The Fiends in the Furrows: An Anthology of Folk Horror

The Fiends in the Furrows #1

by David T. Neal (Editor), Christine M. Scott (Editor), Stephanie Ellis

The Fiends in the Furrows: An Anthology of Folk Horror is a collection of nine short stories that hew both to the earthy traditions and blaze new trails in Folk Horror.

Fans of Folk Horror, as well as those unfamiliar with it, will find horrors galore in these stories. Themes of rural isolation and insularity, paranoia, mindless and monstrous ritual, as well as arcane ceremonies clashing against modern preoccupations run through these stories. Nosetouch Press is proud to bring The Fiends in the Furrows: An Anthology of Folk Horror to horror enthusiasts everywhere.

FEATURING:

Coy Hall | “Sire of the Hatchet”

Sam Hicks | “Back Along the Old Track”

Lindsay King-Miller | “The Fruit”

Steve Toase | “The Jaws of Ouroboros”

Eric J. Guignard | “The First Order of Whaleyville’s Divine Basilisk Handlers”

Romey Petite | “Pumpkin, Dear”

Stephanie Ellis | “The Way of the Mother”

Zachary Von Houser | “Leave the Night”

S.T. Gibson | “Revival”

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Fantasy, Folklore, Short Story Collection

215 pages, Paperback

First published September 20, 2018

About the author

Editor. Also writes under D.T. Neal

Reviews

[Berengaria · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars

short review for busy readers: A surprisingly good anthology of 9 folk horror stories with uniformly high-quality writing, even if the strongest stories in plot/concept are towards the front. Some gore, but not much. Lots of organic/ecological horror. Ranges from dark fantasy, over New Weird to Grimm Brothers' style nursery rhyme creep. This is the first in a series of three volumes (to date).

in detail:
First a definition of Folk Horror from the book: At its heart, this highly subjective subgenre of Horror is weird fiction firmly rooted in European pagan tradition—with superstition, folklore, belief, and modernity clashing in ill-omened and menacing ways.

I'm not sure all of the stories in this anthology fit that definition, but at least half of them are well worth a read for fans of the creepy who don't go in for the slasher stuff. I very much enjoyed it.

Here is a run down of the individual stories with ratings:

Sire of the Hatchet: (5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐) A very creepy medieval-esque tale of two executioners coming to a backwood village to squeeze a confession of baby murder from a young girl before executing her. Once there, they can't quite believe their eyes as to the reality of the case and of the village itself.

Back along the Old Track (4 stars⭐⭐⭐⭐) a modern story of a holidaymaker in a small village in England who inadvertently witnesses the problems his inbreed farmer neighbours are having with one of their recently deceased. "They don't die right" is an understatement!

The Fruit (5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐) Holy crap, I don't think I've ever been this unsettled by a story before. Superb! A lesbian couple take part in the yearly fruit harvest in a demonic local orchard. One of them is accidentally jabbed by a thorn, and suddenly the orchard doesn't seem so demonic any more...serious bio-horror ensues!

The Jaws of Ouroboros (4 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐) Fine New Weird fiction! The old stone circles, which were the teeth of subterranean monsters, have awoken and are eating the landscape -- dirt, farms, animals, people and all. The by-product is a highly addictive ambergris that local drug lords want to get their hands on. Two ambergris collectors fall afoul of their buyer in a rather gristly -- and shockingly mineral -- fashion!

The First Order of Whaleyville's Divine Basilisk Handlers (3 stars ⭐⭐⭐) I'm unsure if this is supposed to be a satire on horror in general, or if it's serious. In any case, this story of an attack of basilisk from a rival snake-handling church doesn't go well for any of the faithful in Whaleyville. Awkward, as it seems to want to be comic, but not really.

Pumpkin Dear (4 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐) A creative mash-up of the nursery rhyme "Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater" and the legend of Jack 'o the Lantern. Some phenomenal images and scenes, but is slightly over-long. In need of just a light edit to hit 5 stars.

