The Best of Cemetery Dance (Richard Chizmar, ed. 1998)

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My library had a copy of this when I was younger--didn't know how good I had it until I tried to track it down later in life and found that it was only available in expensive collectors' editions.


Then in a bookshop in Providence I came upon this two-volume set put out by New American Library and picked it up.





And now I own the original version as well! And I also see that there's a volume 2 of The Best of Cemetery Dance recently out, again at bank-breaking prices, but I may pass. 


This book was, along with 999 and Dark Masques (the first two Masques books, in a less than authorized Pinnacle edition) one of the three anthologies that really shaped my views of contemporary horror fiction when I went nuts for this stuff in high school. When I rematched with tBoCD about eight years ago, I found that it didn't hold up that well at all for the most part. So time (between working through Borderlands, Hot Blood, and the other stuff I have) for something of a rematch. Here's the contents:

11 • Introduction (The Best of Cemetery Dance) • essay by Richard Chizmar

29 • Chattery Teeth • (1992) • novelette by Stephen King

61 • The Box • (1994) • short story by Jack Ketchum

73 • Haceldama • (1993) • novelette by Gary A. Braunbeck

109 • The Pig Man • (1993) • short story by Augustine Funnell

125 • Mobius • (1987) • short story by Richard Christian Matheson

129 • The Rendering Man • (1994) • short story by Douglas Clegg

147 • Weight • (1994) • short story by Dominick Cancilla

159 • Layover • (1991) • short story by Ed Gorman

169 • Johnny Halloween • (1992) • short story by Norman Partridge

181 • Hope • (1993) • short story by Steve Bevan

187 • The Mailman • (1988) • short story by Bentley Little

197 • Silhouette • (1996) • short story by Stephen Mark Rainey

215 • Roadkill • (1991) • short story by Tom Elliott

221 • The Rifle • (1995) • short story by Jack Ketchum

233 • Pieces • (1992) • short story by Ray Garton

237 • Rustle • (1993) • short story by Peter Crowther

255 • When the Silence Gets Too Loud • (1995) • short story by Brian Hodge

269 • The Rabbit • (1990) • short story by Jack Pavey

281 • The Flood • (1986) • short story by John Maclay

287 • The Right Thing • (1994) • short story by Gary L. Raisor [as by Gary Raisor]

305 • Pig's Dinner • (1991) • short story by Graham Masterton

317 • Crash Cart • (1993) • short story by Nancy Holder

329 • Wall of Words • (1994) • short story by Lucy Taylor

337 • Metastasis • (1990) • short story by David B. Silva

349 • Wrapped Up • (1981) • short story by Ramsey Campbell

357 • Depth of Reflection • (1990) • short story by David L. Duggins

369 • The Mole • (1990) • short story by David Niall Wilson

375 • Saviour • (1991) • short story by Gary A. Braunbeck

391 • Great Expectations • (1990) • short story by Kim Antieau

397 • Shell • (1992) • short story by Adam Corbin Fusco

403 • Eater • (1995) • novelette by Peter Crowther

425 • Tyrannosaurus • non-genre • (1994) • short story by Norman Partridge

429 • Vacation • [Jack Murphy] • (1994) • short story by Matthew J. Costello [as by Matthew Costello]

447 • A Taste of Blood and Altars • [Steve and Ghost Universe] • (1988) • short story by Poppy Z. Brite

455 • Mr. God • (1993) • short story by Thomas Tessier

469 • Drive-In Date • (1991) • short story by Joe R. Lansdale

485 • Desert Pickup • (1970) • short story by Richard Laymon

491 • Fyodor's Law • (1994) • short story by William F. Nolan

501 • Five to Get Ready, Two to Go • (1996) • short story by Hugh B. Cave

515 • Secrets • (1991) • short story by Melanie Tem

525 • With the Wound Still Wet • (1991) • short story by Wayne Allen Sallee

529 • Plainclothes • (1991) • short story by Steve Rasnic Tem

541 • The Pattern • (1971) • short story by Bill Pronzini

549 • Seesaw • (1990) • short story by David L. Duggins

553 • Trial by Fire • (1992) • short story by Barry Hoffman

575 • Almost Never • (1991) • short story by Edward Lee

589 • Bloodline • (1990) • short story by Roman A. Ranieri

599 • Four-in-Hand • (1989) • short story by William Relling, Jr.

605 • The Cutty Black Sow • (1984) • short story by Thomas F. Monteleone

619 • The Liar's Mouth • (1993) • short story by Darrell Schweitzer

633 • Shattered Silver • (1990) • short story by James Kisner

651 • YSEX • (1991) • short story by Steven Spruill

675 • Mongrel • (1990) • short story by Steve Vernon

679 • The Winds Within • (1991) • short story by Ronald Kelly

695 • Crying Wolf • (1990) • short story by Rick Hautala

709 • Animal Rites • (1995) • short story by Jay Bonansinga [as by Jay R. Bonansinga]

719 • Easy's Last Stand • (1991) • short story by Nancy A. Collins

737 • A Christmas Story • (1992) • short story by James S. Dorr [as by James Dorr]

741 • Comes the Night Wind, Cold and Hungry • (1991) • novelette by Gene-Michael Higney (variant of Comes the Night Wind, Cold, And Hungry) [as by Gene Michael Higney]

769 • A Conversation with Dean Koontz • (1997) • interview of Dean R. Koontz • interview by Robert Morrish

783 • Afterword (The Best of Cemetery Dance) • essay by David B. Silva

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I had a subscription of CD for a while back then ( I think I posted this already somewhere.)  I remember starting to skim the stories fast and concentrating more on the editorial content. I re-read a few issues in recent times and thought most of the fiction very dull. It is often strange how badly especially the 90s stuff has aged. On the other hand, they had to fill their issues and the material went through an editorial process. ( I don't want to know how much failed this test.)

For all the complaints the magazine produced doubtless works which became classics. And the cover art was a beauty.

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Agreed that the stories are surprisingly not great on the whole.


Still, there are some gems here: The King story, both Ketchums, both Braunbecks, the Holder, and the Crowther are memorable; so is the Monteleone. 

There are a lot of crime stories (like Hugh Cave's, for example)  and a lot of stories which seem to boil down to "oh, here's another serial killer with hangups who takes it out on women." 

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Okay, let’s take a crack at this

Chattery Teeth - Stephen King. Almost stereotypically King in its fearsome inanimate objects, working man hero and colorful American flavor. A traveling salesman stops off at a decaying roadside gas station and picks up a broken pair of jumbo chattering teeth (they also walk). A little later he picks up a hitchhiker. One of these was a mistake; the other isn’t.

Never short of obvious but a real crowd pleaser. King’s wry but compassionate portrayal of the people who run the broken down has station has always stuck with me.

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Almost Never - Edward Lee: Two mobsters—one comparatively sympathetic, one vile—are working “snatch” duty for the Vinchetti crime family’s illegal porn business. Their job is to kidnap kids for unspeakable purposes. Their latest target is an innocent young girl who lives in the woods with her grandpa. Our protagonist, wracked with guilt, plans that this will be the last kidnapping he ever does. He’s right about that…

I’m a Lee fan, somewhat, and this is more restrained (and better written) than some of his other work. It’s good enough to keep you from realizing that this story is just literally “Popsy,” only with twice as many mobsters and twice as many monsters.