Title: The Earth Bleeds At Night

Edited by Holly Cornetto

Release date: January 3rd, 2025

*Thank you to Michelle and Eerie River for sending me a digital ARC of this one!*

When this anthology was announced, I was super excited for it to arrive in the world. Knowing Holly’s love of folk horror and folk lore, I knew this would be curated with a fantastic batch of stories that would make the reader uneasy.

One thing I find with anthologies – especially with themed ones – is that the flow of story-to-story has to make sense, has to feel like they’ve each been placed like precious puzzle pieces just perfectly to aid in how I respond to it, and I was delighted to find that it did just that.

But what of the individual stories themselves?

Let’s find out!

What I liked: As a massive fan of creepy trees, odd horns and things standing in the corner when the lights are flicked on, ‘The Earth Bleeds At Night’ is stuffed to the brim with all of that, while also adding in a dose of other elements.

Highlights for me were;

‘You’ll Catch Your Death’ by Dexter McLeod. A slab of Clive Barker inspired madness, this story follows a couple who – don’t they always? – makes the mistake of choosing the wrong B ‘n’ B. While there, they learn of the dreaded entity known as The Lord of Meat and – rightly – chaos ensues. McLeod wrote this one with a perfect mix of gore and mental instability, making me question why I loved it so much, when so many horrible things happen in a tight page count.

‘Water Drops on Stone Hearts’ by Christopher O’Halloran. Jesus Christ on the cross. This story reworks how your heart beats and then some. Simple synopsis – shitty mom learns of her daughters death and goes to her funeral. Complex synopsis – death weaves its way through time and space to connect two who lost that connection. There’s a lot of deep metaphorical elements in this one and it forces you to re-read the ending a few times, coming to grips with the hellish beauty of a story you just consumed. Well done.

‘A Mousy Little Thing’ by Christi Nogle. This one was easily the most unnerving story – even more than O’Halloran’s – in that from the first sentence of the story, you know something’s off, just not right. It follows a girl with an extraordinary gift, but one that comes with a cost and horrifying ripples. I’ll be avoiding every mud puddle I ever see again in my life.

The absolute highlight for me though, of all the stories, was C.M. Forest’s deliciously dark ‘It Is the Night!’ Think del Toro’s ‘The Strain’ only mixed with archeological elements. The story follows an investigative reporter who has been writing ‘hit-pieces’ on a noted and reclusive Billionaire. The Billionaire then extends an invitation to her, to interview him, but only with one caveat, it’s taking place on his private jet. We learn the horrible truth, what it all means to the woman, and ultimately, Forest packs in an entire novel’s worth of lore, back story and themes in about 10K words. Outstanding.

Overall, most of the stories hit the beats really effectively and the writing shined in those ones.

What I didn’t like:  I will say, there were a few stories that simply fell flat for me. They started strong and tapered off, or just never hit the right reading currency for me. Anthologies are always a case of readers connecting with different stories, so as always, the ones I loved may be ones you don’t enjoy and vice versa.

Why you should buy this: Eerie River has put on a lot of really solid and wonderful books and ‘The Earth Bleeds At Night’ is another solid anthology of solid stories. This one has something for everyone and each story will take the reader on wild and crazy journey’s.

Overall, a really well done anthology that will most likely cause you to never sleep in the dark again.

4/5