The Way of the Mother (3 stars ⭐⭐⭐) Dark fantasy with a Lord of the Forest and a mysteriously invisible village in his thrall. Only at the end does it become what I'd term folk horror when the mother of a family is sacrificed to keep the village safe from the modern world. Fantasy is really not my thing, so I didn't enjoy this one so much. You might more.

Leave the Night (3 stars ⭐⭐⭐) A town that time forgot and their bizarre yearly ritual out at the old glass factory. Lovecraftian in concept (reminiscent of The Shadow over Innsmouth), but written in a too vague and poetic a style and with too slow and meandering of a plot to make a lasting impression.

Revival (4 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐) a good story, but not one I'd term folk horror as it's about evangelical Christian snake handlers and the understanding and friendship the daughter of the family has with the cottonmouths they keep for their preaching. Not unsettling or even scary unless you have a snake phobia.

[Adrienne L · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good collection that surpassed my expectations and gave me the folk horror vibes I was looking for.  While I enjoyed some stories more than others, there wasn't a poorly written one in the bunch.  

The stories and their individual ratings:

"Sire of the Hatchet" - Very Witchfinder General-esque.  With creepy root infants! 5 stars

"Back Along the Old Track" - Stranger chooses the wrong time to vacation in an old village. 5 stars

"The Fruit" - Surreal, earthy, insidious, and darkly romantic. - 4 stars

"The Jaws of Ouroboros" - What if standing stones are actually teeth?! Amazing concept, but didn't care for the crime element. 3 stars

"The First Order of Whaleyville's Divine Basilisk Handlers" - A new type of snake handler religion. 3.5 stars

"Pumpkin, Dear" - Peter Piotrowsky could not explain his headless wife's return. A different take on jack o' lantern lore. 4 stars

"The Way of the Mother" - When the boundary between the Weald and the world gets hazy, a sacrifice is required. 4 stars

"Leave the Night" - An accident brings a stranger to a mysterious village preserved in the past.  Wicker Man vibes. 4.5 stars

"Revival" - More snake handling. 3 stars

Admittedly, I'm a traditionalist when it comes to most horror tropes, including folk horror.  I prefer my stories to stick to the isolated village, the boreal forests, the windswept coasts, so I definitely enjoyed those stories more that leaned into these familiar approaches.  However, I can also appreciate those stories that do something a bit different, a bit more modern with folk horror elements.  I look forward to checking out the next volume of The Fiend in the Furrows .

[Stephanie (Books in the Freezer) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars
I really enjoyed this collection of stories. I have wondered what technically falls into the "folk horror" definition, and these were all held together by a great atmosphere and "old world/ old ways" twist that I enjoyed. My favorites were: The Fruit by Lindsay King-Miller, "The Way of the Mother" by Stephanie Ellis, and "Sire of the Hatchet" by Coy Hall. There were a few authors in here I hadn't heard of, but hope to see more from in the future. Recommend for people who are interested in folk horror. A perfect time to read this would be during "harvest season."

[Doug Bolden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review Summary: Solid collection that takes a look at a variety of angles of "folk horror" and tries a few new elements. First half is great and only wanes a bit towards the end when the themes start overtly repeating. Recommended for those who like short, effective horror and who might want to branch out from some of the oft-anthologized, bigger-name writers.

=== Review ===

I do not remember when I got this book but at some point I read the first story and then put it down (well, figuratively, it is an ebook). After the slug through of The Lords of Salem I wanted something else that might have an old-timey, witchy vibe with new sensibilities and picked this one. I went ahead and it read from the beginning so it would be fresh. The fact that I knew essentially none of the authors was a bonus.

