First published back in June of 2025, author and artist turned editor Dan Henk’s anthology ‘The Joke Is On Mankind’ compiled thirteen cosmic horror-tinged tales from some of the best names from the world of indie horror.
As with previous publications, as this is a Dan Henk offering, we have a load more pen and ink illustrations by Henk accompanying each story.
The Cosmic Mouth That Wanted To Eat The World – Jeff Strand – 13 Pages
The press release was dramatic if nothing else. Although that would likely always be the case when announcing a colossal cosmic mouth, three times the size of Earth, was flying towards our planet to gobble the world up in a couple of bites. With only six weeks remaining before the intergalactic chow down, panic and opportunistic anarchy instantly became rife. But not for everyone. One reporter decided then and there that he’d do something about this whole apocalyptic doom and gloom. He decided to stand up and be counted. To become the hero the world needed, or die trying…
I fucking love Jeff Strand! The fella’s an absolute hoot. This offering being a prime example of why. For the eagle-eyed amongst us, there’s some sizeable similarities to Strand’s short story ‘Avert Thine Eyes’ which appeared in Henk’s anthology ‘The Never Dead’ (2023). Essentially, we have another insanely wild cosmic apocalyptic threat of Lovercraftian stylings, presented within a hilariously depicted perspective of modern society, and a hapless alcoholic reporter wanting to be the hero who saves this stupid world. However, the story and set up aren’t in themselves where the short tale gets its gold stars. No, it’s with the laugh-out-loud quick-witted delivery throughout. It’s as ludicrous as it is brilliantly relevant (obviously in an exaggerated way). A confetti cannon of comedy, giving the end of the world a much-needed dig in the ribs for being so fucking dramatic. The world is a far better place with Strand in it.
Cavity Creeps – Cody Goodfellow – 18 Pages
Oscar Gurewich had been living within the cramped confines of storage space #369 at Xtra Space Storage for quite some time. Although his life hadn’t always been this way. He’d once had a wife, a home and a life. Now it was just him, his bedpan, and his horded possessions, locked away within the confines of this storage space. However, things weren’t all bad. He had his records, his books, and all the other items people might call junk. But to him they were his treasure. Music to get him through the long nights. To mask the sound of misery and despair which echoed through the long corridors. However, that night a voice broke through the cacophony of depression. A single voice pleading for help. The creeps had locked his door shut and now they were eating him alive. It was enough to warrant at least an inquisitive investigation. Enough to peak even Oscar’s failing attention…
This is both a creepy and an emotionally combative read. From the outset the overarching tone is downtrodden and melancholy. An old fella left clinging to his possessions within a small storage unit. Indeed, below the surface of the story is undoubtedly a warning about materialism and hoarding. It’s tough because I’m one of them. An enthusiastic collector of books and other such shit. Although I certainly don’t intend to spend my last remaining days upon this mortal coil, shitting in a bedpan and listening to Bach to drown out the cries of misery around me. I certainly don’t want to be fighting of small, Lovercraftian critters, hellbent on chomping on my flesh at night. Yeah, this story is weird and wild, with a pitch-black ending keeping the tone consistent until the bitter end. Yep, a fucking good read!
Washington, DC – Dan Henk – 18 Pages
Ben and Chris were in DC. They’d seen L7 the night before, however now they were at a loose end. However, a nearby abandoned project building offered up a certain level of intrigue for the pair. As such, they agreed it was probably worth taking a look around. Although when they got there and broke into the building, they found it not quite as uninhabited as they presumed it would be. On a stained old mattress they found a man, missing his left leg and housing a lobotomy scar along his hairline. Down the corridors, more distraught lost souls showing similar trauma to their heads. However, it’s within the darkened shadows of the rooms where even worse horrors are waiting. Something beyond nightmares. Something that had been kept secret. Trust no one…
This one is so instantly recognisable as a Dan Henk offering. Nightmarish, Lovecraftian, and with an overarching sense of governmental conspiracy. It’s ‘X-Files’ meets ‘Silent Hill’, with Henk’s devotion to Lovecraftian style mythos bleeding through. It’s creepy and conspiratorial in equal measures. The story also feels like a chunk taken from a wider piece. A slice from something much more fleshed-out and with further avenues to take us through. That’s typical of Henk. Sometimes we see further aspects of a story appear within other offerings. A latticework connecting his tales together into a larger piece. More than just a mythos, but a world where Henk is the demonic puppeteer for some greater remit of cosmic chaos. This one’s definitely an early highlight to the anthology. If you haven’t done so already, I strongly recommend you start picking up the scattered breadcrumbs thrown down through Henk’s work. Lucifer alone knows where they’ll end up leading us.
