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Danse Macabre: Close Encounters with the Reaper
"Danse Macabre: Close Encounters With the Reaper" could be one of the most unusual anthologies you'll ever read! Twenty-three literary reflections embody the theme, classical artwork devoted to the spectrum of humanity's intriguing interactions with the Angel of Death in all of his/her manifestations.
Contributors: Brian Lumley, Tanith Lee, Tom Piccirilli, Nancy Holder, Lisa Morton, Brian Hodge, Lucy Taylor and others.
Contributors: Brian Lumley, Tanith Lee, Tom Piccirilli, Nancy Holder, Lisa Morton, Brian Hodge, Lucy Taylor and others.
280 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
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About the author
Nancy Kilpatrick
159 books255 followersNancy Kilpatrick was a Canadian author who wrote stories in the genres of dark fantasy, horror, mystery, erotic horror, and gothic subculture.
She is most known for her vampire themed works.
She is most known for her vampire themed works.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 6, 2012
danse macabre, horror, fantasy, Nancy Kilpatrick, death, medieval images
Images of people accosted or dancing with Death were very common after the Black Death decimated Europe's population in the Middle Ages.
Danse Macabre: Close Encounters with the Reaper is an anthology edited by Nancy Kilpatrick and put out by Edge Pulishing. These tales are about Death and its personification. Like a Harlequin romance, you pretty much know how it's going to end. In Harlequins the woman gets her man. In Danse Macabre, every tale deals with dying. Originally I sent in a concept to Nancy for this anthology, but she rejected it. In some ways, I didn't quite understand that she truly wanted tales where Death is personified. (However that idea will soon be out in Bibliotheca Fantastica as "The Book with No End.")
Death is a man, a woman, a specter with scythe and hood, a wisp of grey, a bird, or a skeletal neuter. The one form of Death I did not come across, which I thought I might, was the black dog, but perhaps that image is used more for the devil. But I was curious to see what the anthology embraced, and Nancy is a good editor so I was intrigued. There are twenty-five tales and one verse titled "Danse Macabre," which opens the anthology, so it's meaty.
The term "Danse Macabre" refers to the dance with death. Medieval images in paintings and engravings depicted skeletons and other forms of Death interacting with the living. For this anthology Death is the one character who you know will be there in the end. However, Death does not always prevail and is in fact set upon in different ways. There are stories here, with Death as an unwelcome companion, or where someone pleads or tries to make a deal. In some cases they try to stay Death's hand, seduce, understand or hunt the Reaper down. Many of these stories are from the viewpoint of the person coming to terms with or fighting Death. Yet just when I wondered if any individual story would be from the point of view of the Grim Reaper, indeed the viewpoint changed. Sometimes Death hunts, sometimes he courts his prey or feels loneliness or love.
danse macabre, horror, dark fantasy, Nancy Kilpatrick, speculative fiction, reaper
Danse Macabre, edited by Nancy Kilpatrick and published by Edge Publishing
I don't know if I had any preconceived notion of this book but as I began to read I was delighted. You might not think so but for a collection that is truly macabre and is the essence of the word, I didn't find most of the tales depressing. This is both an indication of the skill of the authors and how they wove their tales, and of Nancy's careful honing of just such an anthology. I'm actually hard pressed to say which tale I liked best or least, but I'll try to point out a few that stick in my memory. The verse "Danse Macabre" by Ian Emberson was good. It didn't grab me completely but it had a coquettish air and a wry humor. The last line delivers the punch like it should.
Another aspect of this anthology that I particularly liked was that the tales take place in different times and different cultures. They're not all 20-21st century stories set in North America. The first story is Lisa Morton's "The Secret Engravings" about Death visiting Hans Holbein with a commission for danse macabre engravings. This one is well crafted and has an superb twist when Holbein realizes the horror of what he's done. Many collections and anthologies begin and end with the strongest stories, to pull the reader in and leave them with a good impression. This story stayed with me past finishing the collection.
"Death in the Family" by Morgan Dempsey looks at an unwilling apprenticeship. Yet Dominik defies and turns the tables, which are turned again. Perhaps an ironic tale of leaving a legacy. The theme is echoed, but shown differently in Dan Devine's "The Physician's Assistant," but both show how death is a constant companion to those in the healing arts.