I am not 100% sure I could (or would) define the line where folk horror starts and rural or backwoods or swamp, etc horror ends. The introduction does not really nail it for me. "Weird fiction firmly rooted in the European Pagan tradition," definitely describes some things that feel folk horror to me, but also describe things that do not. It also leaves out a number of things are very folk, but not very EuroPagan. I just want things that bring up that strange vibe of local legends, the way old shadows sometimes cling to out-of-the-way places. Horror that triggers the same sort of vibe that growing up around folks that considered the devil and demons and bigfoot and ghosts all to be very real with very real considerations.

This collection mostly hits that vibe. I had a great time. The opening story "Sire of the Hatchet" feels right on for blending that "folk" vibe with some new-Weird salt while still managing to reach out and touch older stories like "Randall's Round" in its genetic code. And then the next story, "Back Along the Old Track," shifts into the modern era with the conflict being the witnessing of an old traditional funeral where socially awkward set-pieces give away to a twist. "The Fruit," then goes for a more timeless, surreal approach that hits a similar vein as Eric LaRocca about a community that is bound to a ritual of harvesting fruit that has many rules and dangers. "The Jaws of Ouroboros" is a brilliantly bonkers high concept story of standing stone circles being teeth from dormant mouths that wake up and begin to eat the land around them and how they produce a substance that is worked into a new drug trade. Finishing out the strong and varied opening we get "The First Order of Whaleyville's Divine Basilisk Handlers" which adds a mythical edge to the rural American South trope of snake handling.

These opening five are varied, each doing something new and different while still playing off something that feels "folk". The latter half did wane a bit but not right away. "Pumpkin Dear," has some top notch visuals (a wife back from the dead and wearing a pumpkin as a head) and some twee connections to the "history of Halloween" but it felt less punchy than the ones that proceeded it. "The Way of the Mother," gives a snippet of a larger mythology and the ending is definitely brutal and memorable but there's a bit of confusion to be had before you get to it (and the isolated community full of rules has been done before). The first proper misstep is somewhere in the longer-than-the-others "Leave the Night" which misses some beats with pacing and language and ends up feeling like Thomas Ligotti redux. Finally, "Revival," could have been fine but it's another story about snake handling and in a collection this size, that is too many.

Strong opening. Decently strong second third. Last third feels like it drains the momentum. Still, it scratched the itch I had.

[Matt Spencer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Take a tour through the haunted backwoods

A uniformally excellent collection, showcasing the versatile potential of the folk horror subgenre, and I can't say enough good things about how well it consistently hit the spot for me. Every entry's a winner, and let's face it, it's rare to be able to say that about even the best anthologies. Lindsay King-Miller's The Fruit stands out as a surreal, haunting, darkly romantic masterpiece...and the collection saves the best for last with S.T. Gibson's Revival, an oddly sweet tale that genuinely gripped me from start to finish like few pieces of writing are capable of doing. One interesting consistency I noticed throughout: whenever (despite my enjoyment) I thought I pretty much saw where a given story was headed, it more or less always wound up doing something at least a little different than could have guessed, and not in a cheap "subverting expectations" way, either. If you're looking for your next dark short fiction anthology, look no further.

[Mindi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was sent to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I cannot get enough of horror folklore. I think I've read more folklore this year than ever, and I still want more. There's just something so appealing about stories that have been passed down through generations of people. And this anthology does an amazing job of playing with the genre and adding a modern touch to traditional folktales.

The absolute standout for me was The Fruit by Lindsay King-Miller. Every year people are summoned to the orchards at Genesis Farms to harvest the fruit. The people come to work not for money but out of obligation. Ada and Evelyn answer the call with the rest of the town, but Evelyn insists that her wife stays on the ground and holds the ladder so that she won't have to do the picking. They are cautious because the trees are dangerous. Sometimes the fruit whispers if you get close enough. And you never want to touch the trees or the fruit with your bare hands. Evelyn and Ada are careful, but one mistake is all it takes to turn their lives upside down.

