Customer Reviews

The Fear Report

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Elizabeth Massie has written 23 previous books ranging from horror to historical nonfiction. She is also a seasoned short story writer who has been published in such small press horror magazines such as Cemetery Dance, The Horror Show, Bizarre Bazaar, Footsteps, Weirdbook and Deathrealm. Her first short story collection, Southern Discomfort was published in in 1993 and established her as a major horror writer in the eyes of her peers. However, this respect has not translated into best selling status. This is largely due to the fact that many major publishing houses will not touch her "controversial" horror fiction with the result that her anthologies are published by small outfits with equally small press runs and promotion budgets. Fear Report, her most recent collection, is a major anthology of Massie's short horror stories. Many of these stories have never before been anthologized.

If you have never before read any of Massie's horror stories, then this is a good book to start with. An added bonus is that 2 of the stories in this volume were written by Massie in collaboration with her 2 children. These are actually the best stories in the book.

I rate this book as being 4 out of 5 stars because of one troubling aspect of many of these stories: their using offensive stereotypes of folks who live in the Appalachian Mountains. Massie uses words like "redneck" and "hillbillies" and other prejudicial language about folks who are like you and me who just happen to live in a rugged part of the USA.

Massie manages to peel away many layers of humanity here in her collection called The Fear Report. Would you have an intimate relationship with something less than a torso? Would you let a traveling peddler give you a colonic? What kind of treats does your family traditionally serve at Christmas time? At what point does being sick become too sick?

Massie's horror is inside the human soul rather than coming from the form of a monster. Her characters have a slippery way of justifying their behavior that is a bit disturbing and more than a little intriguing. Whether you belong to a backwoods family or are a descendent of an ancient South American tribe, you can find something there to rationalize any odd mentality.

My favorites from this collection of thirty tales would be Stephen, Fixtures Of Matchstick Men and Joo, Bargains At Binsley's, Day Is Done, Gone The Sun, Stinkin' Rudy, Inside Out, and Dooka Dee. Whether physical or mental afflictions are involved, or education level, doctorate or drop out, city folk or country folk, no one escapes Massie's imagination.

My only problem with this collection is that it is a spendy edition that seems to have been poorly edited. There are spelling and grammatical errors that are too obvious not to notice, but the artwork inside by Cortney Skinner makes up for the errors. All in all, a noteworthy collection of both short and flash fiction that any horror lover should appreciate. Enjoy!