Buggin’ Out – Robert Essig – 13 Pages
Jason was with his family, somewhere near Oak Ridge, driving through the middle of nowhere. Suddenly something of some considerable size hit the car windscreen. After exiting the car and checking what it was, Jason finds the remains of a gigantic moth lying on the roadside. He had no idea moths got to such a size. Knowing his wife Laurel, and their two kids would be getting increasingly impatient, he left the giant bug there on the road and continued their journey to where they’d be picking up a second-hand air fryer. Unfortunately, that wouldn’t be the last Jason and his family would see of giant bugs. East Tennessee is known for its critters. However, not like this! This was some messed up bug shit!...
Oh, bring on the pulp! US author Robert Essig slaps down a pulpy blend between a bug creature feature and a classic body-invasion horror / sci-fi ala ‘The Body Snatchers’ (1954), ‘Frozen Hell’ (2019), and ‘Slither’ (2006) etc. Yeah, you know the vibe! It’s absolutely pulp horror, through and through, although with an uncompromising savagery to it. This culminates into a harsh downbeat ending without pandering to the need to see kids saved. Oh yes, Essig takes zero prisoners. Death is absolutely in the air, as are a fuck-tonne of nasty-ass bugs. Brilliantly horrific stuff.
About That Buzz – Merrill David – 18 Pages
Doug and Steve chose their place along the South Carolina beach, so they’d have a clear view of Queen Christina. They’d named her such, due to her being the most beautiful female on the beach. Although their Queen seemed to never even noticed them. Her eyes were only for the lifeguard hunks. Oh, what Doug would do just to be noticed. To at least be glanced at. It frustrated him. Angered his sunbaked, alcohol pickled brain, to the point of action. The next thing he knew he was drunkenly stumbling towards a nearby beehive, whilst the bees buzzed around a bin adjacent to it. It was a haphazard move that started in motion a crazy series of events, with no turning back…
Absolutely fucking brilliant. Man, don’t you just love a story that’s carved out of a solid slab of originality?! Texas author Merrill David offers up a wacky story that’d feel perfectly at home within Preston Grassmann & Chris Kelso’s ‘The Mad Butterfly’s Ball’ (2024), not only due to the story’s human-cum-insect narrative, but also because of the Hunter S. Thompson style of hallucination within in. It’s off-the-wall but utterly captivating in its shifting of social commentary. Think ‘A Bug’s Life’ (1988) only far more adult. Yep, it’s all that, and with a rabid racoon thrown in for good measure!
Dedwadont – Tommy Clark – 53 Pages
The cabin was nestled near the Salmon River Forest in Upstate New York. Isolated and away from the eyes of civilisation. Although the snow had nearly buried the building, it was still a safe haven for brothers Joey and Aaron Hatcher. Both were local hunters who knew this portion of the Adirondack Mountain range well. They’d stayed in the cabin numerous times before, seeking refuge from the snow and harsh winter storms.
