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The Seven Deadliest
Throughout history, there have been certain moral evils so entangling, so alluring, that they routinely give birth to countless other evils in the hearts of human beings. From antiquity, these "capital vices" have been known as the seven deadly sins.
Now, from the editors who brought you Cutting Block Single Slices and Shadows Over Main Street, comes an all-new novella anthology featuring seven dark fiction authors at the top of their games, each writing passionately about one of The Seven Deadliest sins. Inside these pages:
John C. Foster spins "Gilda," a yarn about Avarice;
Bracken MacLeod takes us on the road to Wrath with "A Short Madness";
Kasey Lansdale's "Cap Diamant" teaches us the steep cost of Pride;
Brian Kirk lays bare the Jealousy hidden beneath affluence in "Chisel and Stone";
Rena Mason reveals a new and terrifying guise of Sloth in "Clevengers of the Carrion Sea";
Richard Thomas examines Lust in his dystopian "Ring of Fire"; and
John F.D. Taff feeds us the darker aspects of Gluttony in "All You Care to Eat."
These dark tales from a cabal of highly regarded and award-winning authors hold nothing back, so turn the pages and feast your eyes. The Seven Deadliest sins await you.
Now, from the editors who brought you Cutting Block Single Slices and Shadows Over Main Street, comes an all-new novella anthology featuring seven dark fiction authors at the top of their games, each writing passionately about one of The Seven Deadliest sins. Inside these pages:
John C. Foster spins "Gilda," a yarn about Avarice;
Bracken MacLeod takes us on the road to Wrath with "A Short Madness";
Kasey Lansdale's "Cap Diamant" teaches us the steep cost of Pride;
Brian Kirk lays bare the Jealousy hidden beneath affluence in "Chisel and Stone";
Rena Mason reveals a new and terrifying guise of Sloth in "Clevengers of the Carrion Sea";
Richard Thomas examines Lust in his dystopian "Ring of Fire"; and
John F.D. Taff feeds us the darker aspects of Gluttony in "All You Care to Eat."
These dark tales from a cabal of highly regarded and award-winning authors hold nothing back, so turn the pages and feast your eyes. The Seven Deadliest sins await you.
- GenresHorrorShort Stories
234 pages, Paperback
First published May 7, 2019
7 people are currently reading
85 people want to read
About the author
Patrick Beltran
4 booksDear friends of Farolight/Cutting Block,
It's with a heavy heart that I must report Farolight Publishing, and its flagship imprint Cutting Block Books, will soon join the long list of small genre presses forced by circumstances to close their doors. In our case, fiscal pressures and recent health issues for me personally, means the time's come to make a graceful exit from the publishing stage.
To our readers, I can't emphasize enough how much I've appreciated your support these past 16 years. To my colleagues and friends, I would not have traded this experience for anything; I'm glad to have known each and every one of you.
Here's what you can expect in the coming weeks:
* All of our titles will gradually slip into "out of print" status on Amazon and on every other book-seller's website. Remaining copies will be sold on a first-come, first served basis until that time.
* Within a month or so, the Farolight website and social media presence will disappear. We'll post the occasional update on those.
One more thing to mention... we're working to provide the Horror Library imprint a new home. I'm excited that we've found another small press with the seriousness and chops to keep the quality level as high as always. Once the i's are dotted and t's crossed, we'll announce the new publishing home of the Horror Library anthology series!
Thanks again for having traveled part of your reading/writing path with Cutting Block and Farolight. You made the journey worthwhile.
Warmest regards,
Patrick Beltran
Owner / Publisher
Patrick Beltran is the owner and publisher of Farolight Publishing, home of Cutting Block Books. He has served in various editorial capacities for Cutting Block since 2011, including as Editor of The Seven Deadliest and Cutting Block Single Slices anthologies. He was Associate Editor for two Bram Stoker Award® nominated anthologies: Tattered Souls 2 and Horror Library Volume 5 . He's worked on other projects such as Butcher Shop Quartet 2, The Best of Horror Library , Blue Eel and Horror Library Volume 6 . He's an active Member of the Horror Writer's Association and an experienced screenwriter, journalist and editor.
It's with a heavy heart that I must report Farolight Publishing, and its flagship imprint Cutting Block Books, will soon join the long list of small genre presses forced by circumstances to close their doors. In our case, fiscal pressures and recent health issues for me personally, means the time's come to make a graceful exit from the publishing stage.
To our readers, I can't emphasize enough how much I've appreciated your support these past 16 years. To my colleagues and friends, I would not have traded this experience for anything; I'm glad to have known each and every one of you.
Here's what you can expect in the coming weeks:
* All of our titles will gradually slip into "out of print" status on Amazon and on every other book-seller's website. Remaining copies will be sold on a first-come, first served basis until that time.
* Within a month or so, the Farolight website and social media presence will disappear. We'll post the occasional update on those.
One more thing to mention... we're working to provide the Horror Library imprint a new home. I'm excited that we've found another small press with the seriousness and chops to keep the quality level as high as always. Once the i's are dotted and t's crossed, we'll announce the new publishing home of the Horror Library anthology series!
Thanks again for having traveled part of your reading/writing path with Cutting Block and Farolight. You made the journey worthwhile.
Warmest regards,
Patrick Beltran
Owner / Publisher
Patrick Beltran is the owner and publisher of Farolight Publishing, home of Cutting Block Books. He has served in various editorial capacities for Cutting Block since 2011, including as Editor of The Seven Deadliest and Cutting Block Single Slices anthologies. He was Associate Editor for two Bram Stoker Award® nominated anthologies: Tattered Souls 2 and Horror Library Volume 5 . He's worked on other projects such as Butcher Shop Quartet 2, The Best of Horror Library , Blue Eel and Horror Library Volume 6 . He's an active Member of the Horror Writer's Association and an experienced screenwriter, journalist and editor.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
May 3, 2019
Kudos to Patrick Beltran and D. Alexander Ward for bringing together seven talented authors to blend their wildly different voices for this anthology.
