Review: "Howls From the Dark Ages: An Anthology of Medieval Horror"

By Alex Carrigan

​Last year, I reviewed Howls from Hell, an anthology of horror literature from the online horror literature group HOWL Society. A group on Discord dedicated to all things horror, the previous anthology was a mission statement for the group and the kind of work that could emerge from their collective. One year later, the group is taking more risks when it comes to publishing horror literature with a new themed anthology.

Howls from the Dark Ages is an anthology of horror specifically set during medieval periods all over the world. The anthology is framed as the reader being guided through a museum of cursed objects, where the curator introduces the reader to an object and leads into a story where the object comes into play. The collection features 18 stories, each using the culture and motifs of medieval times to tell a tale of the unknown, the macabre, and the grotesque.

For many of the stories that take their influence on European medieval societies, there are some commonalities throughout the collection. Many of the stories rely on the four humors for their terror, where cursed and tormented characters are illustrated with focus on bodily fluids like blood and black bile, such as J.L. Kiefer's "Palette" in which a young maiden's attempt to beautify herself turns into body horror. Others revel in the viscera, making it quite a queasy read.

For the European tales, a lot of them play with the spread of the church and how that has corrupted or lead to chaos. Some stories, like "Brother Cornelius" by Peter Ong Cook, Bridget D. Brave's "Schizzare," and David Worn's "A Dark Quadrivium" focus on monks in their isolation and their research. These tales feature men who are devoted to God and studying the world, and the clash that arises from them attempting to understand the world around them.

The biggest surprises in the collection are the stories that are roughly set in the same time period but in different cultures and locations. Lindsey Ragdale's "In Every Drop" is set in a Mayan village and concerns a mother's attempt to handle her daughter's curse after it has destroyed most of their home. Michelle Tang's "A Dowry for Your Hand" moves to China and shows a matchmaking session that takes a dark turn. Then there's C.B. Jones' "The Forgotten Valley," in which a love triangle set in pre-colonial North America leads to tragedy. These stories show some similarities to the more Western-influenced stories, but also highlight how these cultures would have also address strange natural phenomena and the sudden appearance of the uncanny.

As a sophomoric release, Howls from the Dark Ages has some interesting pieces and ideas. However, while the writing is solid all around, there are times where the collection suffers from having some very similar pieces and some incomprehensible moments. Some don't play with the themes and settings as creatively as they could, nor do they fully explore the ideas raised in them. While the collection may not be as strong as Howls from Hell was, there are still some pieces worth checking out.

For instance, the collection ends with a complete surprise in Jessica Peter's "The Lai of the Danse Macabre," a story of choreomania and the walking dead written entirely as the kind of medieval style poem you'd expect a traveling bard to sing while riding from village to village. It's when the collection really plays with the settings and themes of the period that some of the stronger horror emerges.

Howls from the Dark Ages is a commendable second release from the Howl Society. While it does have some weak stories, the strong pieces are still quite fascinating in how they play with the unknown. Instead of plagues and rats, the fear of the medieval period comes from how easily people were consumed by the fears from the rapidly expanding and dying world. A world where the slightest exposure of one's body fluids can spell doom to come.