laboral se lleva al amigo del protagonista y este se debate entre contar lo que sucedió o conformarse con la versión oficial, pues teme que nadie le crea. Cosas de culpas, de consecuencias, de precariedad. Cercano, realista y plausible.
El oleaje del profundo mar: una pareja vacaciona en el norte de Europa, entre sus costas y su intempestividad. Se narra, con la mujer en el foco, el vaivén del barco y la inmensidad de la mar que, regada con las anécdotas sorprendentes (y terribles) de sus anfitriones, y consigue que esa mar devenga en todo, horizonte y final, causando claustrofobia incluso en tierra. Meritorio porque consigue que funcione el efecto de contagio mediante una aversión progresiva, dentro de lo hipnótico de la mar.
Haak: un profesor de literatura se sale de la temática y del tono habitual durante la clase para contar un secreto sobre cierto y venerado autor bien conocido, y lo que este descubrió, con detalles que ponen los pelos de punta, pues acaba llegando a un mundo paralelo, casi imposible, en contacto con los dioses gracias a su nuevo amigo y guía. Y es que perderse supone encontrarse. Metahistoria, literatura, ampliación de mitos y un poso que persevera. Brillante composición.
Breakwater: una pareja que desconfía, un investigador, una amante y, a partir de ahí, dentro de esa indagación para revelar infidelidades dentro de infidelidades y traiciones, se saca de la manga cierto horror que lo supera todo. Una pieza para disfrutar y de la que prefiero no contar más; original por encima de todo.
Errata: Un cuento breve sobre una errata en un libro que solo ciertas personas pueden percibir, y sobre el rastreo de la misma. Divertimento.
Natalya, la reina de los perros hambrientos: dos amigos, uno en la últimas; la petición para despedirse. Acude el compañero de evos y se encuentra con algo que no espera, porque deben sumergirse no solo en la muerte, sino en el mundo de ominosa fantasía creado por un familiar del moribundo que lleva sobrevolando e invadiendo la realidad por décadas, creciendo hasta colisionar. Vaya viaje: las criaturas, visuales, luchas, fugas, sacrificios, y esa amistad inquebrantable, con un final que… Langan en su máxima expresión, utilizando múltiples recursos para que entremos al relato y suframos con los personajes.
Óscar regresa de entre los muertos, lanzando profecías: una distracción de padre a hijo mientras comparten viaje, para aliviar las penas del chaval tras una ruptura amorosa, deviene en cierta mascota que se negó a morir y salió de la tumba para mutar la vida de los cuidadores, ausentes dueños, y las soluciones, dentro de una espiral que ya no decrecerá. Breve, incisivo, curioso.
La rebelión de Alicia: una reinterpretación corta y particular de Alicia, y parajes de la afamada obra en el País de las Maravillas, que asoma oscuro. No termina de funcionar esa sucesión de mensajes y escenas oníricas sacadas de la obra original que generan confusión.
Mordido por la serpiente. O por qué (todavía) amo el terror: el autor, en primera persona, se desnuda ante ti para contarte su amor por el género del horror, a base de susurrar un cuento y de la decisiones y disecciones que toma para el mismo; los personajes, su función, lo efectista frente a lo efectivo. Casi sirve de guía para escritores noveles y, a la par, es un relato brillante.
Dientes que rechinan y ritmos trepidantes: un cierre zombi de dos páginas, adecuado y divertido, tras la intensidad anterior.
Se atreve con todo, entidades clásicas, otras reinventadas, cualquier arte (sea pictórica, literaria, escultórica o el que deba) y, además, inspira a escribir. Voces de toda índole y condición, arriesgando. Con clase. Con respeto. Con un estilo muy personal, viajando de un mundo a otro y creando narradores que reflejan esas diversas realidades oscuras. John Langan va camino, si no lo es ya, de convertirse en uno de los grandes del terror, dominando formas, fondos y sensaciones que nos estallan en la mente. Cada nueva publicación es una suerte para los lectores. Así que, a por Perdidos en la oscuridad y otras excursiones; no querrás retornar.

