Dark Faith is loaded with thirty-one new stories and poems on faith and spirituality in all of its forms. I’ve always loved the marriage of faith and the horror genre, going back to books like The Sentinel by Jeffrey Konvitz and William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist, and this anthology doesn’t disappoint. Among my favorite stories in the collection are “Good Enough” by Kelli Dunlap, about a relationship that goes wrong, a history of bad choices, and a serial killer who doesn’t fit the usual profi...

Most of the stories are fun. Some are quite imaginative and gave me new perspectives on what a horror short story could be. In that sense, I found several of the stories refreshening and engaging. Only a few failed to capture my interest.

As with any book of short stories, I liked some more than I liked others, but in general it's a very strong collection with a number of standout pieces.

Creepy, but hard to put down. Loved how the nature of faith, where it be Christian or otherwise, was explored in this book. I'll add more to the review when I get home but the first story, "Ghosts of New York" really struck home with me, whereas "Zen and the Art of Gordon Dratch's Damnation" had me curled in a corner, whimpering in fright. There was a couple of stories that made me wonder what it had to do with faith, whereas I started off "Sandboys" thinking it was heavyhanded and over-dramatic...

Linda D. Addison's poem, "The Story of Belief-Non," starts off this anthology and offers an existential look at faith, which I thought set the tone for the entire book well."Ghosts of New York" by Jennifer Pelland deals with the fate of a woman in the midst of 9/11 and casts her as a ghost in the aftermath of the tragedy. The subject matter will still be difficult to take for many even years later, and is a very impactful piece.Similarly, "I Sing a New Psalm" by Brian Keene continues to have dis...

Note - I read slush for Apex; this is an Apex book.A collection of short stories related to faith. Some of them went for the cheap tricks, but here were some of my favorites:The Mad Eyes of the Heron King - Richard Dansky. All herons are the Heron King.Scrawl - Tom Piccirilli. About a humble writer of porn. Cracked me up.The Days of Flaming Motorcycles - Catherynne Valente. Borders on the edge of hipsterism but still shines.Sandboys - Richard Wright. Two boys made out of sand on the seashore.It'...

This is one of the best edited volumes I have read. I usually only found a few good stories in an edited volume. Dark Faith is full of great stories.

A superb example of what Zombie horror can be: poignant, heartbreaking, hopeful, and plaintive all at once. Valente has secured her position as one of my favourite authors of all time.

A wonderful collection of stories containing unique perspectives on how faith affects our lives. Faith is a powerful force in our lives in ways we rarely understand, and these stories demonstrate the many faces of faith. Absolutely brilliant. My personal favorite is "Zen and the Art of Gordon Dratch’s Damnation” by Douglas F. Warrick -- a wonderfully written story about exploring and embracing personal belief even in the afterlife. Kudos to Maurice Broaddus, Apex Books, and all of the contributi...

A diverse group of viewpoints, at times hard-hitting and other times poignant. A great exploration of spirituality, one of my favorite subjects.Scott Nicholsonwww.hauntedcomputer.com

Allar sögurnar í þessari bók fjalla um trúarlega upplifun að einhverju leyti. Allt frá líkömnun Guðs á jörðu til einstaklinga sem finna fyrir því að eitthvað trúarlegt sé til að einu eða öðru leyti. Misgóðar sögur, en líkt og flestar vestrænar sögur þá snýr trúarupplifunin að vestrænum trúarupplifunum eða hugmyndum um hvað gerist að loknum heimsendi s.s. uppvakningaplágu.

I greatly enjoyed this anthology. In lesser hands, religious horror could easily become silly or well worn. But not here. These pages fill the brim with creativity, and many of my favorite stories were by authors I was unfamiliar with. The most effective of them reminded me that while I might look at the stars, wondering what's out there... there's also an awful lot of darkness staring back down. Standouts include: "Ghosts of New York," "He Who Would Not Bow," "Zen and the Art of Gordon Dratch's...

Really liked this collection of stories dealing with faith in God or the absence thereof. I think the editors' selections of contributors provided a wide variety of voices on the topic and from many (weird) angles. For writers of dark fiction this is a book to keep close to the desk, for inspiration or just for a laugh.

I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review under the Apex Publishing ‘Minion Review Program’.Great anthology with some excellent tales playing with (and challenging) some of the negative elements of faith, religion, and the afterlife. Some straight up horror stories, some broader fantasy/urban-fantasy, but all are strong and enjoyable. The ‘Dark’ element was consistent throughout, but I did get the feeling a few of the later ones were a little thin on the ‘Faith’ theme....

Try bringing aspects of religion into your horror writing and see what kind of reaction you get from the God-fearin' folks. Or, you could just ask Maurice Broaddus about it. Maurice, himself a devout Christian, has no qualms in recognizing the darker elements of faith, as well shining a little of that gospel of the terrifying. And considering the caliber of authors he coerced into contributing to this anthology, the guy knows how to strike a balance. It's just kind of funny to hear how such a ni...

This was an interesting anthology featuring stories exploring different aspects and kinds of faith. The stories varied in tone and theme much more than I might have expected which kept the experience of reading it feeling 'fresh' right up to the end.While I liked almost all the stories and poems but my personal favourites were:'Ghosts of New York' by Jennifer Pelland,'Go and Tell It on the Mountain' by Kyle S. Johnson,'To the Jerusalem Crater' by Lavie Tidhar,'You Dream' by Ekaterina Sedia,'A Lo...

This is not light fare. If I tell you that the most cheerful story in a collection is about the aftermath of the zombie apocalypse, I guess you can imagine the big picture. The predominant colour is red.All in all, most stories are pretty good, and have degrees of creepy varying from halfway comfortable frisson to holy-shit-I'll-be-over-there-hiding-under-my-blanket.So, if you like dark and creepy, go for it ;)

This story was a spark for a wildfire of thoughts and ideas that still rages in the peaty subconscious under the forest of my waking mind. Dig a little and smoke and heat come up to the surface again, and again.

I'm a big fan of Apex Publishers, and this collection of short stories and poetry did not disappoint. I cannot recommend it highly enough to fans of horror and dark fiction.The theme of the collection is faith of all types: having faith or losing faith or finding faith; faith in higher powers, faith in the goodness of people and faith in the ugliness of people; faith in yourself and faith in the cold, uncaring machinations of the world around you.Like the other Apex anthologies I've read, there

Really 3.5 stars. The book started and finished strong but the middle stories dragged a little and didn't grab my attention. It is possible some of the lack of interest could have been due to my recovering from a packed vacation.