Book Review | Haunted Ecologies by Corey Farrenkopf

Haunted Ecologies is a collection of 15 ecological horror stories that asks the question: What happens when nature turns against us? Who is responsible for the damage and the consequences? Murderous trees, sea beings, creepy insects, swamp creatures, and the threat of climate change are just some of the scares portrayed here. Despite that, the stories are empathetic and at times even heartbreaking, as the characters come to understand what it means to adapt to a new way of life.

The three story, twelve-unit luxury condominium slid into the sea on the shoulders of a moon tide, kneeling into the waves with the resonance of a ship running aground. It lay on its side, foundation sheared away, windows turned to the cloudless sky.

– Waterlogged

This has shot up my ranking of the best books I’ve read this year! I love eco-horror, and yet I feel there aren’t enough books that truly explore the theme beyond natural disasters. This book illustrates how environmental horrors can infiltrate daily life, as seen in The Burnt Floor, where a family chooses to stay on the burnt floor of a hotel to save money, with dire consequences. In Fences and Full Moon, a father vows to protect his child no matter what, even as the child transforms into something monstrous.

I liked how the book focuses on the characters’ arcs amidst an unstable environment. In the linked stories We’ve Been in Enough Places to Know and Waterlogged, the property manager of a crumbling luxury condominium believes there is something aquatic lurking in the flooded basement. In Dredging The Bay, a man finds a dead body while cleaning the ocean, and his curiosity about the person’s identity leads him to a shocking revelation. A woman grapples with her own history as she searches for wolves in Mother’s Wolves.

To me, an eco-horror book isn’t complete without an acknowledgement of how strange and intimidating yet alluring nature can be. A man faces a forest and makes a life-changing decision in To Tend A Grove. In Exoskeletons, an ostracised entomologist chooses a unique way to commune with nature. A grieving ornithologist embarks on a journey to the final resting place of endangered species and encounters a dangerous adversary along the way in The Tap, Tap, Tap of a Beak.

Haunted Ecologies is a collection that is as creepy as it is affecting, highly recommended!

I received a copy from the author for review purposes.

About the author: Corey Farrenkopf

Photo by Simone Dalmeri