Customer Reviews

Whitley Streiber's Aliens

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

 

 

This did not emerge as a "horror" anthology; only two or three of the stories really fit that category. However, some of them are very good indude, notably "After Welles" and the one by Gary Braunbeck.

The Horror Writers Association has a reputation for putting out anthologies every few years, each with a central theme and a talented editor. From circus freaks to vampires to haunted airports, HWA has been consistent in gathering up talent to compose its collections.

Whitley Strieber was chosen to edit `Aliens', but unfortunately did not add a short story of his own. However, you will find such talent as Edward Lee, Gary Braunbeck, David Silva, P.D. Cacek, and Don D'Ammassa; twenty-one tales in all that will entertain, amuse, and sometimes frighten you.

Forget about the movie aliens, these are intruders who sometimes look like us, sometimes mean us harm and sometimes don't, are sometimes stupid and sometimes smart, but always have an uncanny interest in this little blue ball called Earth. They are here, and the reasons are abundant.

With Braunbeck's `In Hollow Houses', a child is saved from an abusive household. In Nina Kiriki Hoffman's `Radiance', you can donate your body to the aliens by checking a box on your drivers license. Find out how an alien who travels from body to body keeps track of his human lover in James Robert Smith's `A Last, Longing Look'. Mix aliens and compulsive gambling and you get John B. Rosenman's `Even Saints And Angels'. Follow some lost and friendly crash-landers through acceptance and then rejection in Cindie Geddes' `Guessing At The Unknown' (my favorite). Alien or angel? Edward Lee's `Scripture Girl' holds the answer. Contemplate how aliens will use us in the afterlife with Adam-Troy Castro's `Fuel'. Don D'Ammassa's `Realizations' ponders an alien visitor as a sneaky jail-breaker or miracle baby, and P.D. Cacek's `Fireflies' tiptoes through the cruelties of a little girl being crippled, and how she can unwittingly cripple in return.

Altogether, this is a pleasing and versatile collection of old-fashioned, sci-fi based alien tales, and to me, extremely welcomed proof that horror comes from the inside. Though a few others have mentioned being disappointed in the lack of overt horror, I welcome a collection that allows these multitalented writers the freedom to stretch their scorched and blackened wings, allowing them to occasionally shimmer like gossamer mantles in this cold, alien light. Enjoy!

This was disappointing -- it's much more of a fantasy anthology than a horror anthology.