Del Howison

Another excellent collection of short stories. Del has compiled a nice choice of stories. While "haunted" is a generic enough theme that it could apply to many stories, it fit all these stories very nicely. Ghosts and haunted houses and memories. Things that leave an impact on a person's soul and their thoughts. The two stories that really stood out to me were the ones by Little and Braunbeck. Both for different reasons but each will haunt me. Below are my favorites from the book.

"Mist on the Bayou" by Heather Graham - A ghost helps save a girl from being murdered at a haunted house.

"A Nasty Way to Go" by Ardath Mayhar - A constable investigates the sightings of a ghost.

"A Slow Haunting" by John R. Little - A viscious tale of revenge that goes on for years. It sits in my mind long after I finished the story.

"Man with a Canvas Bag" by Gary A. Braunbeck - A sad story of ghosts and remembering and missed opportunities.

"Fetch" by Chuck Palahniuk - The story of a haunted tennis ball.… (mehr)

Overall, this is a worthy addition to Clive Barker's Nightbreed novel and film. For the most part, the stories are all solid and very well-written. In fact--and I find this unusual for a multi-author anthology--there was only one real WTF story that I didn't really grok the ending, and only two that failed to hold my attention all the way through to the end. Not bad for an antho with this many authors and stories.

If I have one complaint with this collection, it's that, for all the stories, there's a pervading sense of aloneness, of being an outsider to the world. Yes, yes, I get that each story takes place after the fall of Midian, so that's kind of to be expected, and it may very well have been the wish of the editors to find stories all of a certain DNA, but I would have liked a few of the stories to veer from the "I'm alone and outcast from this world of man" plotline.

The other minor issue, not so much a complaint as an observation, is that I really didn't need a rehash of the fall of Midian in almost every single story. Midian's fallen. These characters survived. Got it. Move on.

But, for all of that, a surprisingly good and entertaining collection.… (mehr)

This was such a fun collection of short stories, and I read it at the perfect time. I was in a bit of a reading slump, and this helped knock me out of it. There were no stories that I just flat out didn't like, and all of them had something in them I enjoyed. I didn't feel like it was horror in the "traditional" sense, but every story had something of the crawl under your skin to it, even if it was just sheer strangeness. I would recommend it to anyone looking for some fun, weird stories, but if your aim is to be truly horrified, this isn't the collection for you. I, however, would like to eventually read the other Dark Delicacies collections.… (mehr)

Overall, I thought this was a much stronger selection of stories than the first volume.

Barbara Hambly tells the story of a vampire hoping to cross the Atlantic - on the Titanic. Greg Kihn provides a rock 'n' roll ghost story. The time to pay up arrives for a man who made a deal with a wizard in John Farris' entry. The power of music is explored in stories by Caitlín R. Kiernan and John Harrison.

Max Brooks and Steve Niles offer pieces based on their own ongoing creations (World War Z and paranormal detective Cal McDonald, respectively). Usually I dislike this practice, as it often gives the impression of an advert, but these particular ones stand on their own pretty well.

Gary Brandner's story of an unethical writer who loses the ability to decode language feels (ironically) in itself somewhat familiar. See the Twilight Zone episode "Wordplay." Similarly, Ray Garton's story about a man who hires an assassin to murder his wife seems right out of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, or one of the master's films. But it's a good story, anyway.

The only really substandard entry is is by L.A. Banks, who I think has a superficial grasp on the genre but not a genuine understanding. She writes vampire huntress novels.

If you're tired (as I am) of extreme horror fiction and appreciate subtlety, I'd recommend this collection.… (mehr)