P.D.: ese constructo a medias, ya con título, una narración de nombre “Cinco millones de tentáculos, cinco millones de balas”. Debo leerlo aunque no esté escrito y, de lo contrario, facturarlo por mi cuenta. Pido permiso al ilustre John Langan para que me preste esa idea y nomenclatura.

[Maya J. Lujan · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an interesting collection of short stories! I have never read any of John Langan's work, but I was wholly surprised at the uniqueness of his writing style. I can't say I've read anything quite like it, and I was not disappointed! I also appreciated that some of the stories were on the longer side, as short stories can feel a little TOO short sometimes. I had a hard time putting this down.

Some favorites amongst the collection:

Madame Painte: Short little story about a creepy and possessed garden gnome wreaking havoc when warnings aren't heeded.

Lost in the Dark: This was hands down my favorite. Totally unique storytelling and creepy as hell.

Haak: Interesting take on the god Pan, as well as the Peter Pan story. I loved it.

Breakwater: Witchy revenge. Check! But what did she decide?!

Natalya, Queen of the Dogs: While this was definitely horror filled, it also felt like a sweet tribute to a friend.

Alice's Rebellion: I mean, I'm a sucker for an Alice retelling. This one was WEIRD, but in a good way.

Champing Teeth and Driving Beats: Short and to the point. And it made me chuckle.

My ONLY critique is that one or two of the stories felt a little long-winded, but that is probably just a stylistic preference on my part. I would definitely recommend this one to anyone looking for unique and interesting writing full of horror elements.

Thank you to Word Horde Publishing for the ARC!

[Alvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last year I read and loved John Langan's second novel (he only wrote two), the modern Lovecraftian horror called The Fisherman. So for spooky season this year, I decided to expand my experience of Langan's writing with one of his short story collections. I don't think there was any particular theme to the collection, but what was presented was a variety of tales in the horror genre. Most of them probably wouldn't be called "Lovecraftian", though. In this set, we have a cursed object story, a few ghost/revenant stories, some bad people dabbling in some dark arts, and a few that don't quite fit the classic horror tropes but play around with format and convention. The stories in this collection were well-written, imaginative, and memorable. None were super scary (which is good, because I'm a chicken for the truly horrific), but that's typically the way with eldritch, Lovecraftian horror — it gets you in your mind.
 
The longest story is not one that I enjoyed very much. "Natalya, Queen of the Hungry Dogs" essentially features a character meeting up with a terminally ill best friend who oddly requests his help to prepare for some dangers on the other side. This story had a pretty unique take on the afterlife and what kind of beings inhabit it, but I can't say that I really liked it. Also, at the heart of the story, the title character is a petulant, angry young child — a character type which I really don't like.
 
The title track, "Lost in the Dark" was classically creepy, though wrapped in a format that is somewhat meta. We have someone interviewing a filmmaker for a documentary. What put that filmmaker on the map was a horror film based on an account told by her father involving a mysterious woman at the centre of some dark and gruesome events that became an urban legend. I enjoyed this story, despite it being one of the scarier ones, but the story-within-a-story-within-a-story structure made it a little confusing.
 
The last story of the set, "Snakebit, or Why I (Continue to) Love Horror", has even more fun with story format and structure. It feels like a discussion with John Langan (though he doesn't name himself, and it's probably not much based in reality) about why he's so committed to writing horror fiction. Starting with a premise ("Give me a story about a college professor having a mid-life crisis, and I'm not that interested. Add a Lamia to the mix, however, and I'm on board.") he walks the reader through variations on how he could tell that story — and in the process, tells us the story. This meta approach puts a fun spin on it; however, I didn't find the story itself very compelling (at least not until he discusses the different endings a writer could try, and the ending he ends up choosing — that was fun).
 
