Customer Reviews

From the Borderlands: Stories of Terror and Madness

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I'm not one to judge the "Borderlands" series. After all, as stated in the introduction by editors Elizabeth and Thomas Monteleone, when the last "Borderlands" collection was published I was getting my kicks by reading "Goosebumps." That being said, I AM able to judge this collection: and I say it's one hell of a read!

The great thing about this collection is its uniqueness and diversity. Gone are the vampire/werewolf/ghost stories; in place are tales, some supernatural, some horror (and a couple that aren't), about the tricks the human mind can play. Some of these tricks stay within the mind itself; some of them manifest in the physical world, in the way we interpret our surroundings. These stories are psychological horror stories; in my opinion, the best kind.

Diversity. There are some big name people in here: Stephen King takes a horrific look at exercise in his novella "Stationary Bike;" in "Father Bob and Bobby," Whitley Strieber tells of a priest who is having a horrific controntation with his reality. You'll never read a bedtime story again after looking through John Farris's "Story Time with the Bluefield Stranger." David J. Schow's "The Thing too Hideous to Describe" is a comedic, yet tragic, look at the life of our world's hidden monsters. Bentley Little's "The Planting" is just as macabre, outrageous, and hideously enjoyable as the author's novels; while Tom Piccirilli's "Around it Still the Sumac Grows" details a man returning to his old high school, and reliving the horrors he once experienced.

There are some new names, however. Lon Prater's "Head Music," a poetic story about a man who becomes kin with a strange sea creature, is the author's first professional sale. Adam Fusco's story is a terrifying glimpse into the future of scientific research, while John Mertz's "Prisoner 392" is a great mixture of "The Count of Monte Cristo" and "The Silence of the Lambs." A man faces the alternative realities he's created for himself in Bill Gauthier's tale; Bev Vincent weaves a tale of irony and tragedy; a man confronts his past and his daughter in John McIlveen's "Infliction"; and a woman has the perfect family--three real beautiful daughters, and her favorite, the imaginary one--in L. Lynn Young's story.

You think listing those names you don't know was a waste of time. I tell you: those are some highlites of this collection, and future stars of the literary world. "From the Borderlands" is a great, unique, thought-provoking, and at times downright terrifying collection of short stories by some of dark fiction's superstars, and others who are bound to become one. This is one you must add to your fiction collection.

The full title of the book is From The Borderlands: Stories Of Terror And Madness. But in truth, that title is misleading, for it is neither terror nor madness that make a story a Borderlands story. Even the title of the original version, Borderlands 5: An Anthology Of Imaginative Fiction, hints only at the imaginative aspect of what makes a Borderlands story.

To me, the thing that truly makes a story a Borderlands story is a pulling back of the edges of our perceptions of what is real and what is safe. A Borderlands story takes you to boundaries you never knew existed, then pulls back the curtain and lets you glimpse what lies beyond. Sometimes it can leave you with a sense of wonder, more often with a sense of unsettling dread. But it never leaves you the same as you were before you started.

My personal favorites in this anthology, in which I consider myself fortunate to be included, are:

"Rami Temporalis" by Gary Braunbeck. Ever think you have "one of those faces"? Maybe you do. But Braunbeck's concept of why this might be so is supremely unique and leaves one awed by the sheer scale of the idea.

"All Hands" by John Platt. If you're like most people, you take your hands for granted. You shouldn't. You really shouldn't.

"The Food Processor" by Michael Canfield. Who says all fables must be set in a non-technological past with magic and talking animals? This could've been written by Aesop... if the ancient Greeks had had industrial food processors.

"Answering The Call" by Brian Freeman. Think your job is bad? The worst ones are the ones we never see. Freeman will show you one you'll wish you didn't even know existed.

"Smooth Operator" by Dominick Cancilla. Think that losing your wallet means having to worry about identity theft? There are worse things, things you never imagine. Cancilla shows you the absolute worst. This one still has me checking for my wallet.

"A Thing" by Barbara Malenky. There are pains and suffering of people's lives so great we block them out. But sometimes there are things for those pains and suffering. Malenky takes us deep inside one person's suffering... and then shows us a thing.

"The Planting" by Bentley Little. If you know Little, you know he's going to take you to one of those boundaries I spoke of, open the door, and then shove you through. This story is no exception.

"Magic Numbers" by Gene O'Neill. Lots of people obsess over numbers, letting their compulsions and superstitions determine their actions. But like the old Indian said, "Sometimes the magic works..."

"Head Music" by Lon Prater. We think we're human, but sometimes we discover connections to things that aren't. And some of us don't turn away.

"One Of Those Weeks" by Bev Klein. There are rhythms, circles and patterns in life we don't know about. And are probably better off not knowing about. Reminded me a lot of T.E.D Klein's "Ladder", another classic Borderlands story that has stayed with me over the years.

"Stationary Bike" by Stephen King. You'd be surprised how far you can go on one of those things. And where. And who you'll meet along the way. You may even get a souvenier.

The other stories will no doubt find readers for whom they will be the favorites. There is something in this anthology for everyone. And now all I can do is wait for the next one in the series, because the Borderlands anthologies are the only place I can be sure of finding them.

Whitt Pond

Please disregard any previously written reviews for this book that are hostile in tone. The book is not the best compilation of the genre ever written, but it is clearly a delectable collection for all you crazies out there who prefer nightmares and dual personalities as pets over kitty-kats and puppies. The only truly LOUSY story is actually Mr. King's contribution, but anyone who doesn't anticipate rustiness from the once-stalwart giant is not really keeping score.

I love short stories, and love the idea of having this collection that strays from the mainstream into new dark waters. But I think the idea ended up being better than the execution here ... the collection sits a bit lacking.

I think the problem is in the editors' lack of understanding the difference between "terror" and "shock value." A lot of these stories are shocking, but few really get into your head. And the most tiresome "shock du jour" appears to be child molestation. The story "Father Bob And Bobby" is a nice example of this -- he traded in genuine horror for a cheap shock and gross-out factor. At least four other stories try and weave in child abuse into their tales.

Even the Stephen King plot was flat, although I always enjoy his writing style and cadance so it was still an enjoyable read. I also think "Smooth Operator" (Dominick Cancilla), "Rami Temporalis" (Gary Braunbeck) and "All Hands" (John Platt) were quite excellent. But there are 10-15 stories in here that I think don't work for various reasons. A handful of 5-star efforts sprinkled among the 2-star fodder makes it a 3-star book overall.

When I ordered Borderlands, I was anticipating a great collection of Horror short stories. What a got was an OK collection of a hodgepodge of short stories. Not surprisingly Stephen King steals the show with his contribution. I would only reccomned the book to someone wanting to read an ecliptic mix of stories from Authors, or die hard King fans that must have everything he writes.

I agree with what most of the reviewers said. There are a lot of stories in here, but probably 50% of them are weak, 30% average, 10% pretty good, and perhaps 10% truly entertaining and unsettling.

Considering I bought this at Target for $5.62, that's still well worth the price of admission.

"Rami Temporalis", the opening story, is very good. Slightly maudlin story that answers the "what if?" question of "What if 'You just have one of those faces' meant something far more important than you ever imagined?"

"The Goat" is stark, depressing, and moving. One of those stories where you see the awful ending coming and there's nothing you can do to ward it off. It's almost a bit Flannery O'Connor-esque.

I liked "Story Time with the Bluefield Strangler," even though it was a bit predictable. That whole notion of "can multiple personality disorder take on a physical form?" has been done before -- namely by Stephen King in "The Dark Half" and "The Secret Window" -- but if it's done well, it always seems to work.

This story was left dangling, and that effect always works well on me. The unresolved ending is probably a lazy writer's shortcut to getting people to think your story is mysterious. Unfortunately, this technique often succeeds.

None of these really stuck with me and haunted me. I thought one did, but then I realized that was from a different collection. If you want some true creepiness, try reading the similarly-priced "My Favorite Horror Story" compilation.

I try not to be a pre-judiced reader by all accounts.
I can even sympathize the foort to sell lots of worthles sotirs only with a Stephen King story endorsed in the pack. (The strategy is quite useful after all since I got this book only for the story by Stephen King)

BUT PLEASE... I expected other stories at least "read-worthy"
Instead I found a bunch of crap

This book is an insut to any keen reader
Please order some other book and save your money

I liked most of the stories in this book. Wife got it for me and thought it was all by King, but no worries as the others are good too.

