Christmas and Other Horrors

An Anthology of Solstice Horror

By: Ellen Datlow - editor

Narrated by: Carrie Coello, Andrew J. Andersen

Hugo Award-winning editor, and horror legend Ellen Datlow presents a terrifying and chilling horror anthology of original short stories exploring the endless terrors of winter solstice traditions across the globe, featuring chillers by Tananarive Due, Stephen Graham Jones, Alma Katsu, and many more.

The winter solstice is celebrated as a time of joy around the world—yet the long nights also conjure a darker tradition of ghouls, hauntings, and visitations. This anthology of all-new stories invites you to huddle around the fire and revel in the unholy, the dangerous, the horrific aspects of a time when families and friends come together—for better and for worse.

From the eerie Austrian Schnabelperchten to the skeletal Welsh Mari Lwyd, by way of ravenous golems, uncanny neighbors, and unwelcome visitors, Christmas and Other Horrors captures the heart and horror of the festive season.

Because the weather outside is frightful, but the fire inside is hungry . . .

©2023 Ellen Datlow (Introduction) (P)2024 Tantor

Dark winter holidays

Overall I enjoyed this. The holidays can be a bit too cheery & this brought in some of the darkness that is an undercurrent. The narration bothered me at times.

Not a single bad story...

I loved literally every story in this collection except one, and I did not hate it entirely. I highly, HIGHLY recommend this to horror readers/listeners everywhere.

More Narrators Please

I felt like it would have better served the various stories to have had more than just these two narrators.

I love festive horror

There’s such a wealth of mythology around the winter solstice, it’s a pleasure to dive into some of the stories that can be somewhat overshadowed by the prevailing hegemony of Christmas. A good collection that revels that than repels the darkest time of the year.

Mostly good

Different authors, so some stories are better than others. I the better part of them, and the ones I liked I really liked. Performance is fine, mostly just occasional lines read with the wrong tone.

Some people on other sites complained that the collection was more focused on the solstice than Christmas. That’s true, but I liked it.

It has both gory and psychological horror, but the emphasis is on psychological. That was a plus for me, but if psychological isn’t your thing then most stories probably won’t be a good fit.

Good narration on some okay stories

Grabbed this for a seasonal read on audible’s cyber Monday sale and dove right in.

This is an enjoyable anthology that features different holiday creatures, traditions, and locales. From the Christian Christmas, to folkloric creatures and the winter solstice. I particularly enjoyed that each story was finished with a small snippet of the author describing where they came up with the story idea. Which read like little behind the scenes inclusions.

But with a lot of these large anthologies, I have to wonder if creating them just for a large chunk of them to go to invited authors is the best move. Especially when many of these were just okay. My wonder is if the authors are writing just to be included off the invite, rather than a desire to write the story…which I could be entirely wrong, and enjoyment is subjective. That’s also not to say that I disliked any of them outright, and I appreciated how well rounded it was with its diversity of traditions, but maybe I was just looking for more of a Christmas-centric horror collection, which would be on me!

Stephen Graham Jones, Josh Malerman, and Gemma Files are a few standouts, with stories that I particularly enjoyed, as well as their reasonings for writing.

It’s A Mixed Bag

Dickens was making a socio-political statement with A Christmas Carol but managed to make it timelessly. Several of these writers attempt their own social and political statements but missed the mark. Even the points of view I agree on, I was annoyed that they were forced into the story in a way that detracted rather than enhanced. Other stories include too many references to current events/trends to age well…

Still, a couple of the tales are good. It’s not something I imagine I will pick up year after year though.

it was just ok

I got pretty bored as the book continued. it really didn't keep me interested. I found it hard to keep up with the story because my thoughts often wondered elsewhere as the boredom crept in over time.

Excellent anthology!

I liked this a lot better than I expected. Better than any horror anthology I’ve read recently.

Excellent and Eclectic

This was a great assortment of horror short stories from a very talented collection of authors, with or without the unifying theme of "Christmas".
I can't wait to revisit it year after year as part of my holiday traditions.