Excellent Horror Anthology Focusing on Family Fears

 Roots of My Fears: Terrifying Stories of Ancestral Horror edited by Gemma Amor

Roots of my Fears book cover

Many thanks to Titan Books and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this excellent ancestral horror anthology Roots of My Fears: Terrifying Stories of Ancestral Horror. I was really excited to find this collection because it included stories by Erika Wurth, Ai Jiang, and Gabino Iglesias; writers whose books I’ve thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated their unique takes on horror. Furthermore, I was really excited to find stories by V. Castro and Adam Nevill, whose books I’ve had on my to be read list for some time. Gemma Amor, the editor of this collection, has compiled an interesting mix of stories, many of which are inventive and terrifying, in their own unique ways. As she defines the word “root” in the introduction, she elaborates on noting how it can take on different meanings, enabling her to remain connected, but also exploring how those attachments are not always healthy or helpful. “Horror is the perfect playground for such explorations: it is a genre highly bound in identity, in existential explorations, in matters of belonging, or of being alone.” These stories all focus on some kind of connection to family, whether it is healthy or harmful, but also on the identity, and how searching for one’s own identity, trying to discover who you are and break from these familiar constraints can also be a terrifying experience. This is a great collection of stories, and while they are not all excellent, I felt that most of the stories were truly inventive, surprising, and scary. Furthermore, I wasn’t expecting so many references to cosmic horror and Lovecraft, but I felt like many of the stories had some kind of connection to the old ones, tentacled creatures, or ancient traditions that seemed to pass down in ways that superseded blood. If weird, cosmic, or folk horror grab your attention, then this is a collection for you. I also appreciated the diversity of this collection and how it explored cultures, traditions, and superstitions from  Nigerian, Caribbean, Puerto Rican, Mexican, Chinese and Pakistani perspectives. These were some of the more creative and interesting stories. I’ll briefly outline these stories and share what I liked about each one.

“Lamb had a Little Mary” by Elena Sichrovsky was a strange story that involved body horror and childbearing. It’s a play on the nursey rhyme, but imagining the kind of dependent relationship between Mary and her lamb as if it were in a medieval forest during a famine and plague. It’s truly disturbing, and a great way to start off this anthology by shocking readers. It’s definitely a story I will also need to revisit to further analyze its meaning.

I loved “The House that Gabriel Built” by Nuzo Onoh. It was another strange story about familiar revenge and power, imagining how a young boy whose uncles murdered his father would do anything to get revenge and retain his inheritance. The story also features some truly shocking instances of revenge, but there’s also a message about the power that this kinds of patrilineal societies wield and how it impacts women. It was interesting to read this story about Nigerian traditions because I could see a lot of connection to blues music and traditions. In particular, the idea of the seventh son serves as a kind of talisman- a blessed child whose often the hoochie-koochie man, endowed with special abilities.

It's hard to choose a favorite from this collection, but Ramsey Campbell’s “The Faces at Pine Dunes” was a strong contender from this collection. It is one of the longer selections, but it is so atmospheric and creepy. This is the story that is probably the most “Lovecraftian” as well. It’s a story about a boy who camps around England with his parents, but eventually seeks to get away from them, obtaining a job in town as a bartender. After meeting a girl in the bar, he realizes how different his experiences have been, and he desires something new, but also begins to question his parents and their actions. As one of the longer stories, the woods where his family camps takes on its own kind of character within the story and had enough creepy and eerie qualities to keep me reading until I finished. I was surprised to learn that this story is also older, but it makes sense since the teens in the story don’t have social media or phones, and there’s a kind of 1970s counterculture vibe throughout the story. I’ve heard of Campbell before, but never read anything by him, and with “The Faces at Pine Dunes”, I can understand how he is considered a master of horror.

“In Silence, In Dying, In Dark” by Caleb Weinhardt is a shorter story that details mystery letters the narrator receives from their old life. It’s a quick read, and has a tough act to follow in Campbell’s piece.

“One of Those Girls” by Premee Mohamed is a great story about Benny, a first generation college student whose immigrant parents would not approve of her unplanned pregnancy. She solicits help from a friend, but some strange events occur that prevent her from finding answers and confronting man who fathered her child. At the same time, she begins to see a ghostly woman in white. This story has some great and unexpected twists, and Mohamed uses some clever events in the story to engage the reader and propel the action forward.

