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Dark Delicacies
In a truly distinguished collection of twenty superb, sublimely dark tales written especially for this volume, such acknowledged contemporary masters of horror fiction as Clive Barker, Ray Bradbury, Ramsey Campbell, Nancy Holder, Richard Laymon, Brian Lumley, Joe Lansdale, Whitley Streiber, F. Paul Wilson, and Chelsea Quinn Yarboro serve up a veritable feast of fear. For the first time ever, Dark Delicacies, the world's foremost horror bookstore, lends its famous name and imprimatur to an anthology designed to please the palate of the genre's most discriminating fans. Throughout, the editors—Del Howison (co-owner of Dark Delicacies) and leading horror anthologist Jeff Gelb—present perfectly crafted, freshly original horror-fiction fare that is as terrifying as it is chillingly delicious.
274 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 80 reviews
June 8, 2010
This was one of the worst, if not the worst collection of horror short stories I have read. The best story in the whole collection was written by a dead guy. Paper thin characters and TONS of bad averbs abound in this collection. The back cover claims that all the stories in this collection were commissioned just for this anthology--how they commissioned a story from Richard Laymon four years after his death, I have no idea. It is clear that the authors of these works just sent in anything they had ready to go and couldn't sell anywhere else, or perhaps they just aren't good writers. This anthology is a collection of names, not good stories. My recomendation is to avoid this anthology at all cost especially if your a writer, as it may suck the creative juice right out of you.
September 27, 2009
I really, really enjoyed this anthology. I picked it up for $2 the other day on my break at school, b/c I was bored and had an hour before I needed to be back in class. I'm a sucker for horror anthologies, and more often than not I'm made a sucker, as they are frequently padded with recycled stories by big name authors, and for every great story there are usually 3 or 4 mediocrities of debatable worthiness of publication. Regardless, every time I come across a new volume, I am invariably separated from my money.
This was such an unexpected surprise. Out of 20 stories, I only found 2 boring/lack luster. "Kaddish" by Whitely Strieber, and "The Bandit of Sanity" by Roberta Lannes were the big stand outs for me. I was thrilled to see a Cal McDonald story, "All My Bloody Things," by Steve Niles. McDonald definitely Niles best creation, by far. While Niles is a moderately clever writer, he's not particularly gifted at his craft-except when writing about his fuck up detective character. I wish he'd do more of this and much less of his other hack work. This is a really fun read, I've been pleasantly surprised by this unexpected find. Definitely worth the $2.
This was such an unexpected surprise. Out of 20 stories, I only found 2 boring/lack luster. "Kaddish" by Whitely Strieber, and "The Bandit of Sanity" by Roberta Lannes were the big stand outs for me. I was thrilled to see a Cal McDonald story, "All My Bloody Things," by Steve Niles. McDonald definitely Niles best creation, by far. While Niles is a moderately clever writer, he's not particularly gifted at his craft-except when writing about his fuck up detective character. I wish he'd do more of this and much less of his other hack work. This is a really fun read, I've been pleasantly surprised by this unexpected find. Definitely worth the $2.
June 29, 2021
Uneven collection to say the least. If not for a handful of exceptional tales this would be a complete waste. As it is I'll list the few worth reading so any daring adventurers can safely skip around without fear of encountering dreadful writing, of which this tome possesses much. (dreadful writing like that last sentence, only worse)
"Black Mill Cove" by Lisa Morton. Fun little romp through some well-trod turf, but enjoyable enough.
"Part of the Game" by F. Paul Wilson. Interesting concept, entertaining setup, middling execution. Still readable.
"The Outermost Borough" by Gahan Wilson. Evocative, odd, closer to 'dark fantastique' than actual horror, but the story stuck.
"The Pyre and Others" by David Schow. Easily the best story here, both for prose and plot. Schow has risen far from his splatterpunk days, contributing to The Crow screenplay and other gothy revenge stories. This is literate and insightful horror, and one of the better stories I've come across in awhile.
"The Diving Girl" by Richard Laymon. Another reasonably worthy entry. The dark undercurrent of sexuality keeps the tension simmering, and the clarity of language is welcome after so much of the poor word choices throughout the rest of the book. (EDIT: revisiting this review in 2017, having experienced several more of Laymon's stories, like "Mess Hall", it's almost hilarious that I was complimenting Laymon's writing. I have to wonder if my tastes have changed that much in the intervening years, or if the stories surrounding this one were just that bad. Unsurprisingly, I've purged all memories of the really bad stories in this book, besides the Pickman monstrosity discussed below.)
"Haeckel's Tale" by Clive Barker. More proof that Barker truly is one of the greats, this is second only to "The Pyre...". Compared to Barker's best work, this might feel a bit stiff, but the endlessly perverse depth of creation still drips from Barker's virile pen, spurting obscenity onto the page and into your mind. This could have been titled "I Fuck the Dead", but Clive knows how to keep it respectable. At least for a page or two.
