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The third Year's Best Horror collection, which covers the year 1958 to 1975. What? Yes. Also several of them appear here for the first time, which seems a little self-defeating and/or self-aggrandizing. The pre-boom years were lean ones, I know, but come on. Also, again, no women, come on.
This was, frankly, one of the worst anthologies I've ever read, and I spend too much time reading horror anthologies. It was also the end of Richard Davis' tenure as editor, so here's hoping things improve under Gerald Page.
The Whimper of Whipped Dogs - Harlan Ellison
Kitty Genovese’s murder, but with a dark god/cult. Ellison(TM) really hated NYC, apparently. Like Fritz Leiber with no charm, the sadism ramped up instead. There’s a black burglar just so you get the message loud and clear. Ugh.
The Man in the Underpass - Ramsey Campbell
A girl is convinced that graffiti in an underpass is actually an Aztec god. The child narrator is rendered annoyingly; the whole thing is rather meandering and tensionless (aside from undercurrents of child abuse). Lesser Campbell (and since he's usually the standout in these volumes, that doesn't leave us with much).
S. F. - T. E. D. Klein
A great-grandmother writes a baby a letter. But wait, it's the future! Wait, people have government-mandated forgettiness! An absolute mess of a story written in obnoxious baby talk; Klein himself has dismissed it as "excruciating."
Uncle Vlad - Clive Sinclair
A kind of Addams-Family-y story of vampires bringing someone new into the fold. Arch without quite being twee, never surprises but is charming enough in its own way once you adjust to the stiffness of the prose.
Judas Story - Brian Stableford
A drummer confesses that the singer he was backing, Jack Queen King, was stealing his audience’s souls. Something about playing cards too. Interminable, and every other sentence or so mentions the name “Jack Queen King.” Jack Queen King Jack Queen King Jack Queen King.
The House of Cthulhu - Brian Lumley
Utterly vacuous sword and sorcery pastiche with Cthulhu tossed in as a boss monster for no reason. Clark Ashton Smith with no appreciation for language or rhythm or poetics and some William Hope Hodgson sea fungus tossed in for good measure.
Satanesque - Allan Weiss
A small town gets a statue from a sculptor who grew up there as a black sheep, weird and outcast. The statue is of Satan. Bad things happen. Another terribly old-fashioned clunker.
Burger Creature - Stepan Chapman
A rather charming little vignette about shitty jobs and a friendly monster made of fast food detritus. Nicely done, although not in the least bit horrific.
Wake Up Dead - Tim Stout
A machine to bring dreams to life is a bad idea in an asylum for the criminally insane. Ham handed setup and backstory, little in the way of payoff.
Forget-me-not (Bernard Taylor)
An American in London, half mad with loneliness, finds herself fixated on a dead serial killer. Better than that makes it sound, actually well-constructed and creepy.
Halloween Story (Gregory Fitz Gerald)
A woman (witch?) in a gingerbread house is unprepared for trick-or-treaters. Nicely surreal and allusive (even as the prose's reach exceeds his grasp sometimes) until a truly awful rape scene derails the whole thing. Prior to that, this was the standout of the collection.
Big, Wide, Wonderful World (Charles E. Fritch)
Flash fiction about some knuckleheads who decide to experience a nightmare together on a dare. Quickly obvious what the twist is, but at least respects its readers enough not to make it explicit.
The Taste of Your Love (Eddy C. Bertin)
A man who preys on women finds himself preyed upon by his latest would-be prey. Blah blah blah.
This was, frankly, one of the worst anthologies I've ever read, and I spend too much time reading horror anthologies. It was also the end of Richard Davis' tenure as editor, so here's hoping things improve under Gerald Page.
The Whimper of Whipped Dogs - Harlan Ellison
Kitty Genovese’s murder, but with a dark god/cult. Ellison(TM) really hated NYC, apparently. Like Fritz Leiber with no charm, the sadism ramped up instead. There’s a black burglar just so you get the message loud and clear. Ugh.
The Man in the Underpass - Ramsey Campbell
A girl is convinced that graffiti in an underpass is actually an Aztec god. The child narrator is rendered annoyingly; the whole thing is rather meandering and tensionless (aside from undercurrents of child abuse). Lesser Campbell (and since he's usually the standout in these volumes, that doesn't leave us with much).
S. F. - T. E. D. Klein
A great-grandmother writes a baby a letter. But wait, it's the future! Wait, people have government-mandated forgettiness! An absolute mess of a story written in obnoxious baby talk; Klein himself has dismissed it as "excruciating."
Uncle Vlad - Clive Sinclair
A kind of Addams-Family-y story of vampires bringing someone new into the fold. Arch without quite being twee, never surprises but is charming enough in its own way once you adjust to the stiffness of the prose.
Judas Story - Brian Stableford
A drummer confesses that the singer he was backing, Jack Queen King, was stealing his audience’s souls. Something about playing cards too. Interminable, and every other sentence or so mentions the name “Jack Queen King.” Jack Queen King Jack Queen King Jack Queen King.
The House of Cthulhu - Brian Lumley
Utterly vacuous sword and sorcery pastiche with Cthulhu tossed in as a boss monster for no reason. Clark Ashton Smith with no appreciation for language or rhythm or poetics and some William Hope Hodgson sea fungus tossed in for good measure.
Satanesque - Allan Weiss
A small town gets a statue from a sculptor who grew up there as a black sheep, weird and outcast. The statue is of Satan. Bad things happen. Another terribly old-fashioned clunker.
Burger Creature - Stepan Chapman
A rather charming little vignette about shitty jobs and a friendly monster made of fast food detritus. Nicely done, although not in the least bit horrific.
Wake Up Dead - Tim Stout
A machine to bring dreams to life is a bad idea in an asylum for the criminally insane. Ham handed setup and backstory, little in the way of payoff.
Forget-me-not (Bernard Taylor)
An American in London, half mad with loneliness, finds herself fixated on a dead serial killer. Better than that makes it sound, actually well-constructed and creepy.
Halloween Story (Gregory Fitz Gerald)
A woman (witch?) in a gingerbread house is unprepared for trick-or-treaters. Nicely surreal and allusive (even as the prose's reach exceeds his grasp sometimes) until a truly awful rape scene derails the whole thing. Prior to that, this was the standout of the collection.
Big, Wide, Wonderful World (Charles E. Fritch)
Flash fiction about some knuckleheads who decide to experience a nightmare together on a dare. Quickly obvious what the twist is, but at least respects its readers enough not to make it explicit.
The Taste of Your Love (Eddy C. Bertin)
A man who preys on women finds himself preyed upon by his latest would-be prey. Blah blah blah.
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