Night Visions: In the Blood

Night Visions #1

by Alan Ryan (Editor), Charles L. Grant (Contributor), Steve Rasnic Tem (Contributor)

A collection of eighteen horror tales by three noted writers includes "Friends in Dark Places," "Poor Thing," "Dark Shapes in the Road," and "The Vampire Lover"

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Anthologies, Fiction

304 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Alan Peter Ryan was an American author and editor, known for his work in the horror genre in the 1980s.

Reviews

[Karl]

Introduction by Alan Ryan and illustrated by
Gregory Manchess, and the following stories:

Charles L. Grant

Friends in Dark Places
Family
What Are Deaths For
Poor Thing
To Laugh With You, Dear
In the Blood
And We'll Be Jolly Friends

Steve Rasnic Tem

The Men and Women of Rivendale
Dark Shapes in the Road
Spidertalk
Punishment
The Overcoat
Rider
Worms

Tanith Lee

The Tree: A Winter's Tale
Simon's Wife
The Vampire Lover
The Hunting of Death: The Unicorn

[Jack Tripper · Rating 4 out of 5]

One thing I love about these Night Visions anthologies of the 80s is the fact that you get a fair sampling of a writer's work as opposed to just one story apiece from dozens of authors. In each of the volumes, three authors get about 90-100 pages worth of stories each, and whether they spend them using 6 or 7 short stories or 1 or 2 longer stories is up to them (or the editor I guess). This helps to allow each to show off their full range as writers. Here, Charles L. Grant and Steve Rasnic Tem get 7 stories apiece, while Tanith Lee gets 4 (longer) tales.

This volume finally made me realize just how much I've always really liked Steve Rasnic Tem, without ever acknowledging it to myself or looking further into his short stories, other than his very good "slipstream" collection from 2013, Celestial Inventories. It seems he was in nearly every horror anthology of the 80s and early 90s (especially any that Charles Grant edited), and I almost always enjoy Tem's stories, but the space he's given here allowed me to fully appreciate his poetic style and his gift for eerie, understated horror -- though he is also capable of going for the throat, as can be seen in "Spidertalk."

While I did enjoy Charles Grant's brand of "quiet horror" here ("Friends in Dark Places" is especially creepy, and has never been collected or anthologized anywhere else as far as I know) and Tanith Lee's patented dark, romantic modern fairy tales are in full effect, and I do enjoy them when I'm in the mood, it's Tem's work that steals the show for me, with his Aickman-esque "The Men and Women of Rivendale" proving the most effective at creeping me out. It's a dream-like tale of a couple staying at an isolated resort with some rather strange residents and inexplicable goings-on. It can also be found in the exceptional Alan Ryan-edited Penguin's Best Vampire Stories, which isn't as much of a spoiler as you may think.

Overall, I recommend this and the other entries of the Night Visions series, especially vol. 3, which contains top-notch stories from Ramsey Campbell, Lisa Tuttle, and the entirety of "The Hellbound Heart" (i.e. Hellraiser) novella by Clive Barker, and vol. 5, which contains the excellent George RR Martin werewolf novella "The Skin Trade," as well as fairly good work from Stephen King and Dan Simmons.

4.0 Stars

[Will Errickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A terrific anthology showing the state of the art of horror fiction in the early/mid 1980s. Perfect for PAPERBACKS FROM HELL fans! Full review on my blog:

http://toomuchhorrorfiction.blogspot....

[Alyne Winter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a die hard fan of Tanith Lee's short stories. They are food for the soul. I got this book for her stories--especially The Vampire Lover.
This story alone gets 5 stars!
Most reviewers give high praise to the works of the two men in this anthology and ignore or dismiss Lee's stories. For me those highly praised stories of plagues and spiders were very boring. The writing has no style and the themes are merely depressing. I hate to call them typical American pulp, but for me that's what they are.
Lee's work, on the other hand, shines. I am surprised she is even included with these others, as her artistry is so superior, her sensibility rich and evocative, the worlds she creates are seductive and atmospheric. It amazes me that these stories are not appreciated. I don't understand it.
I wish i could give this anthology 5 stars just for Tanith Lee. But as a whole, her luminous stories must suffer the weight of the lesser works she's saddled with.

[Jk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall I thought that this was a decent anthology and though a lot of the stories were pretty average there were none that I disliked or did not enjoy in some way.

The introduction by Alan Ryan was great - it was short and to the point, not drawn out and boring as some can be and it nicely introduced the three featured authors and what the book held in store.

The standout stories for me were 'In the Blood' by Charles L. Grant, 'Spidertalk' and 'Punishment' by Steve Rasnic Tem and 'The Vampire Lover' by Tanith Lee.

Definitely worth a read if you run across a copy!

[Shannon Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, I think this was a great idea for an anthology. Taking multiple stories from three authors and showcasing them together was unusual. I think my favorite stories were by Charles L. Grant. Some of the stories weren't as enjoyable as I would have liked, and there were times I struggled, though these are all esteemed and talented writers. It might have been due to the very format I was so excited about. When I read an anthology, I'm accustomed to having to reset mentally between authors/stories, but it was harder to reset to a different style of writing when I'd been reading what was essentially a collection of one author's works before switching to a whole new author. It's amazing how distinctive each author's style is, and it was an interesting study in just that.

[Meredith is a hot mess]

Note to Self: Lee's short story, The Vampire Lover, is included in Blood 20: Tales of Vampire Horror

Lee's Short Stories in this anthology include:

The Tree: A Winter's Tale
Simon's Wife
The Vampire Lover
The Hunting of Death: The Unicorn

http://mporcius.blogspot.com/2014/05/...

[DeAnna Knippling · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting format -- 3 authors, 100 pages each, a variety of short stories, all from literary horror writers of the time.

Clarharles L Grant--I think I'm just never going to like his characters or plots. God writing.

Steve Rasnic Tem--really liked his style, but most of these stories are, "and then it tuned out they were crazy."

Tanith Lee--she has a REALLY Gothic style, but what felt like the stories with the most juice. Not really horror, but Gothic. As you do.

[Jeannie Sloan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was kind of let down with this book.You would think with these 3 authors that it would be a wonderful book but I found that these stories were not,for the most part,scary or particularly very good with the exception of the story about spiders.