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stephcandy's review against another edition
Absolutely Terrible.
None of these stories were dark fantasy or horror. Some of them were horror adjacent but honestly this is the worst book I've read in many years.
Do NOT recommend at all.
None of these stories were dark fantasy or horror. Some of them were horror adjacent but honestly this is the worst book I've read in many years.
Do NOT recommend at all.
_b_a_l_'s review against another edition
1.0
A handful of good stories but mostly stories so bad that it was an actual struggle to finish; an anthology of the worst kind of pretentious art school, dark fantasy drivel.
latterature's review against another edition
3.0
Highlights from the collection are:
'Frost Mountain Picnic Massacre' by Seth Fried
'Monsters' by Stewart O'Nan
'The Wide, Carnivorous Sky' by John Langan
'Certain Death For a Known Person' by Steve Duffy
'The Water Tower' by John Mantooth
'Nub Hut' by Kurt Dinan
'The Crevasse' by Dale Bailey and Nathan Ballingrud
'What Happens When You Wake Up in the Night' by Michael Marshall Smith
'Frost Mountain Picnic Massacre' by Seth Fried
'Monsters' by Stewart O'Nan
'The Wide, Carnivorous Sky' by John Langan
'Certain Death For a Known Person' by Steve Duffy
'The Water Tower' by John Mantooth
'Nub Hut' by Kurt Dinan
'The Crevasse' by Dale Bailey and Nathan Ballingrud
'What Happens When You Wake Up in the Night' by Michael Marshall Smith
beammey's review
4.0
I liked this book, but liked the 2011 version better. There was some good stories and some not so stellar stories, but overall it was a great book and recommend it. 4.5 out of 5 stars.
highlander2006's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
A good round up of the best horror and dark fantasy stories of the year. The definition of eligible stories is wide. Highly recommended for the inclusion of Lucius Shepherd's "Halloween Town"
hewhocutsdown's review
3.0
Excellent:
Leng
The Wide, Carnivorous Sky
Frost Mountain Picnic Massacre
Lowland Sea
Good:
What Happens When You Wake Up In The Night
Nub Hut
White Charles
Headstone in my Pocket
The Mystery
A Delicate Architecture
The Brink of Eternity
Halloween Town
The Water Tower
Leng
The Wide, Carnivorous Sky
Frost Mountain Picnic Massacre
Lowland Sea
Good:
What Happens When You Wake Up In The Night
Nub Hut
White Charles
Headstone in my Pocket
The Mystery
A Delicate Architecture
The Brink of Eternity
Halloween Town
The Water Tower
saboo's review against another edition
4.0
This is a solid collection with some stories that I loved and none that I hated (although some I liked less, for sure). It’s such a huge collection that I can’t imagine anyone who enjoys horror or fantasy wouldn’t find some stories they like—I now have quite a list of authors whose works I want to read.
amethystofblackrose's review against another edition
3.0
This book seemed to have more depressing than horror or dark fantasy stories. There were several that I could not get through, but the good stories boosted the rating.
spacenoirdetective's review
5.0
I have to say, Paula Guran is now my new favorite editor. What a great assortment of stories. I liked most of them.
The absolute best here are "Copping Squid", "Sea-Hearts", "The Mystery", "The Wide, Carnivorous Sky", "Leng", "The Nowhere Man", "The Other Box", "Halloween Town", and "What Happens When You Wake Up in the NIght".
THE HORRID GLORY OF ITS WINGS, Elizabeth Bear - Depressing and moving seem to be Elizabeth Bear's specialties. A gritty urban locale, and a harpy that is almost as unbearable make for an interesting dichotomy to one miserable teenage girl. It reminded me of Charles deLint's darker works.
LOWLAND SEA, Suzy McKee Charnas - A nice little slice of life at the end of civilization due to disease, as some rich people party their remaining time away; never suspecting their own greed could lead to their undoing. Somewhat typical revenge story; a reworking of Poe. It could be interpreted as a commentary on the rich and their view of the rest of us as merely expendable.