One of my favourites of the bunch is called "Haak", and it's ostensibly a story told by a university professor to his class — Langan, again, seems to be playing with our sense of reality — about Heart of Darkness author Joseph Conrad's experience while convalescing at a mountain spa in Switzerland. The Conrad character befriends a ferry captain who shows Conrad to a hidden lake and tells him a bizarre and fascinating history of events that happened there. That story is also a surprise — revealing itself as a dark retelling of a popular, classic children's tale. You will both recognize it and not recognize it at the same time.
 
My other favourite, "Oscar Returns from the Dead, Prophesizing", also had a surprising twist. The narrator is telling his son the strange tale of how when he was younger, they were taking care of someone's pet gecko, and after the lizard died in their care, they buried it in the yard. Suffice to say, the lizard did not stay buried, and that's only the start of how wild this story goes. At first I was prepared to dismiss this one as Langan's attempt at telling a bit of a cozier, more lighthearted spooky tale, but I was impressed with how he took what started out as a quirky anecdote and built it up in tiny increments to a seriously sinister ending.
 
While I didn't love all of these stories, I also don't think there were any truly bad ones in the collection. They showcased very well how comfortable Langan is with writing in the horror genre. Even though many familiar tropes and story arcs were in play, Langan was able to write these stories in a fresh and engaging way. While I think that the longer form of The Fisherman was great, it was also essentially one story, bisected in the middle by another. Langan seems to be most comfortable telling shorter stories, and he seems to be good at it. He's got a number of other collections, so I get to look forward to several more spooky seasons' worth of stories.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Xanadu · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

This collection is front-loaded with quality, but the whole thing is a transporting, fantastic exploration of horror. Langan delivers some of his most intertextual and unconventional narratives, many delivered in conversational format. More than half the table of contents should be considered highlights, but the absolute best are probably: "Lost in the Dark," "My Father Dr. Frankenstein," "Haak," and "Breakwater."

[Joe Harper · Rating 4.25 out of 5]

★★★⯪☆ - Madame Painte: For Sale
★★★★☆ - Lost in the Dark
★★★★☆ - My Father, Dr. Frankenstein
★★★★☆ - A Song Only Partially Heard
★★★★⯪ - The Deep Sea Swell
★★★★★ - Haak
★★★⯪☆ - Breakwater
★★★★☆ - Errata
★★★★★ - Natalya, Queen of the Hungry Dogs
★★★★☆ - Oscar Returns from the Dead, Prophesizing
★★★★☆ - Alice's Rebellion
★★★★☆ - Snakebit, or Why I (Continue to) Love Horror
★★★☆☆ - Clapping Teeth and Driving Beats

[Florian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sadly, a few duds in here, but also a few standouts. Langan, on the whole, continues to be a fascinating writer. He manages to conjure up moments and ideas in very inspiring brevity and with efficient prose at some times, whereas at others his made up history are so riddled and elaborately detailed that they are frustrating and tiring to read (a quirk that he shares with a lot of horror writers imo).

Overall, the standouts of the collection were as follows:
- My Father, Dr. Frankenstein (the best one in here by a long shot)
- Natalya, Queen of Hungry Dogs
- Snakebit

Individual reviews below:
Madame Painte - For Sale (4/5): Fun idea, doesn’t overstay its welcome, and has those vibes of a story another child tells you at summer camp, which you realize once you’re older is clearly inspired by Chucky. Plus, I enjoyed that Langan puts a twist on the recipient of the story. Very cool stuff indeed.

Lost in the Dark (3.5/5): Unlike the previous one, this one indeed does overstay its welcome, but it is a very cool concept. A shlocky horror movie is revealed to maybe possibly be based on a real story. And I really enjoyed how there was this connection between the nun and that one woman who went mad (I’m terrible at remembering names).

My Father, Dr. Frankenstein (5/5): I really loved this one; a fantastic use of an experimental concept to tell the short story through and a very interesting story on top. It took me a moment to figure out what was going on, but once I did, I was fully on board, especially because bioengineering is just such an endearing topic.

