Professor Charlatan Bardot's Travel Anthology to the Most (Fictional) Haunted Buildings in the Weird, Wild World

September 27, 2021
Evoking the structure and sentiment of The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric & Discredited Diseases from Jeff Vandermeer and Mark Roberts, this high-concept anthology was clearly put together with a lot of heart, but bites off more than it can chew. Purported to be a collaboration with paranormal investigator Charlatan Bardot, the book seeks to document haunted structures beyond the typical haunted house, but does a disservice to its many excellent stories with its messy packaging and convoluted conceit. It’s a who’s-who of supernatural fiction, with brilliant pieces from Eugen Bacon (“A Taste of Unguja”), Clara Madrigano (“Into the River”), Lisa Morton (“The Gulch”), H. Pueyo (“Juan Clemente’s Well”), Eugenia Triantafyllou (“Fish Tale”), Tlotlo Tsamaase (“The Biophilic-Designed Haunting”), and Kaaron Warren (“Warp and Weft”), among others. Tales are grouped by continent and divided into featured stories and tiny tales, the latter of which comprise one-page flash fiction pieces. Unfortunately, the maps between the stories disrupt the flow and the “travel guide notes” from Bardot that serve as introductions grow annoying. Still, there’s enough talent on display here to make this worth a look.

October 1, 2021
Critically acclaimed editor Guignard has outdone himself with this imaginative, eerily realistic, and fun anthology showcasing 63 Horror authors from all over the world. Featuring an elaborate frame, including the creation of an alter ego, the fictional international paranormal expert Dr. Charlatan Bardot; numerous illustrations; a stunning cover; and an index, Guignard's meticulously constructed volume mimics an actual travel guide to haunted places across the globe. Organized by continent, the 27 stories and 36 flash fiction pieces are annotated by Bardot and introduce haunted places that are not houses. Instead, readers feel the fear at, for example, a Puerto Rican frozen yogurt stand, an indoor fish market in Sweden, or a clothing factory in the Philippines. Readers could take the included GPS coordinates and explore these places for themselves, except none of it, save the well-executed scares, is real, and that may be the creepiest part of all. For fans of original, haunted tales that chill while fully immersing the reader into their creepy spaces such as Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw (2021) or the award-winning anthology, Echoes, edited by Ellen Datlow (2019).

COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.