IN DARKNESS DELIGHT: FEAR THE FUTURE, EDITED BY ANDREW LENNON & EVANS LIGHT [BOOK REVIEW]

15/12/2021

The best story in the book is perhaps “ We Have Names Too” by Michelle Muenzler, an excellent piece showing how technology will be able to substitute real persons with identical, artificial beings. That trick, however, might not always work.

The third instalment in the In Darkness Delight series is addressing the subject of future which, needless to say when dealing with a horror anthology, appears to be grim and complicated, full of terrific and terrifying events.

The volume assembles twenty-two brand new stories developing with a variable degree of success the above mentioned subject.

It is customary to say that any anthology is a mixed bag. This seems to be especially true in the present case because the reader will be presented both with some quite good stories and with some examples of poorly conceived and/or poorly written short fiction.

Let me then look only at the bright side and stick with those stories which appear to me as the best tales.

“ Airborne” by Lisa Morton is a disturbing piece where people lose their memories due to an unknown cause ( a mysterious virus?) while “ Husk” by Marshall J Moore is a fine example of distressing SF where selected human beings are transformed into vegetables to provide the necessary food.

As for “ Locusts” by Dominick Cancilla, the telltale title says it all...An enjoyable piece of “natural” horror.

Evans Light contributes the apocalyptic “ Seeking Harmony with the Infinite” about an announced end of the world caused by a catastrophic fall of massive materials from the space. But things are different from what they seem.

Eric J Guignard provides the disquieting “ If I Drive Before I Wake”, depicting the dangerous effects of cars driving by themselves against their owner’s desires.

The best story in the book is perhaps “ We Have Names Too” by Michelle Muenzler, an excellent piece showing how technology will be able to substitute real persons with identical, artificial beings. That trick, however, might not always work.

Many reasons why we should indeed fear the future.