However, what they faced that night was something they’d never seen before. It started with Aaron witnessing a strange flickering ball of light, hovering in the night sky, followed by a faint whispering of his name within the swirling winds. But it was the arrival of a stranger at their cabin door, deep in the thick of the terrible storm, which brought the horror directly to them. The man was a drug mule who was fleeing from some unknown threat. Something in the wilderness which sought his painful, agonising demise. Something ancient. Something as beautiful as it is terrifying…
Holy shit is this one a good read! US author Tommy Clark delivers a deeply immersive tale of ancient terror, akin to Algernon Blackwood rewriting ‘The Thing’ (1982), but with a Lovercraftian edge to the deep winter horror. Furthermore, there’s a wild Nordic mythological vibe woven into the fabric of this beast, infusing the Algonquian legend of the Wendigo with something deeper within a Lovecrathian-esqe style of mythos. Honestly, this story is every bit as fucking good as it sounds. A bitterly cold backdrop forming the setting for an eerie and horror-rich tale. Furthermore, the introduction of the great goddess of ice and snow, Sbli’rldnisa-aen, who’s a fucking powerful omnipresent deity, is enough to have you pleading for more. Honestly, she demands more page time. Anyway, it’s an incredible read, with so much packed it.
Earl Of Imprudence – Ryan C. Thomas – 29 Pages
The EARL automated robot unit had been gathering samples on Protoplanet X-089 for roughly a month when the strange multi-coloured hydrogen cloud swept into the sights of its onboard cameras. Suddenly, the EARL unit stopped moving, seemingly stuck for some unknown reason. Watching from the company’s command room in San Diego, lead operations supervisor Becket Anders was baffled. Unsure what to do next, he ordered miniature robot units to be deployed to further scope out the area, whilst EARL was hopefully brought back to functionality. And so, the four Earlettes dispersed from the main EARL bot, investigating nearby caves and crevices. However, whilst down in the gloom of the caves, an Earlette camera reports back strange markings on the inner cave walls. Peculiar inscriptions of some unknown origin. And then the first of the operators starts vomiting. Something very strange was happening. Something strange and deeply concerning…
Who doesn’t like the pure escapism of some top-quality sci-fi/horror? The scope and possibilities are practically limitless. Imagination can run wild. Creativity can flourish. That’s exactly what US author Ryan C. Thomas has allowed to happen. Here we have a wonderfully elaborate and truly imaginative offering, which explores the ‘unknown within the unknown’. And then he further pushes the boundaries with one of the most captivatingly original takes on cosmic horror I’ve come across. It’s a fucking brilliant read. Utterly original with an intergalactic-cum-interdimensional threat that punches harder than you would ever have expected. This one’s a decent into dark and wonderfully nihilistic sci-fi, accompanied by an incredible pen and ink illustration by Den Henk ala ‘The Incredible Melting Man’ (1978).
“Goddess Of The Apocalypse” – Dicey Grenor – 23 Pages
It began when the sky went from sunny and cheerful to dark and ominous in less than fifteen seconds. When the sky turned black, people started vanishing. One by one, snatched into the sky by glowing beams of light, before disappearing into enormous, hovering metallic ships overhead. Like everyone else, Bri had no idea what was happening. She’d run inside of her apartment, barricading herself in until she could find some answers. Answers which never came. Over the weeks that followed, those strobing lights continued to come and go, abducting people at random. All the while, Bri heard the same voice haunting her dreams, delivering the same message night after night. I am here. I have risen. It is almost time…
Hell on Earth are the stories in this anthology consistently fucking good?! This one from Dicey Grenor is absolutely mesmerising. An apocalyptic tale with a ‘War Of The Worlds’ (1898) sci-fi / horror vibe going on, only here Grenor’s woven a whole Greek mythology angle into it, along with other classical myths accompanied by ancient sea deities. It’s insanely addictive reading. Compelling from the outset and so very tightly written. Not a word of padding. Just straight into the darkness, into the madness, into the eerie unknown and the gradual rising up of something truly terrifying. But it’s the grandiose ending where the short tale really comes to a pinnacle of perfection. An insanely well delivered twist and a magnificently bleak finale conclude this haunting piece of cosmic horror.
