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Black Books of Horror #1
The Black Book of Horror
The Black Book of Horror contains 18 excursions into the realms of terror. Ranging from the supernatural to the macabre, the stories selected for this anthology feature black magic, the dead, monstrous beasts, and things from beyond. There are tales that witness madness, and the evil that man does.
Contents:
CROWS - Frank Nicholas
REGINA vs. ZOSKIA - Mark Samuels
THE OLDER MAN - Gary Fry
POWER - Steve Goodwin
CORDS - Roger B. Pile
THE SOUND OF MUZAK - Sean Parker
SHAPED LIKE A SNAKE - D. F. Lewis
ONLY IN YOUR DREAMS - David A. Sutton
THE WOLF AT JESSIE'S DOOR - Paul Finch
SIZE MATTERS - John L. Probert
SPARE RIB: A ROMANCE - John Kenneth Dunham
FAMILY FISHING - Gary McMahon
SUBTLE INVASION - David Conyers
A PIE WITH THICK GRAVY - D. F. Lewis
LOCK-IN - David A. Riley
LAST CHRISTMAS (I GAVE YOU MY LIFE) - Franklin Marsh
"SHALT THOU KNOW MY NAME?" - Daniel McGachey
TO SUMMON A FLESH EATING DEMON - Charles Black
Contents:
CROWS - Frank Nicholas
REGINA vs. ZOSKIA - Mark Samuels
THE OLDER MAN - Gary Fry
POWER - Steve Goodwin
CORDS - Roger B. Pile
THE SOUND OF MUZAK - Sean Parker
SHAPED LIKE A SNAKE - D. F. Lewis
ONLY IN YOUR DREAMS - David A. Sutton
THE WOLF AT JESSIE'S DOOR - Paul Finch
SIZE MATTERS - John L. Probert
SPARE RIB: A ROMANCE - John Kenneth Dunham
FAMILY FISHING - Gary McMahon
SUBTLE INVASION - David Conyers
A PIE WITH THICK GRAVY - D. F. Lewis
LOCK-IN - David A. Riley
LAST CHRISTMAS (I GAVE YOU MY LIFE) - Franklin Marsh
"SHALT THOU KNOW MY NAME?" - Daniel McGachey
TO SUMMON A FLESH EATING DEMON - Charles Black
298 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2007
2 people are currently reading
109 people want to read
About the author
Charles Black
70 books19 followersLibrarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 30, 2010
Ewwww...In a good way! I have read all of the Black Book's of Horror and this edition is one of the better ones.Scary stories without a lot of gratuitous violence which I really like.
Mr. Black is a British editor who really knows his game.These stories are literary(sometimes) and not too short so that you get to really know the protagonists well.
I think anyone looking for 'Splatter-Punk' type stories will be disappointed though.I don't really like them so I was very happy with this book and the other 5 in the series.
Mr. Black is a British editor who really knows his game.These stories are literary(sometimes) and not too short so that you get to really know the protagonists well.
I think anyone looking for 'Splatter-Punk' type stories will be disappointed though.I don't really like them so I was very happy with this book and the other 5 in the series.
January 22, 2020
The Black Book Of Horror is the first in a series of horror anthologies published by Mortbury Press. As soon as I saw the gorgeous covers I knew that I wanted the entire set even though I am not familiar with the authors. I did notice some nominations for the British Fantasy Award but winning or losing would not have swayed my desire to get my hands on these books. I don't have a lot of experience with British horror other than having enjoyed the Hammer House of Horror series when I was a kid. Since I have found in my limited experience that British horror tends to be a bit more subtle than what I am used to on this side of the pond, I expected this would be more atmospheric than blood soaked. Well subtle I can take, but vague I can not. Some of these stories were so vague that they seemed more like a wisp of idea for an outline than an actual finished product. For example I could sum up "Spare Rib" as once upon a time a man's wife died but then she came back and he left for work. The End. Seriously that's a story in here. In another story a Nazi skin head and his pals desecrate a grave and then take off their pants and boots. The End.
