Loved this anthology. As I did last year with a different collection of stories, I've ranked them and have smaller reviews for each, in order from my favorite to least favorite:

Invasion of the Baby Snatchers - 5/5
I am partial to alien horror, and this was perfect. I wanted more and more of this. Scary the entire way through- aliens that learn over the course of their attack scare me in the best way with this genre!

Your Happy Place - 5/5
Not only was the eternal cycle of this story's plot terrifying to put yourself in the mind of, but this one is a huge conversational piece around the prison system and the rights of those incarcerated (for a variety of sentences). Simple but effective take on this topic, and freaky just the same!

Flicker - 5/5
The biggest horror here was the inescapable event that keeps occurring, coupled by the fact that it only gets longer and longer each time. I would've loved to see this one expanded on for even just 5 pages, but it was still a big highlight for me.

The Rider - 4/5
The plot of this one was fine, but the imagery of the titular character was perfectly scary for me. I liked the added tension provided by the cops/townspeople creating the blockade, and the justice they met.

Pressure - 4/5
SECOND PERSON POV SUPREMACY!!!!! I adore this writing and I'm a sucker for it when it's done well. I think the main character lent very well to this style. Another one that I wanted to be longer. Everything about it was so perfectly executed, right down to the horror being more focused on the ending.

The Aesthete - 4/5
I love robots. I love the futurism here. Reminded me a little of Blade Runner (in a good way). Less focused on the horror, but still created a great setting and vibe of hopelessness in the realm of where tech is going.

Dark Home - 4/5
Great MC. Horror centered in grief can sometimes be tacky but this didn't stray into that territory at all. It was straightforward, but managed to still be haunting.

A Bird Sings by the Etching Tree - 4/5
I felt like this one moved too fast, but it was a good mix of playful and slasher-y.

The Other One - 3/5
V creepy. The feeling of being replaced (esp by a significant other) is super relatable to a lot of people, and being replaced by this freaky creature-being is a fun twist.

Eye & Tooth - 3/5
A little predictable but I liked the siblings. I definitely needed more from a story like this. It never felt like there was a lot of danger to anything going on, but a good start.

Reckless Eyeballing - 3/5
I love The Broken Earth trilogy, so I expected more here. It was good, but lacked a bit of tension and/or creepiness for me to want to read more of this.

Wandering Devil - 3/5
This is similar to a few others where the main horror element wasn't brought up until the end, but it definitely left me feeling creeped out by this one - how many people are labeled as "wanderers" throughout their life but go through periods where they're just M.I.A.? How do we know where they go? Then again, unsolved disappearances have always freaked me out and I got that vibe here so it was a good one for me.

The Most Strongest Obeah Woman in the World - 3/5
Overall this one had a cool premise and a lot of promise to start, but didn't ever "go there." I thought we were getting to something when the two of them were really going back and forth, but then she does what she needs to do and moves on.

The Norwood Trouble - 3/5
This one felt disjointed. Maybe it was too fast-paced, but I needed a few more scenes to help with the pacing. And some more scenes of the orchard protecting these people would've been cool, too.

A Grief of the Dead - 2/5
I hated the way there were no quotations around dialogue. I don't like a gay MC being given 1) a love interest who is specifically mentioned as 10 years younger, feels a bit predatory, and 2) starts to become infatuated with the anonymous chatter who is helping him plan a terrorist attack. Like- demonizing, much? This piece actually held a lot of tension and horror for me with the planned shooting looming over much of this, but it was bogged down by the weird interactions with the sister (she felt scattered and unplanned, but not in an effective way) and the lack of quotations around dialogue.

An American Fable - 2/5
This one was just really straightforward and lacked tension.

Hide & Seek - 2/5
The framing of the story around the game of hide-and-seek was scary at first, but I don't like the narration or the plot device of addiction here. It felt like a cop out, and when magic is involved it could've been a lot cooler.

Lasirèn - 2/5
This one was just boring. Again, too straightforward and lacking much to make it feel scary.

Origin Story - 1/5
I like a script-style piece, but I think it hurt the style of this one. I needed some more characters to be involved to break it up. All of the White Boys blended together (maybe that was the point? idk but I think I'm missing something here) and the message almost seems too direct - like, surely that's not all this was about? And it if was, it wasn't very scary at all.

Loved getting to read something like this. Hopefully I can find more horror anthologies for next spooky season!