Visions of Fear

Foundations of Fear #Part 3

by David G. Hartwell (Editor), Clive Barker (Contributor), Scott Baker (Contributor)

A collection of horror tales features the work of Clive Barker, Philip K. Dick, Octavia Butler, Gerald Durrell, and Mary Wilkins Freeman

Genres: Horror, Anthologies, Fiction, Short Stories

433 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

David Geddes Hartwell was an American editor of science fiction and fantasy. He worked for Signet (1971-1973), Berkley Putnam (1973-1978), Pocket (where he founded the Timescape imprint, 1978-1983, and created the Pocket Books Star Trek publishing line), and Tor (where he spearheaded Tor's Canadian publishing initiative, and was also influential in bringing many Australian writers to the US market, 1984-date), and has published numerous anthologies. He chaired the board of directors of the World Fantasy Convention and, with Gordon Van Gelder, was the administrator of the Philip K. Dick Award. He held a Ph.D. in comparative medieval literature.

He lived in Pleasantville, New York with his wife Kathryn Cramer and their two children.

Reviews

[Bob Box · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in 1996. The third and final volume of Hartwell's horror anthology featuring Richard Matheson and Clive Barker, among others.

[Alex Budris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the third and final paperback in a set that collects all the stories and novellas from David Hartwell's massive hardcover "Foundations of Fear " anthology.

[[on hiatus, probably forever] The rockabilly werewolf from Mars · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent collection of horror stories, most of which I had previously read. However, there were three which I hadn't previously encountered, of which I will review from best to worst.

First off is The Entrance, which I thought was an excellent story. It concerns a man who, while cataloguing the contents of the library in an old house, discovers something sinister about the house's mirrors. As one might guess from the description, M. R. James seems to be an influence on the piece, which is always fine with me.

Second best would be The Lurking Duck, which was more odd than frightening. Dealing with a child, a vengeful prisoner, and a robot duck; it's unlikely that anyone would actually be scared by this story, but at least it's memorable.

The worst story in the book is definitely The Bell In The Fog, which was a chore to read. Apparently written as a homage to Henry James (an author who I am no fan of), this story makes his work look positively thrilling by comparison. It has minimal horrific elements (there's the implication that one character may be the reincarnation of another character, but it's merely a hint, and I don't find reincarnation to be either horrific or a convincing idea, let alone an interesting one), the characters are uninteresting, and the writing is both dry and long-winded. I've read two other stories by this author (The Foghorn and The Striding Place), and none of them were remotely interesting. I would say that Atherton is one of the worst horror authors I have ever read, but first I would have to come up with some sort of reason for her work to be considered horror, and I can't think of one, even though I have a very broad definition of what qualifies as horror.