Come Sing for the Harrowing

Come Sing for the Harrowing by Dan Coxon brings all the folk horror it promises in its title (and the title of the first story) and its cover art. It also brings body horror, cosmic horror, the supernatural, and ROCK AND ROLL! and addresses topics like mental illness, generational trauma, and body dysmorphia. And they say horror is not “real” literature.

Many times, I have to read a story collection a bit at at time because they all start running together, so I’ll put it away and read something else. Not so with Come Sing for the Harrowing. Though they were all clearly Coxon’s voice, there was a mix of sub-genres and even styles with some very linear stories and some that just created a feeling or an atmosphere. And a couple where I had no idea what was going on, but I liked it. (Guess which ones?)

One of the standouts of the collection for me was the title story, Come Sing for the Harrowing - maybe a little bit because the first pages made me think of the time I spent in Colonial Williamsburg when I was working at a bookstore there but also mostly because the folk horror was perfectly creepy (and a little sad).

I also liked [title redacted: spoilers!] - there’s just something so eerie about being erased as if you never existed.

Needles & Pins was kind of fun to read as a woman realizing the first person male narrator was kind of a dog to his girlfriend but was so sad about her breaking up with him, he needed to go camping with his buddies.

The last one I’ll mention specifically is Beyond the Beach, the Trees because I have never related more to a character who doesn’t want to sweat in their own room on vacation because same.

Thanks to NetGalley and CLASH Books for the advance copy for my unbiased review. Pub. Date: April 21, 2026