Sire of the Hatchet by Coy Hall is about two executioners who find something disturbing in the woods on the way to an execution. The village of Strattonwick has a witch that has been sentenced to death, but before the men can see to her execution, they learn something unexplainable about the people of Strattonwick. Something that will change how they deal with the woman people call a witch.

The Jaws of the Ouroboros by Steve Toase is unlike any story I've read before. Two young men supply a powerful drug dealer with an very unusual and hard to obtain drug. When one of them tries to stop living a life of murder and crime, the drug kingpin sets out to find him and bring him back.

Pumpkin, Dear by Romey Petite is about an unfaithful wife who comes back from the dead. At first her husband adjusts to the idea of her return, but the wife ultimately has a plan for the person who cut off her head.

And the last story I'll mention is unique. The Way of the Mother by Stephanie Ellis is a tale about a town that refuses to live with the advancements of the modern day. However, someone is always weak to the lure of technology, and the town must pay a debt in blood to keep the modern world from encroaching. This seems like such a likely scenario, and the way the town pushes out the modern world is truly gruesome and fascinating.

This is a fantastic collection of folk horror. I'm definitely interested in finding other works from these authors. These stories are a solid and disturbing collection of folktales. I recommend this one to anyone who enjoys dark folklore.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes, I have a vested interest - my story is included BUT I loved the other stories. Earth-bound bodies, man-eating stone circles, the snakes of revivalists and pumpkin-headed revenants all portray the glory that is folk horror. Proud to be part of this.

[Beverley Lee]

Review to come!

[ThatBookish_deviant · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 ⭐️

This anthology of folk horror features nine short stories from nine authors. The only author I was already familiar with is S.T. Gibson. Of the collection just four stories stood out as worthy of reading again. Those stories were: “The Fruit” by Lindsay King-Miller, “Pumpkin, Dear” by Romey Petite, “Leave The Night” by Zachary Von Houser and “Revival” by S.T. Gibson.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this anthology. I was often left feeling like I needed more story - they were too short, I wanted more! - and that's fantastic. Creepy, strange, unexpected, and bizarre. Definitely looking up more by each of these authors!

[Catherine McCarthy]

Please note, I do not rate on goodreads.

I love folk horror, and this anthology didn't disappoint. By the end, I felt immersed in times past and the scent of the land - exactly what I wanted from it.
I'd previously read about half the authors so knew they wouldn't disappoint. Most of the writing was very strong. Only two stories disappointed me a little, and that's down to personal taste.
By the way, I must give a shout-out to the cover artist as I think the cover really suits the theme.

[Brandee Taeubel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Check out this review and more on The Quill to Live!

Despite the desert heat, The Fiends in the Furrows sent shivers down my spine. This collection of folk horror stories from editors David T. Neal and Christine M. Scott inspired dread that haunted me throughout the week.

A few standout stories for me include Sire of the Hatchet for its ability to freak me out even when I walked my dog in the morning sun, The Fruit for the agonizing amount of dread it created, and Leave the Night for its beautiful prose and alcohol-induced fever dream that blurred the lines of reality.
Here’s an overview of the tales you’ll encounter:

Sire of the Hatchet – Coy Hall: The executioner is called to town to mete out justice but is unnerved by the thing tracking them in the woods.
Back Along the Old Track – Sam Hicks: The Sleators family makes a visitor’s respite from the city one that they will never forget.
The Fruit – Lindsay King-Miller: A couple beholden to harvesting the menacing fruit trees surrounding their town attempt to keep the whispers at bay.
The Jaws of Ouroboros – Steve Toase: The Earth opens its maw to consume itself but there is money to be made if you’re daring or stupid enough.
The First Order of Wahleyville’s Divine Basilisk Handlers – Eric J. Guignard: A young man’s faith is tested when basilisks visit his town.
Pumpkin, Dear – Romey Petite: An unhappy wife connects with the land and finds a way to claim what’s hers.
The Way of the Mother – Stephanie Ellis: Belief is a powerful thing, and the wayward minds in this village must learn the old ways or be punished.
Leave the Night – Zachary Von Houser: A man stumbles into an isolated town and struggles to grasp the events unfolding around him in his alcoholic haze.
Revival – S.T. Gibson: A young girl finds friendship among the snakes that serve in the reverend’s revivalist sermons.

