Knuckles and Tales

by Nancy A. Collins, J.K. Potter, Bonnie Jacobs (Illustrator)

Collins, Nancy A.

Genres: Horror, Anthologies

296 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Nancy A. Collins (born 10 September 1959) is a United States horror fiction writer best known for her series of vampire novels featuring her character Sonja Blue. Collins has also written for comic books, including the Swamp Thing series, Jason Vs. Leatherface, Predator: Hell Come A Walkin and her own one-shot Dhampire: Stillborn.

Collins was born in McGehee, Arkansas, United States. She lived in New Orleans, Louisiana in the 1980s; after time in New York City and Atlanta, Georgia she settled in Wilmington, North Carolina in the late 2000s.

Collins has written twenty novels since 1989, many of which refer to and directly include races of creatures the author calls Pretenders, monsters from myth and legend passing as human to better hunt their prey.

Collins has also written a number of highly acclaimed Southern Gothic short stories and novellas, most of which are set in Seven Devils, Arkansas, a highly fictionalized version of her hometown.

Most recently, she has focused her attention onto the Golgotham urban fantasy series,published by Penguin. Golgotham is the 'supernatural' ghetto of New York City, where creatures from myth and folklore--including witches,shapeshifters,leprechauns and centaurs--live and work in uneasy alliance with mankind.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good collection of short Southern Gothic horror fiction from the 1990s. There are no Sonja Blue stories nor any vampires at all for that matter, but plenty of other chilling creatures abound, many of them of the non-supernatural variety. About half share the common background of Seven Devils, Arkansas, a place you definitely wouldn't want to visit. Some of the unrelenting racial hatred that's portrayed, though unfortunately accurate, is difficult to read.

[David Watson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Knuckles And Tales by Nancy Collins is a collection of gothic short stories and novelettes all set in the South. Some of the things you’ll find in this anthology include a half catfish half woman that lives in the Mississippi River, a half alligator half man that attacks fishermen, a traveling sideshow with a snake charmer, a geek that bites the head off of chickens, a voodoo priest who is leading his undead family out for revenge and an old witch who can turn your luck around for a price.

One of my favorite stories in this collection and really there isn’t a bad story in this anthology is Billy Fearless. Billy is not the sharpest knife in the drawer and hes not exactly stupid but he does have a tendency to take everything at face value and is immune to fear. Thinking that he is an idiot his father sends him away with some money and tells him to go out into the world, make your fortune and never return. Billy leaves and comes to a little hotel in front of a haunted mansion on a lake. Billy gets dared to spend three nights in the mansion. Several people have been brave enough to enter the mansion but none have lived to tell the tale . Billy is not a normal guy though and the evil spirits that haunt the house may have met their match. I loved how Billy is presented in this story, hes a nice person that wants to help people but because he is a little slow and never scared, people get the wrong idea. The end of the story is hilarious and I loved it when the evil spirit in charge of haunting the mansion confronts Billy. This story teaches that being righteous does have its rewards.

Another great story from Knuckles and Tales is The Two Headed Man. This is kind of a bizarre love story with an equally bizarre sex scene. It all starts when a man shows up at a diner just before it closes, he unzips his coat and the waitress and cook are surprised to see that he has two heads…or does he? I don’t want to tell any more about this story because it would ruin the surprise. What makes this story good is that it teaches that even people who are a little different can find love and never judge a book by its cover. Also the characters were beautifully written, I could relate to all of them and wanted to see them have a happy ending.

Nancy Collins makes the rural south come alive in Knuckles and Tales and I enjoyed the fact that three of the stories uses a traveling carnival and sideshow as its settings. If you like horror with a mix of comedy and old legends then you’ll want to check this one out.

[Emiliano Aguilar · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a unique volume of stories. All of them evoke, to a greater or lesser degree, a realistic perspective, somewhere between anecdotal and fabulist, but always tinged with an underlying unease and discomfort about what is being recounted. I had the pleasure of chatting with Nancy for a youtube channel interview, and she is indeed a very warm person, and so open to discussing any aspect of her body of work.

Interesting collection and a key piece for the modern southern gothic horror literature.

My picks:

-Billy Fearless
-Catfish Gal Blues
-The Killer
-The Pumpkin child
-Cancer alley

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collection of short stories by Nancy A Collins, with not a vampire / vampire hunter in sight, good but I prefer the Sonja Blue books.