The Definitive Best of the Horror Show

by David B. Silva (Editor), Harry O. Morris (Illustrator), Robert McCammon (Contributor)

• 9 • Introduction (The Definitive Best of the Horror Show) • (1992) • essay by David B. Silva
• 19 • I Scream Man • (1985) • shortstory by Robert R. McCammon
• 27 • The Young Man Who Did Not Know His Father • (1988) • shortstory by Darrell Schweitzer
• 39 • The Well That Whispered Darkness • (1984) • shortstory by Ardath Mayhar
• 45 • Site B • (1985) • shortstory by Colleen Drippé
• 53 • The Visitor • (1983) • shortstory by Paul F. Olson
• 63 • Mole • (1988) • shortstory by Susan M. Watkins
• 75 • Razors • (1988) • shortstory by Ron Wolfe
• 87 • The Gap Nearly Closed Today • (1985) • shortstory by J. N. Williamson
• 91 • Black Noise • (1986) • shortstory by Pamela J. Jessen
• 99 • On a Dark October • (1984) • shortstory by Joe R. Lansdale
• 103 • Night Rats • (1988) • shortstory by Gary L. Raisor
• 115 • Passing Phase • (1985) • shortstory by Ramsey Campbell
• 125 • Snow • (1989) • shortstory by Kathryn Ptacek
• 137 • Witch Woman • (1985) • shortstory by Bentley Little
• 147 • The Scar • (1987) • shortstory by Dennis Etchison
• 155 • Red Zone • (1987) • shortstory by Brian Hodge
• 165 • 5a Bedford Row • (1990) • novelette by Graham Masterton
• 189 • The Freaktent • (1990) • shortstory by Nancy A. Collins (variant of Freaktent)
• 201 • Optional Music for Voice and Piano • (1986) • shortstory by Poppy Z. Brite
• 211 • A Chinese Lullaby • (1986) • shortstory by Kiel Stuart
• 215 • The Cure • (1988) • shortstory by William F. Nolan
• 231 • The Mystery Buff • (1986) • shortstory by David J. Schow
• 239 • We Are the Dead • (1988) • shortstory by Darrell Schweitzer
• 255 • Immortality and Mrs. Mundy • (1984) • shortstory by Janet Fox
• 265 • Piano Moon • (1985) • shortstory by Steve Rasnic Tem
• 271 • Wolf Is Waiting • (1983) • shortstory by Mark A. Parks
• 275 • Red Paint • (1987) • shortstory by David Barker
• 285 • Thundersylum • (1985) • shortstory by Elizabeth Massie
• 293 • Oasis • (1984) • shortstory by Brian Hodge
• 303 • Feeder • (1985) • shortstory by Mark-Christopher Mitera
• 313 • The Elder • (1987) • shortstory by Poppy Z. Brite
• 321 • Death Train • (1986) • shortstory by G. Wayne Miller
• 327 • Reaping • (1986) • shortstory by Peter Heyrman
• 335 • Self-Possessed • (1986) • shortstory by Steve Rasnic Tem
• 345 • Runt • (1987) • shortstory by Bentley Little
• 355 • The Magazine Lady • (1985) • shortstory by A. R. Morlan
• 361 • Nightmare Flower • (1988) • shortstory by Elizabeth Engstrom
• 371 • They Came from the Suburbs • (1986) • shortstory by Paul F. Olson
• 381 • The Place Where All Things Go to Die • (1989) • shortstory by Susan M. Watkins
• 401 • The Interrogation • (1987) • novelette by Dean R. Koontz
• 423 • After the Show: An Afterword (The Definitive Best of the Horror Show) • (1992) • essay by Paul F. Olson

Genres: Horror

429 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1992

Reviews

[Shawn]

PLACEHOLDER REVIEW: Reading through a few J.N. Williamson stories and dug out my Summer, 1985 issue of THE HORROR SHOW to read "The Gap Nearly Closed Today." It's a short piece, more of a vignette, about the dangers inherent in waking up at the crack of dawn on a January morning and looking into your backyard. Not bad.

