Books like The Children of Old Leech: A Tribute to the Carnivorous Cosmos of Laird Barron

October spooky read #11!Getting a copy of this book was basically admitting to myself that Laird Barron has joined Neil Gaiman, China Mieville, Becky Chambers, Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Catherynne M. Valente and a handful of other writers I fangirl about shamelessly. Obviously, I am not the only one who feels this way, or such a collection would never have been put together! It was the perfect conclusion to my October spooky reads marathon. You see, I sometimes feel like a jaded husk of a human being because watching the news has made reading horror stories feel a lot less scary than it used to be. But Barron’s stuff is haunting in so many ways, and some pretty damn talented writers created amazing homages to his work with this anthology.You can enjoy this collection without having read Barron’s stories before, but you will probably enjoy them much more if you have; a few places and characters get revisited. The themes of suppressed memories, isolation, insanity, badly concealed secrets, humans who aren’t quite what they seem, rural isolation, decrepit buildings with ominous histories: the good stuff that I adore about Barron’s stories are present here, reworked in each contributors’ voice. The stories are rich and clever, and only get better the more you think about them.The strand-outs were:-Gemma Flies’ creepy tale of “archaeology”: a literal slow descend into madness in one’s own backyard, in the creepiest setting in the world: Mississauga, Ontario (well, its scary to Montrealers anyway)! I loved the references to trepanning, the antiquated surgical procedure of drilling a hole in someone’s skull to let out the humors and relieve headaches.-Orrin Grey’s intriguing venture into high-end art scenes and their peculiar parties. I loved the way the narrator has no identity whatsoever in this tale, they have only one function: to be our eyes, to bear witness to whatever strange event took place as an eccentric, artistically inclined man gathers his entourage for a party where a film by Eadweard Muybridge will be projected. Maybe the Muses have dark sisters somewhere?-Molly Tanzer’s parody of academic correspondence is as funny and accurate in terms of how academics communicate with each other, as it is creepy. Pass the dairy-free donuts.-Jeffrey Thomas’ tale of expats indulging in certain vices they should have avoided. Is there any isolation sharper than being alone in a foreign land? I had heard of snake wine before and I was already not inclined to try it should I ever travel through Asia – now I know I’ll politely decline if it’s ever offered to me.-Cody Goodfellow's train-hopping crust punk's misadventures; how much that guy loves his dog almost broke my heart.-And of course, John Langan’s wonderful story of a woman with PTSD who takes a strange contract working for an eccentric millionaire who takes her to a remote and eerie diamond mine, with a perfect callback to one of my favorite stories from Barron’s collections. If you like Barron’s work as much as I do, or even if you simply enjoy strange, creepy and ambiguous horror short stories, do not miss this little collection! A wonderful (if slightly uneven) end to my October spooky reads marathon.