"I've nurtured every sensation man has been inspired to have. I cared about what he wanted and I never judged him. Why? Because I never rejected him—in spite of all his imperfections, I'm a fan of man! I'm a humanist. Maybe the last humanist." Milton/Satan/Al Pachino in The Devil's Advocate
After hearing from some important people in the horror industry, I decided to read this anthology straight through and in order. I have been known to skip around and read the stories I *want to* first but I have it on good authority now that the editors are the people behind the curtain that work magic behind the scenes and they might be ordering the stories for optimum reader enjoyment.
That was certainly the case with THE SEVEN DEADLIEST.
There is an introduction by Mercedes Yardley that I very much enjoyed.
Then the sin, Avarice as told by John C. Foster in the story, GILDA.
Avarice is better known as greed. This tale is about a "Chowder Society" of sorts. It's made up of wealthy, retired women who have done it all and still live to tell about it. They gather together for whiskey and dishing up seedy stories from their past. We, the reader, get to watch as the society take in a new member. The young woman is eager to please even despite her reservations about the direction in which things are headed.
I loved the narration in this story...
"It's about time we had new blood."
I could vividly see the scene with these old spinsters sitting around smoking and drinking and plotting. Foster does an amazing job setting the stage with opulent details.
This story is followed by the sin, Anger as told by Bracken MacLeod. I have no problem disclosing that this was my favorite in the anthology. I've grown quite comfortable with Bracken's unique storytelling voice over the last couple of years and settling into one of his stories is like a warm coffee mug and a cozy sweater-his words just feel like "home". In this story, A SHORT MADNESS, Bracken explores anger through his protagonist, Father David Price. Father Price is an empath, he feels people's struggles in his own soul very profoundly which he then carries around with him like weights. We get to watch as David enters the confessional booth and hears a confession that would likely be the catalyst or the turning point for this man's whole life--what he does with it was so emotionally stirring, the story lingered long after I finished. One of my new favorite short stories of all time.
CAP DIAMENT by Kasey Lansdale is her take on the sin of Pride/Vanity. This is the story where I first began to notice that even though each author was assigned one, deadly sin, I began to see the other sins play a role in each story as well. Almost as if one sin is never the primary vehicle or driving force at work-often times one leads to another. Kasey's narrative flows fluidly and effortlessly and she spins dark, seafaring folklore. This story touches on so many classic themes: generational sin, vengeance, lust, pride, vanity and succubi (is that the plural form of succubus? ha!). Really great story by Kasey. I can't wait to read more from her.
Brian Kirk had the sin Jealousy as told through his story CHISEL AND STONE. While I enjoy Brain's "voice" and I think he's an exceptional, gifted storyteller, I really had a difficult time making connections with this story. I didn't understand how a woman that married into a seemingly loveless relationship could foster this love of money but also this extreme burden to be generous, simultaneously. Her motivations seemed in direct contradiction to one another. The protagonists' extreme choice to open her home to a Guantanamo Bay prisoner, was confusing. Especially the extent she was willing to go for this stranger. I just didn't believe it and I couldn't suspend disbelief enough to be able to engage, emotionally, with the story.
CLEVENGERS OF THE CARRION SEA by Rena Mason was also a hard sell for me. This was the exploration of the sin Sloth. I'm grateful for the author's notes at the end with the in-depth explanation of what transpired in the story and how the author dispensed the sin of Slothfulness throughout, because I really missed it.
I was fully captivated by the first paragraph but then the story became confusing and slightly muddled for me. While I was very much impressed with Rena's beautiful prose, I felt like I was struggling with too many barriers and obstacles that stood in the way of my reading enjoyment. I'm sure the problem is with me and I perhaps gathered some unrealistic expectations early on in the story that prevented me from just getting swept away in it.
Lust was the next sin represented in the story, RING OF FIRE by Richard Thomas. I very much enjoyed how the author chose to unpack this story's secrets slowly and methodically. It was fun for the reader to guess at what was going on and to have some theories as to who the protagonist was in the context of the world at large as well as his object of lust, Rebecca. I admit, my theory was correct. I loved the ending/epilogue of this one--great dystopian/sci-fi story that reminded me of a Black Mirror episode.
Lastly and saving my other favorite for last, the sin of Gluttony as told by John F. D. Taff in the story, ALL YOU CARE TO EAT. This story was AMAZING. I loved it. I loved it enough to eat it, Dr. Alatryx. John has this remarkable way of presenting the strange and unusual and in a way that feels so casual and normal that you almost miss what you're reading at first blush. You're just reading along enjoying every word when suddenly you're like, wait--what did that say??
WHAT IS HAPPENING?? I love that!!
This story could easily be a Black Mirror tale or a graphic novel--it's just so incredibly visual and disturbingly delicious.
The perfect way to end this anthology.
"I've nurtured every sensation man has been inspired to have. I cared about what he wanted and I never judged him. Why? Because I never rejected him—in spite of all his imperfections, I'm a fan of man! I'm a humanist. Maybe the last humanist." Milton/Satan/Al Pachino in The Devil's Advocate
After hearing from some important people in the horror industry, I decided to read this anthology straight through and in order. I have been known to skip around and read the stories I *want to* first but I have it on good authority now that the editors are the people behind the curtain that work magic behind the scenes and they might be ordering the stories for optimum reader enjoyment.
That was certainly the case with THE SEVEN DEADLIEST.
There is an introduction by Mercedes Yardley that I very much enjoyed.
Then the sin, Avarice as told by John C. Foster in the story, GILDA.
Avarice is better known as greed. This tale is about a "Chowder Society" of sorts. It's made up of wealthy, retired women who have done it all and still live to tell about it. They gather together for whiskey and dishing up seedy stories from their past. We, the reader, get to watch as the society take in a new member. The young woman is eager to please even despite her reservations about the direction in which things are headed.
I loved the narration in this story...
"It's about time we had new blood."
