Lost on the Darkside: Voices From The Edge of Horror

Darkside #4

by John Pelan (Editor)

This fourth collection in the acclaimed series features 15 original horror stories by David Silva, Michael Reaves, Ramsey Campbell, Jessica Amanda Salmonson, John Pelan, Joseph Ezzo, Mark Samuels, David Wilson, Michael Laimo, Tony Richards, Joe Nassise, Paul Melniczek, Maria Alexander, Gerard Houarner, and Jeffrey Thomas.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories

387 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 6, 2005

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this off and on for quite a while but finally finished it today. Not a bad collection, but nothing really exceptional and nothing really bad. 3 stars.

[Chelsea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just like any book with multiple stories by multiple authors there was good ones and bad ones there were a few that I really liked and then there was a few more that just wasn't any good but all in all not a waste

[Franchescanado · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a perfectly fine anthology with a lot of variety in the authors and stories; while most are enjoyable, none of them feel essential. I don't know the origin of the anthology series name, but it does feel like reading lesser episodes of Tales from the Darkside.

[Ashley Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some were twisted, not super scary

[Corvid · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've learned that I do not like neo-gothic horror or whatever this is supposed to be. There's like, two or three readable stories in here.

[M.T. Preston, Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A real mixed bag. Some of the stories are fantastic, others just ok. I picked up the collection because of Jeffrey Thomas's story "Behind the Masque," which is set in his Punktown universe and features a clone of a famous horror author and many references to said author's work. I enjoyed this story a lot and found several others I'm quite fond of. My favorite of the entire collection is "Last Stop" by John Pelan, about a lonely librarian who gets drunk one night and wanders into the bad part of town, where something is seriously wrong. Overall this collection is worth getting, particularly if you like supernatural horror blended with dark fantasy.

[[on hiatus, probably forever] The rockabilly werewolf from Mars · Rating 1 out of 5]

A rather minor anthology. I only remember a couple of stories from here (Unblinking, Spider Dreams, The Dirty People, The Call Of Distant Shores, and maybe one or two others), which were readable, but pretty average; the rest failed to make any impression. Also, I had already read Unblinking, which is the only story here that I would consider to be truly great. I don't think I will bother with the other entries in the series, or with reviewing the individual stories. Good thing it only cost me 50 cents at a charity book sale.

[Angie crosby · Rating 3 out of 5]

5 short stories. many of them were good. A few towards the end weren't as good. Good read, probably won't read again. Nothing sticks out in my head, except the Michael Laimo Story about the cats who save the homeless guy who fed them.

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

The well must be running dry on the Darkside because each one of these anthologies is less interesting than the last.