Graveside Journals – Patrick Lacey – 12 Pages
Art Knapp had been the faithful host of the radio series ‘New England Nightmares’ since it’s inception. A show which took deep dives into local lore and all things macabre and unusual. The show was on its third instalment in an ongoing series on ‘Spectral Cemeteries’ which examined New England’s oldest resting places. This particular episode was focussed upon the strange town of Marlow where an array of strange phenomena was purported to occur. One such oddity was a decidedly macabre custom undertaken by the pseudo-Christian group ‘The Friends of Marlowe’. A practice whereby deceased parish members are buried clutching a pen and a leather-bound journal. A year later, the journal is retrieved. Inside its pages, the scribblings of the dead. Of course, Art Knapp had gone to Marlowe to find out if there was any truth to this wild macabre practice…
What starts out with a colourful, somewhat jovial opening, gradually loses its colour and zest, to instead be replaced by something far darker. Honestly, this tale has an eeriness that gradually seeps into you, slowly working its way under your skin and into your mind. It’s an unnerving story; that’s for fucking sure! Some might pigeonhole it as a quiet horror. However, there’s nothing quiet about the internal screaming that went on in my head during the last couple of pages. Louis Theroux meets Koji Suzuki’s ‘Ring’ (1991). A goddam brilliant and creepy-as-hell read. Loved every nerve-chilling second of it.
Lullaby Of The Spheres – Christine Morgan – 18 Pages
Julia was in the last few weeks of her pregnancy. Her and her husband, Bryce, had been busy setting up the nursery. Of Course, that was something Julia’s Great-Aunt Linda felt compelled to help out with. When she came over, she brought with her more than just a helping hand. She had a box full of Nana Ruth’s old things. Amongst them, Ruth’s journal and an elaborate solar system mobile which had been suspended above Julia’s cot when she was a baby. The planets on the mobile, depicted by glass baubles, rotating in a steady, constant, almost hypnotic motion. But it was Nana Ruth’s journal which drew Julia’s attention the most. Her worrying words, postulating wild scenarios of unfathomably immense, eternal entities beyond human comprehension. Our existence, our world, our solar system, but a mere speck to the grandness of such incompressible ancient entities…
For her contribution, US author Christine Morgan delivers her own slab of quiet horror, which gradually tip-toes its way from a family history and a wonderfully portrayed backstory, to an unnerving vision of our microscopic existence. Of course, from there we’re plummeted into a sudden, almost elaborately predicted, suggestion of the end of times. Although through this the story is incredibly character focussed, with Julia and the eccentric Great-Aunt Linda as the key players in this tale. However, the eeriness that starts to seep into the story comes from the legacy of Nana Ruth. Indeed, the more we learn about her, the more our minds and our imaginations starts to ponder and probe. After all, we’re nothing but mere grains of sand in a vast and ever-changing desert. Oh yeah, this story really reminds us of how small and insignificant we all are.
Pictures Of My Former Self – Terry Campbell – 27 Pages
When Devin Inglemeyer heard of his late uncle’s passing, and that he had been left his entire estate including a small beachside house along the Brazilian coastline, he set off to receive his inheritance without delay. The property was being minded by the man who’d tended to his late uncle. The aging manservant, Ebholtd, who turned out to be everything Devin expected of the man. Although the property certainly wasn’t what he expected. Inside he was presented with a mass of taxidermy, with the stuffed animals immortalised in an array of violent and gory poses. Around the house and grounds, iguanas seemed to have overrun the property, as well as other scurrying critters. But it was the paintings on the walls which captured Devin’s attention the most. Pictures of his uncle stood alongside an unknown boy. As each day passes by, Devin uncovers more and more unanswered questions. Questions he knows he must find answers to…
This is certainly an odd one. It’s a compelling read, with a semi-veil of mystery spread over much of the story. Although, to be honest, one of the biggest revelations is given away by the story’s title. Indeed, as soon as we encounter the first painting, we instantly know who the boy is. Which feels odd, that such a big part of the story’s mystery is given away in such a glaring way. However, the tale doesn’t suffer too much from this. The wacky, Clark Ashton Smith-cum-David Icke style reptilian conspiracy theory element to the plot is a lot of fun. And the further we dig, the darker things get. An entertaining read, with a wealth of strange oddities woven into its many layers.
