Worldwide Horror
Review of the Valancourt paperback edition (February 2022) of the original Valancourt hardcover (December 2021)

[3.2 average rating of stores, but bumped up to 4 for the wide range of languages and countries and for the excellence of several of the stories]

Due to my Estonian heritage, I am always curious to discover books with Estonian in translation and that was how I came across this anthology of world horror collected by Valancourt Books. It includes a translation of popular crime and fantasy author Indrek Hargla's Tammõküla viljakuivati, originally available in the Estonian language anthologies Kolmevaimukivi [Estonian: Three Spirit Stone] (2018) and Pikad varjud [Estonian: Long Shadows} (2015). Hargla is one of the most popular current authors in Estonia today, especially with his Apothecary Melchior series of medieval crime mysteries. The first two books have been translated in English and also turned into feature films. He started off as more of a fantasy author and even now continues to write a considerable number of alternative history and ethno-horror stories.

So I came for the Estonian, but I was very impressed with the variety which this collection contained. I noticed that one of the editors, James D. Jenkins, did a considerable amount of the translation work as well. This was in several languages, from Danish, French, Portuguese, Spanish and even Romansh, an endangered language now mostly spoken in Switzerland.

Individual story listings and ratings are below, with brief plot set-ups which I don't think need to be spoiler blocked. The overall quality and storytelling and translation was very high. I may not have cared for the subject matter in some cases and rated accordingly, but anyone with a curiosity about the worldwide level of writing in horror and speculative fiction will be sure to find something of interest here. This collection is a follow-up to the publisher's first anthology The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories, Volume 1 (2020) and intentionally sought to collect stories from countries not selected for the first book.

1. The Recording of the Will (2016) *** by Yavor Tsanev, translated from Bulgarian by Roberta Basarbolieva. A curse can be passed along to others via a Last Will.
2. Lucky Night (2013) *** by Gary Victor, translated from French (Haiti) by James D. Jenkins. A candidate for a Haitian Senate seat is willing to do anything that his voodoo priest commands in order to achieve his goal.
3. Whitebone Harp (2013) ** by Zhang Yueran, translated from Chinese by Jeremy Tiang. A bit too bizarre for me.
4. The War (2014) ***** by Wojciech Gunia, translated from Polish by Anthony Sciscione. Felt very "1984" inspired with a touch of "Wag the Dog". A town's population is manipulated by propaganda about a war with an invading nation.
5. Screamer (2014) *** by Braulio Tavares, translated from Portuguese (Brazil) by James D. Jenkins. Business traveller to a small town is haunted by screams in the night.
6. The Old Wound and the Sun (2008) *** by Yasumi Tsuhara, translated from Japanese by Toshiya Kamei. A woman discovers a mysterious wound in the body of her lover which seems to lead to another world.
7. The Ant (1986) *** by Anton Grasso, translated from Maltese by Joseph Camilleri. An estranged husband sends his wife a cake at the house where is now living with another man.
8. The Regensburg Festival **** (2013) by Val Votrin, translated from Russian by Maya Vinokour. A conductor is banned from a town's music festival but insists on attending anyway. I liked the music tie-in of this one.
9. Mask (2012) ** by Bora Chung, translated from Korean by Anton Hur. A family is haunted by a stain on the wall, which turns into a succubus that ensnares the husband in an addiction. Goes on too long for the material and the resolution (with the 'mask') just comes out of nowhere.
10. The Bell (2009) ** by Steinar Bragi, translated from Icelandic by Larissa Kyzer. A manifestation on a village's church bell is an omen for a plague that descends on its inhabitants. This was very creepy but didn't make any attempt to rationalize what was going on. Extra gross-out factors with the baby manifestations.
11. Shelter from the Storm (2022) ** by Jayaprakash Satyamurthy (India). Original in English. A worker has a drunken night out with friends. This did not seem like a horror story at all.
12. Train of Consequences (1999) *** by Roberto Causo, translated from Portuguese (Brazil) by James D. Jenkins. A former torturer with the military police is forced to face his past while riding on a train.
13. Dreams of Ash (2008) **** by Mélanie Fazi, translated from French by James D. Jenkins. A young develops an obsession with fire at a young age which turns into self-harm as she becomes a teenager. Very disturbing story, but well done.
14. The Nature of Love (2022) ** by Luciano Lamberti, translated from Spanish (Argentina) by James D. Jenkins. An online erotic performance turns fatal. Disturbing and repulsive.
15. The Grain Dryer of Tammõküla (2015/2018) ***** by Indrek Hargla, translated from Estonian by Kati Metsaots and Dan O'Connell. The grain drying barn on a farm becomes cursed and a spirit begins to attack those who try to tend the fire in the kiln. A soothsayer from a neighbouring farm is brought in to solve the mystery. I'm biased here due to my heritage and my previous enjoyment of Hargla's novels and stories, but I thought this was both well written and translated.
16. The Runner (2020) *** by Viola Cadruvi, translated from Romansh (Switzerland) by James D. Jenkins. Very short story (4 pages) about a jogger who ignores signs from nature while running on her regular trail.
17. Firstborn (2018) **** by Konstantinos Kellis, translated from Greek by Dimitra Nikolaidou and Victor Pseftakis. A mother tries to protect her newborn from her family, which is a cult that relies on the magically enhanced firstborn of each generation for its wealth and power.
18. Owolabi Olowolagba (2022) *** by Dare Segun Falowo, in English from Nigeria. A desperate man is willing to do anything for money, including fulfilling the commands of a shaman.
19. The Pallid Eidolon (2019) *** by Stephan Friedman, in English from Israel. In post World War II Poland, a Red Cross worker follows a mysterious orphan who appears to be under a compelling bewitchment.
20. The Footsteps of Hunger (2021) **** by Ana Maria Fuster Lavin, translated from Spanish (Puerto Rico) by James D. Jenkins. In the aftermath of the devastating Hurricane Maria in 2017, a non-aging vampiric demon child hunts animals and people in the chaos.
21. The Wonders of the Invisible World (2014) ***** by Teddy Vork, translated from Danish by James D. Jenkins. While perusing a hand-notated copy of American witch hunter Cotton Mather's (1663-1728) Wonders Of The Invisible World (1693), a rare book dealer recites an invisibility spell which allows him to secretly follow his obsessions but opens a pathway to a secret world which coexists with our own.

Trivia and Links
Valancourt Books is an American independent publisher which specializes in reprints of classic gothic, supernatural and horror literature as well as new works in those genres. It also specializes in reprints of classic gay literature. The name Valancourt is taken from a character in Ann Radcliffe's (1764-1823) gothic novel The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794). ( )