Their Ghoulish Reputation

by Brianna Malotke, Jennifer Jeanne McArdle, Elou Carroll

From the origin story of Baba Yaga, to a monster named, Jenny with iron teeth. A woman buried alive in the bog thousands of years ago, lives on, stealing the bones of anything she touches. A mysterious cave imparts on a group of twenty-somethings a curse that leaves the affected with an inescapable chill. A mysterious old woman rewards a kind sister and punishes a callous one, but over time, the gift provided to the kind sister becomes more and more unsettling. A wolf attack upsets the natural rhythm of life in a medieval English Village. Rumors abound that it is no mere wolf that menaces them. From A tale of a family cursed by a previous mistake in the modern-day retelling of welsh myth 'Llywelyn and Gelert,' to the tale of a small British village of Stegton, where three school friends discover a box of mysterious skulls in a local field. Aunt Sweetness, the Crickerwitch, one of the spirits who goes by thousands of names in the lore of the lakes, keeps coming back when the blue moon rises, answering a summons only she can hear, giving to some and taking from others, doing as she must to make sure her story never ends. When three teenage girls are murdered in a quiet Midwestern town, the rumor mill begins to swirl. Was it an escaped convict, spiteful classmates, or something more sinister?

Combining the elements of literary horror and folklore, 24 masterful authors from around the world present terrifying tales of folkloric madness in this anthology of folk horror, Their Ghoulish Reputation.

FEATURING TALES BY:

Brianna Malotke, Josh Strnad, Elyse Russel, Graham Rodgers, Elou Carroll, Deborah Tapper, Henry Herz, Angela Sylvaine, Ian A. Bain, Anja Rekeszus, Nina Shepardson, Emmeline Teague, Christopher O'Halloran, Thomas Stewart, Erica Summers, Timothy Lanz, William Wandless, Adam Fleet, Ben Lathrop, Nick Petrou, Jennifer Jeanne McArdle, M. G. Doherty, CK LOVE, Sydney Koeplin

Genres: Horror

Kindle Edition

Published October 7, 2022

Reviews

[Join the Penguin Resistance! · Rating 4 out of 5]

An Anthology of Folk Horror to span the globe and travel through time, awakening Horrors from back in time while reminding us that electricity and technology still can't exempt us from the Horrors that surround us. Aficionados of Folk Horror and Spooky Folklore, jump right in. What you fear might be monstrous beyond belief or as near as your neighbor or spouse.

[RL · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I want from a short story collection like this is simple to describe, but harder to actually come across. I want at least a couple of the stories to really spook me or stay with me after I read them.
There were definitely a handful of gems in here- Ruined, The Witchy Witch, Straw, and The Barn to name a few that I really enjoyed. The art at the beginning of each story is interesting as well, adding another layer to the collection.
A few of the stories were misses for me- Trve Cvlt, for instance, just didn't land plot-wise, world-building-wise, etc...but largely the stories were decent, if a bit unmemorable.
With a collection this large, it's unfair to expect to love every single story. There were enough I found myself wanting to skim to get to the next one that I can't give this collection 5 stars, but I did like enough of them that I would recommend it to someone who is interested in folksy spooky stories.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Cassie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I super enjoyed this book. I thought each of the stories were great and interesting. The first baba yaga story really got me and I was sucked in. I really enjoyed the take on the different folk stories and I thought they were all well done. Would recommend to anyone looking for a good read.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Milt Theo · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting anthology of short stories. Most of them are YA, varying from dark fantasy and nasty fairy tales (Breaking Bread, Dhampir) to a bit of horror (Deliver Us, The Cold Within, The Barn). In a book of this size, it's inevitable that there'll be a lot of repetition, and indeed this book is no exception, but after a while the stories started blending together and this didn't really make for easy reading. On the other hand, there were some stories absolutely memorable, and the last one, "Do Elephants Dream of Paradise?" was a particular stand out.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Gina Zappa · Rating 4 out of 5]

First off let's get the obligatory disclaimer out of they way: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Okay, yay, now that that's done we can get into the good stuff.
I am a huge fan of short story collections, particularly anything and everything horror or horror adjacent, so I was very excited to nab an eARC of this through BookSirens. I have a soft spot for Folk Horror in particular so I had high hopes going into this collection. I was not disappointed. I enjoyed almost every story in here. They all kept my interest and some even delivered some genuine scares, which is rare for me since I am such an avid consumer of spooky things, it's hard to get me!
One of my favorite things about anthologies is that you get a chance to check out some new-to-you authors that you may not have come across before. As per usual I was taking notes so that I knew which authors I wanted to track down more works by. Sometimes you get in a rut only reading your go-to authors so it's always nice to inject something fresh into the (never-ending) tbr pile.
All in all I really enjoyed this collection and if you are fan of horror, folklore and fantasy I think you will too.

[Kat M · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a enjoyable Folk Horror Anthology, each story was really well done and I enjoyed each story. There was no weak entry in this collection and I'm glad I was able to read this. The stories had a great spooky atmosphere and the ideas were terrifying.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed these tales. There’s a huge spectrum of different ideas and stories. My absolute favorites were the ones about Baba Yaga. This is a long book but it doesn’t feel like it bc the tales suck you in.

I received this ARC from BookSirens and I’m leaving my review voluntarily.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the collection of stories! I had to keep reading and couldn’t put it down.

[Audrey Stars in Her Eye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Their Ghoulish Reputation: A Folk Horror Anthology shows off the horror chops of authors from around the world.

Combining the elements of literary horror and folklore, Their Ghoulish Reputation contains
24 stories of terrifying monsters and malevolent creatures. From the origin story of Baba Yaga, to a modern-day retelling of the Welsh myth ''Llywelyn and Gelert,'', authors combine elements of literary horror, dark fantasy, and folklore.

The stories vary in length and style. Some tales are darker than others while others are historical in nature. The tales take you to areas of the world where their folklore may be unknown to you and this gives the horror extra validity. That being said the stories are a variety of quality though many are expertly done

I loved “A Blue Moon on Lost Lake.” Set up a little differently than most prose showing the story from different characters. It works as it flips from third person to first. And while it's really a strict horror, it is beautiful folklore about the lady of the lack (not the Arthurian one). But doe scares “The Withy Witch” is my favorite. It has taunt tension and You wonder when the witch will appear and when will it strike its victim.

Their Ghoulish Reputation is a pretty solid anthology that will scare you and raise your heartbeat.

I received af ARC from the publisher; all opinions are my own.

[Kiirstyannee.reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you so much Book Sirens and authors for the ARC of this book. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

WOW This was one creepy collection of stories. Each was very quick and easy to read. They were well written, a variety of horror themes and entertaining throughout.

This book is sure to give you the perfect spooky season fix with a mix of horror tales to creep you out!

[Joanna S Willey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I love the collection of stories they were very spooky. The variety of the collection was wonderful and made it very interesting. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[John Bitsko · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent collection. some were more creepy then others. I really enjoyed this book..definitely recommend!

[Erica Summers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this anthology. I found it to be a really wide range of folk horror, which was very entertaining. I would recommend this for anyone looking for a large collection of folksy, creepy tales. There's bound to be SOMETHING in it that speaks to you. I really enjoyed this collection.