A book of horrors

Review by Booklist Review

The time has come, editor Jones tells us, to rebel against horror-lite vampire romances, mash-ups, werewolves who double as government operatives and reclaim the horror genre for those who understand and appreciate the worth and impact of a scary story. These 14 stories, many of them by acknowledged masters of the genre (King, Campbell, Matheson) are all old-fashioned, spine-tingling horror. A wealthy man's live-in nurse finds out the hard way that her skepticism about an exorcism was misplaced; an attractive hitchhiker has an unusual interest in arson; a man is a telephone lifeline in a game show that could be frighteningly real; a boy's heart seems to stop when he's scared. While some of the stories have a distinctly Tales of the Unexpected quality to them a spooky lead-up to a startling twist ending others are more subtly crafted tales that pull readers in almost from the first paragraph and hold them there, in their icy grip, until the final sentences. An excellent collection, and a good reminder that you can still tell terrifying horror stories, even in an age of love-stricken vampires.--Pitt, David Copyright 2010 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Jones (The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror) passes up the coy and cute for the purely frightening in this exemplary anthology for those who "understand and appreciate the worth and impact of a scary story." In "The Little Green God of Agony," Stephen King conjures up a horrific medical situation with a final twist worthy of a sinister O. Henry. In "Getting It Wrong," Ramsey Campbell dials into the world of phone quiz shows where errors are not tolerated. Noisy neighbors provoke personal collapse and family dissolution in Robert Shearman's "Alice Through the Plastic Sheet." Atmospherics are as crucial to traditional horror as apparitions, and Reggie Oliver's "A Child's Problem" pits a young boy against a malevolent uncle and butler on an isolated British estate, while in the haunting "Near Zennor," Elizabeth Hand sends widowed American architect Jeffrey wandering through a spectral Cornish landscape in a search for understanding. The abundance of talent will provide ample delights and frights for anyone in search of true classic horror. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

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Review by Library Journal Review

From Stephen King's eerie tale about pain personified ("The Little Green God of Agony") to Richard Christian Matheson's creepy musing on the moment of death ("Last Words"), the 14 original short stories and novellas gathered here by Hugo and World Fantasy Award winner Jones (The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror) hark back to horror's traditional roots before the genre fell to the onslaught of seductive vampires, sexy werewolves, and romantic ghosts. Ghost stories like Reggie Oliver's "A Child's Problem," Lisa Tuttle's supernatural thriller "The Man in the Ditch," and Elizabeth Hand's elegantly eerie novella "Near Zennor" prove that classic horror still thrives. VERDICT Fans of old-style horror should enjoy this varied collection. (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Introduction Whatever Happened to Horror? WHAT THE HELL happened to the horror genre? Whatever happened to menacing monsters, vicious vampires, lethal lycanthropes, ghastly ghosts and monstrous mummies? These days our bloodsuckers are more likely to show their romantic nature, werewolves work for covert government organisations, phantoms are private investigators and the walking dead can be found sipping tea amongst the polite society of a Jane Austen novel. These are not the iconic figures of fear and wonder that we grew up with. These are not the Creatures of the Night that have scared multiple generations over the centuries and forced countless small children to hide under the bedclothes reading their books and comics by torchlight. Today we are living in a world that is 'horror-lite'. This appalling appellation was coined by publishers to describe the type of fiction that is currently enjoying massive success under such genre categories as 'paranormal romance', 'urban fantasy', 'literary mash-up' or even 'steampunk'. Although it cannot be denied that there is an audience for these types of fictions, for the most part these books are not aimed at readers of traditional horror stories. The audience for this type of fiction has no interest in being deliciously scared by what they read, or left thinking about a particularly disturbing tale long after they have finished a story and closed the book. And that would not be a problem if publishers and booksellers were not usurping the traditional horror market with an avalanche of disposable volumes aimed at the middle-of-the-road reader. Well, the time has come to reclaim the horror genre for those who understand and appreciate the worth and impact of a scary story. With A Book of Horrors we hope that we have lived up to that title and all that it implies. As anybody who has ever read any of my other books knows, my own definition of what makes a superior horror story is pretty inclusive. Obviously not every tale is going to appeal to every reader, but what I have attempted to do is bring you a wide range of original stories, by some of the finest writers working in the field today, that explore the many monstrous facets of the genre that we like to call 'horror'. That is not to say that there is no room for humour - check out Ramsey Campbell's grimly gruesome 'Getting it Wrong' and Robert Shearman's unsettling yet hilarious 'Alice Through the Plastic Sheet' - and our other horrors range from the more traditional monsters (Stephen King's 'The Little Green God of Agony' and Peter Crowther's 'Ghosts with Teeth') and the classic ghost story (John Ajvide Lindqvist's 'The Music of Bengt Karlsson, Murderer' and Reggie Oliver's 'A Child's Problem'), through the modern supernatural thriller (Lisa Tuttle's 'The Man in the Ditch' and Michael Marshall Smith's 'Sad, Dark Thing') and a pair of very different mythological menaces (Caitlín R. Kiernan's 'Charcloth, Firesteel and Flint' and Brian Hodge's 'Roots and All') to more lyrical and literary tales (Angela Slatter's 'The Coffin-Maker's Daughter', Dennis Etchison's 'Tell Me I'll See You Again' and Elizabeth Hand's remarkable novella 'Near Zennor'). Finally, we close with Richard Christian Matheson's disturbingly dark epigram - the appropriately titled 'Last Words'. Many of the contributors to this volume are experimenting with form and structure and length to bring the horror story bang up-to-date, while others are working in the age-old practice of presenting their terrors in the most straightforward - and effective - manner possible. Whatever your fears, we hope that you will find them within these pages. This is what modern horror fiction is all about and, if you enjoy the stories assembled within these pages, then you can say that you were there when the fight back began. Welcome to A Book of Horrors - it's time to let the nightmares begin... --Stephen Jones London, England June 2011 Excerpted from A Book of Horrors All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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