What do you think?
Rate this book
Bound for Evil: Curious Tales of Books Gone Bad
66 fantastic tales, both new and classic, by dozens of contributors including Ramsey Campbell and Fred Chappell, explore the sometimes deleterious effects of books. Illustrated by World Fantasy Award-winner Allen Koszowski.
From the publisher:
A disillusioned journalist searches for a missing girl in a midnight world of illegal coffee dens and black market books.
An insomniac haunted by the death of his wife volunteers to take part in a bizarre research experiment.
A wealthy bibliophile hires a thief to recover a book that has the power to change literary history.
A bestselling writer confronts a menacing character from his past—the protagonist of his forgotten first novel.
A shortsighted engineer stumbles across a book that’s not supposed to actually exist—a book that will forever alter the face of the earth.
Just a few of the tales that await you in this mammoth anthology: 66 ingenious stories of lost knowledge and restless ghosts, secret libraries and forbidden texts, alternate worlds and ancient gods, by 59 acclaimed writers including Ramsey Campbell, Fred Chappell, H.P. Lovecraft, Jeffrey Thomas, Rhys Hughes, Gary McMahon, M.R. James, Lavie Tidhar, and Kurt Newton.
From the publisher:
A disillusioned journalist searches for a missing girl in a midnight world of illegal coffee dens and black market books.
An insomniac haunted by the death of his wife volunteers to take part in a bizarre research experiment.
A wealthy bibliophile hires a thief to recover a book that has the power to change literary history.
A bestselling writer confronts a menacing character from his past—the protagonist of his forgotten first novel.
A shortsighted engineer stumbles across a book that’s not supposed to actually exist—a book that will forever alter the face of the earth.
Just a few of the tales that await you in this mammoth anthology: 66 ingenious stories of lost knowledge and restless ghosts, secret libraries and forbidden texts, alternate worlds and ancient gods, by 59 acclaimed writers including Ramsey Campbell, Fred Chappell, H.P. Lovecraft, Jeffrey Thomas, Rhys Hughes, Gary McMahon, M.R. James, Lavie Tidhar, and Kurt Newton.
800 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
5 people are currently reading
122 people want to read
About the author
Tom English
26 books22 followersTom English is an environmental chemist who writes strange tales of the supernatural in his spare time. His fiction appears in several anthologies, including Haunted House Short Stories, Detective Thrillers Short Stories, Gaslight Arcanum (an anthology of supernatural Sherlock Holmes stories), and Challenger Unbound, as well as issues of Weirdbook, Black Infinity, and All Hallows (The Journal of the Ghost Story Society). His first story “Lightning Rod” was selected to appear in Horror: The Best of the Year, 2008 (Wildside Press, 2009). Tom’s nonfiction books include Diet for Dreamers, Angel in the Kitchen, and The Heart of an Angel, both written with his wife, Wilma. He also edited Bound for Evil, a 2008 Shirley Jackson Award finalist for best anthology, featuring stories about strange, often deadly books. Tom resides with Wilma, surrounded by books and beasts, deep in the woods of New Kent, VA.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
November 20, 2018
Pretty solid 3.5 stars. The book itself, as an artefact, sits beautifully on the shelf. Black leather with gold lettering exudes ominousness from the darkest shadows of the bookshelf. It's quite hefty, weighing in a nearly 800 pages. You definitely are getting your monies worth... at least quantity-wise.
Content wise... like most anthologies out there (particularly in the horror genre)... the quality of the stories is significantly uneven. If the quality of this anthology looked anything like a Gausian curve, the left tail would be significantly long... much longer than the right tail... which is unfortunate. I love the concept of books about books... particularly about hidden books and destructive forbidden knowledge and there are definitely some very high quality tales in here... I think making this collection worth the entry fee. But... much of the stuff in here is pretty middling... and there definitely felt like a few too many amateurish attempts that seemed to mar this collection. An anthology of this sort really ought to be rid of dreck... but hey... I didn't put the time and effort editing this anthology... and really ought not to complain too loudly.
The Allen K illustrations for many of these stories are a very nice touch... and adds a certain ambiance. Definitely reminded of some of the brilliant work that Allen K did for the DJ covers of the Midnight House books.
Content wise... like most anthologies out there (particularly in the horror genre)... the quality of the stories is significantly uneven. If the quality of this anthology looked anything like a Gausian curve, the left tail would be significantly long... much longer than the right tail... which is unfortunate. I love the concept of books about books... particularly about hidden books and destructive forbidden knowledge and there are definitely some very high quality tales in here... I think making this collection worth the entry fee. But... much of the stuff in here is pretty middling... and there definitely felt like a few too many amateurish attempts that seemed to mar this collection. An anthology of this sort really ought to be rid of dreck... but hey... I didn't put the time and effort editing this anthology... and really ought not to complain too loudly.
The Allen K illustrations for many of these stories are a very nice touch... and adds a certain ambiance. Definitely reminded of some of the brilliant work that Allen K did for the DJ covers of the Midnight House books.
Displaying 1 of 1 review