Playground – Nathan Robinson – 18 Pages
They said it was the war to end all wars. They said a lot of things. But then there had been more wars. More conflict. More death. The world was now a ravaged and broken planet. Vast areas of land made uninhabitable. But the wars continued. Man continued to fight against man, for a cause now forgotten. For Narren and his troop, the war was all they knew of. They’d been asked to maintain their position, and so they did. They couldn’t leave anyway, as they had no vehicles, and they were miles from the nearest semblance of a base. So, they hung on in the bunker. Watching. Waiting. Knowing attack could come at any point. And then through the thick blanket of fog, the enemy arrived. Narren knew this would probably be the end. Finally, the end to it all for them…
It's no secret that I frigging love Nat Robinson’s work! He’s got a way of instantly setting a scene and then diving straight into the thick of it like a ravenous wild animal. This one however, is a tad different. Here instead, we have more of an atmospheric setting of the scene. Akin to the early sections of M.J. Bassett’s ‘Deathwatch’ (2002), the tale’s guts are cast into the eerie mood of the piece. The swirling fog, and a constant on-edge uncertainty. The ending is bleak and nihilistic. About as fucking downbeat as they come. So, turn that smile upside-down, because yeah, war is shit. Here’s a future that looks just as meaningless and grim as the trenches of WWI. Evocative and utterly miserable to the bitter end.
The Liminal Dead – Lucas Mangum – 19 Pages
It was the first time Sully had come home after leaving for the Air Force. However, something now felt off about the place. Not in a bad way. In fact, everything was so much better than it had been before. But eight years didn’t seem like enough time for the entire neighbourhood to make such a dramatic change. To go from a declining pit to this picture of prosperity. Sully’s parents seemed to be much happier too. Finally having everything in life they’d been after. On the face of it, everything seemed to be perfect. Even Audrey, his childhood crush, was flirting with him. Yeah, everything seemed right with the world. That was until Audrey said the one line that would forever haunt him. “Don’t go walking around outside after dark.” If only he’d listened to her. If only he’d stayed inside…
For the final story, US author Lucas Mangum delivers a strange and altogether creepy tale which jumps between two points in time from the principal character’s life. On the one hand we have when Sully first gets back to his hometown, with the oddly perfect suburban setting and his seemingly happy family, contrasting with Sully’s previous memories. Then we also have the other side of the story, where we have Sully’s apartment, in which there’s a woman living in his wall. Yeah, I said this is a strange one! It’s odd, and to be honest, the jigsaw puzzle pieces of the tale don’t slot together easily. It leaves you unsure what’s fully going on, like you’re missing some key part to it all. Aspects unresolved, and because of that, the story potentially misses the mark a tad. It is, however, damn intriguing and gets you searching, attempting to fill in the gaps to solve the mystery. Which does work in the story’s favour somewhat. Although don’t expect to solve the whole puzzle. There are just too damn many gaps for that!
DLS Summary:
Henk set out for his anthology to deliver thirteen cosmic horror-laced tales of a high calibre. Not necessarily stories fully immersed within cosmic horror per se, but with at least a leaning towards it. For the large part, that’s definitely been achieved. The first half, maybe even two-thirds of the anthology in particular, delivers stories which fully embrace the imaginative and seemingly limitless expanse of cosmic horror. The latter stories however, perhaps not linking to this cosmic horror theme anywhere near as much.
That said, the anthology as a whole if a fucking blinder. There really are some insanely good stories within its pages. However, each one in the book is thoroughly captivating, showcasing an abundance of inspiration and originality.
There’s also a shit tonne of variance across the stories. No two are in any way, shape, or form alike. That’s certainly one of the standout features of the strangely nightmarish anthology – the sheer creativity on show.
The collection is utterly compelling stuff. And jeez, does it make you think, ponder and feel that little bit lost in this maddening, often cruel world, that exists without boundaries.
The anthology runs for a total of 283 pages.
© DLS Reviews
