There are 20 stories in this collection, and while some of them aren't as scary or creepy as I would have liked, most all have the potential to create great unease in your mind as you read.

The 20 stories are:

1. "The Gardener" -- a creepy opening for this book.
2. "Admission of Weakness," - an Anton Zarnak tale
3. "Hope," one of the non-Lovecraftian tales
4. "Misery and Pity," in which a character from one of the Teddy London novels resurfaces to get rid of vampires
5. "Incident on Highway 19", downright creepy, as the guy's strange obsession with roadkill unfolds.
6. "That's the One!" probably my least favorite story in the book -- a strange twist on Lewis Carroll"s Wonderland
7. "A Happy Mother Takes Away Pain," featuring another character from the Teddy London series, Lai Wan
8. "Body and Soul," a Lovecraft-inspired tale if ever there was one. Liked it, didn't love it -- a little so-so.
9. "The Horror," again, not one of my favorites.
10. "A Forty Share in Innsmouth," written in 1997 but extremely relevant in today's reality TV-crazy society; also plays on Lumley's "The Kiss of Bugg-Shash."
11. "Sacrifice," a bleak, disturbing tale that I can only describe as gruesome. Thankfully, this one is very short.
12. "Pop Goes the Weasel." A cool, off-kilter little tale, set in a club where anything goes. Very bizarre, yet very good.
13."The Questioning of the Azathothian Priest" I read this a long time ago in Hardboiled Cthulhu; another featuring Anton Zarnak.
14. "Pragmatic" is the story that prompted me to buy the first Piers Knight book. While I found the story a little ?? iffy, I liked the character of Piers Knight.
15. "The Laughing Man": in 878 AD, Vikings meet Valkyries in a rather ghostly tale. Meh.
16. "The Soul's Right Hand" another Teddy London story -- I loved the ending!
17. "So Free We Seem" features Inspector Legrasse (perhaps you recognize the name from HP Lovecraft's "Call of Cthulhu" -- in a cosmic-terror mystery of sorts.
18. "The Longest Pleasure" is a rather short but nasty tale of revenge out in the middle of the desert -- really, what some people won't do to get back at someone!
19. "Juggernaut," another Teddy London story where he faces the Hounds of Tindalos. Not one of the best in the book.
20. "Degrees of Fear." There are changes at the Derringol Asylum for the Hopeless, "civilization's dumping ground for the absolute dregs of the world's nightmares." The director, who'd been at the same job for decades, is stepping down, and a younger ambitious new guy is taking his place. However, before the incumbent leaves, he has something he really needs to show the new guy. Creepy.

While not every story was to my exact taste, which is pretty much the case in any anthology, there are a number of good ones in this 20-story collection by weird-fiction writer C.J. Henderson. I'm a huge fan of this writer and have been for years. While a number of these tales are Lovecraft inspired, there are others that are more original in nature. Overall, Degrees of Fear a very good collection of stories. For me, out of 20 there were about three that I didn't really care for, a couple that were just in the so-so range, leaving several good ones, all dealing with the idea that "Our world touches upon other worlds, other realities." I can recommend this anthology; it may be helpful if you've had some reading experience with Henderson's Teddy London or with HP Lovecraft's stories of cosmic horror before starting this one. ( )

Degrees of Fear by CJ Henderson was published by Dark Regions Press in three editions, a trade paperback, a limited edition hard cover and a lettered leather bound version. Somehow, I ended up with all but the leather bound version; both are signed by the author. The cover art and the generous number of interior illustrations are by Mr. Henderson's long time collaborator, Ben Fogletto. The cover, in particular, is a beautiful /horrific Lovecraftian image of purple worms or polyps devouring some fair damsel. This book is not a collection of new stories, is not an omnibus (alas, but such a work would run into multiple huge volumes for the prolific Mr. Henderson) and is not a themed collection (as was, for example, The Tales of Inspector Legrasse). Instead it is a retrospective survey or sampling of the author's dark fiction from the last three decades. As a consequence, if you are a CJ Henderson fan, there is likely to be quite a bit of overlap with your library. Production qualities were high; I cannot recall any typographical errors. Page count is a generous 267, counting a 2 page introduction by William Jones, a 3 page afterward by Joe Mauceri and a very brief biography of the author and artist; text starts on page 13. The publication history at the beginning was very useful. Production qualities are high in both editions I have.

