Isolation: The horror anthology

by Dan Coxon (Editor), M.R. Carey, Ken Liu

A chilling horror anthology of 20 stories about the terrifying fears of isolation, from the modern masters of horror.


Featuring Tim Lebbon, Paul Tremblay, Joe R. Lansdale, M.R. Carey, Ken Liu and many more.

Lost in the wilderness, or alone in the dark, isolation remains one of our deepest held fears. This horror anthology from Shirley Jackson and British Fantasy Award finalist Dan Coxon calls on leading horror writers to confront the dark moments, the challenges that we must face survivors in a world gone silent; the outcast shunned by society; the quiet voice trapped in the crowd; the lonely and forgotten, screaming into the abyss.

Experience the chilling terrors of Isolation. Featuring stories

Nina Allan
Laird Barron
Ramsey Campbell
M.R. Carey
Chịkọdịlị Emelumadu
Brian Evenson
Owl Goingback
Gwendolyn Kiste
Joe R. Lansdale
Tim Lebbon
Alison Littlewood
Ken Liu
Jonathan Maberry
Michael Marshall Smith
Mark Morris
Lynda E. Rucker
A.G. Slatter
Paul Tremblay
Lisa Tuttle
Marian Womack

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Anthologies, Fiction, Thriller, Contemporary, Collections

427 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2022

About the author

Dan Coxon is an award-winning editor and writer based in London. His non-fiction anthology Writing The Uncanny (co-edited with Richard V. Hirst) won the British Fantasy Award for Best Non-Fiction 2022, while his short story collection Only The Broken Remain (Black Shuck Books) was shortlisted for two British Fantasy Awards in 2021 (Best Collection, Best Newcomer). In 2018 his anthology of British folk-horror, This Dreaming Isle (Unsung Stories), was shortlisted for a British Fantasy Award and a Shirley Jackson Award. His short stories have appeared in various anthologies, including Nox Pareidolia, Beyond the Veil, Mother: Tales of Love and Terror and Fiends in the Furrows III. His latest anthology - Isolation - was published by Titan Books in September 2022.

Reviews

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sadly I didn’t care for most of these stories. The one bright spot was “There’s No Light Between Floors” by Paul Tremblay. Can’t recommend this one.

[Obsidian · Rating 4 out of 5]

So overall a great horror anthology that tapped into some of the fear that people had during the pandemic and "lockdowns" in 2020. The only reason I didn't give this a full 5 stars is that a few of the stories were total misses to me. All of them have isolation as a theme though, some authors just did better with using that as a springboard into a larger story.

"The Snow Child" by Alison Littlewood (5 stars)-A strong first story that follows a woman named Tilda who is dealing with her Mother who is obsessed with her children made of actual snow. This takes place in Sweden in the winter and who knew how lonely and isolating the woods can be in the winter. And how deadly. I felt for the Mother in this story because there's a long winding road that can make you sort of empathize with her and then quickly snatch that back.

"Friends for Life" by Mark Morris (5 stars)-It's a homage to a famous horror short story. I gave it 5 stars mostly because I was intrigued by how Morris set this up.

"Solivagant" by A.G. Slatter (5 stars)-Not your typical story of a vampire. Here there lies darkness and maybe a sliver of hope.

"Lone Gunman" by Jonathan Maberry (4 stars)-This one dragged in parts. A solider who is dealing with a zombie apocalypse. I started to run out of sympathy for him halfway through the story. There's a certain darkness going on here that Maberry leaves open-ended.

"Second Wind" by M.R. Carey (3 stars)-Absolutely not. This is a zombie story with I guess humor? I don't know, it didn't work and nothing made sense about the dead coming back and the main character in this story, I guess embalming himself so he doesn't smell? I don't know guys. A woman is introduced and at least that didn't go sideways.

"Under Care" by Brian Evenson (3 stars)-This really didn't make any sense to me. I think at the end I went, so heads are just roaming around? What?

"How We Are" by Chikodiili Emelumadu (5 stars)-What would you do if just by touch alone you can bring about death? Most of the stories for the most part take place in the U.S. or England, but this one takes place in Nigeria. I loved the main character of Gifty and her realizing how much in the end her grandmother does love her. But the ending. That ending. Brutal.

"The Long Dead Day" by Joe R. Landsdale (5 stars)-Another zombie tale, this one was heartbreaking.

"Alone is a Long Time" by Michael Marshall Smith (5 stars)-I loved how this ended. Magical objects that cause a lot of trouble are some of my favorite stories. Reminded me a bit of the Twilight Zone too.

"Chalk. Sea. Sand. Sky. Stone." by Lynda E. Rucker (3.5 stars)- I was confused by the ending. But a widow dealing with her grief of losing her husband and left pregnant definitely fit the theme of isolation.

"Ready or Not" by Marian Womack (5 stars)-When gaslighting a woman goes wrong. Very very wrong. Loved this one.

"Letters to a Young Pyschopath" by Nina Allan (3.5 stars)-Not bad, but halfway through it kind of lost the plot and I don't know, the ending gave me pause. It was definitely not happy, at least from my point of view. Which doesn't make it a bad horror story. I was just confused about how I should feel when I got to the end.

"Jaunt" by Ken Liu (2 stars)-Nope. And it didn't help I kept thinking of Stephen King's story about a family going on the whole jaunt. This story had too many excerpts (fake) from articles, etc. that I just didn't get immersed in the story.

"Full Blood" by Owl Goingback (5 stars)-Another zombie tale with a wicked twist that brings in COVID-19 as part of the plot.

"The Blind House" by Ramsey Campbell (3.5 stars)-Not bad, I just thought it rambled on too much. I got bored before I hit the ending.

"There's No Light Between Floors" by Paul Tremblay (1 star)-This made no sense and I re-read it twice.

"So Easy to Kill" by Laird Barron (1 star)-I refuse to even relive this story.