A song only partially heard (2.5/5): Didn’t really do much for my tbh. I enjoyed the setting as well as the description of the siren (?), though.

The Deep Sea Swell (1.5/5): That one didn’t work for me at all, sadly. Couldn’t really focus on it either, though.

Haak (2.5/5): The second dud in a row. Not necessarily because I didn’t like what was happening, but because Langan insists (in many of his stories, but I found it particularly off-putting here) to rely on the horror trope of opening story within story within story. Maybe it is because I’m not a native reader, but something about that makes me lose absolute interest in what is happening in the tale within tale within tale. To me, I feel like I’m invested in the meta-narrative, why do you keep opening side tracks, while I do want to remain with the main narrative. I have to admit that Langan resolves it satisfyingly in the end, in that you get a reason for why the story has so many layers, but it still doesn’t make it an endearing reading experience for me. But I do have to say that I at least enjoyed the Greek parts in here as well as the general idea of it, just not the execution (maybe if he had framed the tale within a tale as its own chapter it would’ve been easier for me?).

Breakwater (3.5/5): I liked the whole idea of the thing, but the set-up is too simple to be described that elaborately (a thing that will come back in a later story), and then the pay-off is a little too small. Still, quite enjoyable to read.

Errata (4/5): I like how experimental yet sincere some of the concepts in this collection are, this one among them. I thought the Skype call was a little funny, but overall, the idea of an editor dispersing an evil spirit over so many books is very cool. And the self-insert works to make the thing more personal and creepy imo.

Natalya, Queen of the Hungry Dogs (4/5): Clearly one of the standouts in the collection, despite my relatively low rating. Similarly to Breakwater, the story sets itself up for too long. I always like the idea of a kid’s worldview growing into insanity once they gain control and are betrayed by reality. The story was also very vividly told, but I have the feeling (confirmed by the Story notes) that Langan kind of dragged the story out because the editor wanted a long one. Ultimately, the finale also lacked a little of what I wanted. The story even admits that it is a little bit of a deus-ex-machina. Still, shows off Langan’s talent as a writer remarkably, especially his elaborate, yet easy-to-comprehend prose.

Oscar returns from the Dead, Prophesizing (3/5): No hard feelings for this one, if I’m honest. It’s not bad, but it’s not amazing either.

Alice’s rebellion: I won’t give this one a rating as I am one of the few person’s I guess that does not have any relation to Alice in Wonderland. I do not know its characters except for what has slipped into popular culture, and thus was deaf to what this story did to them. It would be unfair to rate it low for me being an idiot, I guess.

Snakebit or why I (continue to) love horror (4.5/5): I love meta-shit like that, and I also thought that with it, Langan skipped over most of what makes the middle part of his stories a little sagging: the parts in which he elaborates on some history or another that make you feel as though you know where we’re heading are in here reduced to a mere outline of a story, instead focusing on developing the meta-narrative. I also liked that he gives insight on how he constructs his endings and then ends the story with one of the best endings I’ve read of him. Really cool stuff.

Clapping Teeth (or something): I cannot really rate this either because there was not much of it at all. Langan himself calls it a digestif which is what I will treat it as: not really a story, but a short shtick that he had laying around. And it does not go any deeper than ‘Spring may have zombies’. But it is also entertaining and not too long.

[Jay Rothermel · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Langan is the first horror writer since David Morrell to excel at "dialogue as action." 

His new collection, Lost In the Dark and Other Excursions, includes stories published between 2017 and 2020, as well as two works not previously published.

"Madame Painte: For Sale"
A sparkling concatenation of points of view: first, third, and finally second person, present and future tense. To say it explores a dangerous and inaniment garden gnome from Denmark only scratches the bravura surface.

