1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Will... not... make... meat...puns..., February 28, 2005
This review is from: The Rare Anthology (Paperback)
Brian Knight (ed.), Rare: An Anthology of Rare Horror (Disc-Us Books, 2001)
Okay, so I was perusing the table of contents on this a few weeks ago and the name Monica J. O'Rourke jumped out at me. Good enough a reason to pick it up and give it a shot. And thus, here we are.
Rare is an anthology gathered from an online writing group (which one it is, no one says; probably by design), of which all the contributors are members. Now, any of you who've been involved in an online writing group are liable to cringe when you hear that, and not without good reason. I rush to tell you this is not your average collection of online fare, not by any means. This is an anthology where the writers who've never been in print before are few and far between, and the majority of the stories here are solid as can be. There are far more heavies here than one would expect, including O'Rourke (Suffer the Flesh) and Knight himself (the upcoming Broken Angel). Knight's story, in fact, can be singled out as one of the best in here; rare (pardon the pun) is the self-published piece that's actually worth it, but Knight's story is quite lovely. It'd be impossible to single out everything here worthy of it, especially in the thousand words one gets from Amazon, so I'll stop by mentioning the first story in the collection, J. Newman's "When Satan Sings the Blues," which has all the tone (and wit) of a particular old Night Gallery episode that fans of the series will remember just based on the title of the story.
The quality is a bit on the inconsistent side, naturally, as is the case with most anthologies. Don't let that scare you off. Rare is one you can sink your teeth into (sorry, sorry, I couldn't resist). ***
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
RARE Rocks, March 25, 2002
This review is from: The Rare Anthology (Paperback)
I know this is the ultimate vanity on this author's part, but, since I'm not the only one in this book, I thought it was time someone should say something about it around here.
I'm a genre fan, first and foremost, and The RARE Anthology is a kinky collection of some unique horror fiction. There are more than a few stirring tales in this book that range from the sublime to the intense. Many aspects of the human condition are explored by these authors. Obviously, I can't spotlight all the stories, but some of the high points for me were Everette Bell's excellent "Midnight people," our taskmaster Brian Knight's disturbing "Sasquatch Cafe" ("do you want fries with that Bigfoot Burger?"), and J.Newman's moody "When Satan Sings the Blues." These are just a few of the *messed*-up concepts in this collection. I would recommend this book even if I weren't in it.
But, since I am, I'm obligated to hypnotize you all and tell you, "Buy . . . buy this book." You won't regret it. It's disturbing, at least, and it'll give you a good taste (pun intended) of what some of today's up and comers are doing in the genre.
M.J.Euringer
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