"The Peculiar Seclusion of Molly McMarshall" by Gwendolyn Kiste (5 stars)-A local woman does not leave her home and seems to have an alien presence that only she can see. A very dark ending.

"Across the Bridge" by Tim Lebbon (5 stars)-a young girl finds a town that was part of the before times.

"Fire Above, Fire Below" by Lisa Tuttle (5 stars)-the horrors of a mass shooting and a girl who has a gift of prophecy that no one believes. It someone leaves to something even darker. What a great ending.

[Blair]

There are some types of short horror story I could read for the rest of my life without getting bored. There are other brands of horror I’d cross the metaphorical street to avoid. Horror anthologies are often a mixture of the two, and can therefore be tricky to review. Then again, if the stories in an anthology are too similar to one another, that can also be an issue; an editorial hand is important. Isolation is an extremely varied collection, expertly curated so that all flavours of horror are represented. It’s fair to say that some of them just weren’t to my taste at all (hence no rating for the book as a whole), but there are as many different interpretations of the theme of ‘isolation’ here as any reader could hope for – I was impressed by the lack of cliche.

Personal highlights for me included:
• ‘Friends for Life’ by Mark Morris: lockdown folk horror with characters I truly cared about – brilliant! Of all the stories, I’ll remember the atmosphere of this one most vividly.
• ‘Alone is a Long Time’ by Michael Marshall Smith: a cursed object in the collection of an elderly recluse spells disaster for a light-fingered carer. A classic creepy tale, told in effective style.
• ‘Letters to a Young Psychopath’ by Nina Allan: I read this twice – once before I’d even looked at the rest of the book, and once after I had read all the other stories. It’s the tale of a serial killer who sees his job in the police force as ‘a methadone for murder’, and I’m biased because of how much I adore Allan’s writing, but it really IS great.
• ‘Jaunt’ by Ken Liu: an excellent sci-fi story about what happens when ‘telepresence robots’ revolutionise the tourism industry. There’s so much potential in the premise that I feel like this could easily be expanded to novel length.

TinyLetter | Linktree

[Amy Noelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

Interesting collection of short stories. Not all of them were hits for me but enough of them were that I feel like I had a good time reading this. I found some authors I’m super interested to read full length books from and really that’s what I’m looking for when I pick up a horror anthology. Even though my rating isn’t high, I do recommend this one. The stories that I loved, I REALLY loved. There are definitely some great stories in here worth sifting to get to.

The Snow Child by Alison Littlewood {4.5⭐️}
Friends For Life by Mark Morris {4.5⭐️}
Solivagant by AG Slatter {4⭐️}
Lone Gunman by Jonathan Maberry {4⭐️}
Second Wind by M.R. Carey {3.5⭐️}
Under Care by Brian Evenson {4.5⭐️}
How We Are by Chikodili Emelumadu {DNF}
The Long Dead Day by Joe R Lansdale {3.5⭐️}
Alone is a Long Time by Michael Marshall Smith {2⭐️}
Chalk. Sea. Sand. Sky. Stone. by Lynda E Rucker {3⭐️}
Ready or Not by Marian Womack {2⭐️}
Letters To A Young Psychopath by Nina Allan {DNF}
Jaunt by Ken Liu {DNF}
Full Blood by Owl Goingback {3.5⭐️}
The Blind House by Ramsey Campbell {2⭐️}
There’s No Light Between Floors by Paul Tremblay {2.5⭐️}
Easy To Kill by Laird Barron {2⭐️}
The Peculiar Seclusion of Molly McMarshall by Gwendolyn Kiste {5⭐️}
Across The Bridge by Tim Lebbon {3.5⭐️}
Fire Above, Fire Below by Lisa Tuttle {4⭐️}

[Amy Walker - Trans-Scribe Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Isolation is a key component to horror. Whether it's being stranded in a remote location, living alone in an old house filled with strange noises, or having to face a monster all on your own, it's a big part of the genre. And it's probably the thing from horror that most of us will have to content with at some point in our lives; especially over the last few years. Humans thrive on companionship, and even the most introverted person will need someone once in a while. Facing horror alone is something that can be more frightening than the horror itself, and Isolation: The Horror Anthology understands that. Collecting together eighteen stories from some of the best writers in the genre, this book has a huge variety of tales on offer.

The book begins with the story 'The Snow Child' by Alison Littewood, and perfectly set the tone for the entire book. Telling the story of a woman travelling home to spend some time with her mother, it covers isolation in a number of ways. The two of them are living in a cabin the middle of the woods in winter, away from other people and away from help. But the woman is also isolated from her mother, with their relationship having been strained to near breaking point, even when they're together she's practically alone. And these are ideas that will end up being repeated across multiple stories in this book, that even when you're not physically alone, or if you're in a location where there are others around you, you can still be incredibly isolated.

Littlewood's story has some incredibly creepy imagery in it too, with ice children surrounding the remote snow covered home, a mother becoming increasingly detached from society, and the vastness of the countryside around her all adding together to make some vivid images that are designed to unsettle. It's a good choice to have this as the first story in the book, as it draws the reader in with its very normal, relatable set-up, and before you know it it's changed from this story of a woman trying to reconnect with her mother into something much more twisted. And by then you're hooked, you want to read more, and you have the rest of the book waiting for you.

'Solivagant' by A.G. Slatter is a supernatural story where the isolation and the horror don't come about from the monstrous creature at the heart of the tale, but instead are because of an evil that will be unfortunately recognisable to many people. The story is about Kitty, a young woman living in a small town under an assumed name, working in a local grocery store, doing her best to get by, but making no friends and no connections. She wants to, but she can't because of her boyfriend, her abusers, Cinna. Cinna is a vampire, and takes a great deal of pleasure in the pain that he spreads. Having groomed Kitty when she was younger, sucked her in to a life that she doesn't really want, he's kept her young for years whilst keeping her in misery.

