Borderlands 4

by Elizabeth Monteleone (Editor)

Borderlands 4 is the fourth volume of the most exciting anthology series of the Nineties.

Contents of this digital edition include:

A Wind from the South — Dennis Etchison
House of Cool Air — William F. Wu
Morning Terrors — Peter Crowther
Misadventures in the Skin Trade — Don D’Ammassa
Circle of Lias — Lawrence C. Connolly
Watching the Soldiers — Dirk Strasser
One in the A.M. — Rachel Drummond
A Side of the Sea — Ramsey Campbell
Painted Faces — Gerard Daniel Hourner
Monotone — Lawrence Greenberg
Dead Leaves — James C. Dobbs
From the Mouths of Babes — Bentley Little
The Late Mr. Havel’s Apartment — David Herter
Union Dues — Gary Braunbeck
Earshot — Glenn Isaacson
Fee — Peter Straub

Genres: Horror, Anthologies, Short Stories, Fantasy, Science Fiction

247 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 12, 1991

Reviews

[Kevin Lucia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wish there were more speculative fiction, open anthologies like this out there...wonderful, unique stories all.

[Phillip Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent cross-section of some of the best writers in the genre. Hats off in particular to Gary Braunbeck and Peter Straub.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars because it's difficult to find an anthology that hits that mark with most, if not all, of the stories. These are all good, to very good, all well-written, engaging, and in the case of one of the stories, good enough to have to hold back some tears. I think these are supposed to be "dark fantasy" stories, but whatever they are (they're not quite horror, often suspenseful, do tend towards darker things amongst and around us) they're well worth reading.

[Joshua Hair · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't care for this one as much as some of the other Borderlands collections. I'm not quite sure why, but it just didn't have the same effect on me as From the Borderlands or Borderlands 2 did. That said, Borderlands 4 is still a solid collection with a few really excellent stories. This is not the place to find gore-galore; these tales of terror are as intellectual as they are inventive.

[Hugo · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent anthology, notable for its few worthwhile stories. These would include contributions from Don D'Ammassa, Dennis Etchison, Bentley Little, and David Herter (a very eerie, circular tale), with particular mention to the two standout entries (both of them longer novellas, for what it's worth) from William Browning Spencer and Peter Straub.

Despite the Monteleones' self-satisfied editorial attitude, there's a poor hit ratio here, including some stories specifically of the 'low tone' the editors decry, and one story that's literally unreadable; and while there's a lot of new names in here, many of them vanish into obscurity soon after.

[Katy Lohman · Rating 1 out of 5]

One-star ratings are rare for me, but the last story was so goshdarn ugly it pulled the rest down. There were some other gruesome stories, and an interesting one with a mine and its drained workers toiling on generation to generation. I wish I could talk about a story I liked, but my brain cleanup crew has already scrubbed most of the book out of my head. (Thanks, Al).

[Ryan Pidhayny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Borderlands 4 was probably one of the weakest entries in the series, but it did still have a few good stories. "Circle of Lias" by Lawrence C. Connolly, "A Wind from the South" by Dennis Etchison, and "Union Dues" by Gary A. Braunbeck were particularly entertaining.

[Gori Suture · Rating 3 out of 5]

A couple of five star stories. A couple of two star stories. The Peter Staub story was disappointing.

[Christopher Gadomski · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible collection of weird horror. I'm so glad I bought this series back when I did.

[Stephanie Twine-Haig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extreme horror not for the faint of heart

[Michael Hogan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Peter Straub story to close it out…wow. Just wow

[Bill Borre]

"House of Cool Air" by William F. Wu - The protagonist lives with three sisters who enjoy kneeing him in the testicles when he attempts to escape the house.

"Watching the Soldiers" by Dirk Strasser - Elika and Mikhael watch a procession of dead soldiers returning from the border in hopes of recognizing Pavl.

"Union Dues" by Gary Braunbeck - After Will's father dies he must take his place in the factory and is initiated into the union.

"The Late Mr. Havel’s Apartment" by David Herter - Robin discovers photos of lives she’d never led in Mr. Havel's apartment.

"Painted Faces" by Gerard Daniel Hourner - Kim encourages Gene to embrace the perspective of his serial killer father.

"Morning Terrors" by Peter Crowther - wc
"Dead Leaves" by James C. Dobbs - wc

[Hunchback Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent collection of dark fiction. Perhaps not quite as good as its predecessors, but any one of the better stories make the collection worth finding. The gem among the stories is "Fee" by Peter Straub, which ties into his Blue Rose novels.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I like about short story collections is you can rely on veterans writing quality material and are introduced to newcomers, hoping they turn up later. Veteran, Peter Straub, offers contribution and newcomer, Gary Braunbeck, offers his surreal horror.