999: Twenty-nine Original Tales of Horror and Suspense (Paperback)

by Al Sarrantonio (Author) "No book is an island, and this one, especially, owes its form and being to some very special people..." (more)
Key Phrases: ropy thing, mad dog summer, digital root, Cross Hill, Mary Margaret, Old Pecos Trail (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A ward-winning writer and editor Al Sarrantonio gathers together twenty-nine original stories from masters of the macabre. From dark fantasy and pure suspense to classic horror tales of vampires and zombies, 999 showcases the extraordinary scope of fantastical fright fiction. The stories in this anthology are a relentless tour de force of fear, which will haunt you, terrify you, and keep the adrenaline rushing all through the night.

About the Author
AL SARRANTONIO's twenty-five books includes the horror novels Moonbane, House Haunted, Skeletons,and Totentanz, as well as the critically acclaimed science fiction trilogy Five Worlds. He has been an editor, reviewer and columnist, and has been nominated for the Horror Writers Association's Bram Stoker Award and the Private Eye Writers of America's Shamus Award. His short stories have appeared in magazines such as Heavy Metal, Twilight Zone, and Realms of Fantasy, as well as in anthologies including The Year's Best Horror Stories, Great Ghost Stories, and The Best of Shadows. A collection of his best horror tales, Head Stories, has just been published.

Product Details

• Paperback: 688 pages
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks (October 2, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380805189
• ISBN-13: 978-0380805181
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #151,170 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent collection for any fan., September 28, 2004

By	Brian Niehaus (Cincinnati, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Opinion: Short story collections are usually filler reading for me. Read a story in between properly long novels. This book I just read straight through for various reasons. It opens with a good old zombie story that is not my cup of tea, but is well done, "Amerikanski Dead at the Moscow Morgue" by Kim Newman. "The Ruins of Contracoeur" by Joyce Carol Oates is one of my favorites. Its a story of a disgraced judge and his family being forced to move in a family inherited mansion out in the country, far from the political world of Washington. The kids have started seeing people without faces prowling around the grounds and children from the neighborhood are suddenly being murdered by a madman. "The Owl and the Pussycat" by Thomas M. Disch is also excellent and slightly suspenseful but not very horrific if you know what I mean. I really like the way this story was unfolded (and I cannot really describe it without giving things away). Another story that I found excellent was "The Grave" by P. D. Cacek. Its a story about a very wierd, psychotic school librarian, her relationship with her mother, and something she found on the way home from school one day, done with enough of realism to make it extremely creepy. "Itinerary" by Tim Powers was interesting but I did not follow it very well. I got lost in the details of this ghostly time-travel story, possibly as a result of my being tired when reading that story. "The Rio Grande Gothic" by David Morrell and "Angie" by Ed Gorman are two more great stories. "Rio Grande is about a cop who gets a little too curious about a certain intersection in Santa Fe where shoes keep appearing in the middle of the road. This was one of the longer stories but was very good. I don't know what to say about "Angie" other than I liked it and that is a little frightening. "The Tree Is My Hat" by Gene Wolfe was the first Wolfe story of any kind I have read. His story was just so-so to me...but in an interesting way. "Hemophage" left me wanting more. This story by Steven Spruill fits between 2 books of a trilogy and it feels like it. I really liked the everyman way that vampires are dealt with. "Rehearsals" by Thomas F. Monteleone was a pretty good about a blue collar worker who never made much of himself and the dreams he had as a youth. What happens to him when he gets a job at a theater as a janitor is pretty cool although not terribly scary. One of my favoritre stories in the collection was the last story "Elsewhere" by William Peter Blatty (The Exocist guy). A realtor gets a very big incentive to sell a dormant house with a haunted reputation. She gathers up some "experts" on hauntings and a writer to spend some nights in the house and prove it isn't so she can sell it. The character interaction is pretty good here, and even more so after the punch is delivered near the end. This story brought to mind a recent movie. So much so that I wonder if the movie got the idea from this story.

Neil Gaiman and Stephen King have stories published in this collection, King's "The Road Virus Heads North" I have read before. Some of the stories that I didn't like or disappointed me were "The Shadow, The Darkness" (too long and boring), "Knocking" (no real punch, just kinda blah), "Growing Things" (short and unscary), and "The Theater" (haunted vegetables above a bookstore. The rest of the stories were average, no real feeling either way for me.

Recommendation: If you are a fan of the genre or of any of these authors, read this. Zombie stories, vampire stories, creatures in the woods stories, evil heart of man stories, suspensful stories, it's all here. It is well worth it with many more likeable stories than not. 4 out of 5 stars.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Newest Favorite Anthology, May 16, 2006

By	K. Henderson (Buffalo, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The horror genre is by far my favorite. The bookshelves in my home are overflowing with horror, thriller and suspense novels. And anthologies.

This one has easily taken the place of my favorite horror anthology.

There's something here for everyone: vampires, zombies, haunted houses, ghosts, time rifts and perhaps the scariest of all - the evil humans are capable of.

There's only a few here I didn't care for: 'Growing Things', 'Des Saucisses, Sans Doute' and 'The Theater'. The latter disappointed me most I think because I am a huge fan of Bentley Little and his short story was just up to par with his usual writings, in my opinion.

However, considering there are 29 stories in this anthology, and I only was disappointed with three of them, and that they were all pretty short, speaks volumes for this book.

'Good Friday' is an excellent, scary vampire tale. 'Hemophage' was also a great vampire story. I just wish it had been longer.

The longer stories are real gems. 'The Ruins of Contracoeur', 'Rio Grande Gothic' and 'Mad Dog Summer' are just suberb.

In my opinion, Sarrantonio saves the best for last. William Peter Blatty's 'Elsewhere'. This is simply a wonderful, good old story of a hanuted house and the ghosts that do the haunting.

If you love horror and short horror stories, then this anthology is a must have addition to your library.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, February 16, 2005

By	Amariel Rowan "horror critic and freelance wr... (USA) - See all my reviews

This is the type of stories that die-hard horror fans are looking for. Sci-fi and horror combined, plus a dose of good old fashioned Stephen King-type horror. Awesome!