Whilst the fact that Kitty's life is being controlled by an undead being, it's an isolation that does effect far too many people in the real world. Domestic abuse is one of the most isolating things that a person can go through. Surrounded by other people, but unable to get close to anyone for fear of what might happen if they do. It's a very visceral story underneath it's supernatural coating. One that I think will get under the skin of a lot of readers.

'The Peculiar Secclusion of Molly McMarshall' by Gwendolyn Kiste stands out because it's not written like many of the other stories in this book. Split up into transcripts of security camera footage, descriptions of missing posters, and extracts from articles, it tells a story through snapshots that build a bigger narrative as it unfolds, revealing a truly creepy series of events. It makes isolation feel different, like an insidious infection that can spread and infect.

The story tells us about Molly McMarshall, a young woman who went into her house one day and never came out again. Standing alone in her window, watching the world outside, everyone could see Molly was still alive, but she never moved, never stopped to sleep, and never left her house. When people begin to worry about her try to get her to come out, to open the door, but she refuses. All attempts to get in are met with failure. But when people begin to notice a strange, dark presence standing behind her, it becomes clear that there's something truly awful in there with her.

Joe R. Lansdale's 'The Long Dead Day' is one of the shorter stories in the book, but also one of the saddest, and you very quickly come to care about the people in it. Set in a zombie apocalypse, it follows a man as he learns that his young daughter has been bitten by one of the undead, and what he chooses to do when he discovers this. I don't want to say much about it so as not to spoil it, but Landale does a lot of character and world building in a very short space, and you end up coming away feeling like you've read a much bigger story.

Another zombie story from the selection (there are a few) that takes a different approach is 'Second Wind' by M.R. Carey, which is set in a world where people come back after they die, as either ghosts or zombies. It's not a zombie apocalypse or anything like that, just that some people die, but carry on. The story follows Nick, a highly successful stock trader who ends up dying young thanks to his high pressure, high intensity lifestyle. Luckily, he's prepared for the eventuality of coming back as a zombie, and has a plan in place to keep himself preserved, and locked away from the rest of the world so that he can keep doing the things he loves. However, when a homeless woman ends up getting inside his carefully constructed hideaway, he begins to change his outlook on life....well, death.

I really enjoyed this story, thanks in part to the fact that the horror elements kind of took a back seat. The supernatural was a part of it, and the story wouldn't exist without them, but at its heart it's a story about people. Nick has never needed people in his life, and never considers needing any kind of connection now that he's dead. The relationship that begins to form between these two people is the highlight of this story, and it makes it stand out as perhaps not really a horror story, but a nice human story set in a more extraordinary world.

'Friends for Life' by Mark Morris tells the story of Daniel, a man living alone in the pandemic shortly after the death of his mother. Having never really been one to socialise much or spend time with people outside of work, he's come to realise that his life is getting a bit lonely. But when he sees a flyer for a local meet and greet group near his home he ends up giving it a shot and actually starts making some friends. As he gets to know the people there he begins to relax, and makes some genuine connections. But when he ends up going on a trip with one of the group things begin to take a sinister turn.

This story is super creepy in a way that you don't get enough of. It's a folk horror tale in the vein of The Wicker Man, and even though at a certain point you can see the turn coming you end up reading on hoping that Daniel will realise just what kind of story he's in. There's something super creepy about small villages and old traditions that this story absolutely nails. And whilst the horror doesn't happen in isolation, Daniel is very much preyed upon and drawn in because of his isolation at the start, and ends up as the only 'sane' person come the end, standing him alone in a sea of horror.

There are many more amazing stories in Isolation: The Horror Anthology, with stories that cover apocalypse scenarios, haunted houses, frightening dreamscapes, and hospitals to name but a few. there are stories by Jonathan Maberry, Brian Evenson, Chịkọdịlị Emelụmadụ, Michael Marshall Smith, Lynda E. Rucker, Marian Womack, Nina Allan, Ken Liu, Owl Goingback, Ramsey Campbell, Paul Tremblay, Laird Barron, Tim Lebbon, and Lisa Tuttle rounding out the collection.

If you're a fan of horror this book will appeal to you for

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really enjoyed the is mixed bag of horror stories. There were a few duds for me. However a couple of the stories were 5 star reads and I would love to see these as full length books or maybe adapted into movies. By far my favourite story was How We Are by Chikodili Emelumadu! My god I loved this story!!! My least favourite was So Easy to Kill by Laird Barron. Overall the majority of the stories were highly enjoyable and were very impressive!

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars

This unexpected COVID-19 pandemic may have affected people differently, but the simple truth is that it hit most of us hard. Whether it was sickness, loss or the effects of isolation, it affected us all. Some thrived, but many didn’t, and it’s because we are a social creature.

In the new compilation, Isolation: The Horror Anthology, a group of authors who tell scary stories for a living have come together to share tales of isolation-driven fear. It’s a timely release and subject, which was inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic, although some of the collected stories were written years prior. A number of them are brand new, though, and I don’t think I’d read any of them before.

If you’ve read my past reviews, you’ll perhaps know that I’m a sucker for collections of short stories; especially when they’re from the horror genre. I love the variety, and not knowing what to expect once you finish one and go to start another. In fact, two of my favourite books are short story collections, with those being 20th Century Ghosts and Full Throttle by Joe Hill.

Side note: In case you’re interested in checking them out, please note that 20th Century Ghosts was recently re-released and renamed ‘The Black Phone,’ in order to tie into the new movie starring Ethan Hawke. It’s based on one of the stories from within.

Isolation: The Horror Anthology was edited by Dan Coxon. It presents a themed assortment of twenty different short stories, which average around 20 pages in length. These tales were written by some of horror’s most well known and revered modern authors, as well as others whom I hadn’t heard of before. The list includes Nina Allan, Laird Barron, Ramsey Campbell, M.R. Carey, Brian Evenson, Owl Goingback, Joe R. Lansdale, Tim Lebbon, Jonathan Maberry, Marian Womack and Paul Tremblay.