I was really excited to read Gabino Iglesias’s “Juracan” since I haven’t read any of his stories, but I absolutely loved the novels The House of Bone and Rain and The Devil Takes You Home. This story was interesting, and it seemed like it was connected to The House of Bone and Rain. Both feature a deadly hurricane and describe the kinds of strange and potentially supernatural events that happen during these hurricanes. Both described babies being born during a hurricane that have 7 rows of teeth, and both feature supernatural characters who emerge during these times of intense weather. I wondered if maybe this was another direction that Iglesias was taking with his book, but abandoned it. Although I liked this short story, I wished it was longer.

“The Saint in the Mountain” by Nadia El-Fassi was also a terrifying story of young womanhood, and how societies seek to control women’s bodies. There’s lots of strange events and foreboding in the story, and I really enjoyed those moments leading up to a surprise ending.

“Crepuscular” by Hailey Piper was also a terrifying story about having children, especially those with unique needs. This was also one of those Lovecraftian stories that also incorporated elements of The Exorcist. As a parent, this story spoke to me about the lengths people will go to and the kinds of wild advice they might seek out to try to “solve” their kids. It was a gruesome but compelling read.

“Laal Andhi” by Usman T. Malik was another interesting story that takes place in Pakistan, and jumps from 2008, when the narrator was a man in his 30s to his boyhood in the 80s. A surprising figure suddenly appears as he is driving, and this shock enables him to reminisce. There’s some really weird stuff (think of Takashi Miike’s Audition) that the narrator and his friends encounter in a haunted house in the neighborhood, and this will eventually change all of their lives. This story is not only an interesting take on the haunted house story, but it’s also a story of young friendship and adventure.

Erika T. Wurth’s “The Woods” is a strange, but compelling story about family, love, and a mysterious hotel made from trees. As I was reading, I kept thinking about Wurth’s novel White Horse, which takes place partly in the Overlook hotel, made famous by The Shining. There are some elements of weird hotels in this story. I loved how the setting in a tree hotel with roots throughout transported the narrator back to her family and roots. The incorporation of folktales and family stories passed down also created a kind of weird atmosphere where the narrator felt both unsettled, but strangely comfortable. It’s another moody and eerie story full of uncanny experiences.

Ai Jiang’s “Unsewn” was a heartbreaking story about the pressure of valuing male children over female children in China (although the story could have taken place elsewhere). The story didn’t seem like traditional horror until the ending, which is both heartbreaking and horrifying. However, looking back, I can see how expectations and familiar duties, especially around childrearing and lineage, things often out of our control, can be terrifying experiences in themselves. Jiang’s story takes place in a society rampant with inequality and division, and it helps to contextualize the main character’s actions.

Adam Nevill’s “To Forget and Be Forgotten” was another favorite. It was such a strange and unexpected story with hints of Rosemary’s Baby and other Lovecraftian elements. The story involves a man who is hired as a night porter in an apartment building where none of the residents are under 90. He observes their strange behavior and only interacts with their equally odd caregivers. One night, one of the caregivers asks the narrator to watch her client, and the story just gets stranger from there. The story has a great ending and some amazing reveals. I would love to see this as a short film--- I think it would be a little too long for a 30 minute show, but it might work better in the 40-60 minute range. It also plays on our fears of aging.

V. Castro’s “The Veteran” was a story that started rather bleak, but ended up being redemptive. I also appreciated the twists she developed for this kind of pandemic/survival story. I usually don’t like these kinds of stories or movies, but this one was cool, and also has some Lovecraftian elements to it. The story also had some Stephen King traces in it—children in danger from some kind of mysterious, older evil, while a down-on-his luck loner finds his place with a curandera and a kid. It’s an economical, but powerful story, and I’m looking forward to reading more of Castro’s works.

“Chalk Bones” by Sarah Deacon was an interesting story that verged on a kind of folk horror, but also had some Lovecraftian elements in it. The narrator is moving from her family’s home to her grandfather’s farm. They are displaced by the construction of a bypass. While the narrator, a young girl, moves, she begins to feel stronger connections with the land, feeling and hearing things that others seemingly cannot. It’s another inventive play on the kinds of roots and connections we have with not only family, but the land, and how those experiences and knowledge can get in our bones.

Overall, this was a great anthology, with some really great stories in them. While not stories I would necessarily include for the classroom, I would recommend them to friends. There’s a great variety of stories that appeal to all different types of horror fans. A great collection that I will definitely recommend and revisit.