And on the awful side of things, I'll spare a few words for the worst offenders:
"A Gentleman of the Old School", by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, is an unmitigated bore. Twilight looks scary in comparison. It's a mystery with only one potential suspect who, guess what? He did it. And no one cares, least of all me.
And possibly the worst story I've ever read: "Dark Delicacies of the Dead" by Rick Pickman. Abysmal attempt at satire. It's an extended inside joke riffing on the various authors in the book, and a number of others. Sadly, I was able to recognize most of them, but the humor was painfully awkward. If the writers of Epic Movie ever die in a fire and they need a pinch hitter, this guy could step in admirably, delivering a solid two hours without a single laugh. This story is more than a waste of paper, it's an insult to publication. (EDIT: again revisiting this in 2017, I'm struggling to remember the finer points of this story, other than that it was an exercise in barely-veiled namedropping, probably meant for "the community" more than casual readers. I rarely write reviews this derogatory; this one must have really struck a nerve.)
Overall, I'd skip this book, but if you're braver than me at least skip to the good parts.
"Black Mill Cove" by Lisa Morton. Fun little romp through some well-trod turf, but enjoyable enough.
"Part of the Game" by F. Paul Wilson. Interesting concept, entertaining setup, middling execution. Still readable.
"The Outermost Borough" by Gahan Wilson. Evocative, odd, closer to 'dark fantastique' than actual horror, but the story stuck.
"The Pyre and Others" by David Schow. Easily the best story here, both for prose and plot. Schow has risen far from his splatterpunk days, contributing to The Crow screenplay and other gothy revenge stories. This is literate and insightful horror, and one of the better stories I've come across in awhile.
"The Diving Girl" by Richard Laymon. Another reasonably worthy entry. The dark undercurrent of sexuality keeps the tension simmering, and the clarity of language is welcome after so much of the poor word choices throughout the rest of the book. (EDIT: revisiting this review in 2017, having experienced several more of Laymon's stories, like "Mess Hall", it's almost hilarious that I was complimenting Laymon's writing. I have to wonder if my tastes have changed that much in the intervening years, or if the stories surrounding this one were just that bad. Unsurprisingly, I've purged all memories of the really bad stories in this book, besides the Pickman monstrosity discussed below.)
"Haeckel's Tale" by Clive Barker. More proof that Barker truly is one of the greats, this is second only to "The Pyre...". Compared to Barker's best work, this might feel a bit stiff, but the endlessly perverse depth of creation still drips from Barker's virile pen, spurting obscenity onto the page and into your mind. This could have been titled "I Fuck the Dead", but Clive knows how to keep it respectable. At least for a page or two.
And on the awful side of things, I'll spare a few words for the worst offenders:
"A Gentleman of the Old School", by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, is an unmitigated bore. Twilight looks scary in comparison. It's a mystery with only one potential suspect who, guess what? He did it. And no one cares, least of all me.
And possibly the worst story I've ever read: "Dark Delicacies of the Dead" by Rick Pickman. Abysmal attempt at satire. It's an extended inside joke riffing on the various authors in the book, and a number of others. Sadly, I was able to recognize most of them, but the humor was painfully awkward. If the writers of Epic Movie ever die in a fire and they need a pinch hitter, this guy could step in admirably, delivering a solid two hours without a single laugh. This story is more than a waste of paper, it's an insult to publication. (EDIT: again revisiting this in 2017, I'm struggling to remember the finer points of this story, other than that it was an exercise in barely-veiled namedropping, probably meant for "the community" more than casual readers. I rarely write reviews this derogatory; this one must have really struck a nerve.)
Overall, I'd skip this book, but if you're braver than me at least skip to the good parts.
July 8, 2011
Dark Delicacies is an anthology assembled to celebrate the California bookstore of the same name. It starts out promising, because most of the good stories are front-loaded. There is a touching zombie story told from a new perspective by Ray Bradbury, body horror by Brian Lumley and F. Paul Wilson, a tale of madness by Roberta Lannes, and a darkly funny story about a man who has a very bad day by John Farris. My two favorites were "The Seer" by Robert Steven Rhine, about a precognitive man who cannot escape his destiny, and "Kaddish," in which Whitley Strieber imagines a wounded America rebuilt as a fascist theocracy--easily the most frightening of the lot. About halfway through the quality takes a dive. Chelsea Quinn Yarbro and Steve Niles provide a couple of half-baked mysteries featuring their ongoing characters (St. Germain and Cal McDonald, respectively). Nancy Holder's story of two cannibal buddies reads like Poppy Z. Brite lite (and I'm not a fan of Ms. Brite.) Gahan Wilson's story of an artist who paints unusual subjects is good but anyone who's read Lovecraft will guess the reveal early on, and David J. Schow's tale of a forbidden book of dreams is the only real bright light in the second half. The collection wraps up with a typical z-grade entry from Richard Laymon (somehow contributing four years after his death) and a tale of necromancy by Clive Barker that is weak especially for him.
There is some good work in here but I really can't recommend the book as a whole. I hope Dark Delicacies II is better and more consistent.
There is some good work in here but I really can't recommend the book as a whole. I hope Dark Delicacies II is better and more consistent.
April 20, 2016
This was definitely an excellent anthology of horror stories.
It is put together not only with horror, but with supernatural elements, comedy, fantasy, and the just plain weird. No story is the same, and no story elicits the same response. Some will scare the hell out of you. Some will make you think deeply. Some will make you smile. Some will make you unsure of what you are really thinking. Some may make you question that which you were sure about. And some may make you think twice about the future.
For the weak-hearted (myself being one of them), I would not suggest reading this volume at night.
Favourites:
"Kaddish" by Whitley Strieber
"The Bandit of Sanity" by Roberta Lannes
"The Pyre and Others" by David J. Schow
"All my Bloody Things" by Steve Niles
It is put together not only with horror, but with supernatural elements, comedy, fantasy, and the just plain weird. No story is the same, and no story elicits the same response. Some will scare the hell out of you. Some will make you think deeply. Some will make you smile. Some will make you unsure of what you are really thinking. Some may make you question that which you were sure about. And some may make you think twice about the future.
For the weak-hearted (myself being one of them), I would not suggest reading this volume at night.
Favourites:
"Kaddish" by Whitley Strieber
"The Bandit of Sanity" by Roberta Lannes
"The Pyre and Others" by David J. Schow
"All my Bloody Things" by Steve Niles
November 21, 2014
My favorite stories were, "The Reincarnate" by Ray Bradbury, "The Announcement" by Ramsey Campbell, "Haeckle's Tale" by Clive Barker, and "The Pyre and Others" by David J. Show, an author I had not previously heard of!
June 13, 2015
What a great collection of short stories. Lately, I've really been pulled more and more to these horror anthologies, and this is one of the top ones I've read so far. Not a dud in the bunch. I know it's a little older, but it's worth hunting down.
June 3, 2012
A damn fine collection of horror. No central theme, if I remember correctly, just good stories.
July 19, 2018
Awesome. Writing review on iPad.. 3/4 done!
January 19, 2016
About four or five stories in...lovin' it so far. I love the fact that each story is at a short and at manageable length. I can sit down and spend 10-15 minutes to read one story and go do something else, and come back again. A very "flexible" book, haha.
I loved the short story titled "Kaddish" (I think that's what it's called...) and the dystopian, totalitarian Christian world. It's haunting, daring and incredibly disturbing. Death sentence...swallowing needles? That's dark stuff.
Update (Jan 16, 2016)
"Part of the Game". I was hoping it was some kind of satire, but no, it was just bloody racist. I honestly did not expect writers to perpetuate the "evil warlord in Chinatown" stereotype in this day and age. Seriously, if you really want to create an antagonist with a particular ethnic background, can you at least make it an interesting character with actual character traits instead of just blatantly stereotyping? Also, it was absolutely ridiculous reading lines like "You couldn't treat [chinks] like regular people. You had to approach everything on an angle. They were devious, crafty, always dodging and weaving, always ducking the question and avoiding an answer." or "Chinks were gossipmongers-yak-yak-yak in their singsong voices, trading rumours and tidbits like a bunch of old biddies."
Seriously, "yak-yak-yak"? *face-palm* How did this story get past the editors I have no idea. I am not against writers portraying a racist character, but portraying a racist character just for the sake of portraying a racist character...I feel like this kind of literature is completely unnecessary and does not serve anyone. Not every writer needs to be involved with some kind of grand discussion about gender and race and human rights but c'mon, I thought respect is a universal human thing.
Update: Jan 19
Finished the book. Favourite story: Dark Delicacies of the Dead is by far my favourite story. Love the goofy and satirical humour. :) Kind of sucks that this is the only piece of literature that this author has published...because I WANT MORE.
I loved the short story titled "Kaddish" (I think that's what it's called...) and the dystopian, totalitarian Christian world. It's haunting, daring and incredibly disturbing. Death sentence...swallowing needles? That's dark stuff.
Update (Jan 16, 2016)
"Part of the Game". I was hoping it was some kind of satire, but no, it was just bloody racist. I honestly did not expect writers to perpetuate the "evil warlord in Chinatown" stereotype in this day and age. Seriously, if you really want to create an antagonist with a particular ethnic background, can you at least make it an interesting character with actual character traits instead of just blatantly stereotyping? Also, it was absolutely ridiculous reading lines like "You couldn't treat [chinks] like regular people. You had to approach everything on an angle. They were devious, crafty, always dodging and weaving, always ducking the question and avoiding an answer." or "Chinks were gossipmongers-yak-yak-yak in their singsong voices, trading rumours and tidbits like a bunch of old biddies."
Seriously, "yak-yak-yak"? *face-palm* How did this story get past the editors I have no idea. I am not against writers portraying a racist character, but portraying a racist character just for the sake of portraying a racist character...I feel like this kind of literature is completely unnecessary and does not serve anyone. Not every writer needs to be involved with some kind of grand discussion about gender and race and human rights but c'mon, I thought respect is a universal human thing.
Update: Jan 19
Finished the book. Favourite story: Dark Delicacies of the Dead is by far my favourite story. Love the goofy and satirical humour. :) Kind of sucks that this is the only piece of literature that this author has published...because I WANT MORE.
February 3, 2019
The Dark Delicacies series features 3 frightful anthologies curated by Del Howison, the owner of the horror specialty store of the same name. As such, the books feature a veritable who's who of horror literature, including some of the most respected titans of the genre. This sets a high bar from the outset, and one would be forgiven for expecting a smorgasbord of sumptuous stories, given the fanfare for the books.
Regarding their first offering - if entertainment is the primary raison d'etre of any book of fiction, it has definitely achieved that. I thoroughly enjoyed the tales in the nice volume, and there are some stories that I'd relish reading again. However, I was expecting a bit more. Given the magnitude of the horror stars that contributed, only a few of the stories struck me as truly memorable. If only the other stories came close to approaching the intensity and craftsmanship of these gems, then this would have been a superlative anthology.
Among my favorites in the book are:
Kaddish by Whitley Strieber - a post-nuclear ultra-Christian America is set to televise its first execution.
The Seer by Robert Steven Rhine - predetermination assumes a hellish bent with a man who can see the future with ruthless accuracy.
The Bandit of Sanity by Roberta Lannes - a psychiatrist who has lived a charmed existence may be harboring a dangerous passenger inside his head.
The Pyre and Others by David J. Schow - an academic is after the trail of a book that has the power to literally reflect its surreal stories in one's dreams
The Diving Girl by Richard Laymon - "If something's too good to be true . . . "
Haeckel's Tale by Clive Barker - the pièce de résistance of the book is also its last, with a story that compares most favorably to those in Barker's seminal Books of Blood.
I'm giving this a solid 7/10.
Regarding their first offering - if entertainment is the primary raison d'etre of any book of fiction, it has definitely achieved that. I thoroughly enjoyed the tales in the nice volume, and there are some stories that I'd relish reading again. However, I was expecting a bit more. Given the magnitude of the horror stars that contributed, only a few of the stories struck me as truly memorable. If only the other stories came close to approaching the intensity and craftsmanship of these gems, then this would have been a superlative anthology.
Among my favorites in the book are:
Kaddish by Whitley Strieber - a post-nuclear ultra-Christian America is set to televise its first execution.
The Seer by Robert Steven Rhine - predetermination assumes a hellish bent with a man who can see the future with ruthless accuracy.
The Bandit of Sanity by Roberta Lannes - a psychiatrist who has lived a charmed existence may be harboring a dangerous passenger inside his head.
The Pyre and Others by David J. Schow - an academic is after the trail of a book that has the power to literally reflect its surreal stories in one's dreams
The Diving Girl by Richard Laymon - "If something's too good to be true . . . "
Haeckel's Tale by Clive Barker - the pièce de résistance of the book is also its last, with a story that compares most favorably to those in Barker's seminal Books of Blood.
I'm giving this a solid 7/10.
September 17, 2013
Del has done an excellent job of collecting a great set of stories. Generally when I finish a collection of stories, the book can fit into one of three categories: not so good with only a couple of good stories, pretty good with around five stories that qualify as favorites, and really good where almost every story is good and choosing the top favorites is difficult. This book fit in between the last two categories; I was able to pick favorites but the overall feel was that all the stories were good. I've already enjoyed the follow-up second book and look forward to reading the third. And hopefully even more.
"The Seer" by Robert Steven Rhine - A watchmaker is able to see the future in addition to his own death.
"Part of the Game" by F. Paul Wilson - An old fashioned, hard-boiled detective story set in San Francisco's Chinatown in the 1930s.
"Dark Delicacies of the Dead" by Rick Pickman - A fun mix of real and the unreal as a massive book signing at a horror store goes awry. By the way, Del Howison owns a store in Burbank dedicated to Horror; it's called Dark Delicacies.
"The Diving Girl" by Richard Laymon - A man obsesses over a woman performing dives into a pool.
"Haeckel's Tale" by Clive Barker - A man tells the story of being trapped in a cottage near a cemetery with a old man and his younger wife.
"The Seer" by Robert Steven Rhine - A watchmaker is able to see the future in addition to his own death.
"Part of the Game" by F. Paul Wilson - An old fashioned, hard-boiled detective story set in San Francisco's Chinatown in the 1930s.
"Dark Delicacies of the Dead" by Rick Pickman - A fun mix of real and the unreal as a massive book signing at a horror store goes awry. By the way, Del Howison owns a store in Burbank dedicated to Horror; it's called Dark Delicacies.
