The Darker Side: Generations of Horror

Darkside #2

by John Pelan (Editor)

This all-new collection includes stories by:
* Edo Van Belkom
* Simon Clark
* Seth Lindberg
* Tom Piccirilli
* Brian Hodge
* Jessica Amanda Salmonson
* James Dorr
* Paul Finch
* Mehitobel Wilson
* Michelle Scalise
* David B. Silva
* Joel Lane
* Wilum Pugmire and Chad Hensley
* Charlee Jacob
* John Pelan
* Lucy Taylor
* Brian A. Hopkins and Richard Wright
* Ann Schwader
* Brian Keene
* Randy Ashburn
* Peter Crowther
* David Niall Wilson
* Shikar Dixit
* Tim Lebbon

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Anthologies, Fiction

400 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Robert Beveridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Pelan (ed.), The Darker Side: Generations of Horror (Roc, 2002)

Pelan's second collection of "the new breed" of horror writers connects on most levels where the original failed. There's still a smattering of bad mixed in, but this time, most of the results are good.

I should get the bad out of the way first. I haven't yet tired of calling Edo van Belkom this generation's Saul Wernick, and he gives me another opportunity with the anthology's opening story. The usual van Belkom; simple, unscary, likely to be as obscure in twenty years as Saul Wernick is now. David Niall Wilson and Shikhar Dixit both come extremely close to having written great pieces of fiction (I'd be hard-pressed to call either a horror tale, but both have an appealing gothic quality to them), but fall somewhat short in the delivery. In both cases, continuity is the problem. Both authors paint a very lovely picture, but fail to connect enough dots to let us know what the picture is.

But enough of that. So many of these authors deserve such praise. Pelan rectifies the overlooking he did in the original anthology, including such names as Poppy Z. Brite, Cait Kiernan (whose story here is one of the most understated and effective she's written), Mehitobel Wilson, Charlee Jacob, Brian Keene, and the wonderful Jess Salmonson (who's been writing longer than most of these authors have been alive, thus lending some credence to the title this time), all of whom turn in good, and some great, stuff. (Charlee Jacob, in particular, rocks the house. As usual.) Returning are two of the finest authors from the original, Lucy Taylor and Brian Hodge. Taylor's story is luscious, erotic, and painful (nothing new from Taylor, but pulled off excellently here). Hodge's story, like the previous anthology's "Skinwriters," though, is the story for which you want to buy this book, and the story for which you will treasure it.

Hodge's story is told in a memoir style, and you will spend the vast majority of the time wondering what this story is doing in a horror anthology. (As Hodge's novels have turned to mystery, it's not an unreasonable thing to wonder.) At the end of the story, he pulls it off, but it's so deadpan and understated you're STILL left with the idea that this is a memoir, perhaps penned by Dennis Lehane or Dash Hammett or one of the other tough-guy mystery writers. It's concise, wonderful, and probably the best stuff I've seen from Hodge since Deathgrip, well over a decade ago.

Better than its predecessor The Dark Side. Check this one out first. *** ½

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

Passable quality all around, but only two stories rose above good into very good territory (Lucy Taylor’s and Ann Schwader’s). Took forever to finish because I had to force myself to continue reading.

[Christina Strupp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stand-out stories in this anthology for me were "The Mannerly Man" by Mehitobel Wilson, "Unspeakable" by Lucy Taylor, "Asian Gothic" by Shikhar Dixit, and "Hell Came Down" by Tim Lebbon.

[stephanie 🧚🏻‍♀️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since this is an anthology with pieces of varying quality, it's kind of hard to give it a definite rating. Some stories were good, with excellent writing and plot developments... But for some reason just fell short. Some of them had weak endings that didn't really wrap everything up, or just sort of went downhill, or were too predictable. Some started off with interesting ideas that would probably be better suited for their own full-length novels; as short stories, they just weren't totally satisfying. For example, The Mannerly Man - I was so captivated by the world of this story that I had to take a break from reading when I finished and let it all sink in. Despite this, I have to say that the ending disappointed me, and it could have left an even bigger impact on readers had it been its own novel.

Then there were others that totally missed the mark. Again, maybe if they were full-length stories they could have been better, but unfortunately as short stories they just... Flopped, for lack of a better word. A few weren't memorable at all, and sort of felt like filler to me. A few others straight up bored me and there were one or two that just did absolutely nothing for me at all, relying on explicitness rather than a solid story.

Also none of these were necessarily scary - they may leave you a little uneasy or just make you think. Not that that's a bad thing. Overall, I'll say reading this book has helped me find some new authors to check out (my top three being Brian Hodge, Mehitobel Wilson and Shikhar Dixit).

[Bill Borre]

"The Plague Species" by Charlee Jacob - The protagonist is punished by angels by having his feet, genitals, hands and finally face torn off.

"The Ocean" by Poppy Z. Brite - Eli is a rock and roller who ends up a feast for vampire groupies.

"What God Hath Wrought" by Randy D. Ashburn - wc
"Grave Song" by Brian A. Hopkins - wc
"Spirits of the Flesh" by Seth Lindberg - wc
"The Misfit Child Grows Fat on Despair" by Tom Piccirilli - wc
"Mamishka and the Sorcerer" by Jessica Amanda Salmonson - wc
"Just Someone Her Mother Might Know" by Michelle Scalise - wc
"Unspeakable" by Lucy Taylor - wc
"Do You See What I Fear?" by Edo van Belkom - wc

[PSXtreme · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plenty of good short horror stories, but not every one is of the same quality. If you need a sampler to expand your reading library, there will be more than enough new writers to chose from to do so. My Favorite selection was Mehitobel Wilson who wrote ""The Mannerly Man" to show us a world where political correctness has run amok. In this tale, people can kill anyone who offends them, for any reason, but can only do so once."

[Texv Velis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow just finished reading the story The Night City by Wilum Pugmire and Chad Hensley and it was so beautiful and sad it made me cry.