Shadows 8

by Charles L. Grant (Editor), Steve Rasnic Tem, Nina Kiriki Hoffman

Recipe for terror. Take one innocent child with the bizarre power to release man's darkest, and most hideously violent, nature. Add a lonely teacher who dreams of demonic possession in the arms of a vampire lover.

Stir in a foul, nameless monstrosity born of a strange an unearthly rainstorm.

Combine ingredients in one horrifying volume.

Mix well—and scream...

"Introduction" (Shadows 8) • essay by Charles L. Grant.
"Everything's Going to Be All Right" • short story by Gene DeWeese.
"Cycles" • short story by Kim Antieau.
"The Tuckahoe" • short story by Nancy Etchemendy.
"Between the Windows of the Sea" • short story by Jack Dann.
"The Battering" • short story by Steve Rasnic Tem.
"The Shadow of a Hawk" • short story by Nina Kiriki Hoffman.
"Toy" • short story by Bill Pronzini.
"The Pooka" • short story by Peter Tremayne.
"The Man Who Loved Water" • short story by Craig Shaw Gardner.
"Blood Gothic" • short story by Nancy Holder.
"Sand" • short story by Alan Ryan.
"The Blue Man" • short story by Terry L. Parkinson.
"A Demon in Rosewood" • short story by Sharon Webb.
"Wish" • short story by Al Sarrantonio.
"145" • The Blind Man • short story by Jessica Amanda Salmonson.
"149" • A Night at the Head of a Grave • short story by Thomas Sullivan.
"159" • Do I Dare to Eat a Peach? • novelette by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro.

Genres: Horror, Anthologies, Short Stories

182 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Charles Lewis Grant was a novelist and short story writer specializing in what he called "dark fantasy" and "quiet horror." He also wrote under the pseudonyms of Geoffrey Marsh, Lionel Fenn, Simon Lake, Felicia Andrews, and Deborah Lewis.

Grant won a World Fantasy Award for his novella collection Nightmare Seasons, a Nebula Award in 1976 for his short story "A Crowd of Shadows", and another Nebula Award in 1978 for his novella "A Glow of Candles, a Unicorn's Eye," the latter telling of an actor's dilemma in a post-literate future. Grant also edited the award winning Shadows anthology, running eleven volumes from 1978-1991. Contributors include Stephen King, Ramsey Campbell, R.A. Lafferty, Avram Davidson, and Steve Rasnic and Melanie Tem. Grant was a former Executive Secretary and Eastern Regional Director of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and president of the Horror Writers Association.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shadows was a long-running series of anthologies with original horror short fiction. Grant preferred quiet, more literary horror to the slasher/splatter-punk that seemed more popular at the time. Most of the stories in this eighth volume are short little punchy tales with a quick twist or a sharp shock at the end. I remember liking the stories by Sharon Webb, Bill Pronzini, Alan Ryan, and Nancy Jones Holder the most.

[Jeff McIntosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been a fan of Charles L. Grant since his "Oxrun Dead" novels, and the various "Shadows" anthologies he edited. Grant was a proponent of what he termed "quiet" horror - a subgenre of horror that relies on subtle, unsettling, and eerie elements rather than explicit gore, shock tactics or supernatural elements.

The stories selected for this, the 8th in the series (anthologies published beginning in 1978 and ending in 1991 with "Final Shadows").

Stories of note in this collection: "Everything's Going to be All Right", where the ghost of a suicide seeks to maintain a relationship with her widowed husband, "The Tuckhoe" which concerns a Blob like monster in the backwoods, "The Battering" a story of a small girl with something extra, "The Pooka" a tale of an Irish good luck piece...or is it? "Sand" wherein a young bride imagines sand in place of blood, with disastrous consequences, "A Demon in Rosewood" - where a sick boy imagines seeing a demon within a rosewood armoire - or does he? "Wish" - what if it were Christmas ALL the time? "A Night at the Head of a Grave" - what if you wished for the power to cure cancer?

Perhaps my favorite story was "The Pooka".

Enjoy. Thank me later.


Jeff McIntosh

[Kevin Lucia · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always, excellent showcase of masters -and folks I've never heard of - writing quiet horror. More on a future installment of my CD column, "Revelations."

[Hugo · Rating 3 out of 5]

An inevitable dip in quality from the previous volume, but more so than I'd have liked. A lot of vague stories here, many of them with "So What?" endings, capped with Grant's decision to end the collection on the longest, and most punishingly dull, story of the bunch.

[Brendan M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

cop from the dark knight voice: no more dead kids!