Customer Reviews

The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, Volume 12

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

 

 

Volume XII is arguably one of the best so far in the Best New Horror series. Packed with 494 pages of 22 stories and novellas, and including a definitive necrology and intro to the state of horror in 2000, it is well worth a read. Here are just some, but by no means all, of the gems you'll find inside:

Kim Newman continues his Alternate History Anno Dracula series with the short story "Castle in the Desert" and the novella "The Other Side of Midnight". IMHO, The latter is one of Newman's best works so far. Using the narrative hard-boiled detective story style of James Ellroy and Raymond Chandler, Newman walks us through the Hollywood noir of the 1980s in a world where the Vampire has become grudgingly accepted by the human race. Newman's main character is a beautiful, but ancient vampire detective involved in a mystery surrounding the making of Orson Welles' remake of Dracula. Along the way we meet the likes of Lt. Columbo, Barbie the Vampire Slayer and other familiar real and imagined characters in a world where true film and tabloid history become twisted.

In "I have a Special Plan for this World", a story of Corporate Horror, Thomas Ligotti gives us a nihilistic vision of a Dark Dilbert's rapid, but futile rise up the corporate ladder after his mysterious fog-shrouded company moves to Murderville and all it's management are slowly killed off.

Several of the stories follow in the style of some familiar women writers of horror. Two stories, Tim Lebbon's "The Repulsion", and Kathryn Ptacek's "The Grotto", set in exotic Italian settings where the past is ever pervading on the present, display the slow, rising horror of simple situations devloving into nightmare reminiscent of some Daphne du Murier stories. The influence of Shirley Jackson can be felt in Terry Lamsley's superb "Climbing Down From Heaven" where two spinster sisters fall under the spell of their new Updikian neighbor, who is not only very mysterious, but an eligible bachelor as well.

Paul J. McAuley's "The Bone Orchard" is a chilling story in the vein of "The Sixth Sense" and "The Changeling" that takes place in a Whitechapel cemetery. Graham Joyce uses the subtle style of English Horror defined by Ramsey Campbell in a story of ghosts on an ancient Greek island in "Xenos Beach", while Campbell's own "No Strings" reveals the hidden face of the horror of the urban nightmare.

Chris Fowler takes us on a tour of women and historic pubs in "At Home in the Pubs of Old London" with a Serial Killer as guide.

And if you thought there was nothing new to say about the Living Dead, Mick Garris takes Zombiedom to a whole new level of "Schlock" in "Forever Gramma."

Of only two minor criticisms I have, the first concerns the editor's neglect to cite some of the most important work of the deceased in the Necrology (how can one not mention, for example, "Dr. Zhivago and Bridge on the River Kwai for Alec Guinness?). The other concerns the over use in the 72 page Introduction by the editor of the word eponymous ("..having the same name as the title.." Cambridge International Dictionary of English - online) in describing many of the book and film titles: I didn't count, but it was a lot! A good Thesaurus might have helped here.

Perhaps the title of this book raised my expectations excessively, but I found this collection somewhat disappointing. There are definitely some good stories here, but for every good one, there is at least another which is either a) not a horror story, or b) not a good horror story.
First, the bright spots. The best story in the collection is Charlee Jacob's wonderful Halloween tale, "Flesh of leaves, bones of desire." This story is creepy, imaginative, and erotic, and has an internal logic to it which is quite satisfying. Ramsey Campbell's "No strings", is another good one: well-written and scary... Other fine stories are "Xenos beach" and "In the pubs of Old London."
Now, for the bad news. Many of the stories simply don't belong in a horror collection. "The Repulsion" is about a couple who are having relationship problems while on vacation (pretty scary, huh?), Dennis Etchison's "The Detailer", while well-written, is not a horror story but a detective story, in which the detective is a Mexican-American car wash attendant. It's good, but it doesn't belong here. Kim Newman's two entries both deal with modern vampires, who are fully recognized as such, in Hollywood (Dracula meets The Player). These stories try hard to be cute, but play more as Fantasy than Horror. There is also a story (I don't remember the name) about a group of old people in a small town in Montana. The scary climax: an old lady dies in her sleep (boo!).
The story I found most difficult to judge was "Forever Gramma" by Mick Garris. It is definitely horror, scary and well-told. But it is so repugnant in parts (it deals quite explicitly with geriatric necrophilia) as to border on some kind of bizzare pornography.
In conclusion, I found this collection a mixed bag in terms of both quality and appropriateness to the genre. I cannot fully recommend it.

