Customer Reviews

Fine Frights: Stories That Scared Me

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

 

 

I was excited when I ordered this book, based upon the raving reviews I had read. And, I thought that if Ramsey Campbell was a master of the horror tale, then the stories that scared him must be really spine-tingling!
However, I was rather disappointed when I read most of the ones he had chosen for this volume. Most of them were interesting, but none of them was really scary. A couple of them were thought-provoking and, in that way, a bit like an Alfred Hitchcock type of story. But, I didn't find any of them scary like in a Night Gallery sort of way. Maybe I'm jaded. But, I was not scared by any of them. These stories to me were more like bedtime reading, as you're about to doze off. Ho hum....

I read Fine Frights as a teenager and stayed awake for days after. And this book starts out great.After The first story, you wont be able to put it down.

...but can he take it? That is the question the full title of Fine Frights raises, for its subhead is Stories that Scared Me. Of course what may scare one person may bore another to tears. No need to be afraid of that here, for Campbell's taste in fear fiction is exquisite. I can guarantee that at least two of the tales collected here will have your skin crawling, while several others will no doubt sent icy shivers dancing up and down the length of your spine. These frights are fine indeed. Highly recommended.

This collection of stories handpicked by Ramsey Campbell exemplifies his wide-ranging taste in fine horror fiction.

Most notable are the following stories:

The disturbing (and I mean, disturbing) "Child's Play" by Villy Sørensen is a slice-of-life piece that has taken a drastic turn towards extreme horror.

Karl Edward Wagner's "More Sinned Against" is set against a backdrop of the S&M milieu. Wagner has written much more classic horror stories like "Sticks" and "The Fourth Seal," and I hoped one of them made the cut instead.

Peter Phillips's "Lost Memory" is one of the best robot stories I've ever read.

John Brunner's "The Clerks Of Domesday," where the titular clerks collect data about a world that has been destroyed, is the ultimate paranoid fantasy.

Thomas Ligotti wrote the best dark fantasy short story I've ever read in my life. "The Greater Festival Of Masks" is evocative, irreverent, and reminiscent of Clive Barker's "In the Hills, the Cities."

David Case's "The War Is Over" is a revenge story which will make the top three list of the most horrifying stories I've read.

Philip K. Dick's "Upon The Dull Earth" explores an unusual and most disquieting resurrection scenario.