I could vividly see the scene with these old spinsters sitting around smoking and drinking and plotting. Foster does an amazing job setting the stage with opulent details.
This story is followed by the sin, Anger as told by Bracken MacLeod. I have no problem disclosing that this was my favorite in the anthology. I've grown quite comfortable with Bracken's unique storytelling voice over the last couple of years and settling into one of his stories is like a warm coffee mug and a cozy sweater-his words just feel like "home". In this story, A SHORT MADNESS, Bracken explores anger through his protagonist, Father David Price. Father Price is an empath, he feels people's struggles in his own soul very profoundly which he then carries around with him like weights. We get to watch as David enters the confessional booth and hears a confession that would likely be the catalyst or the turning point for this man's whole life--what he does with it was so emotionally stirring, the story lingered long after I finished. One of my new favorite short stories of all time.
CAP DIAMENT by Kasey Lansdale is her take on the sin of Pride/Vanity. This is the story where I first began to notice that even though each author was assigned one, deadly sin, I began to see the other sins play a role in each story as well. Almost as if one sin is never the primary vehicle or driving force at work-often times one leads to another. Kasey's narrative flows fluidly and effortlessly and she spins dark, seafaring folklore. This story touches on so many classic themes: generational sin, vengeance, lust, pride, vanity and succubi (is that the plural form of succubus? ha!). Really great story by Kasey. I can't wait to read more from her.
Brian Kirk had the sin Jealousy as told through his story CHISEL AND STONE. While I enjoy Brain's "voice" and I think he's an exceptional, gifted storyteller, I really had a difficult time making connections with this story. I didn't understand how a woman that married into a seemingly loveless relationship could foster this love of money but also this extreme burden to be generous, simultaneously. Her motivations seemed in direct contradiction to one another. The protagonists' extreme choice to open her home to a Guantanamo Bay prisoner, was confusing. Especially the extent she was willing to go for this stranger. I just didn't believe it and I couldn't suspend disbelief enough to be able to engage, emotionally, with the story.
CLEVENGERS OF THE CARRION SEA by Rena Mason was also a hard sell for me. This was the exploration of the sin Sloth. I'm grateful for the author's notes at the end with the in-depth explanation of what transpired in the story and how the author dispensed the sin of Slothfulness throughout, because I really missed it.
I was fully captivated by the first paragraph but then the story became confusing and slightly muddled for me. While I was very much impressed with Rena's beautiful prose, I felt like I was struggling with too many barriers and obstacles that stood in the way of my reading enjoyment. I'm sure the problem is with me and I perhaps gathered some unrealistic expectations early on in the story that prevented me from just getting swept away in it.
Lust was the next sin represented in the story, RING OF FIRE by Richard Thomas. I very much enjoyed how the author chose to unpack this story's secrets slowly and methodically. It was fun for the reader to guess at what was going on and to have some theories as to who the protagonist was in the context of the world at large as well as his object of lust, Rebecca. I admit, my theory was correct. I loved the ending/epilogue of this one--great dystopian/sci-fi story that reminded me of a Black Mirror episode.
Lastly and saving my other favorite for last, the sin of Gluttony as told by John F. D. Taff in the story, ALL YOU CARE TO EAT. This story was AMAZING. I loved it. I loved it enough to eat it, Dr. Alatryx. John has this remarkable way of presenting the strange and unusual and in a way that feels so casual and normal that you almost miss what you're reading at first blush. You're just reading along enjoying every word when suddenly you're like, wait--what did that say??
WHAT IS HAPPENING?? I love that!!
This story could easily be a Black Mirror tale or a graphic novel--it's just so incredibly visual and disturbingly delicious.
The perfect way to end this anthology.
July 4, 2019
The Seven Deadliest is an anthology of 7 powerhouse authors, each tasked with spinning a tale about the sin they have been "assigned". I have always been drawn to literature that encompasses the seven sins. I've read Dante and others, hell, I even studied it in undergrad. When it comes to film and book adaptations beyond the classics, I am picky. Yes, I loved Seven. Unashamedly. But there have been few others that really focused on ALL of the sins. This anthology does that and I truly enjoyed my time with this book. As always, I have favorites. They are as follows (in the order they appear in the book):
AVARICE: "Gilda" by John C Foster. This is a well-crafted story within a story and I appreciated Foster's interpretation of the sin of greed. I love these ladies and their sisterhood, however twisted it may be. Story time has been re-invented.
ANGER: "A Short Madness" by Bracken MacLeod. After reading STRANDED last winter and now this tale, I'm going to go ahead and call myself a fan of his writing. Wow. This story fully encompasses rage from a source I didn't expect and it worked perfectly. The prose is tight and the words punch through at all the right moments. Impeccable timing and a hell of an ending.
SLOTH: "Clevengers of the Carrion Sea" by Rena Mason. This one is WEIRD and I'm still not quite sure I understood exactly what was happening, but I am fine with that. A bit of cosmic horror, dual worlds, and a twisty plot kept me engaged. I still am not too sure how exactly this fits with "sloth", but I dug the story.
LUST: "Ring of Fire" by Richard Thomas. This is another one that kept me guessing, and like Mason's I think I might have missed some bits; however, like MacLeod's tale for "anger", this story nails "lust" and looks for alternative, future solutions for what I think is the most dangerous of the seven sins.
GLUTTONY: "All You Care to Eat" by John F.D. Taff. Well. Bizarre and just damn weird, Taff's story is a great last story for this anthology. A bit surreal and plenty of WTF moments, I loved trying to figure out what would happen next and being completely wrong.
Overall, this was a fun read. I think it will appeal to a variety of horror and spec fic fans simply because each one brings something different to the table. Now I'm off to read the other reviews of this book - I can't wait to see which ones other readers have selected as favorites.
AVARICE: "Gilda" by John C Foster. This is a well-crafted story within a story and I appreciated Foster's interpretation of the sin of greed. I love these ladies and their sisterhood, however twisted it may be. Story time has been re-invented.