Each story leans heavily into isolation and forces the reader to leave the comforts of their modern, busy city. Throughout the collection, you will become an outsider in a strange place or a resident of that strange place. Wherever you end up, plan to be made uncomfortable and feel totally out of your element. Every author generates these feelings in horrific ways whether roots ominously stalk you through the woods or a drug crime lord exploits you to do their bidding. The readers are at the mercy of strangers and their beliefs, and the modern world feels so far out of reach that it creates so much unease and hopelessness at times.

The stories also turn up the fear by punishing the main character’s curiosity. When we find ourselves in unknown situations, it’s human to want to collect more information and try to make sense of what’s happening around us. But when the characters ask questions or seek out information it makes their situation so much worse. You’re either made more uncomfortable with the shifty way everyone avoids your questions or they take it as an opportunity to reveal the horrors to you. In a horror context, it’s cruel and also incredible to watch these characters attempt to take back some power in the situation, only to have their efforts hurt them more and more.

The summer heat may be lingering, but you can find relief in the chills inspired by this collection. The Fiends in the Furrows is guaranteed to generate foreboding and fear, the only question is, when do you let the haunting season begin?

Rating: The Fiends in the Furrows - 9.0/10

[exorcismemily · Rating 4 out of 5]

"No one ever leaves. Harvesting is terrible. Not harvesting would be worse." - Lindsay King-Miller

The Fiends in the Furrows is a folk horror anthology from Nosetouch Press. There were 9 stories in here, and I had so much fun reading them!

Yesterday I was listening to the Ladies of Horror Fiction Podcast, and Gwendolyn Kiste was on as a special guest to talk about women horror authors and folk horror with the host, Toni from Misadventures of a Reader. They were talking about how folk horror is unique because the storylines tend to be religion-focused, but the religions are a wide range - they tend to either be intensely rule-based Protestant, charismatic, or pagan. This variety was present within this anthology, and I think it's interesting that many different religions can be involved in horror stories. I really enjoyed reading stories from different authors.

I had not read anything from these authors before, and I appreciate that I was introduced to so many I hadn't read. My top 3 stories were The Fruit by Lindsay King-Miller, The Jaws of Ouroboros by Steve Toase, and The First Order of Whaleyville's Divine Basilisk Handlers by Eric J. Guignard. These three were were very entertaining and unique, and I could have read full novels of any of them. I liked that the anthology was a good mix of women and men writers.

This book was full of unsettling and detailed stories, and I'm so glad I had the chance to read it. Thank you so much to Nosetouch Press for sending this one!

[Pax · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent collection! Not as varied as I thought it would be but a really good set nonetheless!

[Niki · Rating 4 out of 5]

A perfect short story collection for October. Of course there's duds, like with every short story collection (and which stories end up as the duds depends entirely on the reader), but the vibes of the collection as a whole are off the charts. I love folk horror, man.

The standout stories for me were "The Jaws of Ouroboros" (A. nails it, it is indeed a straightforward gangster story that's transformed by the setting into something special) and "The First Order of Whaleyville’s Divine Basilisk Handlers" (I thought the story was violently overwritten and almost predictable when I started, but the finale surprised me and I've been thinking about the story since)

The negative shoutouts go to "Leave the Night" (insanely boring, predictable since page 1) and "Revival" (sorry to be "that" person, but it wasn't even folk horror, it was southern gothic at best).

[Lynsey Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

A high three, but a couple in here let down the side and therefore took down the whole average.

