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A review by tbr_the_unconquered
SNAFU: An Anthology of Military Horror by W.D. Gagliani, Greig Beck, Steve Ruthenbeck, Eric S. Brown, Wayland Smith, Christine Morgan, Jonathan Maberry, Weston Ochse, Geoff Brown, Amanda J. Spedding, Jeff Hewitt, Neal Litherland, Brian W. Taylor, David W. Amendola, James A. Moore, Kirsten Cross, Curtis C. Chen, David Benton, Tyson Mauermann
4.0
The fear of the unknown is what horror as a genre has always chosen to exploit and this anthology takes those fears and puts it down in a military landscape. In other words, it unleashes these horrors onto men and women trained for war.
These are the stories and what I made out of them :
Blackwater : A spec-ops team faces off against monsters from the sea. Not a very cohesive story although it does have a few moments. 2 stars.
Little Johnny Jump-Up : The civil-war era and a benevolent little ghost. This is no horror story but one where the ghost eases out the horrors for the characters. 3 stars.
Covert Genesis : Here again it is spec-ops but the monsters they face are rather unique and different from all the others in this anthology. A little high on the gore factor coupled with fast paced action. 3 stars.
Bug Hunt : I am not familiar with this character : Joe Ledger so was not used to his staccato sentences and gung-ho attitude. Although making a guess about this character would be rather premature, I did feel that he is yet another stereotype of the American GI that the media would have us believe. The story was an interesting one but it did lack cohesion at quite a few places. Some things did not sit too right and that affected the enjoyment factor. 2 stars.
Special Operations Interview PTO -14 : A US marine on patrol in a Japanese island stumbles on a scene straight out of Japanese mythology. Here again there isn’t much of horror and comparably it is a bland story. 2 stars.
Cold War Gothic : Reminiscent of Mike Mignola’s B.P.R.D placed in a cold war setting. The Americans cross swords with the Russians and the weapons they use are all supernatural in nature. An interesting addition into the mix was the box-man, a character worth remembering. Quite an atmospheric tale. 3 and half stars.
Making Waves : I knew there was a Ctulhu impostor in here somewhere and here it was ! WWII, submarine warfare, magic, Americans, Elder Gods and general mayhem. Interesting twist to the Hiroshima and Nagasaki scenarios. 3 stars.
The Fossil : One of the longest stories in the collection and worth it. The future coming back to haunt and terrify us was a new one for me. The story moves swiftly and the buildup is quite brilliant. 4 stars.
A Tide of Flesh : Starts right in the thick of action and stops when it wanes. The premise is very interesting with the British soldiers facing off the Indian undead. The execution however lacks the charm. 2 stars.
Death at 900 meters : Set in present day Iraq with Marine snipers on a routine smash-and-grab mission encountering vampires. No surprises, no plot twists and just your regular vampire tale. 2 stars.
Holding The Line : The smallest story in the collection and one without too much of a conclusion. It is all over before you get into the thick of things. High on gore. For the interested, it is the National Guard v/s Sasquatches. 2 stars.
Thela Hun Gingeet : The favorite landscape of all military writers – the American debacle in Vietnam. An American team on an intel gathering mission goes deep into the jungles and gets caught up in a Taoist temple that fries their neural circuits. The imagery is psychedelic and lavishes us with stunning visuals. My contention however is with the fact that the story never explains what all the noise is all about. Everything is left hanging by the threads. 3 and a half stars for the visuals & 2 stars for the story.
The Shrine : WWII again with the German Panzer division and the SS trying to pull out something from the foundations of an old church. What comes out of the pit is a homage to a monster of the Lovecraftian genre. The buildup in this story is pretty solid and the characters are pretty well sketched. 4 stars.
Ptearing All Before Us : I have always wondered what a Thunderbird in the Indian myths could be all about. This story offers a wild guess at that and builds a story around a group of soldiers out hunting Indians in the wilderness. More than horror, this is a tale of greed and avarice. I quite liked it. Here too, gore is rather high. 3 stars.
Blank White Page : Two gentlemen, a certain Mr. Slate and Mr.Crowley ride into the town of Silver Springs in the days of the wild west. They remind you of the horsemen of the apocalypse for one rides a pale horse and the other man is…well he really is something to behold. In they ride and all hell breaks loose (no pun intended !). The storytelling moves at breakneck speed and it really is a brilliant piece of work amalgamating Mexican standoff’s, supernatural incursions and good old firefights. This certainly is my pick as the best in the anthology. The only thing to note is that this is the only tale which is not directly set in a military backdrop. 5 stars.
