Customer Reviews

Borderlands 4 (Borealis Imprint Logo) (v. 4)

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Borderlands is a series of horror/dark fantasy/suspense anthologies that attempts to push the boundaries of concept and storytelling. The first three volumes were overwhelmingly excellent, but this fourth is somewhat of a disappointment. It simply doesn't possess the power of the earlier material. It starts off with a fairly strong handful of stories, including some quiet horror from Dennis Etchison, and a wierd tale of a child prisoner by William F. Wu. Later there are some good stories by William Browning Spencer, David Herter, and James C. Dobbs. Most of the rest are okay, but not very memorable. "Monotone" is so poorly written I don't know how any editor continued reading past the first couple lines. I guessed the "twist" of "The Long Holiday" by the second page; I'm sure it's been done before. I'd like to see this series continue, but I hope the grade of material returns to its previous greatness.

I chose this anthology because of the acclaim the series had received - cover art by Dave McKean, endorsement by Harlan Ellison. It was a sure winner, I thought. But I was wrong.

The stories were a chore to read with only a couple of gems in the bunch. Don D'Ammassa really scored a great one with Misadventures in the Skin Trade a really clever first-person story about a violent mentally ill man. Rachel Drummond accomplished a difficult feat with a compelling second-person story called One in the A.M.

Other than that, nothing else sticks with me as particularly good. Most disappointing of all was the most famous author, Peter Straub. His story, Fee, was almost impossible to read and could have been told in half the space.

As usual with my anthology reviews, I'm including a contents list:

A Wind From the South by Dennis Etchison
House of Cool Air by William F. Wu
Morning Terrors by Peter Crowther
Circle of Lias by Lawrence C. Connolly
Misadventures in the Skin Trade by Don D'Ammassa
Watching the Soldiers by Dirk Strasser
The Ocean and All Its Devices by William Browning Spencer
One in the A.M. by Rachel Drummond
A Side of the Sea by Ramsey Campbell
Painted Faces by Gerard Daniel Houarner
Monotone by Lawrence Greenberg
Dead Leaves by James C. Dobbs
From the Mouths of Babes by Bentley Little
The Long Holiday by William Ellis
The Late Mr. Havel's Apartment by David Herter
Union Dues by Gary A. Braunbeck
Earshot by Glenn Isaacson
Fee by Peter Straub

If you revel in nontraditional writing styles, there are usually a few interesting jewels exemplified in these Borderlands compilations. The stories are at times surreal, horrific, fantastical, dark, or just plane strange. I highly recommend this to anyone who most enjoys the books that twist the common method or presentation of a story's progression or even the subject matter. See my review of Borderlands 1 for similar comments...

As a contributor to Borderlands 4, (The Long Holiday) I must say that there are some good moments in the collection. For the most part, however, the selections are trite and formulaic. I wrote my piece as a novice, and was utterly surprised at its acceptance. It's clearly a first-attempt, and not improved by the editor's inexplicable decision to remove whole transition paragraphs. The volumes prior to this particular one had originality; it seems Monteleone chose more by personal taste in this one than by innovation. Instead of groundbreaking new talent and short horror fiction, we're left instead with ill-presented pulp. At least the purchasers of the paperback version won't be paying the $65 price of the slipcovered hardbound limited edition. Obviously a work indicative of waning interest and/or capability on the part of the editor.

I read this anthology a few years ago, and even know of someone with (GAH!) the limited edition hardcopy. The best thing about that edition is the sturdy dustjacket, and the purchasers of the paperback version don't even get that. The stories seem to have been chosen with an eye toward convoluted vocabulary rather than plot or originality. They certainly *sound* as though they should be horrifying. Unfortunately, the only suspense involved is in how long the genre can support itself with potboilers like this anthology being pushed as cutting-edge. Staring at the crevices in tree bark would provide more thrills and surprises, and circumvent the whole process of creating this pulp waste.