Review of ‘Chlorophobia: An Eco-Horror Anthology’ edited by A R Ward

Nature fights back in this intriguing and timely collection of short stories (flash fiction) and poems. I wasn’t feeling the poems so I skipped them, but the stories that stood out for me the most were ‘The Uytoroi’ by Zé Burns, ‘Treefingers’ by Hannah Hulbert, ‘The Devour of the Saddle Flower’ by Sara Crocoll Smith, ‘Care Instructions’ by Ian A Bain and ‘Plants Can’t Scream’ by D R Roberts. As far as I know, these stories were chosen from a submissions call by Ghost Orchid Press in 2021 and hadn’t been published anywhere else before.

The collection could have had more varied content, as the majority were about plants or trees, which meant there were some similar ideas. The writing styles tended to be too ‘literary fiction’ for my taste and some of them became bogged down in the ecology theme. However, I liked the overall concept of the anthology and it really gets you thinking. Although there is some gore, the horror is more on the creepy and psychological side. Every story is followed by some info about the author. I noted that many of them mentioned cats, proving that cats really are the best companions for writers!