ANGER: "A Short Madness" by Bracken MacLeod. After reading STRANDED last winter and now this tale, I'm going to go ahead and call myself a fan of his writing. Wow. This story fully encompasses rage from a source I didn't expect and it worked perfectly. The prose is tight and the words punch through at all the right moments. Impeccable timing and a hell of an ending.
SLOTH: "Clevengers of the Carrion Sea" by Rena Mason. This one is WEIRD and I'm still not quite sure I understood exactly what was happening, but I am fine with that. A bit of cosmic horror, dual worlds, and a twisty plot kept me engaged. I still am not too sure how exactly this fits with "sloth", but I dug the story.
LUST: "Ring of Fire" by Richard Thomas. This is another one that kept me guessing, and like Mason's I think I might have missed some bits; however, like MacLeod's tale for "anger", this story nails "lust" and looks for alternative, future solutions for what I think is the most dangerous of the seven sins.
GLUTTONY: "All You Care to Eat" by John F.D. Taff. Well. Bizarre and just damn weird, Taff's story is a great last story for this anthology. A bit surreal and plenty of WTF moments, I loved trying to figure out what would happen next and being completely wrong.
Overall, this was a fun read. I think it will appeal to a variety of horror and spec fic fans simply because each one brings something different to the table. Now I'm off to read the other reviews of this book - I can't wait to see which ones other readers have selected as favorites.
April 26, 2021
The stories for me spanned quite a range in quality, genre, and enjoyability, more on all that to follow, but here are my ratings:
1. "Gilda" 2.5
2. "A Short Madness" 4.5
3. "Cap Diamant" 3.5
4. "Chisel and Stone" 5.0
5. "Clevengers of the Carion Sea" 3.0
6. "Ring of Fire" 2.0
7 "All You Can Eat" 4.0
The first story is titled "Gilda" and is on the sin of avarice (an unnecessary English duplicate word for the concept greed). I find the story to be in sum mildly entertaining, but difficult to comment on. Light spoilers follow, so I'll put the body of my review in spoiler tags for those who want to make their own untainted opinion of a story they fully intend to read before reading my take.
So, in all I am left not particularly impressed with this John C. Foster story. I think Foster is probably a capable writer if he settles down with a good, single story that has one main idea and one main theme. I'd read him again, figuring that he could do a fine job on it. I don't think the story in this collection will be what he gets remembered for. His Libros de Inferno series (https://www.goodreads.com/series/2624...), on the other hand, looks interesting.
The next story, "A Short Madness," takes up the sin of wrath, anger in modern language. This one was worth the price of admission, a five star story to be sure. It's about a priest who has to hear confessions. I never really thought about what that must be like as a human being to have to do. Until this story. Then what would happen if the priest heard a confession that couldn't and shouldn't just stay in the confessional, yet had to.
We see this story in crime dramas on TV and in films. The detective just needs one thing from a priest to arrest a perp, but the priest won't "break the sanctity" of the confessional. But who ever thought of the situation completely from the priest's perspective?
I loved the realism and humanity in this story. If I were to in any way criticize it, I felt the ending could have been more interesting to make a more meaningful statement. Still, the ending wasn't bad by any means. A great story that makes me happy I got the book.
I would definitely like to read more of Bracken MacLeod. I can tell he writes stories that bring up interesting moral dilemmas for protagonists to have to wrestle with. Those are the kind of stories I like to read most.
The next three stories were a delight. Kasey Lansdale's "Cap Diamant" was an odd story, as overly simple as Foster's "Gilda" was needlessly complicated. It actually read a lot like a fairy tale. "Once upon a time in a land far away lived three brothers. The youngest was the fairest. One day he saw a beautiful maiden and decided he must have her. But the beautiful maiden was not what she seemed.... Then the youngest brother's middle brother investigated and he too... Finally, the oldest brother, wiser by nature and made more cautious by the disappearance of his brothers, investigated." In any event, it is an easy story to read, fun, and simply told in direct narrative, nothing fancy
The next story blew me away. It was not at all what I would expect to find in a collection like this. Brian Kirk's "Chisel and Stone" is a story that will haunt me for a long time. Even the title is well selected, one person being like a would be chisel, finding that the stone she wishes to carve, the other person, can't be fixed, not that she quits trying. I don't want to say more about this plot for spoilers sake. This is straight fiction, not really what I think of as horror. The story contains a lot of profound insights into human nature: the true motivation for charitable work among some wealthy people (as opposed to what it should be), the way some marriages work (or dysfunction), the importance of due process and our country's abject failure in this regard, our latest shared societal moral stain because of what we have all allowed to happen in Gitmo, a profound statement on the nature of mob violence. And the hits just keep coming. Brian Kirk is truly an amazing writer. I will be seeking to read more of him.
And that concludes my comments on the four shorter stories of the book's first half.
The next story, "Clevengers of the Carrion Sea" by Rena Mason was another surprise. It was one of the purest examples of New Weird genre I've ever read, and I've read a fair amount of it these past couple years. The story could easily have emerged straight out of a VanderMeer anthology of New Weird like The New Weird, except it was written too late to be published there. Furthermore, Mason's story is a better story and more well-written than two thirds of the stories that featured in that anthology.
Unless I miss my guess and readers in this group are more familiar with New Weird writer customs and reader expectations than I currently realize, I predict this story will rate the lowest among other members of this group and readers of horror in general. This is mostly because New Weird stories are told in non-linear fashion, meaning the words on the page don't correspond directly with our shared reality. The text suggests and shares in another reality that is assumed by the author with her readers but at the same time constructed as part of the proceeding of the narration of the story.
