Year's Best Horror Stories: Vol. XXI edited by Karl Edward Wagner
- Purchase it here
- 26 short stories by such authors as Ramsey Campbell, Kim, Newman, Rick Kennett and W.M. Schockley
- Published October 1993 (paperback edition)
- Finished reading it on February 15, 1996
- This collection is pretty good. For some reason, it seemed to drag in a lot of places. The first half
didn't seem to have very many stories that I though of as good; they were mostly predictable. Things got
better near the end of the book. Then they tied up with easily the best short story in the book and that
I've read in a while. Once again my favorite stories are below:
"The Limits of Fantasy" by Ramsey Campbell - We find out exactly how far obsession can take a person and his subject.
"The Outsider" by Rick Kennett - An Australian goes on vacation in England and ends up performing an Exorcism.
"The Hyacinth Girl" by Mary Ann Mitchell - Long-life is discovered with an amazing sacrifice.
"Largesse" by Mark McLaughlin - This will give you second thoughts about renting the latest horror movie from the local video store.
"Spring Ahead, Fall Back" by Michael A. Arnzen - This will make you wary of the night to change your clocks.
"Week Woman" by Kim Newman - A demented twist of the movie "Green Card" with Gerard Depardieu.
"A Father's Gift" by W. M. Schockley - A chilling tale of a man who tries to make the world a better place for his children and in the end does much more than that.
Year's Best Horror Stories: Vol. XXII edited by Karl Edward Wagner
- Purchase it here
- 31 short stories by such authors as Dennis Etchison, Ramsey Campbell, Wayne Allen Sallee, T.E.D. Klein, Lisa Tuttle and others
- Published November 1994 (paperback edition)
- Finished reading it on December 10, 1996
- Wagner has compiled another really good collection of some really good stories. There are plenty here
that I considered to slowly sneak up and scare me. Then to top it off, Wagner, while providing a
biography for each author, comes up with a theory involving cats and coffee that is as fun to read. I
found myself looking forward to the biographies as much as I was looking forward to the stories.
Consider this collection recommended. Some of my favorites are below.
"The Ripper's Tune" by Gregory Nicoll - Jack the Ripper lays claim to a rock song.
"One Size Eats All" by T.E.D. Klein - A typo? Or not?
"Resurrection" by Adam Meyer - A scary tale of life after death, after death...
"David" by Sean Doolittle - A stranger has a request which he insists gets done.
"Ridi Bobo" by Robert Devereaux - It's a clown's world after all.
"Momento Mori" by Scott Thomas - The dead speak through tombstones.
"Ice Cream and Tombstones" by Nira Kiriki - A story most people can probably relate to.
You Come When I Call You by Douglas Clegg
- Purchase it here
- Published March 2000 (paperback edition)
- Finished reading it on October 01, 2001
- Unfortunately this is another book by Clegg that I'm disappointed with but I now know why. It's the way that Clegg jumps around in his story telling that annoys me; he is constantly having flashbacks and memories of the past that are weaved in to his stories. He did this for Halloween Man, Naomi and this novel. Then when he did not do it for Bad Karma and I liked that one, it helped to clear up my mystery. This novel involves a story about three people who did something horrible years ago and who are now having things happen which are drawing them back to the small town where it happened. The story itself is pretty interesting and appealing but as I already mentioned, the method of story telling just does not do it for me. Give one of the previously mentioned novels a try for yourself though; it might just be a style thing that I don't like. Which is a shame because I really like his newsletter that he sends out; info on it can be found at his website.
Young Blood edited by Mike Baker
- Purchase it here
- 29 short stories by such authors as Stephen King, Ramsey Campbell, Robert E. Howard, Edgar Allan Poe and Robert Bloch
- Published March 1994 (paperback edition)
- Finished reading it on October 11, 1996
- All of these stories were written before the author's 30th birthday, the point being to prove that you
don't have to be old to contribute good stuff. The collection includes stories from both older or
deceased authors as well as new previously unpublished authors. The collection started off kind of weak
and didn't have quite as many gems as I expected. I was kind of amazed at how many of the stories were
pretty short. Maybe it was their brevity or maybe the writing itself, but the stories were just not as
good as I expected. However I have listed the ones I did like below.
"The Mangler" by Stephen King - Early King but still good stuff, some might even say better than some of his current offerings
"Little Black Bags" by Clark Perry - Everything is not as it seems
"Armadillo Village" by Terry Campbell - An old horror story theme that proves to still be very good
Send comments or your opinions on these books to mike@kazba.com.