Stephen Jones & David Sutton – Dark Terrors 2

[dem bones]

Stephen Jones & David Sutton (eds.) – Dark Terrors 2 (Gollancz, 1996)

Bob Eggleton

Stephen Jones & David Sutton – Introduction

Nicholas Royle – The Comfort of Strangers
Brian Lumley – A Really Game Boy
Conrad Williams – Something for Free
David J. Schow – (Melodrama)
James Miller – Absolute Zero
Paul J. McAuley – Negative Equity
Caitlín R. Kiernan – To This Water (Johnstown, Pennsylvania 1889)
Ramsey Campbell – Out of the Woods
Steve Rasnic Tem – The Rains
Graham Masterton – Underbed
Clive Barker – Animal Life
Jay Russell – Lily’s Whisper
Michael Marshall Smith – Hell Hath Enlarged Herself
Thomas Tessier – Ghost Music: A Memoir by George Beaune
Dennis Etchison – The Dead Cop
Kim Newman – Where the Bodies Are Buried 2020
Harlan Ellison – The Museum on Cyclops Avenue
Peter Straub – Hunger: An Introduction


Blurb:
THE GOLLANCZ BOOK OF HORROR
presents more of the very best tales of terror by modern masters of the macabre.
From the World Fantasy and British Fantasy Award-winning team of editors comes a showcase anthology of tales of supernatural fear and psychological dread. .
Within these pages discover the terrifying talents of such bestselling writers as
CLIVE BARKER - PETER STRAUB - BRIAN LUMLEY - HARLAN ELLISON -RAMSEY CAMPBELL - KIM NEWMAN - THOMAS TESSIER - PAUL J. McAULEY - MICHAEL MARSHALL SMITH - DENNIS ETCHISON and many more.

`An anthology ... that proves there is much more to the genre than creaks in the attic and supernatural chic' Arena
`Britain's most prestigious short fiction collection' Bookseller
`Highly recommended' Arcane
`The true home of the best in horror fiction' SFX

The second volume once the series had quit Pan for Gollancz. By now, we are a long, long way from Herbert Van Thal territory ...

Paul J. McAuley - Negative Equity: It is the age of the Yuppie, and high flyers Mark and Caroline invest heavily in a grand property in Norwich. Quite apart from the mortgage, there is an additional annual cost, one Mark neglects to share with the little wife, as it involves regular human sacrifice to keep the thing in the cellar sweet. At least there are plenty of impoverished losers to prey upon, and it is not like they will be missed.

I loved this one. From the afterword we learn that Mr. McAuley began writing the story in the late eighties "When everyone was talking about nothing else except how much more their house was worth this week. It was as if they were ... possessed. In its embryonic form, the story was overtaken by the Lawson boom/ bust in house prices, but a recent television documentary series hosted by the egregious Peter York brought back the whole horror of the decade of cruise missiles, yuppies, Gordon 'Greed' Gekko, and Wham! and gave me a way of bringing the story up to date."

Brian Lumley - A Really Game Boy: The sheriff is taking a statement from Zeb, the local retard, in connection with the disappearance of his thirteen year old pal, Willy-Jay. Happy at being the centre of attention for once, Zeb blurts out the truth concerning the rape and mysterious drowning of pretty little Emma May. Oh dear; Willy-Jay's gonna be in a lot of trouble when he quits fooling with all those flies 'n maggots over at the Livery!

Conrad Williams - Something for Free: Heavily pregnant Isobel is lured inside the Belsize Park home of a lonely old woman on the promise of free toys for the little one. What will kindly, selfless Eva want in return?

Peter Straub - Hunger: An Introduction: Convoluted life story of self-proclaimed genius Mr. Francis T. Wardwell, late of McNair's Fine Clothing & Draperies. Narrated by Wardwell in the afterlife following his execution for the murder of his detested employer from whom he'd been embezzling for decades. Wardwell's testimony is entirely unreliable; quick to absolve himself of every heinous transgression, his epic whinge of self-justification is frequently and quite alarmingly funny. I'm not sure what the bogey-eating child has to do with anything. Straub's comments in the afterword are insufferably smug.

Kim Newman - Where the Bodies Are Buried 2020: In the face of global protest from Evangelical groups, Derek Leech enterprises pioneer 'dreamsphere', a highly controversial televisual experience akin to virtual reality turned up to eleven. Naturally, they first apply the technique to a remake of the original Where The Bodies Are Buried, initiating a new wave of Hackwill murders. My least favourite of the series, not that it matters a jot.

Graham Masterton - Underbed: Martin loves bedtime because that's when he can burrow down under the sheets and embark on his heroic adventures, like saving a little kid fallen down a pothole, etc. So consumed is he in his fantasies that tonight he breaks through to another world for real. A fisherman and his wife prevail upon him to rescue his little daughter, a fellow adventurer, gone missing in the terrible world of Under-Underbed, where flesh-eating monsters lie in wait for the living.

[Jojo Lapin X]

Mar 21, 2014 18:04:25 GMT dem bones said:

Straub's comments in the afterword are insufferably smug.

His entire body of work, since sometime in the 80s, has been insufferably smug.