Frankly, non-linear stories of this nature demand a lot from readers and many readers aren't up to/for the challenge. It has taken a while for me to get myself up to the challenge to the extent I have managed. Non-linear stories are an acquired taste (like straight coffee or whiskey served neat--not for kids). Even then, I don't always like to work that hard to be able to read and enjoy a story. For me, the story has to be exceptional to justify the extra work it demands. Mieville's Perdido Street Station, Burgess's A Clockwork Orange, or to a lesser extent Herbert's Dune are good examples of novels that can justify the extra work required to read them. The world building and plot are sufficiently spectacular in all these cases. This novella, for me, although interesting, doesn't quite provide the reward it should either in terms of plot or world building. Enough of both are there for it to justify the story, but only barely. On the one hand, I am grateful it's a novella so that I didn't have to spend hundreds of pages of time in being ultimately not as sufficiently rewarded for my time and effort as I would like, just thirty-three pages. On the other hand, the fact that it's a novella is part of the reason its world-building is not deep enough and its plot is not quite compelling enough. It's still a good story, well told, and will be a welcome addition to New Weird literature for deeper fans of the genre than I am.
It's time to say something about the two-page afterwords written by the authors that discuss their stories. For the first four stories, these have added to and enhanced my understanding and enjoyment of the stories. Mason's is the first afterword I thought subtracted from the story. Her afterword does what I imagine the editors requested of the authors and further explains her story. But I had already made a satisfying (for me) explanation for the events of her story from its text. That was part of the pleasure of reading the story. To have what was implicit made explicit by the author's explanation subtracted some of the other explanations for events I had formulated, which were equally possible.
I read with interest the insight she offered in her afterword on how she works when writing a story and getting it to publication and how her slothfulness is a professional challenge she has to overcome. Confessional and revealing, it sheds light for us all, and was appreciated.
The last two stories were a good roundout of a really good anthology. The sixth story was Richard Thomas's treatment of the sin of lust, "Ring of Fire." It is the story I regard the least in this collection. On the surface I should like it. It has the most science fiction in it of all the stories. The premise is really cool. A man is confined to an area in isolation he agreed to in order to process rare elements society needs. He is visited once every three months by a woman who brings him supplies. He is desperately lonely and tries to forge a relationship with his supply bringer.
So far, so good. But then the story breaks down. At least, for me. There are many questions raised by the plot when not everything adds up to what the narrator is revealing. We have an unreliable narrator therefore, which means we the reader have to look under the surface to figure things out. I formed three maybe four hypotheses that accounted for most everything, but by the end of the story, things were still really ambiguous. This is not good, unacceptable actually, even for an unreliable protagonist type plot.
The author's afterword explained which of the three or four hypotheses I had going was the correct one. But this is cheating. A joke that has to be explained loses its charm in the same way. I reread the story with the author's explanation in mind, but it didn't help. The story that was being told was rather flat, explaining why the author wanted to play games with his readers in the first place. The plot couldn't stand on its own in terms of generating interest. Even worse, after rereading the story the plot holes became even more apparent to me.
This is really a shame because there were a number of promising elements in the above described premise. The author just needed to pick a direction and take the story somewhere meaningful. But he never did. I have also become tired of the overuse of nanotechnology as a plot element. It didn't add here either and was another plot point that never went anywhere. This story would have been better with less science fiction, more low technology manipulation by the characters. A sigh of disappointment for great unrealized potential.
The seventh and final story on gluttony, "All You Care to Eat" was light, fun fare. It didn't make much sense, but it didn't have to. The story was nothing fancy and rather bizarro, a genre none of the other stories share in. Not to be taken seriously, it made for an easy and somewhat comic end to a highly entertaining anthology overall.
1. "Gilda" 2.5
2. "A Short Madness" 4.5
3. "Cap Diamant" 3.5
4. "Chisel and Stone" 5.0
5. "Clevengers of the Carion Sea" 3.0
6. "Ring of Fire" 2.0
7 "All You Can Eat" 4.0
The first story is titled "Gilda" and is on the sin of avarice (an unnecessary English duplicate word for the concept greed). I find the story to be in sum mildly entertaining, but difficult to comment on. Light spoilers follow, so I'll put the body of my review in spoiler tags for those who want to make their own untainted opinion of a story they fully intend to read before reading my take.
So, in all I am left not particularly impressed with this John C. Foster story. I think Foster is probably a capable writer if he settles down with a good, single story that has one main idea and one main theme. I'd read him again, figuring that he could do a fine job on it. I don't think the story in this collection will be what he gets remembered for. His Libros de Inferno series (https://www.goodreads.com/series/2624...), on the other hand, looks interesting.
The next story, "A Short Madness," takes up the sin of wrath, anger in modern language. This one was worth the price of admission, a five star story to be sure. It's about a priest who has to hear confessions. I never really thought about what that must be like as a human being to have to do. Until this story. Then what would happen if the priest heard a confession that couldn't and shouldn't just stay in the confessional, yet had to.
We see this story in crime dramas on TV and in films. The detective just needs one thing from a priest to arrest a perp, but the priest won't "break the sanctity" of the confessional. But who ever thought of the situation completely from the priest's perspective?
I loved the realism and humanity in this story. If I were to in any way criticize it, I felt the ending could have been more interesting to make a more meaningful statement. Still, the ending wasn't bad by any means. A great story that makes me happy I got the book.
I would definitely like to read more of Bracken MacLeod. I can tell he writes stories that bring up interesting moral dilemmas for protagonists to have to wrestle with. Those are the kind of stories I like to read most.
The next three stories were a delight. Kasey Lansdale's "Cap Diamant" was an odd story, as overly simple as Foster's "Gilda" was needlessly complicated. It actually read a lot like a fairy tale. "Once upon a time in a land far away lived three brothers. The youngest was the fairest. One day he saw a beautiful maiden and decided he must have her. But the beautiful maiden was not what she seemed.... Then the youngest brother's middle brother investigated and he too... Finally, the oldest brother, wiser by nature and made more cautious by the disappearance of his brothers, investigated." In any event, it is an easy story to read, fun, and simply told in direct narrative, nothing fancy
The next story blew me away. It was not at all what I would expect to find in a collection like this. Brian Kirk's "Chisel and Stone" is a story that will haunt me for a long time. Even the title is well selected, one person being like a would be chisel, finding that the stone she wishes to carve, the other person, can't be fixed, not that she quits trying. I don't want to say more about this plot for spoilers sake. This is straight fiction, not really what I think of as horror. The story contains a lot of profound insights into human nature: the true motivation for charitable work among some wealthy people (as opposed to what it should be), the way some marriages work (or dysfunction), the importance of due process and our country's abject failure in this regard, our latest shared societal moral stain because of what we have all allowed to happen in Gitmo, a profound statement on the nature of mob violence. And the hits just keep coming. Brian Kirk is truly an amazing writer. I will be seeking to read more of him.