The BEST NEW HORROR series edited by Stephen Jones is the most ecletic collection of dark fiction being
published today.Jones`selections covers a wide range of styles, themes and subgenres : Psycological Horror,
Black Humor,Gothic, Splatter, Ghost Stories and other kinds of dark fiction.There are stories for all tastes
and I must confess that quite a few gave me shivers, others made me think about the events and others
scared me a lot.

Here are some of my favourites with brief commentaries about them:

FOREVER GRAMMA - Mick Garris - 8,0 - Here is an amusing blend of Stephen King, Bradbury's nostalgia
,Romero's Night of Living Dead gorefest and... ( ooppsss!!! ).Brainless entertainement !!!!!!

THE GROTTO - Kathryn Ptacek - 8,0 - Good story about ancient myths marred by an anticlimatic ending.

NO STRINGS - 7,0 - Ramsey Campbell - I'm not a great fan of Campbell's style that seems to me
too cryptic and alusive, but this story about a strange busker with a violin is moving and creppy.

THE DETAILER - Dennis Etchison - 10,0 - One of the pleasures of reading a collection with new and well-known authors
is to sift through his contents and discover a hell of a good story like this one. This story revolves around an ingenuous wash car
attendant that becomes "involved" in a murder. It's IMPOSSIBLE to convey the sense of dread
that Etchison slowly builds using simple words. The Detailer is a masterpiece of psycological horror
and one of the most extraordinaries works of dark fiction that I ever read.Should be ranked with
the best american short fiction of ANY genre.

I HAVE A SPECIAL PLAN FOR THIS WORLD - Thomas Ligotti - 10,00 - I must confess that I was a little apreheensive in reading
this story because some commentaries about the "new" Ligotti phase made me think that his work would
degenerate in crass commercialism.I agree that his style is less tight and literate and his plots are
stronger than before, but this transition didn't marred Ligotti`s knack to show us the underside of human existence.
A disturbing nihilistic masterpiece of black humour.

XENOS BEACH - Graham Joyce - 9,5 - After a failed love affair, man tries to recover himself by vistiting
a lonely beach called Xenos.Beautiful hallucinatory work that lingers on the mind long after story is finished.

THE REPULSION - Tim Lebbon - 9.00 - This wonderful piece of magic realism and quiet surrealism
is perhaps better suited for fantasy anthologies than horror.Tim Lebbon is a major new talent that MUST
be discovered.

COMING HOME - Mark Morris - 8,00 - Pleaseant if predicable story about a man who dies in a car
accident and returns to his wife on Christmas day.

THE HUNGER OF THE LEAVES - Joel Lane - 9,00 -Thieves become trapped in an strange forest whose
menacing leaves with clawlike shapes and red veins running through them seems to be "hungry".
Wonderful weird fiction in the Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith tradition.

EMPTY STATIONS - Nicholas Royle - 8,5 - Like the magnificent HOMECOMING ( Best New Horror Vol 6)
this story about a lost underground London film is wonderfully allusive and metaphorical.
Nicholas Royle is perhaps the most extraordinary short story writer to emerge in small presses since
Thomas Ligotti.

Stories by Kim Newman,Steve Rasnic Tem, Caitlin R Kiernan among others didn't do much for me.

Quite a few interesting tales in this collection. However, be forewarned.. there are relatively ( and surprisingly ) few legitimate horror stories in this year's addition. The vast majority of the tales are simply bizarre. However, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. One story in particular, "Xenos Beach", has left a lasting impression and caused many sleepless nights for me, lying in bed, staring at the ceiling and pondering the events which happen towards the end. Unfortunately, for every Xenos Beach, there's another completely ridiculous story, which certainly have no business in this collection... "Repulsed", comes to mind. If I want to read about a couple's marital problems, I'll read Ann Landers, thank you very much. However, even with this flaw, there are still more than a few interesting selections contained within which are well worth your time and money.

I tend to get all of these Mammoth titles as I like to read before I go to bed at night and the short story format is perfectly suited for that. Some of these stories are real sleepfests making you wonder why there were ever included in this anthology, for surely if they were the best I would loathe to read the ones that Jones rejected. There are some grade A stories here though "gramma forever", "i have a special plan for this world", and the "other side of midnight" leave a lasting impression on the reader. Still I must say I did not find the majority of stories all that scary, some were merely entertaining.

This book follows the pattern of the other Mammoth Book of Best New Horror issues -- full of boring, dull, plotless stories. And kids, story excerpts, no matter how self-contained, do *not* belong in anthologies -- talk about a major pet peeve.

This is a kind of new version of the GOTHIC novel. Young modern woman finds out about a Grandmother she didn't know she had and her interest in her family roots brings to to a strange English village. Something odd has been going on there and our young heroine is deteremined to get to the bottom of the mystery. What she finds is a supernatural plot that won't leave your mind for a while once you find it out. Loved it!