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october in the chair; neil gaiman ; its okdetails; china mieville ; brilliant story, in my top few short stories ive ever read. could make a great filmkk i finished it and overall it was very enjoyable. my favouries were catskin(kelly link) and the aformentioned details. i would have given it 5 stars but for a horror anthology it simply wasnt scary enough.
As is always the case with anthologies, a mixed bag. The ones I positively loved were "The Boy Behind the Gate" by James Van Pelt, "The Two Sams" by Glen Hirshberg and "Details" by China Mieville. The Boy Behind the Gate will easily go down as one of the most chilling and depressing stories I have read. I liked "Hides" by Jay Russell for the way he used Robert Louis Stevenson as a character, and I thought "The Cage" by Jeff Vandermeer was extremely rich in its world-building --- I wished this wa...
So, as usual, slowly working my way backwards through this series (while trying to keep up with the new ones - currently 2-3 volumes behind).And a bit of a change this time around - as I've mentioned before, I see myself as a Generalist when it comes to fiction, and also to my favored genres. I like to read widely. But what that means is that I've tried, over the years, to not just be a slave to my particular tastes and to stretch outside of my likes and dislikes. And this has paid off in spades...
Read: October in the Chair, Neil Gaiman.A cool and interesting tale, each month; such as April and July, are people/creatures, and they gather together every month(?) and tell stories together. Very cool, wish it was longer.
This collection from 2002 contains a few gems. Of particular note: China Mieville's 'Details', in which a young boy delivers food to a recluse and learns the devil is truly in the details; 'The Wretched Thicket of Thorn' by Don Tumasonis tells of a couple who ignore a local's warning to stay away from a particular island, to their sorrow; 'Hides', by Jay Russel is a Western type featuring Robert Louis Stevenson as the main character. One hopes this tale is not based in truth; Basil Copper's 'Ill...
as with all anthologies, this is a mixed bunch. overall the quality is high, and I enjoyed reading them. the contributions from Jeff Vandermeer, Jay Russell, Don Tumasonis and Kelly Link were all wonderful, and I'll be tracking down some of their other work. I was a little disappointed by Neil Gaiman and China Mieville, whom I usually like. the stories from Kim Newman, Paul McAuley, and Brian Hodge were pretty dull, and I had to force my way through them. overall, I really enjoyed this, and will...
Finally, another Dr. Pretorius story! Throw in "20th Century Ghosts," "October in the Chair" and "The Cage" and you've got a pretty solid volume- though I will always believe "Catskin" to be more a fantasy story than a dark-fantasy one.
Excellent horror stories that ran the gamut of creature features to dark fantasy fever dreams. I will always pick up an anthology edited by Stephen Jones.
3.5 stars. Maybe this should have been called Here's What a Bunch of Authors from the Same Literary Circle Have Been Working On Over the Past Year or So, Plus Some News? I don't know what the distinction is between dark fantasy and horror, if there's even a distinction anymore (or if there ever was), but this collection is definitely a grab bag of dark fantasy, psychological thriller, mystery, and straight up B-movie horror. Of the 21 stories in the book, there were four that really grabbed and
Not sure on the best new horror. I did enjoy it. But it left me waiting for something big to happen.
Better than the previous Mammoth horror anthology I read (#11) but not great. Many stories left much to be desired, though there was one gem: The Cage. My individual ratings are below:1 Introduction - Excessive, unneeded, dull. Pages responding to Guren’s post on a website would have been better left online than in this book. 0 stars85 October in the Chair - Unimpressing. The wrapper added nothing to the story that had nothing going for it anyway. It didn’t even get to horror. 1 star99 Details -...
Neil Gaiman's 'October in the Chair'A brilliant short story from the master himself. The first story in this anthology and I already feel like I've got my moneys worth...A great collection of chilling fiction. Highly recommended.
Overall a solid collection of horror stories. My favorite is by China Mieville called "Details" This story is about a mysterious old lady who has found herself prey to something in the details. These are everywhere, you look at paint and see a face in the ripples, the way paper crinkles, or sheets fold. The other top story goes to Joe Hill's "21st Century Ghost." Which takes place in an old movie theater and is similarly creepy.
After reading this book, I found several new authors I was interested in reading more of. This series of books is great for discovering new authors to read.