One of Mr. Henderson's favorite devices is to take a character created by a popular write of yore and flesh out their life's history with some more stories the original author never got around to writing. Another is his love of the genre of noir supernatural detective. That makes it no surprise that we see stories concerning HP Lovecraft's Inspector Legrasse and Thomas Malone, or Lin Carter's Anton Zarnak, or even Mr. Henderson's own Teddy London. Although not all of these stories are Cthulhu mythos, the majority are, or are at least Lovecraftian. On the whole I very much enjoy CJ Henderson's prose and highly recommend this book. I must admit, however, with the degree of overlap with anthology appearances in years past, I was much more enamored of the tales new to me than the ones I have read in three or four previous books. Completists take note: Pragmatic, and Body and Soul are published here for the first time.

The Gardener - A wealthy businessman visits his eccentric parents in Kingsport, and discovers reality isn't what it used to be. I really liked this story, a fine opener for the book.

Admission of Weakness - I don't know if chronologically this was the author's first Anton Zarnak story, but it does serve nicely as a first event in Zarnak's chronicle in New York. Fans of occult detectives will be pleased.

Hope - Not mythos but actually a very insidious horror story. I bet Mr. Henderson chuckled as he wrote it.

Misery and Pity - Jhong is a Chinese warrior who fights a demon. I do not know if he appears in other stories but the narrative makes it seem that way; I know I would be happy to read more in this particular series. This was a very enjoyable read.

Incident on Highway 19 - This was a great Lovecraftian tale, retold in the diary of a highway worker who slowly goes off the deep end after seeing an unusual type of road kill. It may have been my favorite story in the whole book.

That's the One! - A brief trip through the rabbit whole into an unpleasant Wonderland. Very nice twist!

A Happy Mother Takes Away Pain - This is a story featuring the psychometrist, Lai Wan. She helps some clients wrestle with their (all too literal) demons. Compared to some other stories here I was not as enamored as I might have been.

Body and Soul - Thomas Malone meets Herbert West in a scenario so unlikely but so true to both characters, and each learns something about himself. This was very good indeed.

The Horror - True horror occurs in the mind more than anywhere else. A very good short.

A Forty Share in Innsmouth - A Fort share refers to the portion of the TV audience this broadcast receives, as a TV host revisits an unholy ritual that took place originally in a Brian Lumley story. Those of you who don't think it could occur like this have never seen Jerry Springer's TV show.

Sacrifice - This was very disturbing story, as ordinary people try to make a difference in the amount of suffering in the world.

Pop Goes the Weasel - Another well written disturbing story, where the in crowd finds thrills at the club of the moment, Uproar. The audience provides the show and the peer pressure is intense.

The Questioning of the Azathothian Priest - This was, I dunno, the fourth time I've read this Anton Zarnak yarn. It's OK enough, but I liked the stuff new to me.

Pragmatic - In a story from the Piers Knight series, the hero makes extraordinary efforts to save a just-about-to-be-baby with perfect pitch from the otherworldly horrors that fear it. Pretty decent stuff.

The Laughing Man - I enjoyed getting reacquainted with this fine story of Vikings, valor and Valkyries.

The Soul's Right Hand - This was an excellent Teddy London story. The images of the demon Jack O'Lantern, Saman, were quite horrific and the denouement was great.

So Free We Seem - Another very good occult detective story, this time featuring Inspector Legrasse from The Call of Cthulhu. So Free We Seem is one of Mr. Henderson's best in this series.

The Longest Pleasure - My, my, revenge must be sweet. I liked this nasty little story.

Juggernaut - Here is another Teddy London story but I didn't like it. One reason is, at his best, the author shows how ordinary men and women find the strength within themselves to fight the unthinkable. By now Teddy London is turning into a superman, able to thwart the entire pack of the Hounds of Tindalos.

Degrees of Fear - Why would a very promising psychiatrist throw away his entire career to administer an asylum for the criminally insane, while not seeming to help any of the inmates? There has to be a reason for such a sacrifice, for such behavior, right? You find out why in the wonderfully morbid close to a wonderful collection.

So my final impression is that Degrees of Fear is a terrific book. For completists there is something new here, for CJ Henderson fans it is a smorgasbord of delight and for readers new to the author it is a perfect introduction. If you like what you see here you can branch off to his many other collections or anthology appearances. Ben Fogletto's art adds the perfect spice. Best of all, CJ Henderson has not hung up his word processor yet, so we can expect more dark delights in the coming years. Highly recommended. ( )