When Things Get Dark: Stories Inspired by Shirley Jackson

Legendary horror editor Datlow’s new anthology is replete with stories inspired by Shirley Jackson, from the likes of Paul Tremblay, Joyce Carol Oates, and Laird Barron. It includes more than a dozen tales of the macabre, each one showcasing the author’s own unique interpretation of Jackson’s themes, with more modern sensibilities. Notable entries include Seanan McGuire’s chilling “In the Deep Woods; The Light Is Different There,” about children who become aware that bad things happen in life and women who enter into marriages they think will be for the better only to learn that nothing could be further from the truth. “Hag,” by Benjamin Percy, focuses on a family with a rental property in Cape Cod and a reporter named Ellie who has come to town from Boston to investigate a murder, one of several that occurs on the coast of Maine. It’s soon revealed that Ellie has a more personal connection to the murder than she initially let on. Oates’s “Take Me, I Am Free” starts off with a mother complaining to someone on the phone that her daughter is perverse and hides her true nature but that no one else sees it. “Skinder’s Veil,” by Kelly Link, explores territory that will be familiar to academics struggling to finish dissertations and doing their best to cope with unpleasant roommates; then it turns into a “fairy tale gone horribly wrong” scenario when the protagonist agrees to go housesitting in Vermont.