Not to say they were all bad, there were some 3 and 4 star stories among the duds. The only 5 star mentions go to "Size Matters" more for it's dark humor than for anything frightening. Yes it is a story about a penis enlargement gone wrong, and Lock-In by David A Riley which actually was a scary story about a handful of men trapped in a pub by a creeping black void of nothingness that awaits them outside. 4 stars to Last Christmas (I gave you my life) Family Fishing, and Subtle Invasion.
I'm hoping the rest of the series has more 5 star stories than this did.
Not to say they were all bad, there were some 3 and 4 star stories among the duds. The only 5 star mentions go to "Size Matters" more for it's dark humor than for anything frightening. Yes it is a story about a penis enlargement gone wrong, and Lock-In by David A Riley which actually was a scary story about a handful of men trapped in a pub by a creeping black void of nothingness that awaits them outside. 4 stars to Last Christmas (I gave you my life) Family Fishing, and Subtle Invasion.
I'm hoping the rest of the series has more 5 star stories than this did.
August 3, 2022
My favorites were the stories by Finch, Riley, Marsh, and Black. I’ve already ordered most of the rest of the Black Books, mainly for the Finch stories, but overall I’m happy with the story choices. Classic dark fiction stuff.
I wonder if this will hold true for the rest of them but it was nice there were no outright crappy stories here, or even poems, included just for the sake of “mixing it up” like there are in so many of today’s anthologies. All that does is devalue the package as a whole, anyway.
To my taste there was only one dud. There was also a good handful of stories that almost made my best of the bunch list. Two kind of petered out at the end sans any Jamesian wallop and one seemed too much like a direct riff on James, though it was well done so I’ve already bought more work by that author (McGachey, who also dabbles in writing weird Holmes stories. Looking forward to those.)
Hopefully the quality of the series only gets even better. There were a few typos, but no more than is normal these days. (Which is a weird phenomenon in 21st c. publishing, considering I’m sure all of these stories were written on word processors with grammar and spelling tools.) Really great cover, too. Conveys exactly the mood I’m looking for in books like these. Recommended.
(The math: on a scale of 1-5 these 18 stories averaged a 3.3. But I bumped it up to 3.5/4 because I really liked the ones I liked, and I also really like the whole ethos behind Black Books.)
I wonder if this will hold true for the rest of them but it was nice there were no outright crappy stories here, or even poems, included just for the sake of “mixing it up” like there are in so many of today’s anthologies. All that does is devalue the package as a whole, anyway.
To my taste there was only one dud. There was also a good handful of stories that almost made my best of the bunch list. Two kind of petered out at the end sans any Jamesian wallop and one seemed too much like a direct riff on James, though it was well done so I’ve already bought more work by that author (McGachey, who also dabbles in writing weird Holmes stories. Looking forward to those.)
Hopefully the quality of the series only gets even better. There were a few typos, but no more than is normal these days. (Which is a weird phenomenon in 21st c. publishing, considering I’m sure all of these stories were written on word processors with grammar and spelling tools.) Really great cover, too. Conveys exactly the mood I’m looking for in books like these. Recommended.
(The math: on a scale of 1-5 these 18 stories averaged a 3.3. But I bumped it up to 3.5/4 because I really liked the ones I liked, and I also really like the whole ethos behind Black Books.)
September 7, 2021
This was rather disappointing. There were more poor stories than there were good. It started off well with Crows & then went down hill from there. Most of the writing was mediocre & some of the stories I wouldn't even class as horror. Not something I'll be recommending.
June 3, 2021
Some good, some not so good. Overall, an ok collection of horror.
January 1, 2016
For my full length review, and reviews of individual stories, please visit Casual Debris.
Appropriately dedicated to Herbert van Thal (1904-1983), the legendary British editor of the Pan Book of Horror series as well as numerous other original and reprint anthologies of the 196os, 70s and early 80s, The Black Book of Horror features some great, inspired writing.
