Synopsis:
What if there were a whole world of great horror fiction out there you didn’t know anything about, written by authors in distant lands and in foreign languages, outstanding horror stories you had no access to, written in languages you couldn’t read? For an avid horror fan, what could be more horrifying than that?
For this groundbreaking volume, the first of its kind, the editors of Valancourt Books have scoured the world, reading horror stories from dozens of countries in nearly twenty languages, to find some of the best contemporary international horror stories. All the foreign-language stories in this book appear here in English for the first time, while the English-language entries from countries like the Philippines are appearing in print in the U.S. for the first time.
The book includes stories by some of the world’s preeminent horror authors, many of them not yet known in the English-speaking world.
Edition:
Hardcover
Awards/Nominations:
- World Fantasy Award Nominee for Best Anthology (2021)
- Shirley Jackson Award Nominee for Novelette (2020)
My Thoughts:
I really enjoyed stepping outside of the world of English-language horror for a minute. Yes, E-L horror is a vast and beautiful world (especially now that Indie horror has become so accessible!), but there is a literal whole, wide world of horror out there that’s just begging to be translated into other languages in order to reach beyond its bounds. I mean, English stuff gets translated all the time, so why not stuff from the Ivory Coast, Hungary, Denmark, the Philippines, or Senegal – just to name a few examples of what you’ll find in this collection.
I feel like Valancourt is just out there every day trying to make the world a better, more cohesive place. One spooky story at a time. I love that their mission seems to be to find the previously inaccessible, or no longer accessible gems and doing what it takes to get them out into the hands of horror fiends like myself.
“What if there were a whole world of great horror literature out there being produced by writers in distant lands, in books you couldn’t access, and languages you couldn’t read? To an avid horror fan, what could be more horrifying than that?!”
The above quote, taken from the Editor’s Foreword asks what I didn’t realize until reading was a singularly important question. And thankfully what follows provides you with a solution. Whew. World horror is a wonderful addition to any horror fan’s repertoire!
I tried to select a handful of favorites from this collection, so here they are in the order they appear in the collection:
- The Time Remaining by Attila Veres (Hungary)
- The Illogical Investigations of Inspector by André Despérine (Martinique)
- Twin Shadows by Ariane Gélinas (Quebec)
- Backstairs by Anders Fager (Sweden)
- Donation by Lars Ahn (Denmark)
- Mechanisms by Elisenda Solsona (Catalonia)
They are all very different stories, but that’s kind of the joy of a collection like this – the only real commonalities are that they are horror, and they have never before been published in the English language. Everything else is up for grabs.
Rating:
I love everything about this – from concept to execution. I don’t want to spoil anything – go read these wonderful stories for yourself!
The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories vol. 1 Edited by James D. Jenkins and Ryan Cagle Valancourt Books Published: December 8, 2020 ISBN: 9781948405645 Hardcover, Paperback, E-book 432 Pages