As a disciple of Cosmic Horror, it was a natural progression into the lovely, creepy, leaf covered world of Folk Horror. The disturbing way being led by Arthur Machen himself. Now while the stories in these pages are not Machen level, some of them are pretty good; even the ones with a more modern twist.

As we all know anthologies can sometimes be a bit hit and miss, but most of the stories herein where pure beacons of Folk Horror and creeped into your nightmares just like possessed ivy. There is something base and primeval about Folk Horror that stands it apart from all the other horror subgenres and can make it really get under your skin.

I feel I shall need to explore more in this vein.

Sire of the Hatchet - 🖤🖤🖤🖤 my fave of the whole lot. This is pure folk horror at it's finest. Creepy village (check) creepy villagers (check) creepy forest (check) creepy folklore (check) but the gory, strange and unexplained twist from this one really set it apart as something properly nasty and grim, but in the best way.

Back along the old track - 🖤🖤🖤 the tune to Deliverance plays in the background while you read this one. Classic tale of city boy getting dragged into village shit he really doesn't want to get dragged into. A nice building of dread and again a nice twist. Set to a modern backdrop, but a strangely old seeming tale. I hope the cat was ok.

The Fruit - 🖤🖤🖤. Ah Queer fruit based body horror. Now there are 5 words I never thought I would put in the same sentence. More unexplained origins set in the modern world and although it had a tinge of sadness to it, this was a nice bleak story of evil fruit body snatchers. Yep, that is apparently also a thing.

The Jaws of Ouroboros - 🖤🖤🖤 as a Red Dwarf fan I can't look at the word Ouroboros without picturing babies left under pool tables (if you know, you know) none of that here alas. Instead we have post-apocalyptic drug barons, torture and stone circles eating up the world. A very clever idea and quite frankly future goals.

The first order of Whaleyvilles divine Basilisk hunters - 🖤 DNF, also stupid title.

Pumpkin Dear - 🖤🖤 errrr yeah this was a strange one. It was more like a kids folk tale for Halloween than anything. Not a great fan. Although we did get a bit of necrophilia (always a plus) and I'm glad the husband died.

The way of the Mother - 🖤🖤🖤 said mother quite frankly got what she deserved. A bloody story redolent of pagan rituals and horned gods. Nicely done. I for one would like to live in a village where the modern world is kept out by turning people into trees. Where do I sign?

Leave the night - 🖤 DNF

Revival - 🖤🖤 more dickhead humans getting what they deserved. Not sure this was really Folk Horror, more redneck religious fanatics horror, which to be fair is probably more horrific.

A lovely little collection and one I think should adorn any horror fans shelf.

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Fiends in the Furrows was so fun to lose myself in. The tales of folklore, including possessed fruit orchards, pumpkin-headed wives and drug addicts addicted to crushed up humans, were brutal and beautifully written.

A few of my highlights:

The Fruit by Lindsay King-Miller was very bleak, but had that shining love between the two main characters. Their relationship was so genuine, but so heartbreaking. One felt a sense of loss, the other thought all they needed was each other.

Pumpkin, Dear was a folklore revenge tale. Although it wasn’t set in the Halloween season for most of the story, it was really nostalgic and fun to read!

I loved The Way of the Mother by Stephanie Ellis. I plan to read more from this world that she built as soon as possible. The importance of the mother, to her own family and to the world can’t be understated!

If you like folklore, great characters and some horror this book is for you!

[Suvi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Folk horror is an interesting offshoot of horror, one that I can't call my favorite just yet but which has left me intrigued and wondering if there's something there. When I had just re-watched The Wicker Man, I stumbled into this collection of contemporary folk horror stories, so I had to get it of course (just a little over 4 dollars on Amazon and even less in euros; not much to lose).

The standout was Lindsay King-Miller's The Fruit, featuring dangerous whispering fruit trees, but other than that the collection left me underwhelmed. I liked the overall rustic mood, but I like to evaluate anthologies in terms of whether I want to read more from the authors, and none of these made the cut. Great for the fall season for sure, but not something that gets me really excited.

[Aaron Beardsell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a deep love for folk horror, as it reminds me of childhood stories that my dad would tell us. Baba Yaga was always waiting for the chance to drag us into the tall pines.

The only reason this is a 4/5 for me is due to some formatting and punctuation errors that began appearing after the halfway mark. I found several locations where basic punctuation was missing, including dialogue marks, and where simple grammatical errors had occured.

[Sarah Huntington · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't choose a favorite story. I enjoyed each one of them. I'm very glad I found this book, I really liked it

[Sheldon Compton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Precise rating - 3.75.

Some editing issues with line edits, etc., which puts me off a little. However, the imaginative power contained in each story, that nice, folk horror narrative thrust, brings up the 3 star. It was a fun read, and definitely worth checking out if you like this kind of horror.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid anthology of folk horror.
I usually find short story collections to be uneven.
This one was well done all the way through 👍🏻

[Natalie Liogas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't care for all of the stories in this collection, however the good ones were goooooood

[Lindsey R · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid dig into folk horror! I hadn't read much before, and found much to enjoy and inspire in this collection. My favorites were "The Fruit" "The Jaws of Ouroboros" and "Revival."

[RANGER · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dreamily crafted collection of fever dreams, weirdness, and classic folk horror --
"The Fiends in the Furrows" is subtitled, "An Anthology of Folk Horror." Folk horror dwells in the pagan rituals, quaint traditions, family secrets, ancient superstitions, and/or sorceries of European-American rural village life. Often-times there are spiritual laws in effect, laws that are enforced by a malevolent being ruling over a village, wood, or mountain region where the horror takes place. The horror emerges when an outsider or heretic of some sort inadvertently violates or purposefully challenges an obscure taboo associated with the folk locale and all hell literally breaks out. In the days of the pulps, folk horror was called "weird fiction." The American, HP Lovecraft, wrote weird fiction for the pulps while the English master of folk horror, MR James, crafted his tales purely for the thrill of sharing them with friends. I would mention Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" and Stephen King's "Children of the Corn" as two of the more famous modern examples of this genre.
The Fiends in the Furrows is an above average collection of short, folk horror stories. Like many short story collections, the quality of the storytelling is uneven depending on the author. Some of the stories here, like "The Jaws of Ouroboros" are more dystopian fantasy than folk horror. Others are somewhat farcical or tongue-in-cheek and never achieve pure horror for me. Thus, I was leaning toward a three star review for this package. However, the writing here is really good. Even if the story doesn't quite pan out, the phenomenal prose will win you over. That amps up the rating to four-stars for me as I love a well-written narrative.
My favorite tale was "Back along the Old Track" by Sam Hicks. It's the most evocative of the masters like MRJ and HPL. It's a simple story but creepy. Good folk horror must produce creepy atmospherics.
"Sire of the Hatchet" by Coy Hall is what you get when you cross Robert E. Howard with MR James while "The Fruit" by Lindsay-King Miller is a classic skin-crawler with many unanswered questions.
Two of the stories, strangely enough, deal with snake-handling Christians. This was unexpected for me and I usually approach such tales with caution as they often contain an overabundance of adolescent barbs aimed at Church people. But both these tales (Eric Guignard and ST Gibson) are quite good. Both feature good snake-handlers and bad ones. And the bad ones have a well-deserved, horrifying end... as it should be for those who violate God's laws or his people!
The remaining stories are well-written but resemble fever dreams more than folk horror stories. I prefer more straight forward story-telling with the traditional plot in which an unwitting outsider uncovers the creepy underbelly of a rural idyll, then seeks to escape it, leading to the inevitable demise of said transgressor for the sake of protecting the horrifying social order that has been long imposed on the locals.
This book is recommended for those who love short fiction, folk horror, or a well-turned prose narrative.
Enjoy!

[Mikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

I generally avoid most horror. But I gave this one a chance because of a vested interest in a friend's story published within this anthology. I learned that I like folk horror. Surprise, surprise.

I particularly loved Coy Hall's "Sire of the Hatchet," Lindsay King-Miller's "The Fruit," Stephanie Ellis's "The Way of the Mother," and S.T. Gibson's "Revival."

Overall, an interesting collection. Dark, delicious, perfect reading for the decaying seasons and in anticipation of Halloween.

I'd liken it to bitter coffee and salted chocolate with almond slices.

[Holly Heckart · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved every story! I think I may have found a new genre to add to my list of favorites. I'll definitely be keeping up with these authors.
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[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

We’ve had a lot of talk about Folk Horror lately with Midsommar and Apostle, so it feels right that we’d get an anthology exploring the genre. I still think it’s a genre basically in its infancy, neglected since the canonical trio of British films. Hopefully its potential is starting to dawn on people.

Fiends in the Furrows easily escapes the main trap the genre has pigeonholed itself into: it doesn’t include a single story about an outsider becoming a human sacrifice! In fact, the diversity of stories on display here kind of surprised me. Most of them do fit into the range of what you might expect: historical settings, rural villages, presumably British, and a heavy emphasis on plants and fertility. More of them than I expected create secondary worlds or dramatic, intrusive fantasy changes to the real world, providing a nice contrast from the subtle, creeping historical horror most of them choose.

It’s a mixed bag like any anthology, but considering I hadn’t come across a single one of these writers before, it was an impressively consistently competent mix. None of them feel really amateurish or mediocre, they all have some strong and creative ideas. Not all of the styles are too my taste, but they mostly deliver on the styles they attempt. On the flip side, none of them really wowed me with concept or execution. If pressed, I’d say the two snake stories, “First Order of Whaleyville” and “Revival,” stand out, along with “Pumpkin, Dear.” But the range of quality is unusually narrow overall. Anyway, if you’re interested, I don’t think you’ll leave this one disappointed.

I still think there’s a lot of ground left for this genre to cover. The concept as I understand it encompasses the old, traditional relationships between agrarian societies and the ecosystems they inhabit, all the strange habits and notions they develop to cope with an enormously varied set of threats and opportunities. At the moment, the “folk” in folk horror is still a narrow and somewhat generic notion; diving into the specifics of the enormous breadth of rural life in human history offers a huge unexplored landscape of horror ideas.

[Chris Browning · Rating 2 out of 5]

Brings new life to folk horror? Seriously? Where do I even start with that claim? Unlike Mills’ Revenants, which is a thoughtful response to Nathaniel Hawthorne and other writers of that period, this is like going to the Folk Horror Facebook group at its very worst: it’s derivative of so many cliches of the genre, specifically Hammer horror (mad locals), Wicker Man (unwitting sacrifices), Borderlands (something under the land), Blood on Satan’s Claw (something buried under the land that’s dug up) and particularly Little Otik. Did the editors not notice how many people turning into vegetation and wooden babies were in this thing? Or did they just not care? Probably the latter because the two actually not terrible stories both involve revivalist serpents and are probably closer to Southern Gothic anyway

It’s a maddening collection, a real barrel scraping collection of okay writing and dumb plots, huge cliches and thuddingly obvious symbolism. My temper was lost during a well written but ultimately pointless story which involves, and i kid you not, something called Genesis Farm, a couple called Ada and Evelyn and is called Fruit. It’s staggering that this is one of the stories that doesn’t involve a bloody snake quite frankly. The nadir is the bloody pumpkin story and that nobody thought the name Johnny Hedgerow is a bit fucking obvious. Such a careless and lazy collection of stories, completely misunderstanding why the beloved Folk Horror classics are actually beloved. Only Gibson and Guignard acquit themselves here, and even then they’re in the wrong bloody collection

I’m being wildly generous to give it two stars, really I am

[Nora · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5*