Although it goes without saying, I’ll say it anyway: These stories vary in quality, and some are obviously better than others. That said, it’s all subjective. The stories I liked most may not be the ones you’ll enjoy most. There are no bad tales to be found within, though, which is impressive. There were a couple that I didn’t enjoy all that much, but I respected them and understood I maybe wasn’t the right audience for them. After all, horror varies wildly as a genre, and has lots of different sub genres.

The included pieces ran the gamut of ways in which one could feel isolated, both physically and mentally. Their characters travelled to distant and remote locations, dealt with the loss of loved ones, struggled with a fear of the unknown and wondered if they were the last ones alive. There are some triggers within as well, such as death, grief and abuse.

Some of my favourite stories from Isolation included one about people trying to get by in an apocalyptic world, the story of a dead man living his second wind, a tale about a cleaning lady with sticky fingers and one about a young man who goes out in search of friends. Meanwhile, I didn’t really enjoy Ken Liu’s piece about post-pandemic travel protests and the creation of jaunts, which allow people to travel using robots, virtual reality controls and cameras, because it read like an article in a tech journal. I found it boring, and forced myself to read it all. Additionally, Laird Barron’s ‘So Easy to Kill’ — a story about futuristic humans placing their awareness into robots sent out to colonize other planets, or something like that — was both hard to understand and mostly tedious to read. I didn’t really know what was going and, once again, had to force myself to continue reading it.

While I can’t say that I found any of these stories to be truly great, I enjoyed reading almost all of them and liked Isolation: A Horror Anthology overall. It’s a good, timely, collection of short fiction, and one that fans of the genre should enjoy.

This review is based on an early copy of the book that we were provided with.

[myreadingescapism · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoy a collection for short stories, however, I really hate when a majority of them are so bleh that I don't get how they even made the cut.

[Runalong · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very impressive short story collection with tales exploring our relationship with the theme of Isolation. A great assortment of authors tell tales of psychics, soldiers, the abandoned and the lonely. Perfect for this time of year

Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much better than most thematic collections this large. There were only two stories I didnt like and the rest were either above average or great. Especially the final two.

You can tell this was a Covid Era inspiration, but fortunately most authors didnt just leave it at that. Only once when reading did I think 'this person still masks outdoors'.

[David Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This anthology is very timely. With various periods of covid lockdown in most of our recent pasts, the experience of isolation - its advantages and disadvantages - have been much discussed. While the conversation will certainly continue, and experiences clearly varied according to circumstances, personality and location, it's clear that many of us were not fans. Nor was the experience evenly distributed. Many office workers were expected to do their jobs from home, perching on beds with laptops or if more fortunate, taking over a spare bedroom, but others had to continue, often bearing a disproportionate share of the virus risk.

Speculative fiction offers a powerful lens to examine these impacts and inequalities - which is just what Coxon's new anthology does, delivering some disturbing takes from both well-known authors and some new voices. And as the chill mists of Autumn gather, the horrific side of things seems particularly appropriate. The anthology contains a broad range of stories and as well as enjoying familiar voices, reading it has opened up my TBR to several writers I hadn't read before - which is a GOOD thing (although my bank may not agree).

Among my favourite stories here, Alison Littlewood's The Snow Child opens the collection with highlighting some dangers and sadness inherent in being left alone. Nobody, in my view, does snow-bound horror as well as Littlewood. Her A Cold Season and Mistletoe are creepy, compelling masterpieces of the genre and she repeats the effect in miniature in The Snow Child, a glorious, enclosure-laced story of a mother and a daughter in a remote cabin close to the Arctic circle. Things have gone badly wrong out there, and Tilda feels guilty that she left her mother to cope alone. Slowly though, guilt gives way to fear, as it must in horror. A chilling start to the collection.

Another of my favourites was Second Wind by M.R. Carey. Not apocalyptic except in the curious sense that the dead no longer remain dead, we follow a successful banker determined to endure, who sees that he has a safe lair prepared, a place he won't be disturbed... until the local homeless find their way in. I loved this story that poses questions about priorities, about what makes us what we are. And there's Letters to a Young Psychopath by Nina Allan, to show that isolation is not always a physical thing but may be an aspect of personality. Written as advice to an unknown reader, this story explores the bounds between what you do and what you nearly do. The writer explains freely where he's coming from and what he's done - and might yet do. The isolation is in his (it's always a him, right?) place in the world, in his head, not in his social position or physical location. It's a moral isolation, but it still has consequences. A chilling and genuinely upsetting story.

I also highly rated Ready or Not by Marian Womack. This blends a really chilling sense of isolation with a vein of threat. Alison is alone in her house, actually her parents'-in-law house. Her partner is missing - we're not quite sure how - and as a German citizen in the UK post Brexit she already feels out on a limb. Julian's behaviour has not been supportive. The old woman living next door radiates malice. The story makes Alison seem to shrink and fade, pressed as she is by so many forces that seem determined to erase her identity and autonomy.

Among the stories that do reference the pandemic, or its aftermath, Friends for Life by Mark Morris stands out. It's a story of loners getting together for one night week to enjoy a little companionship and seems almost heartwarming, until it takes a turn. Daniel is still mourning his mother - whose care he'd devoted himself to - and Morris adroitly plants doubts about that whole situation, before taking things to a much darker place than I'd expected. Chalk. Sea. Sand. Sky. Stone. by Lynda E. Rucker is set during the first lockdown, when Claire, a young (and recent) widow but a 'geriatric' (ie over 40) mother-to-be, retreats to the safety her grandmother's house by the sea, taking advantage of the isolation brought by the pandemic to explore her grief in private. A simple story, at first sight, until another, jarring element intervenes. Rucker expertly teases this, leaving us to wonder whether it's an alien, intruding thing or something that comes from Claire herself? This one haunted me.

