In a second distinguished collection of twenty superb, sublimely dark tales written especially for this volume, such acknowledged contemporary masters of horror fiction as Barbara Hambly, John Farris, James Sallis, Steve Niles, Tananarive Due, L. A. Banks, and Gary Brandner serve up a veritable feast of fear. For the second time, Dark Delicacies, the world's foremost horror bookstore, lends its famous name and imprimatur to an anthology designed to please the palate of the genre's most discriminating fans. Throughout, the editors Del Howison (co-owner of Dark Delicacies) and leading horror anthologist Jeff Gelb present perfectly crafted, freshly original horror-fiction fare that is as terrifying as it is chillingly delicious.

Reviews

Two excellent horror offerings should chill warm-blooded readers this fall. Award-winning sf/fantasy editor Datlow's first nonthemed collection includes 20 stories by British and Australian writers that run the gamut from the grotesque (by Joyce Carol Oates, K.W. Jeter, and Mark Samuels), to family-security worries (Simon Bestwick, Mike Driscoll, and Nathan Ballingrud), to horror with the classic bells and whistles (Conrad Williams's "Perhaps the Last"). Glen Hirshberg's "The Janus Tree" and Stephen Gallagher's "Misadventure" offer a powerful sense of place. Much of the horror in this volume contains a bonus touch of weariness and depression. Edited by Howison, founder of the famous Los Angeles horror bookstore Dark Delicacies, and leading horror anthologist Gelb, Dark Delicacies II presents 18 fear-focused stories as well as two forewords and an afterword. Glen Hirshberg's "I Am Coming To Live in Your Mouth" is gripping and sorrowful (the author has another story in the Datlow collection); Steve Niles's "The Y Incision" is a corpse-larded tale of the dead, undead, and probably dead. Barbara Hambly's "Sunrise on Running Water" presents a deservedly imperiled vampire on the Titanic. Many of the stories here are gritty, while Datlow's selections are more literary. There is plenty of gore, however, in both volumes to satisfy horror fans. All of the stories are wisely chosen and deserve attention and comment. Both titles are recommended for all public libraries.-Jonathan Pearce, California State Univ., Stanislaus Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

"If, as Howison writes in his afterword, 'Horror has always been the blues of literature', then this anthology of 20 new tales of the macabre is an all-star concert whose performers work haunting riffs on gutbucket themes...Howison, the proprietor of Burbank, Calif.'s Dark Delicacies horror bookstore, and Gelb, coeditor of the Hot Blood anthology series, have plundered their Rolodexes to recruit a formidable lineup of horror's top creative talents."

Horror tales to suit virtually every taste make this follow-up to the Stoker-winning Dark Delicacies (2005) a fulfilling feast of fear. As with its predecessor, Howison and Gelb imposed no thematic restrictions on contributors, and the result is a refreshingly varied anthology of above-average quality. Peter Atkins's "Stacy and Her Idiot," a wry exercise in supernatural noir, perfectly couches its horrors in the hard-boiled idiom. Joe R. Lansdale transforms man's best friend into his worst nightmare in "Dog," a taut thriller that achieves the intensity of supernatural fiction in its riveting account of a maniacal dog's relentless pursuit of a human victim. In Barbara Hambly's suspenseful "Sunrise on Running Water," a vampire passenger aboard the Titanic struggles to avoid inevitable immolation the morning after the ship goes down. In addition to rare short stories from novelists Max Brooks and Robert Masello, the volume includes an eclectic mix of older and younger talents that ensures broad-based appeal to horror readers. (Oct.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.