Never Whistle at Night Part II: Back for Blood edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr., officially releases in August 2026. I was lucky enough to nab an advance copy at StokerCon, and having recently finished devouring it, I wanted to highlight it as a truly excellent anthology. The first Never Whistle at Night, also edited by Hawk and Van Alst, was fabulous, and I was thrilled to learn they’d be publishing a second volume. I’m keeping my fingers crossed this becomes an ongoing series.
In their introduction to the anthology, the editors invite readers not just to “sit with darkness” but to “listen to it breathe”. They also ask readers to consider many of the stories as “a handoff, a door left unlatched on purpose” and further ask them to think about what comes next. Horror isn’t always contained safely on the page or in a single moment in time. It’s ongoing and recurring and sometimes the most frightening thing is what you have to live with after the initial moment of fear is over and done. That thread echoes through the anthology – what comes next and how do we live with the horrific on a day-to-day basis.
“Miss Cherokee Princess 1996” by Jessica Doe starts the anthology off strong, looking at the horrors of the pageant circuit, beauty standards, and the idea of “authenticity” and who gets to define it as a pageant hopeful steals features from other women that she believes will be perceived as ideal and beautiful by a panel of largely white judges.
“Animal Dumb” by P.C. Verrone is beautifully-written and explores queerness and monstrousness, looking at horror as a refuge for those who feel they don’t fit in elsewhere. The experience of puberty and growing into oneself/figuring out who you want to be parallel nicely with the idea of shapeshifting.
“Civilized” by A.J. Eversole touches on some of the same themes as Doe’s story in its consideration of the outside gaze and whose definition shapes who you are and how you move through the world. Charley is white-passing and his horror mounts as he stumbles across a series of dead bodies and finds the police not only assuming his innocence, but all but outright stating they would protect him if he was in fact a murderer, because as a white man, violence would be his right.
“Ivories” by Shane Hawk is deeply eerie and unsettling as a father trying to watch over his baby daughter begins losing his grip on reality, ultimately finding himself banished from his own body and something else taking hold, in a look at generational trauma and the darkness that comes from within.
“Found Footage” by Shawaan Francis Keahna is another standout with strong voice, full of unsettling and creepy imagery as Casey tells the story of the thing that has lived inside her her whole life, wearing her skin and using her to move through the world and get what it wants. Like Hawk’s story, it considers the question of inherited monstrousness or monstrousness that is intrinsically part of a person and how to live with the darkness inside.
“We Don’t Talk About It” by Alina Pete draws effective parallels between addiction and the Hungry One/That One, delving into how certain hungers never truly leave you, and also how refusing to name or talk about something can sometimes invite it or leave one vulnerable to it.
“The Corpse Room” by Debra Magpie Earling is a truly chilling story told in the collective voice, the blends the real-world historical horror of a boarding school where Indigenous girls have their language stolen and are subjected to torture and rape, with the supernatural when one of the girls dies and comes back, bringing a vengeful power with her. Here again “monstrousness” is a comfort and a haven and the idea of what a monster is depends on who is defining it.
“Toothjar “by Ramona Emerson is another standout with a strong voice that does a wonderful job of conjuring one of its central horrors while also keeping description to a minimum, largely leaving the full picture to the reader’s imagination. The narrator’s family lives on a remote farm and when a virus kills everyone around them, their father and uncle turn to murder to protect the property, feeding the remains to their monstrous pig, Pinky, to hide their crimes. Pinky is only seen in glimpses and is all the more frightening for it.
These are just a few examples of the delicious darkness you’ll find in the anthology. Overall, Never Whistle at Night Part II: Back for Blood is an incredibly strong collection of short horror fiction and well worth adding to your TBR pile!