This is one of those rare anthologies where none of the stories are bad. They all either fall into the category of good or strictly average. Worth a read. Recommended.
These are the stories and what I made out of them :
Blackwater : A spec-ops team faces off against monsters from the sea. Not a very cohesive story although it does have a few moments. 2 stars.
Little Johnny Jump-Up : The civil-war era and a benevolent little ghost. This is no horror story but one where the ghost eases out the horrors for the characters. 3 stars.
Covert Genesis : Here again it is spec-ops but the monsters they face are rather unique and different from all the others in this anthology. A little high on the gore factor coupled with fast paced action. 3 stars.
Bug Hunt : I am not familiar with this character : Joe Ledger so was not used to his staccato sentences and gung-ho attitude. Although making a guess about this character would be rather premature, I did feel that he is yet another stereotype of the American GI that the media would have us believe. The story was an interesting one but it did lack cohesion at quite a few places. Some things did not sit too right and that affected the enjoyment factor. 2 stars.
Special Operations Interview PTO -14 : A US marine on patrol in a Japanese island stumbles on a scene straight out of Japanese mythology. Here again there isn’t much of horror and comparably it is a bland story. 2 stars.
Cold War Gothic : Reminiscent of Mike Mignola’s B.P.R.D placed in a cold war setting. The Americans cross swords with the Russians and the weapons they use are all supernatural in nature. An interesting addition into the mix was the box-man, a character worth remembering. Quite an atmospheric tale. 3 and half stars.
Making Waves : I knew there was a Ctulhu impostor in here somewhere and here it was ! WWII, submarine warfare, magic, Americans, Elder Gods and general mayhem. Interesting twist to the Hiroshima and Nagasaki scenarios. 3 stars.
The Fossil : One of the longest stories in the collection and worth it. The future coming back to haunt and terrify us was a new one for me. The story moves swiftly and the buildup is quite brilliant. 4 stars.
A Tide of Flesh : Starts right in the thick of action and stops when it wanes. The premise is very interesting with the British soldiers facing off the Indian undead. The execution however lacks the charm. 2 stars.
Death at 900 meters : Set in present day Iraq with Marine snipers on a routine smash-and-grab mission encountering vampires. No surprises, no plot twists and just your regular vampire tale. 2 stars.
Holding The Line : The smallest story in the collection and one without too much of a conclusion. It is all over before you get into the thick of things. High on gore. For the interested, it is the National Guard v/s Sasquatches. 2 stars.
Thela Hun Gingeet : The favorite landscape of all military writers – the American debacle in Vietnam. An American team on an intel gathering mission goes deep into the jungles and gets caught up in a Taoist temple that fries their neural circuits. The imagery is psychedelic and lavishes us with stunning visuals. My contention however is with the fact that the story never explains what all the noise is all about. Everything is left hanging by the threads. 3 and a half stars for the visuals & 2 stars for the story.
The Shrine : WWII again with the German Panzer division and the SS trying to pull out something from the foundations of an old church. What comes out of the pit is a homage to a monster of the Lovecraftian genre. The buildup in this story is pretty solid and the characters are pretty well sketched. 4 stars.
Ptearing All Before Us : I have always wondered what a Thunderbird in the Indian myths could be all about. This story offers a wild guess at that and builds a story around a group of soldiers out hunting Indians in the wilderness. More than horror, this is a tale of greed and avarice. I quite liked it. Here too, gore is rather high. 3 stars.
Blank White Page : Two gentlemen, a certain Mr. Slate and Mr.Crowley ride into the town of Silver Springs in the days of the wild west. They remind you of the horsemen of the apocalypse for one rides a pale horse and the other man is…well he really is something to behold. In they ride and all hell breaks loose (no pun intended !). The storytelling moves at breakneck speed and it really is a brilliant piece of work amalgamating Mexican standoff’s, supernatural incursions and good old firefights. This certainly is my pick as the best in the anthology. The only thing to note is that this is the only tale which is not directly set in a military backdrop. 5 stars.
This is one of those rare anthologies where none of the stories are bad. They all either fall into the category of good or strictly average. Worth a read. Recommended.