The book itself is very handsome. The cover art by Paul Mudie is gorgeous; the facial expression combined with the smooth backdrop and warm colours is enticing. The pages of the book he is holding are exquisitely and minutely detailed, and there is a glow on the figure and his chair as though he were facing a fireplace. He is looking directly at us, and I get the impression that I am facing this man, the fireplace between us, to my left, and I can feel the warm blaze as I look into the deathly gaze of this near skeletal host. I don't dare move, so remain tight in my own seat, somewhat on edge should I need suddenly to bolt, and listen to the tales he is about to share with me.
And for the most part these tales are very good; in fact, this is the strongest anthology I have read in any genre so far this year. There are no true duds in here though there are a couple of weaker stories, and only one that I did not like.
My overall favourite piece was Paul Finch's "The Wolf at Jessie's Door," while other stronger ones include the lead-in story "The Crows" by Frank Nicholas, David A. Sutton's "Only in Your Dreams," Daniel McGachey's "'Shalt Thou Know My Name?'," David A. Riley's "Lock-In," and editor Charles Black's "To Summon a Flesh Eating Demon." The single story I did not like is Sean Parker's "The Sound of Muzak."
Appropriately dedicated to Herbert van Thal (1904-1983), the legendary British editor of the Pan Book of Horror series as well as numerous other original and reprint anthologies of the 196os, 70s and early 80s, The Black Book of Horror features some great, inspired writing.
The book itself is very handsome. The cover art by Paul Mudie is gorgeous; the facial expression combined with the smooth backdrop and warm colours is enticing. The pages of the book he is holding are exquisitely and minutely detailed, and there is a glow on the figure and his chair as though he were facing a fireplace. He is looking directly at us, and I get the impression that I am facing this man, the fireplace between us, to my left, and I can feel the warm blaze as I look into the deathly gaze of this near skeletal host. I don't dare move, so remain tight in my own seat, somewhat on edge should I need suddenly to bolt, and listen to the tales he is about to share with me.
And for the most part these tales are very good; in fact, this is the strongest anthology I have read in any genre so far this year. There are no true duds in here though there are a couple of weaker stories, and only one that I did not like.
My overall favourite piece was Paul Finch's "The Wolf at Jessie's Door," while other stronger ones include the lead-in story "The Crows" by Frank Nicholas, David A. Sutton's "Only in Your Dreams," Daniel McGachey's "'Shalt Thou Know My Name?'," David A. Riley's "Lock-In," and editor Charles Black's "To Summon a Flesh Eating Demon." The single story I did not like is Sean Parker's "The Sound of Muzak."
January 26, 2017
A disappointing collection of horror stories: most are well written, but are subtle to the point of vagueness; a couple seem like summaries of much longer (and possibly better) novellas; and some are so old fashioned I'm sure I must have read them before. Steve Goodwin's Power sticks in the mind, and that's about it; there are in fact stories here by authors I enjoy, I just didn't like these stories.
Secondary observations: not a single female author (certainly incidental, although to curate a book of horror stories in the 21st century and not include a female voice seems almost deliberate); and this is a small press book so allowances might be made, but the proofreading is variable - and never more so, ironically enough, in the editor's own contribution, which seems wholly averse to the clarifying use of the comma.
Ordinarily, I would be put off searching for other books in this series, but I've just bought eight volumes as a job lot, so I suppose I shall plough on through.
Secondary observations: not a single female author (certainly incidental, although to curate a book of horror stories in the 21st century and not include a female voice seems almost deliberate); and this is a small press book so allowances might be made, but the proofreading is variable - and never more so, ironically enough, in the editor's own contribution, which seems wholly averse to the clarifying use of the comma.
Ordinarily, I would be put off searching for other books in this series, but I've just bought eight volumes as a job lot, so I suppose I shall plough on through.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews