Masques IV: All-New Works of Horror and the Supernatural

by J.N. Williamson (Editor), Steve Allen (Contributor), Gary Brandner (Contributor)

For the timid soul leafing through such a book as this for the first time....only four or five of these tales show human beings dying 'on camera,' so to speak -- though people are about to perish in approximately seven others. According to the rule that in good fiction, main characters are drastically changed by the end of the work, Masques IV is definitely on safe ground. They change some 18 times herein, and the total would be higher if there weren't three stories without human protagonists!

Genres: Horror

246 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1991

About the author

Gerald Neal Williamson (April 17, 1932 - December 8, 2005) wrote and edited horror stories under the name J. N. Williamson. He also wrote under the name Julian Shock.

Born in Indianapolis, IN he graduated from Shortridge High School. He studied journalism at Butler University. He published his first novel in 1979 and went on to publish more than 40 novels and 150 short stories. In 2003 he received a lifetime achievement award from the Horror Writers of America. He edited the critically acclaimed How to Write Tales of Horror, Fantasy & Science Fiction (1987) which covered the themes of such writing and cited the writings of such writers as Robert Bloch, Lee Prosser, Richard Matheson, Ray Bradbury, H. P. Lovecraft, August Derleth, William F. Nolan, and Stephen King. Many important writers in the genre contributed to the book. Williamson edited the popular anthology series, Masques. Some of his novels include The Ritual (1979), Playmates (1982), Noonspell (1991), The Haunt (1999), among others.

He was also a well known Sherlockian and received his investiture (The Illustrious Client) in the Baker Street Irregulars in 1950.

Source: Wikipedia

Reviews

[Ignacio Senao f · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buena recopilación muy variada. Relatos de vampiros, fantasmas, asesinos, envidias…

[Román Hernández · Rating 5 out of 5]

De las mejores antologías que ha reunido la editorial Martínez Roca. Resulta que en su país de origen es el cuarto tomo de una antología de relatos de terror contemporáneos. Los otros títulos como "Horror" siempre tenían por delante a Stephen King y minimozaban a los demás escritores. En cambio, "El Baile de las Máscaras" hacen a un lado a King para dejar a otros autores que me han dejado sorprendido por su talento:

*Chet Williamson nos relata los hechos escalofriantes en una carretera donde el mejor amigo del hombre se vuelve el peor enemigo. Una historia que nos recuerda a cementerio de mascotas, con la diferencia de que los animales tienen conciencia y son los protagonistas principales.

*Graham Masterton nos traslada a un viejo motel, donde una radio novela se transmite cada noche y culmina en un horrendo crimen. Noche tras noche se repite el programa.

*Kristine Kathryn es una autora que se aleja de la imagen romántica que siempre tachan a las mujeres escritoras de terror, para compartir la macabra maldición a la que está atada una generación familiar y que debe enfrentar con la presencia de niños

Estos son algunos relatos que conforman la antología, algunos de ellos de terror psicológico y otros sobre monstruos. Algunos parecen de relleno que no aterroriza nada, como en el relato "colaboradas", pero en general contiene buenos relatos

[Octavio Villalpando · Rating 3 out of 5]

Como siempre con las antologías de este tipo, tiene de todo; desde relatos que parecen más de relleno que otra cosa, hasta algunos que en verdad son sobresalientes. Pero como sea, el libro constituye una buena muestra del prestigio que ha logrado "Masques" a lo largo de los años y es muy representativo de su línea editorial.

Este inicia de muy buena forma con "La jauría" de Chet Williamson, quien explora a los zombies desde una perspectiva que, curiosamente, no ha sido del todo bien explorada a pesar de las posibilidades que ofrece. Luego, se nos ofece un camino con algunas altas y bajas, con relatos interesantes com o"Gaviotas" de Gahan Wilson, "El corazón de Helen Day" de Graham Masterton, "La otra mujer" de Lois Tilton y "Colaboradoras", una divertida sátira por el entologador, J.N. Williamson; como sea, creo que el mejor relato de la antología es sin duda "Mis recuerdos privados de la epidemia estigmática de Hoffer" de Dan Simmons :O ¡pedazo de relato! Sin dejar de lado el aspecto crítico de la hipocresía general de la humanidad, no deja de tener aplomo y de atreverse a las últimas consecuencias de la situación que propone, le verdad es que vale mucho la pena leerlo.

Como muchas de las antologías de la colección "Gran Super Terror" de la Martínez Roca, indispensable para los fans del género.

[Joshua Hair · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a very lucky man. I recently managed to purchase a limited copy of Masques IV that was signed by nearly every contributor. It's a gem that I plan to cherish for a long time.

In regards to the collection itself I'd say that the majority of the stories were actually quite good. There's a lot of originality to be found here. I loved the inclusion of some poetry, as I find poetry to be looked over too often despite its immense power to move people.

J.N. Williamson put together the collection and adds a bit of bio about each author before their story. While I'm not really a fan of the man himself (his story was easily one of the weakest and he holds himself in high regard for little reason) I will say that he put together a pretty great set of stories. There are still a few that missed the mark or just didn't resonate with me the way I'd hoped, but those are made up for by the ones that shine.

In particular, my favorite story of the bunch is the second-to-last, a tale by Dan Simmons about an event that brings our dirty little secrets to light for others to see physically. It's chilling in a way to think of what would happen if such an event took place. We all believe ourselves to be good people, sure, but it's hard to hide when our own bodies betray our prejudice and greed.

I'm very thankful to have found this awesome collection the way I did. Book lovers, eBay can be your best friend for rare finds. I'd suggest Masques IV to any horror fan looking for something different to add to their collection.

[Bill Borre]

"The Heart of Helen Day" by Graham Masterton - Martin meets his doom when he spends a rainy night at a motel without a television and hears a radio broadcast where the actress is murdered in the studio. He is curious about experience when he leaves the motel so he asks a man who used to work at the studio about the situation. He tells Martin about a theory that lightning can transmit human memory over short distances to a radio receiver so Martin returns to the motel intending to confront the proprietor over the killing but ends up murdered in turn.

"Savages" by Darrell Schweitzer - This is a dark fantasy coming of age story where Oliver leaves behind his forest-dwelling nine-year old pal Billy and grows up to be a college professor. When he finds himself in an unhappy marriage he returns to his childhood haunts and encounters Billy once more and is invited to the fort to see something neat. Billy hands Oliver a stone knife and attempts to convince him to kill his wife but Oliver turns the tables on Billy and becomes the new Master of the Forest.

"Milestone’s Face" by Gary Brandner - A handsome news anchor has a makeup man disguise him as a homeless person so that he can film on skid row and a bag lady invites him to her home. The anchor thinks this is funny and decides to take her up on it even though a homeless man warns him that she is a witch and not to play a trick on her. After he humiliates her she curses him so that his handsome face turns into the ugly makeup man's version permanently.

"The Secret" by Steve Allen - A man has a near death experience where he converses with two angelic beings. When he mentions that he'd like to get his financial affairs in order they seem unimpressed and one moves toward him but when he mentions that he'd like to apologize to his wife for an argument they had this afternoon they disappear and he finds himself back in his body.

"Please Don’t Hurt Me" by F. Paul Wilson - After Bob picks up Tammy from a bar and takes her back to his place he begins to suspect her of preying upon men in revenge for sexual abuse she received from male relatives. When she admits to him that her ex-boyfriend was bedridden by burns suffered in a fire and she fed him a live cockroach in the hospital Bob flees her presence.

"Love, Hate, and the Beautiful Junkyard Sea" by Mort Castle - A boy and girl fantasize that a junkyard is actually a sea filled with exotic creatures. Time passes, and her life takes her down a different path away from him. One day she returns to the where they shared dreams and a tentacle whips out and drags her away.

"Julia’s Touch" by David T. Connolly - Julia is struck and killed by a drunk driver after blowing up several balloons for Robert's birthday party. Robert takes the balloons and razor blades into the bathroom where he cuts open the balloons to feel his wife's breath upon him and cuts open the veins in his arms.

"Nothing But the Best" by Brian McNaughton - Ahab is a sorcerer who attempts to take vengeance upon Jessica for rejecting him but the pelt that he believes to be from a tiger is actually a rabbit's. When he uses it to change his shape Jessica's dog savages him.

"The Children Never Lie" by Cameron Nolan - A sheriff is convicted of molestation that he is innocent of based upon the testimony of children. A psychologist discovers through hypnosis that the children are recounting victimization of past lives.

"Sea Gulls" by Gahan Wilson - The narrator comes to regret throwing a rock at a bird and making an enemy of the flock when he schemes to murder his wife by tipping her out of a rowboat and the seagulls recover her jewelry and frame him with it.

"The Coming of Night, the Passing of the Day" by Ed Gorman - A girl struggles with telling her mother that her mother's boyfriend is molesting her but decides against it because her mother is so dependent upon him.

"The Other Woman" by Lois Tilton - The ghost of a woman loves a man so much that she endures her brutal death at the hands a jealous woman armed with a straight razor again and again just to be with him.

"My Private Memoirs of the Hoffer Stigmata Pandemic" by Dan Simmons - A father writes a letter to the son that he burned to death after a pandemic displays the sins people are guilty of upon their faces.

"Children" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch - The protagonist belongs to a family that is cursed to be hunted by creatures that show up after the men have their first sexual experience.

"The Collapse of Civilization" by Ray Russell - A rock band draws lots to determine which member will suffer the torments their lyrics depict.

"Sources of the Nile" by Rick Hautala - The protagonist of this story sucks out the eyes of his victims with his mouth.

"The Pack" by Chet Williamson - A pack of zombie dogs hunts humans until a zombie horse destroys it.

"Sounds" by Kathryn Ptacek - A woman tormented by sounds uses an ice pick to grant relief.

[Robert Beveridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's something about horror stories. Everyone has one good one in them, but with the exception of a handful of writers (Ellison, Kathe Koja, a few others) whose work is consistently well above the bar, you're more likely to come up with a writer whose work is usually medicore, but who every once in a while lets fly with something so wonderful that the whole world needs to know about it. And thus the continuing popularity of the horror story anthology; the quest to try and find all these truly great stories from any given time period and collect them all into one large volume.

I'm sure you all have short lists of the truly great stories from otherwise mediocre short story writers, at least as long as you've read enough horror to know them. King's "Survivor Type." Barker's "In the Hills, the Cities." Morrell's "Orange for Anguish, Blue for Insanity." The king of all horror stories, Richard Christian Matheson's stunning "Red." Masques IV, while full of stories that are average or slightly above average at best, manages to add a new story, and a new author, to the hallowed canon. His name is David T. Connolly, "Julia's Touch" is his first published short story, and if he's got a drawer full of this kind of stuff at home he's destined for the kind of greatness that Stephen King and John Grisham can only dream about. Interestingly, while trying to write this review last week (this mailing has been held up by my inability to find this info on the web), I went looking for every review of Masques IV I could, and the vast majority focus on the medicority of the stories by the more established authors. Go figure.

Yes, certainly, there's some other good stuff here, most of it from the usual above-the-bar suspects (Chet Williamson, Lois Tilton, Dan Simmons), but it's the Connolly story that makes this worth the price of admission, no matter what that price is. Beg, borrow, or steal a copy of this anthology to get at that story, for you will walk away from its few, sparse, painful words a changed person. As for the rest, well, like any other anthology, you win some, you lose some. ***

[Kevin Lucia · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, yeah. Read most of this on the beach, today. Anyway - nice collection. Not necessarily in the same league as Shadows or Whispers or the Karl Edward Wagner collections, but still pretty tight. The best stories are:

Chet Williamson's ``The Pack''
Gahan Wilson's ``Sea Gulls''
F. Paul Wilson's ``Please Don't Hurt Me''
Bruce Boston's ``Animal Husbandry''
Ed Gorman's "The Coming of Night, the Passing of Day"
Graham Masterton "The Heart of Helen Day"
Kristin Kathryn Rusch's "Children"
Darrell Schweitzer's "Savages"
Kathyrn Ptacek's "Sounds"
Mort Castle's "Love, Hate, and the Beautiful Junkyard Sea"
Cameron Nolan's "The Children Never Lie"

[Erick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for all those who don't know where else to turn to discover amazing writers, deliciously macabre and scary stories.