The Blind House is a story of a type I suspect we will see more of - Ramsey Campbell uses the now common experience of home working to evoke horror (as well as to poke fun at the publishing industry which may be a more particular trop). Our hero, Simon, is a proofreader who has taken himself off to work remotely from what seems a most unappealing apartment block. As in Ready or Not, there is a distinct spirit of place, a spirit draws in not only the reader but Simon too. Campbell's skill with slightly off-kilter speech patterns and multiple layers of meaning allowing Simon to, as it were, deliver his own commentary on his fate even before he suffers it.

Of course, an isolated character surviving after some sort of apocalypse is a fairly common feature of horror, and there are several of them here. Lone Gunman by Jonathan Maberry begins with the hero buried under a pile of corpses, one man left standing (as it were) amidst a swarm of monsters. As he flees from situation to situation, the question is posed starkly - what to do? I enjoyed seeing Maberry work through the answer. Full Blood by Owl Goingback is a full-blooded (sorry) post-apocalyptic story written from an Indigenous perspective (if only those Western scientists had consulted local knowledge before they meddled...) The isolation is of the last-man-standing sort, the ending certain, the interest in how we get there. The Long Dead Day by Joe R. Lansdale is another zombie story, nicely echoing How We Are by showing again that isolation may not be something we can sustain, whatever that leads to.

If there's a timeline in apocalypses, Fire Above, Fire Below by Lisa Tuttle might come next. If you could know of the horrors that were coming - would you want to? My answer would be "no"- worry about the future can be numbing when one feels powerless to affect it - but Tuttle poses the question, what if you could affect it (maybe, a bit?) The curse of prophecy is well known yet Tuttle gives it a new spin with a twist of foreknowledge for her protagonist as things get worse and worse. But her knowledge is as in a glass darkly, she may glimpse outcomes of this or that but misses the big picture, leaving her truly alone.

The prospects of those last survivors never look good, but a story can still allow them space for some final reflection or realisation as in There's no Light Between Floors by Paul Tremblay which takes place on the cusp of a disaster, a man waking in the midst of destruction and struggling to accept the meaning of what he's going through. It's story in which the reader will soon work out what's going on, leaving us to watch in pity and dread as those going through the end of the world struggle to keep up.

Of course, something may survive the collapse of society. In Across the Bridge, Tim Lebbon gives us a choice of futures. Decades after a calamitous infection, or perhaps simple environmental disaster, the last humans are either rebuilding a new, more harmonious way of life in rural bliss, or sheltering from the storm in a blasted, withered hellscape. These things can't both be true, surely? But isolation can play tricks with reality... a truly though-provoking story with no easy way out.

I'm something of a fan of what I call "unexplained horror" - scenarios far away from even the weird but self-consistent setting of a pandemic or monster plague, scenarios that you simply have to accept and work through. Two here are Under Care by Brian Evenson and The Peculiar Seclusion of Molly McMarshall by Gwendolyn Kiste. Under Care explores a creepy hospital. Creepy hospitals! What could be worse? Imagine being a patient in one of these - never seeing anyone but the mysterious nurse, beginning to doubt who you are and why you are there. Until you find out. A real, incrememental horror, building on that sense of unease many of us feel at the sterile smelling, squeaky floored environment. In The Peculiar Seclusion of Molly McMarshall by Gwendolyn Kiste, Molly herself is seen little, in fact she vanishes, fades, ceases to be quite as others are, in her own house. (Maybe shades of lockdown after all?) Unlike in other stories in this book where a character loses identity when overlooked by wider society, here the outside world takes a prurient interest in what has happened (a bit of satire on the online world and the appetite for 24 hour news perhaps there) but it might have been better for them if they hadn't?

You can't have horror without a decent monster or two, and the best monsters are those who evoke sympathy, I think.

In Solivagant by A.G. Slatter we have a sad horror, a story where one may have sympathy for a monster. While this is a fantasy story featuring a supernatural monster, the isolation here is very familiar, a young woman separated from her family and friends by a man, left with nowhere to run and nobody to turn to. It's doubtful whether the supernatural horror is the greatest threat here, but in a brilliant study of character and circumstance we are given a little hope that there may be a way out.

How We Are by Chịkọdịlị Emelumadu is a story of witches. Gifty is isolated by choice, as the bearer of a family curse (and because she is under the thumb of a watchful grandmother). A reminder that isolation may serve a purpose, we see her toy with relaxing the constraints she's under - but can that come to any good?

In Alone is a Long Time by Michael Marshall Smith we might think that the character who is isolated here is "Mr Jones", the client of carer Karen. In a sense that's true, but in parallel with the gradual revelation of Karen's (and Jones's) situation and lives, there is a suspicion of something else at play and so it proves. Alone is, indeed, a long time. A well-paced and absorbing story.

Finally, So Easy to Kill by Laird Barron is very much a hard SF horror, spanning unimaginable eons almost to the end of the universe and featuring god-like beings who, while recognisably human in their failings, have become so... much. Still though, they play their games and in this story motives, histories and potential are nested and layered until neither we nor the protagonists can see where things are heading.

So many ways to be alone. So many futures and choices. The stories in Isolation truly explore the richness and dread of being by oneself, whether that's permanent or temporary, voluntary or forced or, indeed, physical, spiritual or temporal separation.

[Peyton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of stories in this were huge misses for me, but I'm glad I stuck it through because I ended up finding some fantastic 4 star and 5 star reads in this mix. I feel I can only give this 3 stars because my ratings for each of the stories varied greatly, but I still highly recommend reading this anthology. This is a great read for someone who is exploring their preferences with horror.

My personal favourites were: Full Blood by Owl Goingback, How We Are by Chịkọdịlị Emelụmadụ, Solivagant by A.G. Slatter, The Peculiar Seclusion of Molly McMarshall by Gwendolyn Kiste, Fire Above Fire Below by Lisa Tuttle, and Second Wind by M.R. Carey

This was my first horror anthology, as someone who always believed they were not a fan of short stories, and it has definitely inspired me to check out more in the future!