"Lost in the Dark"
A wonderful found reportage/found footage framing contains a  report by John Langan, similar to an online post about "Blair Witch" or Jeff Strand's "Twentieth Anniversary Screening"(2021). It's all there in the fan-loving IMDB entry.

"My Father, Dr. Frankenstein
Cold War bioengineering sleight-of-hand plus the sons -doomed-by-fathers motif of U. S. fiction.

"A Song Only Partially Heard"
Angels and fatal workplace injuries are imaged, and chewed-over until transformed into holy things.

"The Deep Sea Swell"
Sea-sickness. The vertigo inherent in a passage over sunken Doggerland. Will the dead soon board, or have they already?

"Haak"
College professor gives an optional lecture on personal sources of Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" in a red-litten classroom.

"Breakwater"
Private dick thinks she is turning the tables on the spouse of her client, whom she fell for while investigating him for adultery.

   The screen of Maureen’s computer flickered, and the image of Frank disappeared, to be replaced by the gmail login page, on which was the message “Error: Account Not Found.” A second later, a pop sounded inside the computer’s tower, and the screen went black. The machine sighed, and the power light blinked off. A strong odor of burnt plastic and metal issued from the stack. Maureen spent the next several minutes attempting to resuscitate it, but whatever malware Louise had employed had reduced the computer to an oversized paperweight. Maureen checked her phone, but it showed no evidence of her e-mail account, either. As more and more of her business had involved an online component, Maureen had armored her PC with successive firewalls, a squadron of the most efficient anti-malware available. For Louise to have slipped through all of it was more than a little intimidating. Maureen’s phone buzzed; she checked it, only to discover it, too, had been rendered inert.


"Errata"
"errata made flesh or…whatever."
Author John Langan gets some troubling news about certain copies of his books.

   When I glanced back at the tablet, the screen had gone black. Ross’s voice said, “I’m really sorry,” and cut out. I pressed the power button a couple of times, to no effect. (Later, the repair guy in town would tell me the device was hopelessly dead, its circuits melted. “What’d you do to this?” he asked; I had no good answer for him.)


"Natalya, Queen of the Hungry Dogs"
Cancer. Riptides. Brothers and Sisters. Crown. Limbo.
This is a superb work of short fiction. Straubian par excellence in its depiction of a horrific, compelling after-life brother-and-sister showdown.

"Oscar Returns from the Dead, Prophesizing"
Remember when the Three Stooges took up plumbing? Or the dad in "The Coffee Table" supervised the baby and the titular table while his wife went to the grocery store?  "Oscar Returns from the Dead, Prophesizing" is a slow motion reality-warping trainwreck, delightful and meticulous, then eerie, then hopeless for the protagonist.

"Alice's Rebellion"
Fairy tale action. Of a sort.

"Snakebit, Or Why I (Continue to) Love Horror"
A story disguised as notes for a story. A writer's diary predicting future criss-crossings of life. A tale about an isolated eyelet where sculptures and an avatar have a famous woman recluse linger to excite the imagination and responsibility of husband and wife professionals, each for their own reasons.

"Clapping Teeth and Driving Beats"
A prose poem of sorts. The shortest Langan work I have read.

[….] The other thing about zombies in the spring—it has to do with music. As the weather improves, people open the windows of their houses, their cars, turn up whatever’s on DST or Spotify or on disc or record.

* * *

In his introduction to Lost In the Dark and Other Excursions, Victor LaValle notes many of Langan's strengths. I added hashtags to those I found most correct:

#tremendous

#knotty

#discursive

#thorny

#weighty

#invigorating

#substantial

#playfulness

#wit

#funny

#playful

#effective

#masterpiece

#wonder

#satisfying

* * *

I agree with LaValle.

[Johan Haneveld · Rating 5 out of 5]

10- I thoroughly enjoyed this collection by my favourite living horror author, whose short stories to me approach perfection (even if I would sometimes wish for a bit more clarity in the endings, the 'not knowing exactly what happens' is obviously part of the horror). As always Langan manages to unsetle the reader with suggestion, avoiding obvious scare tactics and blood and gore, trusting on associations and implications and his great prose creating a great sense of atmosphere. He has a knack for describing characters, making you instantly involved in their lives and then their assumptions crumbling down. And asides from that he is not afraid to experiment. He has stories here that take the form of footnotes to a non-existing novel ('My Father, Dr. Frankenstein') and an article about a horror-movie - that use the form to create doubt as to the reality of what is described in a very effective way. Also he does not shy away from regular horror-creatures, ending up in the abstract. No, there is a zombie here (albeit a zombie gecko), a scary garden gnome and a lamia. Also there is a lot of intertextuality (besides mentions of fellow horror authors and some meta commentary on his own work), with a tale about Alice in Wonderland (commenting on our current situation as a society in a brilliant and scary way) and one about Peter Pan (with Joseph Conrad thrown in the mix).
Thematically there is a lot to say about this collection, that more than any earlier collection of Langan seems to deal with religious themes. The afterlife, and the mystery thereof, is in important part - explicitly so in several stories, but mainly in 'Natalya, Queen of the Hungry Dogs', where a man spending time with his friend who is dying is asked to accompany him on a strange journey. This one was scary and surprising. The theme of faces or depictions thereof being changed on one side, mostly the eye being a hole, returns as well - suggesting to me a distortion of perception, or how we cannot trust our perception. The third theme is that of the sea and water and the coast - with journeys across the ocean and waves devouring coastlines and islands take place (also in Natalya). The idea - to me - seems to be that oceans and what is under water is unknoweable, unpredictable, and if you go under you mostly cannot rise up to tell about what happens under water - this being true for death as well. What we have are stories - of near death experiences of religious experiences - but with stories we have to decide whether we trust them. We build our convictions on stories often coming to us from past generations, told and retold. In this collection story telling seems a theme as well, like in the title story, 'Lost in the Dark', or in 'Snakebit', that is all tell and no show. But it still works.
I like these kind of horror stories a lot. In 2026 there will be a new novel from Langan, following on from his 'The Fisherman', and he has also written a Conan The Barbarian-novel. I look forward to reading them both. And any new short story collection he decides to publish!

[Ethan · Rating 4 out of 5]

So glad to read more Langan after I absolutely loved The Fisherman a couple years back. He's in excellent form here, with a great through line that connects all these stories juuuust enough without feeling like they need to be read together, and some really amazing format experiments. Like all anthologies though, there's some here that are better than others.

Madame Painte: For Sale 4/5
Nice short spooky chiller with a great formal twist in the POV.

Lost in the Dark 4.5/5
A Blair Witch adjacent thing with a bit of a metafiction slant. The movie described sounds pretty bad but that actually works in this story's favor. A bit of an abrupt ending (a common theme in this collection, if I'm honest), but some very spooky stuff.

My Father, Dr. Frankenstein 4.5/5
I loved the format of this one as the premise slowly unfurls itself. This would have greatly benefitted from some illustrations, particularly diagrams/notes, etc.

A Song Only Partially Heard 4/5
Some terrific gore but too short to really do anything special, I think.

The Deep Sea Swell 4/5
This is straight out of a Creepshow segment - ymmv if that's something you're into, but I love the monster design.

Haak 4.5/5
The Great God Pan x Peter Pan with some other meta stuff going on here, which I really really liked. This is the kind of storytelling Langan excels at, with a story within a story within a story.

Breakwater 3/5
The weak point for me. Wasn't scary, ended oddly, but was still compelling.

Errata 4/5
Perfect placement in here for a short meta story. Shades of The Magnus Archives.

Natalya, Queen of the Hungry Dogs 5/5
If you liked The Fisherman, this is the one that will resonate the most. Some similar themes and storytelling mechanisms, genuinely scary, very good. Maybe a bit longer than it needed to be, but I loved this one. Feels also a bit like King's Revival.


