Northern Frights V

by Don Hutchison (Editor)

A fine collection of chills for a midwinter night with dark fantasy told by: Rebecca Bradley, Hugh B cave, Carolyn Clink, Gemma Files, Nalo Hopkinson, Nancy Kilpatrick, Susan MacGregor, Scott Mackay, Sally McBride, David Nickle, Vincent Grant Perkins, James Powell, David Shtogryn, Dale L Sproule, Gregory Ward, Carol Weekes, Andreww Weiner, and Robert Charles Wilson.

Genres: Horror

259 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1999

Reviews

[Paul Weiss · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good but not quite as “Canadian”

NORTHERN FRIGHTS 5 is the fifth installment in a now long-running series of anthologies of Canadian horror shorts by Canadian authors, both new and well-established. When I reviewed NORTHERN FRIGHTS 2, several years ago, I wrote:

“Great story-telling that builds on a uniquely Canadian understanding of our own character! Northern Frights 2 is a short, entertaining collection of stories that beautifully covers the entire spectrum of emotions that well written horror and dark fantasy can elicit. These stories are moody, thought-provoking, frightening, darkly humorous and just plain old creepy! To my pleasure, these Canadian stories were also written in that distinct, uniquely Canadian flavour with a quiet and unerringly accurate pride of place and setting.”

A review for NORTHERN FRIGHTS 5 might be almost the same … just less so! Not quite as creepy, not quite as moody and not quite as thought-provoking. Most notably that unique Canadian flavor and place setting panache is in particularly short supply in this volume. It’s good but it’s just not as good. Here’s hoping Mr Hutchison will find a way to pull up his Sorels for number 6.

Paul Weiss

[Brian Gaston · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an exceptional good series and includes stories from both known and unknown authors. Highly recommended if you like the genre.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is the first northern frights anthology I have read, and it won't be the last – these stories were really enjoyable, for the most part. My favorite was "The Emperor's Old Bones" which I had read before and one of the Years Best Horror anthologies a number of years ago, and it stuck with me. It's an incredible story. Many of the other stories were good, there were only a few I didn't like. Slow Cold Chick was very strange, it was about a strange creature that hatches from a cold egg and grows into a basilisk. It's a very unusual story, a little too unusual – but it stayed with me. Night of the Tar Baby was also very compelling, about a criminal and his family. It is told from the point of view of a 10-year-old girl who was struggling to understand her father, who has just been let out of jail, and her angry, bitter mother. The tar baby is a creation that the father learned about in jail and that he hopes will bring him power. Another one of my favorites was "the Rat, Peering out, Sees Justice Done" about a simple country boy who has the strange talent of being able to swallow and regurgitate anything. When a sleazy talent agent exploits him and burns down his family home, he takes revenge in a unique and frightening way. Oyster Love is about a woman who goes crazy after consulting tins of oysters on what she should do when the men she has a crush on who sleeps with another woman. In Inspiriter, a man tries to rescue the mute, submissive, mysterious woman who lives with his brutal neighbor. Pet worms was a disturbing tale about deadly worms with a funny twist. All in all, the stores were mixed bag but most of them were worth reading.

[Ryan]

Like most anthologies, this one is a bit of a mixed bag. Some of the stories were really good, some were not so good, one was called "night of the tar baby", and I couldn't even bring myself to read it. A surprisingly high number of the stories seemed to have some connection to food and eating. I suppose that connection makes sense: after all, good horror is about striking at our most primitive sense of reality, right? So many recent stories have already centred around sex, so I suppose that it's only natural that the other basic instinct gets looked at as well.

[Jeannie Sloan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I shouldn't be surprised how good this anthology is but I still am.The whole series so far has been stellar.It's hard to pick just one story that was better than all the rest because they were all really very good.
So to all my Goodreads friends out there buy this series of anthology's.You will not be dissapointed.