COPPING SQUID, Michael Shea - Oh, I love me a good Cthulthu story and this is an exceptional one set in my native SF Bay Area. Wonderful characters and perfectly fits in with mythos lore.
MONSTERS, Stewart O'Nan - Touching and poignant, this is atypical for a horror collection. It is a literate tale of an accident, a parent's nightmare as their child is injured and recovers, and one boy's intense guilt. It is the sort of horror that we feel at the worst moments of our lives, which is probably why it got included. Nothing overtly supernatural, merely a reminder of the awful feeling of feeling awful.
THE BRINK OF ETERNITY, Barbara Roden - In a similar vein, this story of an Arctic explorer is all too believable, and I was certain the ending would include something out of the ordinary. The only thing that is horror is entirely psychological. Riveting and horrifying, for none of the reasons I expected.
FROST MOUNTAIN PICNIC MASSACRE, Seth Fried - A very hard to classify Stephen King-esque story of a small American town unable to avoid unfortunate events. I notice many online didn't care for this story but I thought it was clever and darkly funny. There are curses and then there's this place. I liked how the running gag became more in depth and sinister as you go along.
SEA-HEARTS, Margo Lanagan - Easily my favorite story from this collection. A mesmerizing, enchanting, and sad tale of an island of fishermen who have captured selkies for wives, and the aftermath it presents. Ultimately, there is a price to pay for subjugating women under the rule of men in any culture, and this story illustrates that feminist truth beautifully.
A HAUNTED HOUSE OF HER OWN, Kelley Armstrong - A twisted little tale of obsession and betrayal as a couple tries to make a home for ghosts. Sometimes you get what's coming to you, ghosts and all. I liked the twist, personally.
HEADSTONE IN MY POCKET, Paul Tremblay - Very well done magical realist story about a Southwest town, a pair of old friends, and a secret from their childhood. Good prose here, and a touching commentary on memory.
THE COLDEST GIRL IN COLDTOWN, Holly Black - Not so great vampire story. Vampires are in locked down ghettos and feed on humans. It's like Daybreakers lite. Notice I don't use light, there. Ha ha.
STRANGE SCENES FROM AN UNFINISHED FILM, Gary McMahon - Sort of boring until the end. Which I did NOT see coming, I will give it that. Another story of obsession, this time of obscure horror films, leads to the unexpected.
A DELICATE ARCHITECTURE, Catherynne M. Valente - Deliciously weaves a story of a dark fairy tale villain's origin. Lush prose, and a wonderful parable for man's inhumanity to man, or woman. Indifference to suffering and exploitation begets the worst outcome for everyone.
THE MYSTERY, Peter Atkins - Short and extremely awesome ghost story. Breathtaking, crisp prose.
VARIATIONS OF A THEME FROM SEINFELD, Peter Straub - Wonderfully scary alternate world fantasy story from the author of "The Talisman". The title is a rather hilarious reference, and ironic, considering.
THE WIDE, CARNIVOROUS SKY, John Langan - It took me a while to get through this tale of military men in search of revenge against a flying space vampire. One of the best created monsters I have read in quite some time, with some all to real commentary on the state of veterans in the US. The story leads us to question which is worse, their daily lives and memories of war, or the haunting specter that follows them afterwards? Perhaps a bit of both. This would make a really good horror film.
CERTAIN DEATH FOR A KNOWN PERSON, Steve Duffy - Psychologically, very frightening. Probably one of the most frightening stories in this volume with no real gore to speak of. Well done, if not a trope I've seen before many times, it was pulled off well so it stands on its own merit.
THE ONES WHO GOT AWAY, Stephen Graham Jones - Dumb criminals mess up and get the wrong address and one of them gets tortured. Wheee great. Unimpressive.
LENG, Marc Laidlaw - An even better Lovecraftian yarn from "Lovecraft Unbound", a collection I am going to read simply because of how awesome this story was. It ranks as my fave along with "Sea Hearts" and I could definitely see it being filmed as a Masters of Horror episode. A Tibetan fungi expert finds mischief afoot, you say? A true mycological mess! Horror at its best.
TORN AWAY, Joe R. Lansdale - A fun, whimsical rural monster story relating to the shadow self concept. Jungian models never grow old, and this one had a nice flow to it.
THE NOWHERE MAN, Sarah Pinborough - Completely terrifying story of a missing person, a potential madman, and nothing is quite as it seems. Bravo.
THE BONE'S PRAYER, Caitlín R. Kiernan - Fairly unnerving story taking place near the sea as a pair of female lovers try to determine the nature of a little stone. I love Caitlin Kiernan's ability to take ordinary, small things and make them into wonderfully written nightmares.
THE WATER TOWER, John Mantooth - This is one of those stories that has an ending that could be interpreted many ways. What happens after? It could be anything. It's horrifying in about a dozen different ways and all of them work. If you like small town horror stories with poverty at the center, and places no one should go...
IN THE PORCHES OF MY EARS, Norman Prentiss - This story really didn't grip me at all until the very end, which changes the context of everything that comes before it. Nicely done.
THE CINDERELLA GAME, Kelly Link - Link rarely writes stories I don't like. Very believable dialogue here, coupled with the realization that sometimes young kids should not be underestimated.
THE JACARANDA SMILE, Gemma Files - Fiction within fiction, a deftly written story about the process of writing. Writers that attempt to write about writers often fail, but not here. As the editor notes, the tone of the story is objective rather than introspective.
THE OTHER BOX, Gerard Houarner - Completely awesome story. I was riveted. It starts off as a run of the mill crime story and then vaults its way into madness, all the while we are asking whether or not madness is responsible for the motivations of the main character or someone she knows. The ending is incredible and I won't ruin it for you. Not to be confused with the horror movie "The Box" which is far more disjointed, to say the least.
WHITE CHARLES, Sarah Monette - Probably the only comedic entry here, it has the uneven contrast of starting out the scariest and then winds up somewhat disappointing in the latter half.
EVERYTHING DIES, BABY, Nadia Bulkin - Meh. Weird fiction only goes so far for me, I suppose. This was just not doing it for me.
BRUISE FOR BRUISE, Robert Davies - Another weird fiction story. The prose was interesting but I felt like I was reading someone's bad acid trip. The religious imagery felt somewhat forced. It was weird for weirdness sake. It was like a cross between the show Jeremiah, parts of the Dark Tower series, and the movie Freaks. So yeah. Not great but not entirely without merit. There were some ideas that struck me as interesting, and certain visuals that really stood out but sometimes it just felt like words were assaulting me like so many insects on a summer's night...
RESPECTS, Ramsey Campbell - Awful, trashy neighbors make an old woman feel scared. I like Campbell's work but his statement regarding what he viewed as a disgusting media complicity in mourning criminals who are shot while stealing things...struck me as a bit callous and classist. He's not just creating unlikeable characters, he is stating unequivocally that anyone who is even related to a criminal is almost inhuman and I get the feeling he very much looks down on the lower class. I didn't like the story but I liked it less when confronted with his rather conservative stereotypes.
DIAMOND SHELL, Deborah Biancotti - Odd little Australian story about another disappearance (it seems to be a theme in this volume!). Not so original, but I liked the narration.
NUB HUT, Kurt Dinan - Easily the worst story I read in this book. I don't think it has any redeemable value. Sorry. This gets my only F.
THE CABINET CHILD, Steve Rasnic Tem - I avoid Tem's work after giving him multiple chances to woo me. The only one I didn't bother with.
CHERRYSTONE AND SHARDS OF ICE, Ekaterina Sedia - A tale of a town divided between living and not so living. It had a different feel to it, most likely the enchanted little burb was flavored with a gritty urban vibe mixed with Russian folkore. Great mix between the two.
THE CREVASSE, Dale Bailey and Nathan Balingrud - A little exploration happens to swing past the Mountains of Madness. A fine jaunt into Antarctic nightmare.
VIC, Maura McHugh - A mysterious, sick little boy reveals something slowly to us through his memory and desires.
HALLOWEEN TOWN, Lucius Shepard - It is really hard to describe this story. Essentially it takes place In our own reality. Our own United States. But the town in question is a fantasy world of immense scope, both geographically, and socially, that it betrays that reality. It tricks us, because it claims to be what it is not. I love fantasy like this, it gets under your skin by parading entirely all too real characters, characters that could easily exist in New York, or Detroit, or Miami, or somewhere, but instead they just happen to be dealing with Impossible Things. The story gave me Synecdoche, New York vibes and if you have seen that film it is close to what this story achieves, only Shepard's work is ultimately more accessible. Ultimately, what it says is that no place is perfect, and you can't just move your life to a new place to start anew and expect that. Everything has a cost and a price, apparently.
THE LONG, COLD GOODBYE, Holly Phillips - You might read this and think, this story makes no sense. In context, it is thick with possible metaphor. I'm not sure, but the underlying moral of the story is what counts. Tell the people who mean the most to you what they mean. Don't let fear get in the way or a lifetime will end merely in regret. Fantastical images and sly clues lay hidden in this story like gems in the snow.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU WAKE UP IN THE NIGHT, Michael Marshall Smith - Entirely disturbing little Twilight Zone like story. I adore Michael Marshall Smith. Read any story of his you get a chance to, you won't be sorry.
The absolute best here are "Copping Squid", "Sea-Hearts", "The Mystery", "The Wide, Carnivorous Sky", "Leng", "The Nowhere Man", "The Other Box", "Halloween Town", and "What Happens When You Wake Up in the NIght".
THE HORRID GLORY OF ITS WINGS, Elizabeth Bear - Depressing and moving seem to be Elizabeth Bear's specialties. A gritty urban locale, and a harpy that is almost as unbearable make for an interesting dichotomy to one miserable teenage girl. It reminded me of Charles deLint's darker works.
LOWLAND SEA, Suzy McKee Charnas - A nice little slice of life at the end of civilization due to disease, as some rich people party their remaining time away; never suspecting their own greed could lead to their undoing. Somewhat typical revenge story; a reworking of Poe. It could be interpreted as a commentary on the rich and their view of the rest of us as merely expendable.
COPPING SQUID, Michael Shea - Oh, I love me a good Cthulthu story and this is an exceptional one set in my native SF Bay Area. Wonderful characters and perfectly fits in with mythos lore.
MONSTERS, Stewart O'Nan - Touching and poignant, this is atypical for a horror collection. It is a literate tale of an accident, a parent's nightmare as their child is injured and recovers, and one boy's intense guilt. It is the sort of horror that we feel at the worst moments of our lives, which is probably why it got included. Nothing overtly supernatural, merely a reminder of the awful feeling of feeling awful.
THE BRINK OF ETERNITY, Barbara Roden - In a similar vein, this story of an Arctic explorer is all too believable, and I was certain the ending would include something out of the ordinary. The only thing that is horror is entirely psychological. Riveting and horrifying, for none of the reasons I expected.
FROST MOUNTAIN PICNIC MASSACRE, Seth Fried - A very hard to classify Stephen King-esque story of a small American town unable to avoid unfortunate events. I notice many online didn't care for this story but I thought it was clever and darkly funny. There are curses and then there's this place. I liked how the running gag became more in depth and sinister as you go along.
SEA-HEARTS, Margo Lanagan - Easily my favorite story from this collection. A mesmerizing, enchanting, and sad tale of an island of fishermen who have captured selkies for wives, and the aftermath it presents. Ultimately, there is a price to pay for subjugating women under the rule of men in any culture, and this story illustrates that feminist truth beautifully.
A HAUNTED HOUSE OF HER OWN, Kelley Armstrong - A twisted little tale of obsession and betrayal as a couple tries to make a home for ghosts. Sometimes you get what's coming to you, ghosts and all. I liked the twist, personally.
HEADSTONE IN MY POCKET, Paul Tremblay - Very well done magical realist story about a Southwest town, a pair of old friends, and a secret from their childhood. Good prose here, and a touching commentary on memory.
THE COLDEST GIRL IN COLDTOWN, Holly Black - Not so great vampire story. Vampires are in locked down ghettos and feed on humans. It's like Daybreakers lite. Notice I don't use light, there. Ha ha.
STRANGE SCENES FROM AN UNFINISHED FILM, Gary McMahon - Sort of boring until the end. Which I did NOT see coming, I will give it that. Another story of obsession, this time of obscure horror films, leads to the unexpected.
A DELICATE ARCHITECTURE, Catherynne M. Valente - Deliciously weaves a story of a dark fairy tale villain's origin. Lush prose, and a wonderful parable for man's inhumanity to man, or woman. Indifference to suffering and exploitation begets the worst outcome for everyone.
THE MYSTERY, Peter Atkins - Short and extremely awesome ghost story. Breathtaking, crisp prose.
VARIATIONS OF A THEME FROM SEINFELD, Peter Straub - Wonderfully scary alternate world fantasy story from the author of "The Talisman". The title is a rather hilarious reference, and ironic, considering.
THE WIDE, CARNIVOROUS SKY, John Langan - It took me a while to get through this tale of military men in search of revenge against a flying space vampire. One of the best created monsters I have read in quite some time, with some all to real commentary on the state of veterans in the US. The story leads us to question which is worse, their daily lives and memories of war, or the haunting specter that follows them afterwards? Perhaps a bit of both. This would make a really good horror film.
CERTAIN DEATH FOR A KNOWN PERSON, Steve Duffy - Psychologically, very frightening. Probably one of the most frightening stories in this volume with no real gore to speak of. Well done, if not a trope I've seen before many times, it was pulled off well so it stands on its own merit.
THE ONES WHO GOT AWAY, Stephen Graham Jones - Dumb criminals mess up and get the wrong address and one of them gets tortured. Wheee great. Unimpressive.
LENG, Marc Laidlaw - An even better Lovecraftian yarn from "Lovecraft Unbound", a collection I am going to read simply because of how awesome this story was. It ranks as my fave along with "Sea Hearts" and I could definitely see it being filmed as a Masters of Horror episode. A Tibetan fungi expert finds mischief afoot, you say? A true mycological mess! Horror at its best.
TORN AWAY, Joe R. Lansdale - A fun, whimsical rural monster story relating to the shadow self concept. Jungian models never grow old, and this one had a nice flow to it.
THE NOWHERE MAN, Sarah Pinborough - Completely terrifying story of a missing person, a potential madman, and nothing is quite as it seems. Bravo.
THE BONE'S PRAYER, Caitlín R. Kiernan - Fairly unnerving story taking place near the sea as a pair of female lovers try to determine the nature of a little stone. I love Caitlin Kiernan's ability to take ordinary, small things and make them into wonderfully written nightmares.
THE WATER TOWER, John Mantooth - This is one of those stories that has an ending that could be interpreted many ways. What happens after? It could be anything. It's horrifying in about a dozen different ways and all of them work. If you like small town horror stories with poverty at the center, and places no one should go...
IN THE PORCHES OF MY EARS, Norman Prentiss - This story really didn't grip me at all until the very end, which changes the context of everything that comes before it. Nicely done.
THE CINDERELLA GAME, Kelly Link - Link rarely writes stories I don't like. Very believable dialogue here, coupled with the realization that sometimes young kids should not be underestimated.
THE JACARANDA SMILE, Gemma Files - Fiction within fiction, a deftly written story about the process of writing. Writers that attempt to write about writers often fail, but not here. As the editor notes, the tone of the story is objective rather than introspective.
THE OTHER BOX, Gerard Houarner - Completely awesome story. I was riveted. It starts off as a run of the mill crime story and then vaults its way into madness, all the while we are asking whether or not madness is responsible for the motivations of the main character or someone she knows. The ending is incredible and I won't ruin it for you. Not to be confused with the horror movie "The Box" which is far more disjointed, to say the least.
WHITE CHARLES, Sarah Monette - Probably the only comedic entry here, it has the uneven contrast of starting out the scariest and then winds up somewhat disappointing in the latter half.
EVERYTHING DIES, BABY, Nadia Bulkin - Meh. Weird fiction only goes so far for me, I suppose. This was just not doing it for me.
BRUISE FOR BRUISE, Robert Davies - Another weird fiction story. The prose was interesting but I felt like I was reading someone's bad acid trip. The religious imagery felt somewhat forced. It was weird for weirdness sake. It was like a cross between the show Jeremiah, parts of the Dark Tower series, and the movie Freaks. So yeah. Not great but not entirely without merit. There were some ideas that struck me as interesting, and certain visuals that really stood out but sometimes it just felt like words were assaulting me like so many insects on a summer's night...
RESPECTS, Ramsey Campbell - Awful, trashy neighbors make an old woman feel scared. I like Campbell's work but his statement regarding what he viewed as a disgusting media complicity in mourning criminals who are shot while stealing things...struck me as a bit callous and classist. He's not just creating unlikeable characters, he is stating unequivocally that anyone who is even related to a criminal is almost inhuman and I get the feeling he very much looks down on the lower class. I didn't like the story but I liked it less when confronted with his rather conservative stereotypes.
DIAMOND SHELL, Deborah Biancotti - Odd little Australian story about another disappearance (it seems to be a theme in this volume!). Not so original, but I liked the narration.
NUB HUT, Kurt Dinan - Easily the worst story I read in this book. I don't think it has any redeemable value. Sorry. This gets my only F.
THE CABINET CHILD, Steve Rasnic Tem - I avoid Tem's work after giving him multiple chances to woo me. The only one I didn't bother with.
CHERRYSTONE AND SHARDS OF ICE, Ekaterina Sedia - A tale of a town divided between living and not so living. It had a different feel to it, most likely the enchanted little burb was flavored with a gritty urban vibe mixed with Russian folkore. Great mix between the two.
THE CREVASSE, Dale Bailey and Nathan Balingrud - A little exploration happens to swing past the Mountains of Madness. A fine jaunt into Antarctic nightmare.
VIC, Maura McHugh - A mysterious, sick little boy reveals something slowly to us through his memory and desires.
HALLOWEEN TOWN, Lucius Shepard - It is really hard to describe this story. Essentially it takes place In our own reality. Our own United States. But the town in question is a fantasy world of immense scope, both geographically, and socially, that it betrays that reality. It tricks us, because it claims to be what it is not. I love fantasy like this, it gets under your skin by parading entirely all too real characters, characters that could easily exist in New York, or Detroit, or Miami, or somewhere, but instead they just happen to be dealing with Impossible Things. The story gave me Synecdoche, New York vibes and if you have seen that film it is close to what this story achieves, only Shepard's work is ultimately more accessible. Ultimately, what it says is that no place is perfect, and you can't just move your life to a new place to start anew and expect that. Everything has a cost and a price, apparently.
THE LONG, COLD GOODBYE, Holly Phillips - You might read this and think, this story makes no sense. In context, it is thick with possible metaphor. I'm not sure, but the underlying moral of the story is what counts. Tell the people who mean the most to you what they mean. Don't let fear get in the way or a lifetime will end merely in regret. Fantastical images and sly clues lay hidden in this story like gems in the snow.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU WAKE UP IN THE NIGHT, Michael Marshall Smith - Entirely disturbing little Twilight Zone like story. I adore Michael Marshall Smith. Read any story of his you get a chance to, you won't be sorry.
gracecrandall's review
5.0
This story gave me the creeps during build-up, but ultimately warmed my heart. It was a lot of fun, with really interesting imagery and ideas!
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