[Nat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall this collection was a bit of a drag. It's very long and a lot of the stories were only ok.

The Snow Child by Alison Littlewood - a woman's mom kidnaps a girl to make up for her missing daughter. Creepy and the isolation is really strong in this one, 4/5.

Friends for Life by Mark Morris - a guy trying to make friends gets set on fire during a pagan ritual. Kind of weird, just kind of sad. 3/5

Solivagant by AG Slatter - a woman trying to get away from her evil vampire boyfriend. I'm not super into paranormal stuff, 3/5.

Lone Gunman by Jonathan Maberry - a soldier fighting zombies. Alright but fairly cliche, 3/5.

Second Wind by MR Carey - a daytrader comes back as a zombie so he can do more daytrading. Funny and weird, I liked this one. 4/5

Under Care by Brian Evenson - guy in a hospital is being treated by evil nurses who are drinking his essence or something? Some good creepy imagery but there's not much to this one. 3/5

How We Are by Chikodili Emelumadu - a girl who can make people sick by touching them makes her first friend. Very pushing daisies and the ending is horrible and well done. 4/5

The Long Dead Day by Joe R Lansdale - a guy's daughter is bitten by zombies and he has to kill her. Most zombie stories just feel so overdone, 3/5.

Alone is a Long Time by Michael Marshall Smith - a cleaning woman who steals from her elderly clients gets eaten by a little metal pot. I wanted more resolution to this one, 3/5.

Chalk. Sea. Sand. Sky. Stone. by Lynda E Rucker - a woman breaking down during Covid after her husband's unexpected death. I liked the imagery and the prose although the story didn't really go anywhere. 4/5

Ready or Not by Marian Womack - professor living alone in a falling down house who may have murdered her terrible husband. I didn't totally get the ending but if she killed him, he deserved it. I liked the vibe, 4/5.

Letters to Young Psychopath by Nina Allan - after a guy's high school friend is murdered, he grows up to kill people he thinks deserve it. 3/5

Jaunt by Ken Liu - In a dystopian US, people can use robots to visit other places. 4/5 because I love an epistolary structure.

Full Blood by Owl Goingback - after a pandemic where the vaccine is accidentally made with vampire blood, everyone turns into a vampire. The actual story was kind of gritty and hardcore but the premise is super campy. 3/5

The Blind House by Ramsey Campbell - an editor who's working from home in his apartment slowly becomes more of a recluse until his face disappears. 4/5

There's No Light Between Floors by Paul Tremblay - a guy is caught in a nuclear explosion (maybe?) and crawls out of his collapsed building. 3/5

So Easy to Kill by Laird Barron. Really weird story. A guy turns himself into a drone so he can be immortal, and it's all some ploy to take over a civilization and make himself a God, except he's killed by the spirit of his wife and then imprisoned forever. Way too much happening here and most of it didn't make sense but I do appreciate the hustle. 4/5

The Peculiar Seclusion of Molly McMarshall by Gwendolyn Kiste - a woman refuses to leave her house and when people break in, the darkness inside Gets them. 4/5

Across the Bridge by Tim Lebbon - after some kind of pandemic apocalypse, a guy lives in a bunker underground and is discovered by a young girl living in the new world. I liked this one, very visceral. 4/5

Fire Above, Fire Below by Lisa Tuttle - a woman who can tell the future is conscripted by the US government to help fight WW3. Very readable, and the ending is excellent. 5/5

[Kyle Goins · Rating 3 out of 5]

A gorgeous cover of a remote mountain top and a person standing alone. Unfortunately, these stories don’t really align with that type of physical and literal isolation. I went into this expecting something other than it was, which definitely shaped my reading experience. This book would have been better served with a title and cover indicating that these stories were birthed during the pandemic and are almost all allegories for COVID-19.

Like the majority of anthologies, there were stories that were five stars for me and stories that were total duds (or worse), so an overall review of 3 stars.

Some of my favorites:

Alison Littlewood - The Snow Child
A.G. Slatter – Solivagant
Owl Goingback – Full Blood
Ramsey Campbell – The Blind House
Lisa Tuttle – Fire Above, Fire Below


The remaining stories were a mixed bag. Some were good, but not great. Others struggled to put together a cohesive ending or otherwise didn’t break any new ground. There were two stories that drove me up a wall in the worst way. I know folks LOVE these authors, so this is definitely a Your Mileage May Vary thing, but Paul Tremblay’s story was so disjointed, pointless, and uninteresting to me. And Laird Barron… oof. I know he’s known for poetry and prose, but this doesn’t read like that. There is no Ligotti, Bradbury, or Khaw in this prose. This reads like a first time writer discovering a thesaurus and then throwing as many multisyllabic words into a sentence as possible, regardless of whether they actually make any sense together. The most frustrating part is that the actual plot is great but the language usage is about as digestible as drywall.

Also, M.R. Carey, this is only the second of his stories I have read and both have just happened to graphically mention a woman pissing. No kink shame, but definitely not kink same, my dude.

Overall, I really loved some of these stories, but I don’t know that I’d recommend the anthology in its entirety.

[Darcy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review is based only on The Lone Gunman by Jonathan Maberry.

While this one is short, Sam really goes through a lot. He finds himself alive, a surprise in itself, but then he needs to find the will to live and do something, which is much harder in the world he woke up in. It was nice to see him make the right choice and do something.

[T · Rating 4 out of 5]

pretty good collection! naturally in an anthology some stories are weaker but i particularly enjoyed Paul Tremblay's There's No Light Between Floors and Lisa Tuttle's Fire Above, Fire Below. Jonathan Maberry's The Lone Gunman was on the weaker side to me - the writing fine but I didn't feel that it was particularly effective as horror - maybe just because its zombies

Pretty good read overall tho

[Kate Victoria RescueandReading · Rating 3 out of 5]

All the stories in this anthology share one thing in common, isolation, in its different forms.

There are a number of eerie stories, some creating scenes of horror, some filling the reader with melancholy, and others, with beautiful imagery (The Snow Child). Some were short of the mark and bit “meh”, but to each, their own.


Favourite stories:

The Snow Child: a daughter’s visit to her mother doesn’t end well. Picturing the statues, feeling the cold as I read (Canadian here!), I was immersed in the story and was devastated by the ending.

Solivagant: women band together to destroy a malignant man. This should be a full length story in my opinion. I loved the characters and would love to learn more about Cinna’s origin, Kitty’s initial meeting with him, and what the two women do after the end of the story.

None of the other stories held me in thrall like these two, but definitely give them a read and decide which story of isolation is YOUR favourite.

[Rita Arens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three of these stories have stayed with me for weeks.

[David Sheridan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solid collection of stories around the theme of Isolation—I enjoyed.

[Paulo "paper books only" · Rating 2 out of 5]

review to come

[Elijah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I do want to say the story " Ready or Not" by Marian Woman was a superb bit of horror and really the ONLY story I really enjoyed in the entire book. This is really a disappointing collection, especially with some of the authors displayed within, most stories are Not even horror, more like Social commentary, and I have had absolutely enough of that, we all know how the status quo feels and wants the rest of us to see things by now. I pre-ordered this book, thinking there would be some interesting takes on a subject which has so much horror to explore, but, NO, sadly most stories were mediocre at best and some I had to kick myself for wasting time on!! Why?!! Oh why!?! I liked the Cover.....

[Mulder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Average Rating - 3.175 / 5 = 3/5

Favourites: 'Lone Gunman', 'How We Are', 'Fire Above, Fire Below'.
Least Favourites: ' Chalk. Sea. Sand. Sky. Stone.', 'Ready or Not', 'So Easy to Kill'.

Story-by-Story:
1 | The Snow Child - Alison Littlewood | 3 - Pretty good start to the collection. [1-30-23]

2 | Friends for Life - Mark Morris | 3.5 - I really liked this one, was a bit sad though honestly. [1-31-23]

3 | Solivagant - A.G. Slatter | 3 - I'm not usually a fan of Vampire stories, but this one was better than I'd expected it to be. [1-31-23]

4 | Lone Gunman - Jonathan Maberry | 4.5 - Definitely my favourite so far, I need to check out more Jonathan Maberry. I'm surprised I've never read any of his other works because Zombies are definitely one of my favourites to read/watch movies about. In fact, my main writing project is a zombie story. [2-10-23]

5 | Second Wind - M.R. Carey | 4 - I enjoyed this one quite a bit. I'd love to read a full length novel set in this world, with more of Nick and Janine as well as others who are 'dead but not dead dead'. [2-10-23]

6 | Under Care - Brian Evenson | 3 - This was okay. I think they were aliens, or something. But I'm not positive. I'd like to read more about what happens after this ends and what happens to the MC. [2-11-23]

7 | How We Are - Chịkọdịlị Emelụmadụ | 4.5 - Wasn't enjoying this at first but glad I stuck with it. It's in my top favourites of the collection. [2-11-23]

8 | The Long Dead Day - Joe R. Lansdale | 3.5 - Not mad that there was another zombie story in here. [2-11-23]

9 | Alone is a Long Time - Michael Marshall Smith | 3 - Not bad, not great. [2-11-23]

10 | Chalk. Sea. Sand. Sky. Stone. - Lynda E. Rucker | 2 - I really wasn't a fan of this one. [2-13-23]

11 | Ready or Not - Marian Womack | 1.5 - So far my least favourite out of the collection. [2-13-23]

12 | Letters to a Young Psychopath - Nina Allan | 3.5 [3-3-23]

13 | Jaunt - Ken Liu | 3 - The concept of this one was kind of cool but it was really just a bit boring. [3-6-23]

14 | Full Blood - Owl Goingback | 4 - This one was rather short but I still enjoyed the story. [3-21-23]

15 | The Blind House - Ramsey Campbell | 2 - I won't Lie, I'm a bit confused on what was going on in this one. [3-21-23]

16 | There's No Light Between Floors - Paul Tremblay | 3.5 - This was another good one, I think I'll need to look up more books by Paul because I recently read "The Cabin at the End of the World" and enjoyed that as well. [3-22-23]

17 | So Easy to Kill - Laird Barron | 1 - Definitely my least favourite in the collection. I didn't know what was going on for the majority of the story and it was so boring to me. It felt like I was thrown into the middle of a hard sci-fi series with no context, and honestly if it wasn't in a collection I wouldn't have read the entirety of it. [3-25-23]

18 | The Peculiar Seclusion of Molly McMarshall - Gwendolyn Kiste | 3 - This one was a short, quick read. I think it'd do pretty well as a short film. [3-28-23]

19 | Across the Bridge - Tim Lebbon | 3.5 - This one in ways reminded me of ‘28’ weeks later. [3-28-23]

20 | Fire Above, Fire Below - Lisa Tuttle | 4.5 - I really enjoyed this one, I’d love to read more in this world, both following the ending and also an outside perspective of what’s going on in the world while the MC is in the bunker. [3-29-23]

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Every time I read that a novel/short story or any putative creative work has been inspired by/is a response to/was created during or immediately after the recent COVID crisis and lockdown(s) I cringe. Can you name one novel/short story that the 'Spanish Flue' epidemic of 1918/1919 produced? Or the medieval black death? Or of the multiple sicknesses that have swept human kind in the past few hundred years? Full marks if you thought Defoe's 'Diary of Plague Year' but it's very singularity suggests that plagues are not the inspiration for significant artistic creation (the various Dance Macabre paintings and sculptures were in part a result of the great plague but they also fit into existing artistic/theological/cultural trends). I cannot answer why WWI and it's horrors brought forth incredible works of art and literature while the influencing epidemic did not but I will make a guess that very little of what has been produced post COVID in art or literature will have shelf life much greater then any of the other ephemera associated with that period.

In this anthology the stories which most directly refer to or are on COVID are invariably the dullest and most dated. As a theme isolation is as good, or bad, as any other hook for anthology but like all such devices it is a marketing rather then a literary tool.

I have read with great pleasure many anthologies of horror/suspense/weird fiction though not recently and I wonder if my disappointment with this anthology is a sign that I am losing or have lost interest in the genre. Maybe or maybe this is a collection of not very good stories. I wouldn't recommend it but then I don't suppose that will make much difference to its success or failure. I give it three stars because there are some very good stories and very little bad writing but overall it is a disappointment.

[Eric Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the last two years, the world’s population have all experienced very similar situations. With the global pandemic, everyone was at some point quarantined. We were all stuck at home alone at one point or another. The fear of being alone ranks among the top phobias. When we are alone, the monsters come out from the shadows. This fear is what inspired a cast of some of the top horror, fantasy, and sci-fi writers to contribution to this book. They draw on such fears as vampires and serial killers, madness and solitude, to prey on our psyche.

Isolation: The Horror Anthology is new out from Titan Books. British author Dan Coxon curates and edits this collection. Coxon has compiled twenty stories from an international group of award-winning and best-selling writers. Included are such notable names as Ramsey Cambell, Gwendolyn Kiste, Joe R. Lansdale, and many more. The stories range just as wildly as those who wrote them. Each well-written tale hits home with how scary it can be to be alone. Read it alone if you dare but beware of the isolation!

This review was originally published at https://sanfranciscobookreview.com/pr...

[Timothy Grubbs · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are worse things than being alone…even out in the middle of nowhere…

Isolation: The Horror Anthology is a misleading title and premise.

Yes, most of the short stories have some kind of supernatural or horror element…but I feel the title would have been more accurate if it had been called “Alond: The Horror Anthology”.

Some of these stories are as much about emotional isolation as much as physically being apart from others. It’s the discomfort of feeling alone when surrounded by people…being in a relationship with someone who feels like a stranger…not being sure how to make friends when a werewolf and zombie apocalypse is going on outside and hurting property values…

But to be serious…the isolation expressed in these stories is just as much psychological as it is geographic (though the cool opening story is set in the arctic).

Sometimes we just want to feel connected with those around us…or ANYONE really. No one truly wants to be alone…and some can’t handle it to the point that…well…I’ll let some of these stories finish that thought for you…

[BEAU BOOKS · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Seems like everyone but me is dead. Seems like I am the only person left alive.”

How long can you live in an empty room? An empty country? A dead world? A violent universe of your own making? Excellent compiling by Coxon, I picked this up purely because of the handful of names I recognized on the cover and am walking away with several authors rocketed to the top of my search list. Good book to grab to highlight how the pandemic will affect horror literature in the decades to come. Stand out stories were “The Blind House” by Ramsey Campbell, “How We Are” by Chikodili Emelumadu, “Across the Bridge” by Tim Lebbon, and ending with Lisa Tuttle’s “Fire Above, Fire Below” was a stroke of literary genius.

Not every story held a candle to the shining stars in the list. If I have to read another “boo hoo for the family annihilator who miraculously doesn’t have enough courage to do himself during the ‘apocalypse’” my head will explode, unlike his, with misogyny.

3.5/5 Good odds you’ll find something in here for you.

[Ray Smillie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some absolute crackers, most middling and a few duffers. My favourites were:

The Snow Child: Takes place in the far north of Sweden in the middle of winter. Daughter visiting isolated (by choice) mother.

Friends For Life: Reminds me, in a good way, like one of the stories from the classic portmanteau Amicus films.

Chalk. Sea. Sand. Sky. Stone: Protagonist moves from the hustle and bustle of London to the Isle of Thanet. Enjoying the isolation.

The Peculiar Seclusion Of Molly McMarshall: Where is Molly McMarshall? People want to know but maybe they should have kept their noses out of her business.

Across The Bridge: Stay away from the derelict town is the advice but, well, advice isn't always followed.

Fire Above, Fire Below: The power to predict events isn't necessarily a loved power.

Sometimes short story horror collections came be a crushing disappointment. This is easily one of the best.

[Steven West · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though born out of the Covid era of lockdowns, paranoia and division, this anthology gathers a broad collection of tales encompassing everything from advanced A.I. and WWIII to a wealth of other 21st century existential threats, while offering tales of alienation involving more traditional genre monsters. Among the standouts, Lisa Tuttle's riff on King's 'Dead Zone' themes hits hard, while Gwendolyn Kiste delivers a terribly sad / terrifying modern witch hunt told via blogs, gossip and reportage. Ramsey Campbell's 'The Blind House' vividly captures the post-2020 blurring of home and work life before delivering the most nightmarish image in an ensemble that doesn't short change such pleasures.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fascinating anthology. It's labeled as horror, but there was a bonkers sci-fi story by Laird Barron, a speculative Ken Liu about post-pandemic tourism that actually felt very real to me, a quiet & haunting post apocalyptic Tim Lebbon story. Then there are the horror stories: Jonathan Maberry with a brilliant twist, Owl Goingback with a pandemic story with a horror twist, Ramsey Campbell's work about an editor that will stick in my mind for awhile. I have yet to read a full Campbell book but have read several stories by him the past few months and every single one has been incredible. A themed anthology with a horror emphasis, but plenty of surprises.

[Aldi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixed bag, as is usually the case with anthologies, but the authors definitely all delivered on the Isolation brief. Quite a few of the stories were pandemic-themed, as was to be expected; there's also a few with post-apocalyptic settings, zombies and vampires and witches, oh my. I enjoyed most of them but unfortunately most of them were also plagued by my least favourite aspect of way too many short stories, the weak ending. My favourite contributions were The Snow Child by Alison Littlewood (great writing, haunting atmosphere, genuinely creepy af) and Jaunt by Ken Liu, which read much like a timely Black Mirror episode.