"The Diving Girl" by Richard Laymon - A man obsesses over a woman performing dives into a pool.
"Haeckel's Tale" by Clive Barker - A man tells the story of being trapped in a cottage near a cemetery with a old man and his younger wife.
November 9, 2012
If you are looking for some really great short stories, Dark Delicacies is the book you need to buy. Out of the 19 short stories in this book, I think there were maybe two I didn't really care for. Some really phenomenal writers contributed to this book such as Clive Barker, Ramsey Campbell, Ray Bradbury, Whitley Strieber, Richard Laymon, and more. You can't go wrong buying this anthology with names like these included.
The stories cover a variety of different extremes of horror. Bradbury's THE REINCARNATE was actually kind of a sad tale. Whitley Strieber created a religious nightmare of a world in KADDISH. Rick Pickman's DARK DELICACIES OF THE DEAD had me laughing. William F. Nolen wrote a pretty good tale with DEPOMPA. Clive Barker's HAECKEL'S TALE was the last story included in this anthology, and probably one of the best. I had actually seen this story on an episode of Masters of Horror. There are many other great stories included in this anthology besides the ones I mentioned above.
I highly recommend you buy this anthology!!
*Book Hollow
The stories cover a variety of different extremes of horror. Bradbury's THE REINCARNATE was actually kind of a sad tale. Whitley Strieber created a religious nightmare of a world in KADDISH. Rick Pickman's DARK DELICACIES OF THE DEAD had me laughing. William F. Nolen wrote a pretty good tale with DEPOMPA. Clive Barker's HAECKEL'S TALE was the last story included in this anthology, and probably one of the best. I had actually seen this story on an episode of Masters of Horror. There are many other great stories included in this anthology besides the ones I mentioned above.
I highly recommend you buy this anthology!!
*Book Hollow
February 14, 2008
I picked this book up because of the cover art. Then, when reading it, found the first few stories passable. They were entertaining, but not the sort of "grab you by the throat and never let go" stories that I prefer.
However, the deeper into the book I went, the more I enjoyed it. There are some horrifying stories and some genuinely amusing stories.
It's a good book to have on your own top shelf for whenever the rain is pounding against the windows and that scratching against the basement door is getting louder...
However, the deeper into the book I went, the more I enjoyed it. There are some horrifying stories and some genuinely amusing stories.
It's a good book to have on your own top shelf for whenever the rain is pounding against the windows and that scratching against the basement door is getting louder...
May 31, 2011
Great anthology. I read it last year and really need to get the others that Dell Howison has put together. ever since reading it, the story that has stayed in my mind is "The Diving Girl" by Richard Laymon, a hauntingly romantic tale that I'll always be trying to write up to whenever working on my own ideas. Another that serves up images that liner long after the last word's read is "All My Bloody Things" by Steve Niles. That one's purely nightmare. And for zombie fans like me, Ray Bradbury's take on the undead in "The Reincarnate" can't be beat.
February 8, 2008
This book is a great anthology. Lots of excellent authors and great writing. I really enjoyed the fact that there was no common theme linking them, so they were all different. You didn't feel like you were reading the same story over & over. This one is definitely a keeper for me.
March 16, 2010
What an excellent anthology. I can see myself dipping into this one again and again.
Pick of the crop: All My Bloody Things by Steve Niles because it was fresh and loaded with attitude, and The Diving Girl by Richard Laymon because, well...because it's by Richard Laymon.
Pick of the crop: All My Bloody Things by Steve Niles because it was fresh and loaded with attitude, and The Diving Girl by Richard Laymon because, well...because it's by Richard Laymon.
November 4, 2011
This book had received tremendous critical acclaim (Bram Stoker Award, no less) at the time it had come out, and it indeed has several delectable pieces that can be savored with repeated reading. Recommended.
February 28, 2008
A unique and wonderfully disturbing collection of short stories!
May 4, 2009
delightful collection of horror stories and not a dull story in the bunch.
May 9, 2010
These are tasty, horror fast food treats. The authors have mastered the art of character development and story lines within a few pages. Truly a dying skill.
August 12, 2010
"My Thing Friday" still haunts me.
February 22, 2016
Great collection of horror short fiction by some big names in the field. "Dark Delicacies of the Dead" by Rick Pickman is a hilarious treat.
April 11, 2011
Only one bad story in the bunch.
June 7, 2011
A good collection of horror short stories by great masters of the horror genre such as Ray Bradbury, F. Paul Wilson, Clive Barker, Whitley Streiber, and Ramsey Campbell.
August 31, 2015
I really enjoyed this collection. Stories range from truly nightmarish to b-movie campiness. Of course Clive Barker's tale is the grand finale, and has an excellent mix of erotica and true terror.
May 2, 2017
Mix of stories and authors with differing writing styles. Something for everyone who likes horror.
October 29, 2018
Solid. One story in particular was frighteningly possible in the Trump era.
I hope their book store still exists and benefits from these collections!
D
I hope their book store still exists and benefits from these collections!
D
February 21, 2024
I started this book at least 6 years ago and very slowly went through it, sometimes with over a year gap between stories. But most of them are very good. I wrote mini reviews of each story as I went along:
The Reincarnate by Ray Bradbury - You are dead and have a few months to try and get right with unfinished business. 7/10
Black Mill Cove by Lisa Morten - a man hunting for abalone in a very secluded cove in the middle of the night discovers a disposed of human arm in the water - 10/10
Kaddish by Whitley Strieber - takes place in an ironically dystopian, fascist, Christian America. Follows a prison warden as he sees through the first American public execution (of a doctor who had performed abortions while it was still legal) since 1936. Most of the rest of the world is disgusted with what the US has become. 8/10
The Seer by Robert Steven Rhine - a man can see the future anytime he looks into a reflective surface. He usually sees people’s deaths or other negative events. 7/10
The Fall by D. Lynn Smith - an intelligent creature kills members of a man’s family. He captures it and tries to kill it but has trouble. Good but short. 8/10
Part of the Game by F. Paul Wilson - a man tries to blackmail a high level Chinese American gangster. The gangster retaliates by putting a large millipede in the man’s bed which bites him and lays parasitic eggs inside him. 10/10
The Bandit of Sanity by Roberta Lanes - A psychiatrist suddenly starts to feel symptoms of multiple personality disorder. His other self acts out in extreme sexual ways. Great but ends abruptly! Could do with a sequel. 9/10
My Thing Friday by Brian Lumley - an astronaut (actually the repairman) is the sole survivor on a space mission and lands on an earth like planet with different types of life forms on it. 9/10
Our Twelve-Steppin, Summer of AA by Nancy Holder - two successful glam rockers try to kick their cannibalism habit. 9/10
Bloody Mary Morning by John Farris - A rich CEO kills his wife in a limo and then goes to his work to take millions of dollars out of a safe and escape to Panama. But on his way up to his office he’s in a crowded elevator that loses power and light and shit hits the fan. 9/10
A Gentleman of the Old School by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro - a woman is investigating a murder and asking a count about it...the count buys her dinner but doesn’t eat or drink. Maybe he’s a vampire? Who knows. Nothing really happens in this one. 2/10
The Announcement by Ramsey Campbell - A writer who is jealous of a more successful writer believes his peer is driving around broadcasting insults about him so he attempts to chase him down, but actually he’s only imagining it. Nothing really happens. 1/10
The Outermost Borough by Gahan Wilson - An artist paints strange monsters and his investors are pleased. Seems like a great first chapter to something, but didn’t feel like a complete story. 7/10
Dark Delicacies of the Dead by Rick Pickman - a zombie apocalypse comes to a horror convention. Story potential but cringy dialogue. Seemed like a 15 year old wrote it. Tbf this is this guy’s first published story. Not sure why they named the whole book after this one. 5/10
DePompa by William F. Nolan - a famous actor named DePompa who loves driving fast cars mills himself (by driving fast). A younger actor who idoloizes him meets DePompa’s ex-wife. The two go down the the place in Mexico where DePompa died. I don’t think this is horror. It’s a thriller. If it were longer, it could have turned into something good. It feels like a couple of scenes pulled out of a longer story. 5/10
The Pyre and Others by David J Schow - there is a cool idea here that is not explored at all—a book of short stories that has the power to transport you into one of its stories, randomly, if you place it under your pillow and sleep on it. But no one in the story actually does this, nor does anyone talk to each other. It’s just about the author of the book and a few people that come into contact with it. Too bad. 4/10.