In the early to mid-nineties, White Wolf (oh, how I miss their original fiction line) published a set of four anthologies under the title of BORDERLANDS. The only real rule was that there weren't any. Authors were encouraged to experiment. Clichés and common subject matter were to be avoided. These turned out to be four of the best collections of dark fiction ever published. The stories were original, diverse, and memorable.

After a nine-year gap, this fifth anthology finally appeared. What a disappointment.

FROM THE BORDERLANDS is filled with rambling, forgettable, often incoherent rubbish. The ubiquitous Bentley Little, an author who has essentially built a career on writing the same novel over and over, seems to think he can put any kind of bizarre nonsense down on paper and get it published. Unfortunately for us, he's right. (Little is the only author to have appeared in all five anthologies.) His piece appears to have been transcribed directly from a bad dream he might have had. It makes no sense - an absolute head-scratcher. Far too many of the stories are like this. The worst are both incoherent and tedious, like Barbara Malenky's "A Thing," whose narrator is barely literate.

Seeing the editors gush praise about each entry in the introductions only adds insult. I actually thought the Monteleones must have been on drugs when they read for this volume.

Out of twenty-five stories, only a few are worth a look:

"Rami Temporalis" by Gary Braunbeck: Joel has one of those faces, the kind anyone can trust, even a complete stranger. One day, he finds out why. Though the ending is anticlimactic considering the grand nature of what is revealed, this story involves a truly interesting philosophical idea and is exactly the kind of imaginative tale that should appear in these books.

"N0072-JK1" by Adam Corbin Fusco: I'm a sucker for stories that are done as scientific transcripts. You know that they are gradually building to something awful but you can't stop reading: the horror story in its purest form. The deeper unease, I think, comes from knowing that humans are, in fact, capable of doing terrible things in the name of research, and that maybe it isn't far-fetched at all. This one involves a study of the nature of tickling, one that leads to sinister and disturbing conclusions.

"Infliction" by John McIlveen: A delinquent father goes in search of his runaway daughter and finds that sometimes the only way to erase old scars is to create new ones.

"Around It Still the Sumac Grows" by Tom Piccirilli: A man returns to his high school after twenty years to retrieve something he left behind. Piccirilli's tales usually have a surreal quality to them, but not so much that you feel like he's blowing hot air (which is how I felt about most of the stories here.) Besides, I've revisited my old school many years later as well, and it is indeed a surreal experience.

Collections like this make me sad, this one even more so because I'm aware of the potential it had. BORDERLANDS number five is largely a waste of time. I hope the good stories get reprinted somewhere else.

This anthology starts out strong, but about a quarter of the way through it starts faltering badly. "Rami Temporalis" is enjoyable, interesting and imaginative. "All Hands" is entertaining if ultimately pointless. "Faith Will Make You Free" is wonderful--very strong and compelling, though not entirely structurally sound. Brian Freeman's "Answering the Call" starts out poorly but ultimately works quite well. "The Goat" by Whitt Pond and Darren O. Godfrey's "Dysfunction" are other solid entries.

Stephen King's "Stationary Bike" alone is worth the price of admission: not so much a horror story as a low-fantasy a la THE TWILIGHT ZONE, it is a nifty tale beautifully executed. After the preceding hackwork of the likes of Tom Piccirilli and Bentley Little, and numerous lesser-knowns, it is a tremendous relief to be in the hands of an assured storyteller "at the top of his powers", as the saying goes.

Too many of the stories, as someone else has pointed out, rely heavily on empty shock value and demonstrate little knowledge or insight into the workings of the genre. Several border on actual incompetence. In this context, David Schow's "The Thing Too Hideous To Describe" is another breath of fresh air, what with its knowing dismantling of some of the conventions of the genre.

Some of the other tales I haven't mentioned are also decent ("The Growth of Alan Ashley", by Bill Gautier and Bev Vincent's "One of Those Weeks", for example) but I would say more than half are absolute, unmitigated dreck.