#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway 65: The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories Vol 2

Today I have a title I recently gave a STAR review in Booklist. Giveaway below, but first, here is a refresher on the basic rules to enter:

1. You need to be affiliated with an American public library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
2. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
3. Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. Meaning you enter once, and you are entered until you win. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that  week. I use Random.org and have a member of my family witness the "draw"based off your number in the Google Sheet.
4. If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.

Click here to see giveaway #64. Our winner was Brittney from the Linebaugh [TN] Public Library. Now on to today's giveaway. 

Today I have an anthology. Below I have adde in my post on the review form RA for All. This is a must order. Thanks to Valancourt for the ARC to giveaway. Good luck.

The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories Volume 2

Edited by James D. Jenkins & Ryan Cagle

Building off of the enthusiastic reader and critical success of their first volume, editors Jenkins and Cagle gave themselves an even bigger challenge-- to find more of the world’s best Horror authors but without repeating any countries that were represented in the previous book. The editors also refused to rely on authors whose work was already translated into English, rather they went directly to the source in the author’s home country and language, working diligently to commission quality translations, bringing many of these award-winning and popular authors to an English language audience for the first time. Standout tales in this superior anthology include Chinese author Zhang Yueran’s terrifying but also disquietingly beautiful exploration of body horror, Indrek Hargla, a well known Estonian crime writer's first Horror tale translated into English, and a stunning, intensely unsettling, and uncomfortably topical tale by Poland’s Wojciech Gunia. The extra context prefacing each story, introducing the author, their place in the literary landscape of their country, and the state of Horror there, elevates the entire collection and makes it a not to miss addition. Clearly Horror is thriving across the globe, and there is no longer an excuse to not carry these authors in your collections. Pair this with Jenkins and Cagle’s first volume or Eric Guignard’s A World of Horror.

Further Appeal: Even better than the first volume and I loved that one [review here]. As the introduction to this second volume states, first volume garnered multiple, major awards nominations, sold out its first run, and has been added to University curriculums.

I wish I could have highlighted every story, but alas, I get around 200 words. 

My favorite was "The War" by Wojeiech Gunia from Poland. This story was stunning, intensely unsettling, and uncomfortably topical. I read it twice even though I had more than half the book still to go.

Also Chinese author Zhang Yueran's lyrical and terrifying, gross and beautiful-- "Whalebone Spirit." It is a perfect read for fans of The Memory Police by Ogawa or Tender is the Flesh by Bazterrica. Like those readalikes I am still thinking about this story.

Haitian author Gary Victor is one I could not fit in my review. "Lucky Night" was based on well known Hatian folklore that would be tangential to our "selling your soul to the devil." It was also very political which I loved.

The most heartbreaking thing about this book is not only that these amazing voices have been silenced because they have not been translated into English before this but also that many of them [it is revealed] had commissioned, at their own cost, English translations of their work in the hopes that someday someone would ask for them. Kudos to Jenkins and Cagle for diligently seeking them out and commissioning quality translations where necessary.

Three Words That Describe This Book: full range of scares, engrossing, translation

Readalikes: I gave readalikes for specific stories in the "Further Appeal" section and in the review itself. But if you like Horror and are interested in reading new authors from around the globe, this is for you.