And that concludes my comments on the four shorter stories of the book's first half.
The next story, "Clevengers of the Carrion Sea" by Rena Mason was another surprise. It was one of the purest examples of New Weird genre I've ever read, and I've read a fair amount of it these past couple years. The story could easily have emerged straight out of a VanderMeer anthology of New Weird like The New Weird, except it was written too late to be published there. Furthermore, Mason's story is a better story and more well-written than two thirds of the stories that featured in that anthology.
Unless I miss my guess and readers in this group are more familiar with New Weird writer customs and reader expectations than I currently realize, I predict this story will rate the lowest among other members of this group and readers of horror in general. This is mostly because New Weird stories are told in non-linear fashion, meaning the words on the page don't correspond directly with our shared reality. The text suggests and shares in another reality that is assumed by the author with her readers but at the same time constructed as part of the proceeding of the narration of the story.
Frankly, non-linear stories of this nature demand a lot from readers and many readers aren't up to/for the challenge. It has taken a while for me to get myself up to the challenge to the extent I have managed. Non-linear stories are an acquired taste (like straight coffee or whiskey served neat--not for kids). Even then, I don't always like to work that hard to be able to read and enjoy a story. For me, the story has to be exceptional to justify the extra work it demands. Mieville's Perdido Street Station, Burgess's A Clockwork Orange, or to a lesser extent Herbert's Dune are good examples of novels that can justify the extra work required to read them. The world building and plot are sufficiently spectacular in all these cases. This novella, for me, although interesting, doesn't quite provide the reward it should either in terms of plot or world building. Enough of both are there for it to justify the story, but only barely. On the one hand, I am grateful it's a novella so that I didn't have to spend hundreds of pages of time in being ultimately not as sufficiently rewarded for my time and effort as I would like, just thirty-three pages. On the other hand, the fact that it's a novella is part of the reason its world-building is not deep enough and its plot is not quite compelling enough. It's still a good story, well told, and will be a welcome addition to New Weird literature for deeper fans of the genre than I am.
It's time to say something about the two-page afterwords written by the authors that discuss their stories. For the first four stories, these have added to and enhanced my understanding and enjoyment of the stories. Mason's is the first afterword I thought subtracted from the story. Her afterword does what I imagine the editors requested of the authors and further explains her story. But I had already made a satisfying (for me) explanation for the events of her story from its text. That was part of the pleasure of reading the story. To have what was implicit made explicit by the author's explanation subtracted some of the other explanations for events I had formulated, which were equally possible.
I read with interest the insight she offered in her afterword on how she works when writing a story and getting it to publication and how her slothfulness is a professional challenge she has to overcome. Confessional and revealing, it sheds light for us all, and was appreciated.
The last two stories were a good roundout of a really good anthology. The sixth story was Richard Thomas's treatment of the sin of lust, "Ring of Fire." It is the story I regard the least in this collection. On the surface I should like it. It has the most science fiction in it of all the stories. The premise is really cool. A man is confined to an area in isolation he agreed to in order to process rare elements society needs. He is visited once every three months by a woman who brings him supplies. He is desperately lonely and tries to forge a relationship with his supply bringer.
So far, so good. But then the story breaks down. At least, for me. There are many questions raised by the plot when not everything adds up to what the narrator is revealing. We have an unreliable narrator therefore, which means we the reader have to look under the surface to figure things out. I formed three maybe four hypotheses that accounted for most everything, but by the end of the story, things were still really ambiguous. This is not good, unacceptable actually, even for an unreliable protagonist type plot.
The author's afterword explained which of the three or four hypotheses I had going was the correct one. But this is cheating. A joke that has to be explained loses its charm in the same way. I reread the story with the author's explanation in mind, but it didn't help. The story that was being told was rather flat, explaining why the author wanted to play games with his readers in the first place. The plot couldn't stand on its own in terms of generating interest. Even worse, after rereading the story the plot holes became even more apparent to me.
This is really a shame because there were a number of promising elements in the above described premise. The author just needed to pick a direction and take the story somewhere meaningful. But he never did. I have also become tired of the overuse of nanotechnology as a plot element. It didn't add here either and was another plot point that never went anywhere. This story would have been better with less science fiction, more low technology manipulation by the characters. A sigh of disappointment for great unrealized potential.
The seventh and final story on gluttony, "All You Care to Eat" was light, fun fare. It didn't make much sense, but it didn't have to. The story was nothing fancy and rather bizarro, a genre none of the other stories share in. Not to be taken seriously, it made for an easy and somewhat comic end to a highly entertaining anthology overall.
April 11, 2019
Review Copy
Horror, horroribler, horroribilist. Mix and match put these in any order and you have Cutting Block Books newest anthology THE SEVEN DEADLIEST. The authors are John C. Foster, Bracken MacLeod, Brian Kirk, Rena Mason, Kasey Lansdale, Richard Thomas and John F.D. Taff. Editing is by Patrick Beltran and D. Alexander Ward with a must read Foreword by Mercerdes Yardley.
Each author was randomly given one of the seven sins as their theme on which to base a novella. Each is horror driven and the writing...oh, the writing is exceptional! Each is twisted - if I were to pick a favorite....but I can't. I have read some, but not all of these authors prior to this. I plan on changing that and add more to my already overwhelming tbr pile. THE SEVEN DEADLIEST is going on to sit on my favorites shelf to be re-read many a time.
This is a book you don't want to miss. It will be released on May 7, 2019. I suggest you reserve your copy today. It's that damn good.
Horror, horroribler, horroribilist. Mix and match put these in any order and you have Cutting Block Books newest anthology THE SEVEN DEADLIEST. The authors are John C. Foster, Bracken MacLeod, Brian Kirk, Rena Mason, Kasey Lansdale, Richard Thomas and John F.D. Taff. Editing is by Patrick Beltran and D. Alexander Ward with a must read Foreword by Mercerdes Yardley.
Each author was randomly given one of the seven sins as their theme on which to base a novella. Each is horror driven and the writing...oh, the writing is exceptional! Each is twisted - if I were to pick a favorite....but I can't. I have read some, but not all of these authors prior to this. I plan on changing that and add more to my already overwhelming tbr pile. THE SEVEN DEADLIEST is going on to sit on my favorites shelf to be re-read many a time.
This is a book you don't want to miss. It will be released on May 7, 2019. I suggest you reserve your copy today. It's that damn good.
May 30, 2019
Excellent collection. Full review coming on CDonline.
July 2, 2020
*** Review copy received from the publisher for review consideration ***
The stories were all novelettes that explored their assigned sins in decadent detail, all of which embroiled me completely in the narratives they presented. As well, I quite enjoyed the post-piece write-ups each author did explaining their process for their particular stories.
Batting for Avarice, we have “Gilda” by John C. Foster. This story reminded me of getting to be a fly on the wall for the show “Feud,” which transformed the famous battle between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford into an episodic format. I loved the interactions between Gilda, Marie, and Hysteria. It didn’t take long for things to get very dark with this tale, and I think Foster did a masterful job with vivid characterization. As well, the tension and suspense that built throughout the piece were very well-executed calling to mind “The Tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe. The action eventually builds to a dynamic crescendo and will leave the reader reeling afterwards.
For Wrath/Anger, “A Short Madness” by Bracken MacLeod starts off with a priest who has in many ways understandably become jaded to the confessional process, and who could blame him considering the kinds of things he puts up with on a regular basis? They say they’re sorry but continue to commit horrible sins. He is tormented by the death of a woman he once knew and it drives him into an unexpected direction. I thought the author did a great job evoking an anger the reader would understand, and it built on the momentum of the previous story, which was a nice added dimension.
Kasey Lansdale tackles Pride in “Cap Diamant,” a historical tale about a sailor, George. His brother, Jean, meets a mysterious and beautiful woman in a bar named Eloise, and as one might expect, things go south from there. I enjoy historical horror quite a bit, and found this story to be an entertaining yarn.
Richard Thomas deals with Lust in “Ring of Fire,” in which the protagonist is obsessed with a woman, Rebecca. It’s a very trippy story and at first I thought that one or both of the characters were robots meant to look like humans, but let’s just say things took a turn in a much more Alien-like direction and that fans of sci-fi horror will really get a kick out of this one. Thomas explains in his afterword that he wanted to do something different with his pairing of lust and horror, and rest assured, he has pulled that off.
And capping things off is the King of Pain himself, John F.D. Taff, taking on Gluttony with “All You Care to Eat.” Lisa, the protagonist, has a weight problem. Her mother and sister stage and intervention and convince her to go to a therapist specializing in issues of weight loss. Her results seem to good to be true, and the intrigue comes from wondering of all the terrible costs she has to pay as the story goes on and that continue to accelerate, what is the big reveal going to be? It just keeps getting worse and worse until it blows up into an extraordinary crescendo of consumption.
Each story presents a unique and inventive twist on the Seven Deadly Sins, which is not an easy task to accomplish given the plethora of works in the horror genre that have charted this well-worn territory before. The authors make each of their takes seem fresh and dynamic, and this anthology is not one to be missed. If you haven’t already, put it on your ‘must-read’ list because it is a solid contender for the year’s best in horror.
The stories were all novelettes that explored their assigned sins in decadent detail, all of which embroiled me completely in the narratives they presented. As well, I quite enjoyed the post-piece write-ups each author did explaining their process for their particular stories.
Batting for Avarice, we have “Gilda” by John C. Foster. This story reminded me of getting to be a fly on the wall for the show “Feud,” which transformed the famous battle between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford into an episodic format. I loved the interactions between Gilda, Marie, and Hysteria. It didn’t take long for things to get very dark with this tale, and I think Foster did a masterful job with vivid characterization. As well, the tension and suspense that built throughout the piece were very well-executed calling to mind “The Tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe. The action eventually builds to a dynamic crescendo and will leave the reader reeling afterwards.
For Wrath/Anger, “A Short Madness” by Bracken MacLeod starts off with a priest who has in many ways understandably become jaded to the confessional process, and who could blame him considering the kinds of things he puts up with on a regular basis? They say they’re sorry but continue to commit horrible sins. He is tormented by the death of a woman he once knew and it drives him into an unexpected direction. I thought the author did a great job evoking an anger the reader would understand, and it built on the momentum of the previous story, which was a nice added dimension.
Kasey Lansdale tackles Pride in “Cap Diamant,” a historical tale about a sailor, George. His brother, Jean, meets a mysterious and beautiful woman in a bar named Eloise, and as one might expect, things go south from there. I enjoy historical horror quite a bit, and found this story to be an entertaining yarn.
Richard Thomas deals with Lust in “Ring of Fire,” in which the protagonist is obsessed with a woman, Rebecca. It’s a very trippy story and at first I thought that one or both of the characters were robots meant to look like humans, but let’s just say things took a turn in a much more Alien-like direction and that fans of sci-fi horror will really get a kick out of this one. Thomas explains in his afterword that he wanted to do something different with his pairing of lust and horror, and rest assured, he has pulled that off.
And capping things off is the King of Pain himself, John F.D. Taff, taking on Gluttony with “All You Care to Eat.” Lisa, the protagonist, has a weight problem. Her mother and sister stage and intervention and convince her to go to a therapist specializing in issues of weight loss. Her results seem to good to be true, and the intrigue comes from wondering of all the terrible costs she has to pay as the story goes on and that continue to accelerate, what is the big reveal going to be? It just keeps getting worse and worse until it blows up into an extraordinary crescendo of consumption.
Each story presents a unique and inventive twist on the Seven Deadly Sins, which is not an easy task to accomplish given the plethora of works in the horror genre that have charted this well-worn territory before. The authors make each of their takes seem fresh and dynamic, and this anthology is not one to be missed. If you haven’t already, put it on your ‘must-read’ list because it is a solid contender for the year’s best in horror.
May 23, 2019
Some times all it takes is a few authors to grab my attention for me to give an anthology a shot. This is exactly what happened with The Seven Deadliest. Names like John FD Taff, Brian Kirk, and Richard Thomas to name a few. Two of my favorites that were heart wrenching came from Richard Thomas and Brian Kirk. These stories were so powerful I had to put the book down and process what I had just read.
Ring of Fire by Richard Thomas, is in my opinion, his best work yet. Chisel and Stone by Brian Kirk killed me on the inside, and as an avid reader and horror fan, this doesn't happen enough. I also really enjoyed Cap Diamant by Kasey Lansdale. The way she weaved her tale was fantastic. Kasey Lansdale is an author I've never read before, making this a very welcome surprise. The king of pain did what he does best, had me shaking my head and feeling his characters pain. I couldn't believe the level of insanity in this story, and it just kept getting crazier as it went. I really dug this anthology and many thanks to the editors for my review copy.
Ring of Fire by Richard Thomas, is in my opinion, his best work yet. Chisel and Stone by Brian Kirk killed me on the inside, and as an avid reader and horror fan, this doesn't happen enough. I also really enjoyed Cap Diamant by Kasey Lansdale. The way she weaved her tale was fantastic. Kasey Lansdale is an author I've never read before, making this a very welcome surprise. The king of pain did what he does best, had me shaking my head and feeling his characters pain. I couldn't believe the level of insanity in this story, and it just kept getting crazier as it went. I really dug this anthology and many thanks to the editors for my review copy.
April 12, 2019
The blurb I offered on this book:
"Forget the ready-made horror trappings implicit in the notion of the Seven Deadly Sins. Forget, even, that you're dealing with seven of the best writers in today's horror fiction. Focus instead on these seven intense, soul-crunching stories, showing you all the ways the sin can affect the sinner. Imagine these stories as rotations of tales around the campfire, all meant for you; turning the page just means looking at the next person. THE SEVEN DEADLIEST serves up such surprising, chilling, intimate stories of our darkest fears and greatest regrets, told in the close manner of friends, I didn't want any of them to end. A stunning achievement for all the writers." - Paul Michael Anderson, author of BONES ARE MADE TO BE BROKEN
"Forget the ready-made horror trappings implicit in the notion of the Seven Deadly Sins. Forget, even, that you're dealing with seven of the best writers in today's horror fiction. Focus instead on these seven intense, soul-crunching stories, showing you all the ways the sin can affect the sinner. Imagine these stories as rotations of tales around the campfire, all meant for you; turning the page just means looking at the next person. THE SEVEN DEADLIEST serves up such surprising, chilling, intimate stories of our darkest fears and greatest regrets, told in the close manner of friends, I didn't want any of them to end. A stunning achievement for all the writers." - Paul Michael Anderson, author of BONES ARE MADE TO BE BROKEN
April 14, 2019
I could wax lyrical about this collection.
I could tell you how each sin has been cleverly integrated into stories that will put you through the emotional wringer.
I could tell you that you'll probably not read a book as good as this all year.
But I won't.
What I will tell you is that you'll be commiting the biggest of all sins if you don't buy this book.
One word...BRILLIANT!
I could tell you how each sin has been cleverly integrated into stories that will put you through the emotional wringer.
I could tell you that you'll probably not read a book as good as this all year.
But I won't.
What I will tell you is that you'll be commiting the biggest of all sins if you don't buy this book.
One word...BRILLIANT!
June 10, 2019
You can know a lot about a culture by knowing what it forbids. Pope Gregory the Great thought he'd boiled it all down to seven things we could always say no to, but the closer you look at the list, the more nuance you see. The Seven Deadliest is an ambitious new anthology which explores the all-time greatest no-no's, and manages to push beyond the easy dualism of good vs evil. For Sloth, Rena Mason shows that a character flaw can dominate a character we might otherwise consider a victim.
For Jealousy, Brian Kirk sifts our current politics to find the selfish nugget in a stream of good intentions. Richard Thomas shows that Lust doesn't just affect the body, but reaches into our dreams of a better future, of better selves. John F.D. Taff takes Gluttony beyond body weight and into the consequences attached to everything we take into ourselves, both physical and emotional. Plus, if you're curious about process, each author includes a statement about the choices made for each story. I guarantee this collection will entertain and provoke thought.
For Jealousy, Brian Kirk sifts our current politics to find the selfish nugget in a stream of good intentions. Richard Thomas shows that Lust doesn't just affect the body, but reaches into our dreams of a better future, of better selves. John F.D. Taff takes Gluttony beyond body weight and into the consequences attached to everything we take into ourselves, both physical and emotional. Plus, if you're curious about process, each author includes a statement about the choices made for each story. I guarantee this collection will entertain and provoke thought.
June 6, 2019
Stunning collection - really, I was afraid it would be a bit rote and maybe even a little trite, but no. Every single story held my attention. Sloth and Lust will bear re-reading now that I know where they’re going. Avarice and Gluttony were probably my favorite.
November 15, 2019
Every story is unique and none are predictable, which is the thing you’d worry about with a collection like this. Each author approached their particular sin from an original angle. And I can’t get over how great the writing is. Usually anthologies have clunkers at some point, but all of these were very well done.
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