[Bill Borre]

"Oasis" by Brian Hodge - Chris, Rick and Phil head out to Tri-Lakes to drink beer. Rick is upset because he hurt his guitar-playing left hand and has to wear a splint so he can't participate in a gig he was looking forward to. Rick angrily throws his beer into the grove where it bounces off the largest tree giving Chris an ill sense of foreboding when Rick approaches the grove to retrieve it. The two boys hear a scream but when they search the grove they can find no trace of Rick. Three years later Chris returns to Tri-Lakes for the first time after Rick's disappearance and notices something strange about the largest tree in the grove. There is a vaguely human shape in the bark just off the ground. Chris confirms his suspicion when he takes out his knife to carve the bark off the left hand and reveals a plastic splint.

"Red Zone" by Brian Hodge - The narrator gets out of Keith's car as he's driving too fast. Keith has been talking about going so fast that time and space are bent and as the narrator walks down the road Keith's car pulls up beside him. Keith tells him he'd never believe what just happened right before the front of the car buckles inward and Keith's body is propelled through the windshield as though the car had struck an invisible wall. As the narrator continues walking he comes across a tree that has tire marks approaching it, bark scuffed off it, and tracks continuing away from the damaged tree on the other side. The narrator muses that Keith has finally discovered the red zone where he always wanted to be.

"Thundersylum" by Elizabeth Massie - Jeff's house has a maddening effect on its occupants during thunderstorms unless he seeks refuge in a closet beneath the stairs. There aren't supposed to be any storms on the night he invites a woman over for dinner but one develops and he tells her to leave while he hides. When she refuses because she just thinks that he's afraid of the storm and wants to help him get over it she becomes a victim.

"Witch Woman" by Bentley Little - Jim's pregnant sister Maria dies after visiting a witch woman and he blames her for it. When he confronts her she reveals the infant isn't dead and is gestating in Maria's grave. After it comes due she sends Jim a photo of her reaching down into the grave to grab a small clawed hand.

"A Chinese Lullaby" by Kiel Stuart - A veteran has survivor's guilt that he survived a suicide attack by a kid carrying an IED in a shoeshine box in Viet Nam. The man adds his name to the wall memorial next to his friend's with shoeshine that may or may not be from the dead kid's ghost.

"Runt" by Bentley Little - Don's cat gives birth to a litter of kittens but one of them has a human head. Don's wife kills it and the cat takes revenge by forcing the wife to stab her son to death. The cat isn't satisfied until it forces both Don and his wife to lap up the dead boy's blood.

"Wolf Is Waiting" by Mark A. Parks - Roger brings what he takes to be a dog from a landfill to his home to ask his mother if he can keep it as a pet but it soon reveals it is only a hostile monster placing the illusion in Roger's mind that it is a dog.

"The Interrogation" by Dean R Koontz - Enrock tells two skeptical detectives that his wife is a parasite creature he has attempted to kill forty-four times and it is currently pregnant with an offspring that even she fears.

"Piano Moon" by Steve Rasnic Tem - A serial killer is glad to discover that a rumored bar is frequented by people like him when he dances with then leaves the bar in the company of a vampiress.

"Passing Phase" by Ramsey Campbell - A teacher discovers that his students have been possessed by alien artifacts they came across in a waste dump.

"On A Dark October" by Joe R. Lansdale - Every October the townsfolk offer a sacrifice to a creature in a garage in exchange for prosperous fortune.

[Kevin Lucia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection offers an excellent cross-section of small press horror in the eighties. And I mean "small press" because I think when some writers clamor about the power of the small press or cutting their teeth in the small press, they really don't understand what they're talking about. Sometimes, I think folks use the term "small press" to excuse overall quality.

And this collection defies that. All these stories are quality. Some more finely tuned than others, but almost all very readable and entertaining. I think when someone wants to start a small press horror mag, they should go hunt up some old issues of The Horror Show, to see how it was done.