Drabbledark: An Anthology of Dark Drabbles

Drabbledark

by Eric S. Fomley (Editor), Jonathan Ficke, Zoey Hedman

Drabbledark: An Anthology of Dark Drabbles is an anthology of drabbles, stories of exactly 100 words in length. Within these pages are 101 tales of dark fantasy, horror, and science fiction from 86 new and veteran voices of speculative fiction. This anthology combines both original fiction and reprints, with a majority of original fiction, celebrating the power of micro flash fiction in the form of dark plots and themes.

Aditya Deshmukh - “Sunlight”
Alex Shvartsman - “Chill”
Alison Faye - “Prisoner”
A.M. Kalmus - “Repast”
B.B. Blazkowicz - “Amongst Marble and the Dead”
Bart Van Goethem - “The Choice”
Brandon Barrows - “Broken”
Brenda Anderson - “The Lady on the Bus”
C. Cooch - “Death Rush”
Carol Rosalind Smith - “The Devil Within”
Chloe-Helen Morgan - “Tepid Toes”
Christina Sng - “Luci” & “The Future Conquerers”
Clio Nima - “The Annual Visit”
Craig Faustus Buck - “The Hatbox”
Dan Allen - “Virgil’s Load”
Daniel Pietersen - “The Ebbing Tide Calls”
Danielle DeLisle - “Body Jewelry”
David Afsharirad - “Tiny Door”
David Bernard - “Autumn Leaves” & “Inspiration Point”
David Rae - “What Alice Wants”
Dennis Mombauer - “The Rusted Island”
Denny E. Marshall - “The Program”
Denzell Cooper - “A Lonely Road”
Diane Arrelle - “A Small Misunderstanding” & “Not Worried”
Douglas Prince - “A Time and a Place” & “On a Wing and a Prayer” & “The Thing in the Walls”
Edward Ashton - “The Light”
Edward Palumbo - “The Basement”
Elizabeth Dearborn - “Skin and Bone” & “Suicide Hotline”
Ericka Kahler - “The Road Warrior”
Ethan Hedman - “Lost Life”
Ezekiel Kincaid - “Alien Autopsy”
F.E. Clark - “Earth Angel”
Gabrielle Bleu - “Self-Destruction by Steel”
Gary Cuba - “Ranger Ned Comes to Save the Day”
George Nikolopoulos - “The Mirror in the Bathroom”
Hamilton Kohl - “The Waxing of a Blood Moon”
Holly Schofield - “Lesson Learned”
I.E. Kneverday - “Dr. Albie”
Jack Wolfe Frost - “The Smell”
Jade Swann - “Midnight Imposter”
James Ebersole - “Feralization”
Jan Kaneen - “Blood Will Out”
Jason Plouffe - “Tricks for Kids”
Jennifer Moore - “Poison Pen Letter”
Jillian Bost - “Iron Will”
Joachim Heijndermans - “I Slew the Blackwing”
John H. Dromey - “An Ineffable Situation” & “Enchanted Leftovers” & “Next Time Look in the Cabbage Patch”
John Kujawski - “Blood Transfusion”
Jonathan Ficke - “Dark Goddess” & “The Thirst of War”
Karen Heslop - “There’ll Always be Tears”
Karl El-Koura - “Counting Corpses”
Karl Lykken - “All You Love Is Need”
Kim Plasket - “Grave Error” & “Something”
Lindy Greaves - “For Sale in Myanmar”
Maddy Hamley - “Techitis”
Melanie Noell Bernard - “Dirge”
Michael Balletti - “Secret Rendezvous”
Michael Carter - “The Pickup”
Michelle Ann King - “Precious Things”
Mike Murphy - “Head Case”
Mikko Rauhala - “No Rapture”
Nico Bell - “The Candy Factory”
Nora Weston - “An Undeniable Truth”
P.R. O’Leary - “I Do”
Patrick Crossen - “It’s a Living”
Patrick Winters - “Bogeyman” & “Poor Nathan” & “The Basement”
R.G. Halstead - “Love and Hate”
River Rivers - “Xi’s Beast”
Robert Dawson - “Confession”
Russell Hemmell - “Silicon Twins”
Sara Codair - “Gala Down”
Scott Hughes - “It Knocked”
Scott King - “Feasting for Gods”
Shaun Avery - “Walkers”
Shawn Klimek - “The Jealous Wish”
Simon Pinkerton - “Parasite”
Stella Turner - Retribution
Stephen D. Rogers - “We are the Glittereans”
Steve Campbell - “She’d Expected To See Some Blood”
Stuart Conover - “Pushing Forward”
Tamlyn Dreaver - “Blood Rain” & “The Woods Behind the House”
Tamoha Sengupta - “The Trunk”
Tianna Grosch - “Human in Any Other Form” & “Saturn’s Final Rotation” & “Six More Weeks of Winter”
Tiffany Michelle Brown - “Survival”
Wendy Nikel - “The Blackbird King”
Will Shadbolt - “Ghosts of the Past”

Genres: Horror

110 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 20, 2018

Reviews

[ikwi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Drabbledark, edited by Eric Fomley, is an anthology of 100-word-long stories (drabbles) that slither and slide along the darkest edges of fantasy, science fiction, realism, and humor.

As a supporter of a crowdfunding campaign for a different publication by the same editor, I received Drabbledark in three electronic formats (pdf, epub, and mobi). I looked at the epub and pdf versions in detail, and the formatting is excellent. I read the entire anthology on the my phone (epub); the layout is clean and beautiful. I am sure reading on a Kindle or a nook would be just as enjoyable.

The collection contains 101 drabbles by 86 authors. Most stories are original submissions, the rest are high-quality reprints. If you've never read microfiction, be forewarned that reading 101 100-word pieces requires considerably more focus than reading 10,100 words of a longer piece. A drabble is the double-espresso shot to a short story's or novella's 20-oz filter coffee. A well-written drabble can deliver great emotional impact and demands great reader engagement, because every word matters. Luckily for us readers, Drabbledark contains many well-written drabbles.

The collection covers a remarkable range of topics: ghosts and apparitions, goblins, vampires, curses, the devil in its many forms, human sacrifices, body horror, cannibals, psychopaths and other murderers, entrapment, real monsters and monsters within us (especially within children), mirrors (a perennial motif in dark fiction), dystopia, artificial intelligence, politics, aliens, genetic engineering, space travel, addiction, suicide, child abuse, and, thankfully, some humor. Some of my favorites from the collection include "Body Jewelry", "Poor Nathan", "The Lady on the Bus", "Lesson Learned", "Feralization", "Suicide Hotline", "Enchanted Leftovers", "Inspiration Point", "Ghosts of the Past", "Midnight Imposter", "A Small Misunderstanding", "What Alice Wants", but this list is far from exhaustive.

In summary, I greatly enjoyed reading Drabbledark. Owing to the breadth of topics and quality of stories, which were presented within an elegant,  reader-friendly layout, I would highly recommend Drabbledark as a quick introduction to the genre of dark fiction. However, beware: a likely side effect of reading this ambitious anthology of blood-curdling gems is a frighteningly deep, almost otherworldly attachment to microfiction.

[Lee Conley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A review of
Drabbledark: An Anthology of Dark Drabbles
Edited by Eric S Fomley

This book is a collection of delightfully sinister pieces of flash fiction, known apparently as Drabbles. I am new to the world of Drabbles and flash fiction, this being my first time trying it out. And I must say it was a fun read.
So what is a Drabble? Each Drabble is only 100 words or less, which generally fits on to a single page. There is a short bio of the author following each Drabble, so in most cases each piece only takes up two pages. This particular book features a collection of horror and dark fantasy pieces.
I found it a very quick and easy read, each Drabble takes only a minute or two to read so you can pick it up and read even if you only have a few minutes and still get through several clever little pieces of flash fiction. I generally read it in thirty minute intervals and got through dozens in each sitting. Its quick, fun and refreshing.
There is a wide variety of Horror and Fantasy Drabbles on display here. Some were pure fantasy, others dark fantasy, some are pure modern horror. There really is a massive variety of style in this book, a bit of everything really. I found the concept and skill of the authors quite impressive – to be able to convey a story in only 100 words is truly a skill.

Some I particularly liked. My favourites were:
Tricks for Kids, Feasting for gods, Chill, An Undeniable Truth, The Blackbird King, She’d Expected To See Some Blood, Tiny Door, Repast, Feralization, Tenebris Borealis, Ranger Ned Comes to Save the Day, The Hatbox, Enchanted Leftovers, The Pickup, Alien Autopsy, On a Wing and a Prayer, The Thirst of War, Self Destruction by Steel, A Lonely Road, Iron Will, Counting Corpses, No Rapture, Blood Rain, I Slew the Blackwing, Mortwood Abbey.
There really are so many more fantastic little pieces, too many to list here.

After reading this I must admit, I have been trying my hand at writing Drabbles of my own and it has been great fun. Perhaps one day you may even see a Drabble of mine in a collection like this who knows.

I would like to say thank you to Eric for kindly providing me with an ARC copy of Drabbledark and introducing me to the world of dark flash fiction and Drabbles.
I would certainly recommend this to any fan of horror or fantasy. It makes an excellent pallet cleanser or if you are in need of a book to read in short intervals, even alongside other longer novels.
It’s been great fun reading and reviewing this. A solid 4.5 stars.

Thanks for reading,
Lee

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very Quick, Very Creepy

I read these as “snacks” during slow moments—at work, in line somewhere, and so on. The whole anthology is okay, but I have several new authors to check out and see if their larger works are even better!

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyably dark collection of 100-word stories to dip in and out of. Perfect for that quick horror fix.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

All kinds of darkness

A great collection of some incredible and dark drabbles. On numerous occasions I was amazed at how 100 words could unnerve me so.

[CJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some hits, some misses. It's interesting to see how much plot you can put into a story that's only a hundred words long. "Enchanted Leftovers" by John H. Dromey was my favorite, but "The Thing in the Walls" by Douglas Prince packed quite a punch, too. And "Tiny Door" was a great creepy story by my brother-in-law David Afsharirad.

[Natsumi Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, would highly recommend, especially if anyone is looking for a short, creepy read.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Drabbles are 100-word stories. But don't mistake brevity for shallowness. A good drabble will stick with you long after reading.

In any anthology, you'll find some hits and some misses. It's all subjective. So it's impressive to find an anthology of 101 stories and enjoy almost all of them.

A few of my favorites—

"The Mirror in the Bathroom," which is the very first one! Starting strong
"On a Wing and a Prayer"
"No Rapture"
"Blood Rain"

There were a few grammatical errors; several stories misused "it's." And one story in particular—I won't call it out—was so oddly written that I spent more time wondering if it was intentional than I did reading the story. So, not a perfect read for me, but pretty close.

[Kimberly Purcell · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with most anthologies, there are some great, good and not so good. I found there to be a mixture of them all. The highlight of the book was how the editor chose to end it. No spoilers from me.

As the title says, these are dark and not just horror. However, my favorite are those that have a twist at the end. Now that says something when you can lead the reader down a path and then twist it, all in one hundred words. Brilliant!

[Eddie D. Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of these stories are and a few, well, not so much. My favorite was close to the end, maybe your head won’t explode when you get there.

The biggest drawback was the sound quality. It sounded like the narrator was reading from inside a metal bucket.

My review is for the audio version which isn’t listed on Goodreads.

[Dan Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This format is fun! You get to the punch in seconds.

[A.M. Bochnak · Rating 3 out of 5]

so, so... some were good.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

They're like potato chips. If you don't like one, well, maybe the next one will. Overall these worked.

[Zoe Kaplan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Highlights: "Enchanted Leftovers" by John H. Dromey and "No Rapture" by Mikko Rauhala

[Ronald · Rating 4 out of 5]

good collections