Among the Lilies by Daniel Mills

Undertow Publications 2021 (release date September 14)

ISBN-13: 978-1988964317

Available: Pre-order Paperback, Kindle edition ( Bookshop.org |Amazon.com)

Author of the excellent novel Revenants, the short story collection The Lord Came at Twilight and various short stories that have appeared in various magazines and anthologies, Daniel Mills is a New England native perfectly at ease with ghosts, hauntings and disturbing presences.

His style is elegant and classic, following the tradition of the masters of the genre but displaying a voice of his own, greatly appreciated and highly praised by readers and reviewers. The present, long awaited collection, includes eleven stories (two of which have never been published before) and a novella (which formerly appeared in print as a chapbook).

As it happens, not all the featured tales worked for me (which is not unusual when dealing with collections and anthologies) but some of the stories are exceptionally good and deserve to be specifically mentioned.

“The Lake” is a beautiful tale about the subtle melancholy of life and of childhood turning into adulthood, and about the terrors buried in the depth of the human soul.

In the dark and atmospheric “The Woman in the Wood” country horrors affect the mind of a young boy.

“Lilies” is a  long, complex story where the power of the past throws its shadow on the inhabitants of an old mansion, while “Dream Children” is an atypical , very dark mystery following the elusive traces of a disappeared woman.

Other readers or reviewers may disagree with my choices and prefer other tales , but certainly this is a book not to be missed by fans of stylish dark fiction.

Reviewed by Mario Guslandi