Timothy Reynolds' "Blue-Black Knight," "Totentanz" by Nancy Holder and Erin Underwood, Angela Roberts "A Song for Death" as well as "An Appointment in the Village Bazaar" b S.S. Hampton Sr. address the dance with Death through art, whether painting, dancing, singing or playing music. These stories were all strong and evocative with Reynolds looking at a moment of communion with the Reaper, while a balancing of accounts takes place in "Totentanz." Roberts' tale of a woman working in the deathly wards of those taken by the influenza and "An Appointment" have at their essence deals and trades made with Death. Sometimes the characters win out or the trade is taken and sometimes they just do not go gentle into that good night.
Not all the stories stayed with me and I don't have time to review each one. A few I didn't care for but I found that even those drew me in and were well written, so really the overall level of this collection is high. The two biggest names in the collection are Tanith Lee and Brian Lumley. Lee's "The Death of Death" is about a woman who hones herself till she can see and follow death throughout the world. She is on the ultimate hunt and this tale is rich with personality and style. Probably my least favorite story was by the best known author. Lumley's "Old Man With a Blade" is very short but to me it relies on you knowing his Necroscope characters and premise and it left me flat, traveling the least distance of all the stories.
While I liked many of the stories a great deal Opal Edgar's "Elegy for a Crow" stood out in intensity and horrific effects. It made me really think about what would happened if death did not come but life still tumbled through its miseries and accidents. The final story "Population Management" by Tom Dullemond is probably the only story in the collection that is more SF than fantasy. Yet as an ending it's fitting and somewhat more sinister, even if wry, when Death is taken out of a more human hand. I would say Danse Macabre really isn't horror despite being about death. There are a few stories that are indeed horrific or disturbing, but overall this collection, far reaching in style, eras, cultures and viewpoints, is about life and living. I give it 9 scythes out of 10.
Images of people accosted or dancing with Death were very common after the Black Death decimated Europe's population in the Middle Ages.
Danse Macabre: Close Encounters with the Reaper is an anthology edited by Nancy Kilpatrick and put out by Edge Pulishing. These tales are about Death and its personification. Like a Harlequin romance, you pretty much know how it's going to end. In Harlequins the woman gets her man. In Danse Macabre, every tale deals with dying. Originally I sent in a concept to Nancy for this anthology, but she rejected it. In some ways, I didn't quite understand that she truly wanted tales where Death is personified. (However that idea will soon be out in Bibliotheca Fantastica as "The Book with No End.")
Death is a man, a woman, a specter with scythe and hood, a wisp of grey, a bird, or a skeletal neuter. The one form of Death I did not come across, which I thought I might, was the black dog, but perhaps that image is used more for the devil. But I was curious to see what the anthology embraced, and Nancy is a good editor so I was intrigued. There are twenty-five tales and one verse titled "Danse Macabre," which opens the anthology, so it's meaty.
The term "Danse Macabre" refers to the dance with death. Medieval images in paintings and engravings depicted skeletons and other forms of Death interacting with the living. For this anthology Death is the one character who you know will be there in the end. However, Death does not always prevail and is in fact set upon in different ways. There are stories here, with Death as an unwelcome companion, or where someone pleads or tries to make a deal. In some cases they try to stay Death's hand, seduce, understand or hunt the Reaper down. Many of these stories are from the viewpoint of the person coming to terms with or fighting Death. Yet just when I wondered if any individual story would be from the point of view of the Grim Reaper, indeed the viewpoint changed. Sometimes Death hunts, sometimes he courts his prey or feels loneliness or love.
danse macabre, horror, dark fantasy, Nancy Kilpatrick, speculative fiction, reaper
Danse Macabre, edited by Nancy Kilpatrick and published by Edge Publishing
I don't know if I had any preconceived notion of this book but as I began to read I was delighted. You might not think so but for a collection that is truly macabre and is the essence of the word, I didn't find most of the tales depressing. This is both an indication of the skill of the authors and how they wove their tales, and of Nancy's careful honing of just such an anthology. I'm actually hard pressed to say which tale I liked best or least, but I'll try to point out a few that stick in my memory. The verse "Danse Macabre" by Ian Emberson was good. It didn't grab me completely but it had a coquettish air and a wry humor. The last line delivers the punch like it should.
Another aspect of this anthology that I particularly liked was that the tales take place in different times and different cultures. They're not all 20-21st century stories set in North America. The first story is Lisa Morton's "The Secret Engravings" about Death visiting Hans Holbein with a commission for danse macabre engravings. This one is well crafted and has an superb twist when Holbein realizes the horror of what he's done. Many collections and anthologies begin and end with the strongest stories, to pull the reader in and leave them with a good impression. This story stayed with me past finishing the collection.
"Death in the Family" by Morgan Dempsey looks at an unwilling apprenticeship. Yet Dominik defies and turns the tables, which are turned again. Perhaps an ironic tale of leaving a legacy. The theme is echoed, but shown differently in Dan Devine's "The Physician's Assistant," but both show how death is a constant companion to those in the healing arts.
Timothy Reynolds' "Blue-Black Knight," "Totentanz" by Nancy Holder and Erin Underwood, Angela Roberts "A Song for Death" as well as "An Appointment in the Village Bazaar" b S.S. Hampton Sr. address the dance with Death through art, whether painting, dancing, singing or playing music. These stories were all strong and evocative with Reynolds looking at a moment of communion with the Reaper, while a balancing of accounts takes place in "Totentanz." Roberts' tale of a woman working in the deathly wards of those taken by the influenza and "An Appointment" have at their essence deals and trades made with Death. Sometimes the characters win out or the trade is taken and sometimes they just do not go gentle into that good night.
Not all the stories stayed with me and I don't have time to review each one. A few I didn't care for but I found that even those drew me in and were well written, so really the overall level of this collection is high. The two biggest names in the collection are Tanith Lee and Brian Lumley. Lee's "The Death of Death" is about a woman who hones herself till she can see and follow death throughout the world. She is on the ultimate hunt and this tale is rich with personality and style. Probably my least favorite story was by the best known author. Lumley's "Old Man With a Blade" is very short but to me it relies on you knowing his Necroscope characters and premise and it left me flat, traveling the least distance of all the stories.
While I liked many of the stories a great deal Opal Edgar's "Elegy for a Crow" stood out in intensity and horrific effects. It made me really think about what would happened if death did not come but life still tumbled through its miseries and accidents. The final story "Population Management" by Tom Dullemond is probably the only story in the collection that is more SF than fantasy. Yet as an ending it's fitting and somewhat more sinister, even if wry, when Death is taken out of a more human hand. I would say Danse Macabre really isn't horror despite being about death. There are a few stories that are indeed horrific or disturbing, but overall this collection, far reaching in style, eras, cultures and viewpoints, is about life and living. I give it 9 scythes out of 10.
June 21, 2022
There are a few gems 💎.... in this series of shorts. My favourite so far is "The Secret Engravings" by Lisa Morton! I love how some of the shorts have dark humour woven into the morbidity. (DEATH IN THE FAMILY)
January 13, 2013
This is an excellent collection of stories, ranging from dramatic to comedic, philosophical to fantasy. I have to admit to a conflict of interest: I am one of the writers whose short stories appear in this anthology. ("Out of the Sun") That doesn't mean I can't be a fan of the many other writers whose works appear in this book, and as a reader I definitely am. In fact, considering I had only one previously published short story several years ago, I'm quite honoured to be counted among this quite excellent ensemble of story-tellers.
October 15, 2013
....a collection of short stories about meeting the earthly incarnation of death that hits more often than it misses. I like themed collections, they provide the opportunity to see the same basic premise handled in a variety of tones, settings and styles, and there's enough depth and texture here to make for a tremendously entertaining read. I see this company at Calgary Expo every summer, and always enjoy what I wind up buying at their booth, and this was no exception.
October 16, 2012
Danse Macabre is a short story anothology that plays with the idea that death is personified and lives it's own life beside our own. The stories are all angles on this idea going from humorous and irreverant to dark and honest. There isn't a story in here that DOESN'T strike a chord and as a result the book sings and I gladly sat down and listened.
August 19, 2016
Honourable mention goes to:
Danse Macabre
Death Over Easy
The Physician's Assistant
Danse Macabre
Death Over Easy
The Physician's Assistant
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews