McCammon - Under the Fang

[andydecker]

As Dem mentioned it and it isn´t already covered, here is another 90s.

Robert R. McCammon (Ed.) - Under the Fang (Pocket Books, 1991, 336 pages)


Cover: Mitzura Salgian

Contents:

Introduction
Robert McCammon - The Miracle Mile
Nancy Collins - Dancing Nitely
Clint Collins - Stoker´s Mistress
Sidney Williams&Robert Petitt - Does the Blood Line Run on Time?
Al Sarrantonio - Red Eve
Charles de Lint - We Are Dead Together
Chet Williamson - Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage
Suzy McKee Charnas & Chelsea Quinn Yarbro - Advocates
Richard Laymon - Special
J. N. Williamson - Herrenrasse
Ed Gorman - Duty
Brian Hodge - Midnight Sun
David N. Meyer III - A Bloodsucker
Thomas F. Monteleone - Prodigal Sun
Clifford V. Brooks - There are no Nightclubs in East Palo Alto
Lisa W. Cantrell - Juice
Dan Perez - Behind Enemy Lines


This is a very typical line-up of the time. Every "name" of who was published at the time and often considered "important", without a writer´s introduction, which makes the two or three unknowns even more unknown at the time.

I know I read this, but can´t remember one story.

Now, 18 years later, there are not many of those horror-stars still publishing successfully, at least not under their names. McCammon tries it with historical novel at the moment, and Ed Gorman is still busy. Nancy Collins, who was in every antho at the time, is writing YA vampires.

[dem bones]

might as well throw in the blurb:

THEY'VE WON...
They came in the night, to the towns and cities. Like a slow insidious virus they spread from house to house, building to building, from graveyard to bedroom and cellar to boardroom. They are ancient and deathless, sun-shy and bloodthirsty. For millennia their vile compulsion kept them in the darkest corners of the human imagination. But the dark-hearted hordes are conquerers now and those who survive are forced to live UNDER THE FANG.

In this unparalleled feast for the imagination, America's premier horror writers have created a world of vampirism run amok. From Moscow to Tokyo, New York to Los Angeles, vampire kingdoms rise and fall, their unholy religions, fiendish science and depraved entertainments hold ghastly sway. Come share the terrifying vision of a future UNDER THE FANG.

Their time never passes. Their time is now

In other words, it's in the tradition of McCammon's wildly entertaining They Thirst. Have sidelined this for a reread as I fondly remember the McCammon, de Lint, Gorman and Laymon stories and enjoyed the book at the time, certainly far more than the Horror Writers Of America's second effort. I think it raises the question: are these horror writer associations, guilds and what have you a good thing? In the case of the HWA, there must have been enormous pressure on every author in the field to join or risk being thought a talentless inferior. As Andy points out, most of the days big names bar Stephen King contributed to Under The Fang but F. Paul Wilson fielded a slightly less glamorous line-up for the following year's Freak Show.

Small taster;

Ed Gorman - Duty: Unremittingly grim story of Keller, forced to slay his wife and son after they fell victims of the vampire contagion. Since the tragedy, he's operated as a travelling stakes-man to a small farming community. We join him as his sets out for the Dodds' whose little daughter Beth has fallen prey to the undead.

Charles de Lint - We Are Dead Together: As do the rest of her clan, Gypsy musician Kata wears the blood red tattoo of the President of Stansford Chemicals to ward off "the cold dead". But her faith in this talisman is shattered when her husband is killed by the vampires despite wearing the markings (she stakes him with a broken fiddle). Her next recital, before a capacity crowd at the Brewer Theatre, is a kamikaze performance but five-hundred incinerations aren't going to make much difference to the swollen ranks of the undead.

David N. Meyer III - A Bloodsucker: Gorgeous, super-slick Mr. Albinus is a publisher who can offer even the most appalling author immortality, but will they meet his price? Of course they will - the clue is in the word 'author'!

Richard Laymon - Special: The vampires have inherited the earth but they still have their uses for mere humans beyond just keeping them as cattle. There are still some pockets of resistance, so they recruit 'Guardians', collaborators whose job it is to kill the Outlaw men and capture their women for breeding. Jim is a Guardian who grows dangerously obsessed with Diane, the fiery outlaw he captured and who is now pregnant with what may or may not be his child. Knowing the fate that's in store for her when she gives birth, Jim faces a dilemma. Will he dare turn against his masters?