All My Bloody Things by Steve Niles - imagine The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, but instead of a van full of young adults, the protagonist is a drug abusing private detective (and it’s set in the desert of Southern California). He is kind of a crude narrator, but this was very engaging overall and does the right amount considering the length of the story. Written by the creator of 30 Days of Night. 8/10
The Diving Girl by Richard Laymon - a man looks out his office window and sees a beautiful girl diving into her swimming pool. He even interacts with her the next night, but after that, she’s gone. Not much to it really and the narrator is definitely a creepy pervert with no consequence, which makes me think the author is also a creepy pervert. 4/10
Haeckel’s Tale by Clive Barker - a German man tells the tale of the time he encountered a necromancer and a woman who could only be sexually satisfied by reanimated corpses or parts of them. (Haeckel is a reference to a briefly mentioned character in H.P. Lovecraft’s “Herbert West—Reanimator”) 9/10
The Reincarnate by Ray Bradbury - You are dead and have a few months to try and get right with unfinished business. 7/10
Black Mill Cove by Lisa Morten - a man hunting for abalone in a very secluded cove in the middle of the night discovers a disposed of human arm in the water - 10/10
Kaddish by Whitley Strieber - takes place in an ironically dystopian, fascist, Christian America. Follows a prison warden as he sees through the first American public execution (of a doctor who had performed abortions while it was still legal) since 1936. Most of the rest of the world is disgusted with what the US has become. 8/10
The Seer by Robert Steven Rhine - a man can see the future anytime he looks into a reflective surface. He usually sees people’s deaths or other negative events. 7/10
The Fall by D. Lynn Smith - an intelligent creature kills members of a man’s family. He captures it and tries to kill it but has trouble. Good but short. 8/10
Part of the Game by F. Paul Wilson - a man tries to blackmail a high level Chinese American gangster. The gangster retaliates by putting a large millipede in the man’s bed which bites him and lays parasitic eggs inside him. 10/10
The Bandit of Sanity by Roberta Lanes - A psychiatrist suddenly starts to feel symptoms of multiple personality disorder. His other self acts out in extreme sexual ways. Great but ends abruptly! Could do with a sequel. 9/10
My Thing Friday by Brian Lumley - an astronaut (actually the repairman) is the sole survivor on a space mission and lands on an earth like planet with different types of life forms on it. 9/10
Our Twelve-Steppin, Summer of AA by Nancy Holder - two successful glam rockers try to kick their cannibalism habit. 9/10
Bloody Mary Morning by John Farris - A rich CEO kills his wife in a limo and then goes to his work to take millions of dollars out of a safe and escape to Panama. But on his way up to his office he’s in a crowded elevator that loses power and light and shit hits the fan. 9/10
A Gentleman of the Old School by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro - a woman is investigating a murder and asking a count about it...the count buys her dinner but doesn’t eat or drink. Maybe he’s a vampire? Who knows. Nothing really happens in this one. 2/10
The Announcement by Ramsey Campbell - A writer who is jealous of a more successful writer believes his peer is driving around broadcasting insults about him so he attempts to chase him down, but actually he’s only imagining it. Nothing really happens. 1/10
The Outermost Borough by Gahan Wilson - An artist paints strange monsters and his investors are pleased. Seems like a great first chapter to something, but didn’t feel like a complete story. 7/10
Dark Delicacies of the Dead by Rick Pickman - a zombie apocalypse comes to a horror convention. Story potential but cringy dialogue. Seemed like a 15 year old wrote it. Tbf this is this guy’s first published story. Not sure why they named the whole book after this one. 5/10
DePompa by William F. Nolan - a famous actor named DePompa who loves driving fast cars mills himself (by driving fast). A younger actor who idoloizes him meets DePompa’s ex-wife. The two go down the the place in Mexico where DePompa died. I don’t think this is horror. It’s a thriller. If it were longer, it could have turned into something good. It feels like a couple of scenes pulled out of a longer story. 5/10
The Pyre and Others by David J Schow - there is a cool idea here that is not explored at all—a book of short stories that has the power to transport you into one of its stories, randomly, if you place it under your pillow and sleep on it. But no one in the story actually does this, nor does anyone talk to each other. It’s just about the author of the book and a few people that come into contact with it. Too bad. 4/10.
All My Bloody Things by Steve Niles - imagine The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, but instead of a van full of young adults, the protagonist is a drug abusing private detective (and it’s set in the desert of Southern California). He is kind of a crude narrator, but this was very engaging overall and does the right amount considering the length of the story. Written by the creator of 30 Days of Night. 8/10
The Diving Girl by Richard Laymon - a man looks out his office window and sees a beautiful girl diving into her swimming pool. He even interacts with her the next night, but after that, she’s gone. Not much to it really and the narrator is definitely a creepy pervert with no consequence, which makes me think the author is also a creepy pervert. 4/10
Haeckel’s Tale by Clive Barker - a German man tells the tale of the time he encountered a necromancer and a woman who could only be sexually satisfied by reanimated corpses or parts of them. (Haeckel is a reference to a briefly mentioned character in H.P. Lovecraft’s “Herbert West—Reanimator”) 9/10
June 10, 2024
I had high hopes for this collection. It features a foreword by Richard Matheson and begins with a wonderful Ray Bradbury story, The Reincarnate, postulating a night world of the dead seeking their rights.
Black Mill Cove wasn’t bad, but it was very predictable. That’s not necessarily a bad thing in dramas or science fiction or fantasy in general, but for horror fantasy it’s a killer. The only thing I missed is that I assumed somehow the shark was going to find a way to do it rather than a new character dropping out of the sky. The shark would probably have been more interesting.
Kaddish is pure duckspeak. It’s hard not to see it in that form after just finishing a re-read of 1984. If the maxim that the left always accuses conservatives of things they intend to do themselves is true, this is possibly the scariest story in the book.
The Seer probably benefited from following the worst story in the book. Like “Black Mill Cove” it wasn’t bad, but there wasn’t anything surprising in it. The story was set in a place called Pittsville, and it was the proverbial pits. The setup was interesting enough, but was left entirely unexplored. Even the common trope that “being a seer makes you a pariah” was handled entirely as an aside.
But it was enough to convince me to continue reading.
