Kathryn’s Reviews > Christmas and Other Horrors: A Winter Solstice Anthology > Status Update

Gravé of Small Birds by Kaaron Warren - 4/5 ⭐️
I liked this story but at this point I’m really feeling that so few of these stories have really been creepy. This was a classic fable-type tale about not being a shit person “or else” and it was well written. But it wasn’t creepy. Alas.

Cold by Cassandra Khaw - 3/5 ⭐️
I wanted to like this more but it was so damn short!! Such a cool concept and imagery but I just felt like it was too fleeting for me to really sink my teeth into.

Löyly Sow-na by Josh Malerman - 4/5 ⭐️
I really liked this one! A subtle sense of creeping dread permeated the story and the tension built wonderfully. I’m always a sucker for a horror monster but also what’s more monstrous than being confronted by our own humanity?

All The Pretty People by Nadia Bulkin - 1/5 ⭐️
Shitty, unlikeable people have a dumb “I’m so hipster I’m so ironic” edge-lord holiday party and find out they’re all, in fact, shitty. No thanks. What a waste of paper.

Our Recent Unpleasantness by Stephen Graham Jones - 3.75/4 ⭐️
In true SGJ fashion, this was weird and unsettling and idk entirely what I think about it. I love the way he is able to instantly create this atmosphere of pervasive wrongness, a tension that never quite lets up. But also I often find his stuff gets crazy hard to follow and this was no exception.

Finally back to this after a 9 month hiatus…

Return to Bear Creek Lodge by Tananarive Due - 5/5 ⭐️
This was fantastic. Haunting and spooky and family trauma and a nasty (maybe also sympathetic) little creature? It’s like a wishlist of my favourite horror genre words/concepts (which was, naturally, brilliantly executed by Due). Her hint of this becoming a full length novel in her authors note pleases me!

Last Drinks at Bondi Beach by Garth Nix - 2/5 ⭐️
Not gonna lie, I read and noted my rating for this yesterday but I’ve already forgotten what it was about which I think is review enough?

Dry and Ready by Glen Hirshberg - 4/5 ⭐️
This was creepy af and layered with familial trauma and guilt and I ate that shit up! I would have loved a more *bam* ending BUT that is not to say I didn’t like the ending, just that I’m greedy haha!

The Blessing of the Waters by Nick Mamatas - 3.5/5 ⭐️
I liked this story but it definitely fell far from being “spooky”. A tragic short story about family and faith, the imagery was vivid and the characters incredibly compelling but it felt like it needed more cooking time - more time with the siblings, more time on the things in the depths.

The Mawkin by Terry Dowling - 3/5 ⭐️
I was really excited upon starting this to see it was set in Australia (we NEVER get Christmas rep and frankly Australia is the perfect place for creepy Christmas takes) but the story itself didn’t really do it for me. The concept of a spooky scarecrow is excellent and there was some brilliant imagery but I didn’t like Dowling’s writing style and the ending fell flat.