Oscar Returns from the Dead, Prophesizing 4.5/5
Twist at the end of this one is extremely fun. Pretty unique, a little Twilight Zone-y maybe, but some of the off-kilter choices make it pretty memorable,

Alice's Rebellion 4/5
Riffing on Alice in Wonderland aesthetics and modern politics - pretty fun but pretty inconsequential as well.

Snakebit, Or Why I (Continue to) Love Horror 5/5
The formal exercise here is super unique and I love what it allows Langan to do with the ending. This is written as an essay describing what a hypothetical story could be, but it still tells that story, which is pretty good and pretty spooky and has an absolutely killer ending.

Clapping Teeth and Driving Beats 3/5
Doesn't tonally fit the rest of the book here I think but it's a nice light note to end on.

Total average- 4.15

[Cory Brock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having only previously read The Fisherman, I wasn't aware just how much John Langan plays with how a story is told. I really enjoyed the different approaches he took in this collection, and enjoyed the majority of the stories overall (not all of them hit for me, but I could at least appreciate what he was doing).

If you're not familiar with what I'm referring to, just understand that Langan apparently likes to convey narratives in a non-traditional manner (not always, but it definitely seems to be his thing). This is especially apparent in the titular story "Lost in the Dark" (which I'd previously read, and had since forgotten about, in Ellen Datlow's anthology Haunted Nights), in which the majority of the narrative is told via a summary of movie scenes. Another example is "Snakebit, Or Why I (Continue to) Love Horror" which has Langan telling a story by explaining how he, as a writer, would build the story. It's all very different and very unique, and it's fun to read (though I don't think I could binge his work; it gets to be a bit much after a while).

Overall, I really enjoyed this collection, and I'd like to track down more of his shorter work. While I enjoyed The Fisherman, I can't say I loved it, and it may have had something to do with length. I think Langan works much better for me in short form.

[Aaron Burke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another pretty decent collection of Langan stories here, with a smattering of major standouts and perhaps, for me anyway, a couple of duds.

The titular 'Lost in the Dark' struck me as an especially well executed take on dark historical truth shrouded deeply in mystery, turned small town urban legend and local haunt, turned total pop culture phenomenon. It wears its influences pretty strongly (The Blair Witch Project) but never in a way I found distracting, and only serves as a vessel for this tale to be delivered. it's no surprise it serves as the collections namesake.

Other hits for me were 'Madame Painte: For Sale' (some of the gruesome visuals are stuck with me), 'Haak' (Peter Pan reinvented for the dark fantasy horror fan) 'Natalya, Queen of the Hungry Dogs' (literally the type of story that keeps me hooked on Langan) and I really appreciated the little bits of connective tissue between 'A Song Only Partially Heard' and 'The Deep Sea Swell' (lots of nautical themes happening in this here collection).

My enjoyment of the other stories here wandered from boredom to tedium at times, but I can't say there's one here I disliked so much that I couldn't find some merits in. Well, maybe the one tagged on zombie story at the very end... whenever Langan writes about zombies it rolls of my brain like water off a ducks ass.

[Melissa Leitner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read various short pieces of Langan's work in anthologies, but this is my first time reading a collection that is solely comprised of his work. I think taking the collection as a whole really highlights how masterful Langan is at crafting a dread-inducing narrative. He has such a firm grasp on the ability to pace a story correctly that no matter how long a story is, I never wanted to stop reading. Every single story in this collection is memorable, whether they were a few pages long or over fifty. Some highlights for me were the titular Lost in the Dark, Haak, and Oscar Returns from the Dead, Prophesizing. The opening story was a fantastic way to let the reader know the types of stories that the rest of the collection included, while the end story left me with such a silly smirk on my face. The last story is among the shortest (if not the shortest) in the collection and really drives home Langan's ability to tackle humor in such a compelling (and still horrific) way. If you haven't already read Langan and you are a horror fan, you need to.