The Fall was better yet, but still suffers from a fear of telling a real story, especially one that makes any conclusion about the existence of evil.
Part of the Game ranks with “The Fall”, but the ending is a shaggy dog bit.
The Bandit of Sanity: Endings are always difficult, especially in short stories. That’s the flaw all of these have except Bradbury’s. They don’t want an ending. This is probably some nineties shibboleth I happily missed out on.
Brian Lumley’s My Thing Friday, a riff on Robinson Crusoe in space, makes up for it.
Out Twelve Steppin… does in fact have a cool ending.
Bloody Mary Morning: The benefit of putting together a book featuring all your friends is that you get to have fun and at its best that fun saturates the collection. The problem with putting together a book featuring your friends is that it’s very difficult to refuse a story that’s not just bad but filled with stereotypical anachronistic dialogue and a trick ending that’s less a trick than the author deciding to change the story without bothering to rewrite the previous pages.
A Gentleman of the Old School is a bit overwritten, but otherwise an interesting example of a story where the actual story is at the margins of what we read.
This Isn’t Me is an enjoyable bit of psychedelic horror, although there’s no apparent origin for the horror.
The Outermost Borough is one of those rare stories that is both entirely predictable and thoroughly enjoyable.
When you’re putting together an anthology with all your friends, you only want one Dark Delicacies of the Dead, but you hope it’s at least as good as this.
DePompa was okay. Could have been far more interesting, but it wasn’t bad.
The Pyre and Others mentions in passing (p. 214) a “Marie Topaz Severin”.
All My Bloody Things is short and sweet (pun intended).
The Diving Girl is a very traditional ghost story told in a very nontraditional—and salacious—way, although not unreasonably so given the subject matter.
Haeckel’s Tale isn’t horror due to the cartoony salaciousness. I could literally see this as an early cartoon with that ubiquitous cartoon scary music running over it. It’s hard to believe that these two stories just happened to be next to each other. It’s almost like the book has its own video rental back room (talk about a ghost story) and these are its inhabitants.
Black Mill Cove wasn’t bad, but it was very predictable. That’s not necessarily a bad thing in dramas or science fiction or fantasy in general, but for horror fantasy it’s a killer. The only thing I missed is that I assumed somehow the shark was going to find a way to do it rather than a new character dropping out of the sky. The shark would probably have been more interesting.
Kaddish is pure duckspeak. It’s hard not to see it in that form after just finishing a re-read of 1984. If the maxim that the left always accuses conservatives of things they intend to do themselves is true, this is possibly the scariest story in the book.
The Seer probably benefited from following the worst story in the book. Like “Black Mill Cove” it wasn’t bad, but there wasn’t anything surprising in it. The story was set in a place called Pittsville, and it was the proverbial pits. The setup was interesting enough, but was left entirely unexplored. Even the common trope that “being a seer makes you a pariah” was handled entirely as an aside.
But it was enough to convince me to continue reading.
The Fall was better yet, but still suffers from a fear of telling a real story, especially one that makes any conclusion about the existence of evil.
Part of the Game ranks with “The Fall”, but the ending is a shaggy dog bit.
The Bandit of Sanity: Endings are always difficult, especially in short stories. That’s the flaw all of these have except Bradbury’s. They don’t want an ending. This is probably some nineties shibboleth I happily missed out on.
Brian Lumley’s My Thing Friday, a riff on Robinson Crusoe in space, makes up for it.
Out Twelve Steppin… does in fact have a cool ending.
Bloody Mary Morning: The benefit of putting together a book featuring all your friends is that you get to have fun and at its best that fun saturates the collection. The problem with putting together a book featuring your friends is that it’s very difficult to refuse a story that’s not just bad but filled with stereotypical anachronistic dialogue and a trick ending that’s less a trick than the author deciding to change the story without bothering to rewrite the previous pages.
A Gentleman of the Old School is a bit overwritten, but otherwise an interesting example of a story where the actual story is at the margins of what we read.
This Isn’t Me is an enjoyable bit of psychedelic horror, although there’s no apparent origin for the horror.
The Outermost Borough is one of those rare stories that is both entirely predictable and thoroughly enjoyable.
When you’re putting together an anthology with all your friends, you only want one Dark Delicacies of the Dead, but you hope it’s at least as good as this.
DePompa was okay. Could have been far more interesting, but it wasn’t bad.
The Pyre and Others mentions in passing (p. 214) a “Marie Topaz Severin”.
All My Bloody Things is short and sweet (pun intended).
The Diving Girl is a very traditional ghost story told in a very nontraditional—and salacious—way, although not unreasonably so given the subject matter.
Haeckel’s Tale isn’t horror due to the cartoony salaciousness. I could literally see this as an early cartoon with that ubiquitous cartoon scary music running over it. It’s hard to believe that these two stories just happened to be next to each other. It’s almost like the book has its own video rental back room (talk about a ghost story) and these are its inhabitants.
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