Haunted Legends

Haunted Legends, edited by Ellen Datlow and Nick Mamatas, is a collection of original stories based on ghost stories and legends from various parts of the world, such as China, Thailand, Mexico, England, Texas and India, written by a diverse group of writers including Richard Bowes, Kaaron Warren, Kit Reed, Steven Pirie, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Jeffrey Ford, Gary A. Braunbeck, Stephen Dedman, Pat Catigan, Ramsey Campbell and Joe R. Lansdale, among others. As with all such short story collections, I liked some stories more than others and my favourites would probably not be the favourite of other readers. Briefly, those I most enjoyed include Kit Reed's "Akbar," "As Red As Red" by Kiernan (set in Providence, Rhode Island, I especially liked that she mentioned streets and houses that I've seen myself), Carolyn Turgeon's "La Llorona" (based on the well-known folk tale), "For Those in Peril on the Sea" by Stephen Dedman (you'll never look at reality shows in the same way again), "Chucky Comes to Liverpool" by Ramsey Campbell (a very funny, if very sick, take on those evil-doll Chucky movies), and Lansdale's "The Folding Man," which is just plain spooky. But there's plenty of other stories here, for all kinds of tastes; that is, not all the stories are scary and some are even quite gentle. Probably my very favourite was Lily Hoang's "The Foxes," set in Vietnam, in which the spirits of murdered women become foxes who travel from village to village, bringing destruction wherever they go, a very poignant and frightening tale. Recommended. ( )

Anthologies are also hard to review because it’s hard to give full attention to every single story in a collection. Because, while I really enjoyed this entire anthology, there were definitely some I loved more than others:

* Knickerbocker Holiday by Richard Bowes — this story of a man who reveled in a family curse pulls from the local New York legend of the Headless Horsemen. How could I not love it? I adore The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

* The Spring Heel by Steven Pirie — from the title one can see that this is a tale about the English legend, The Spring Heeled Jack. I loved how this story was both eerie but had me almost rooting, in a way, for Jack.

* Shoebox Train Wreck by John Mantooth — I’ll admit, I am a bit partial to this one because John is a local residing a stone’s throw from me (though I had never heard of him until I read this collection). I found this story to be fantastically creepy. Can’t wait to read more of his work.

* La Llorana by Carolyn Turgeon — this story is about a woman running to Mexico in hopes of escaping the death of her child, and gets way more than she would have imagined. Child ghosts on the beach = very creepy.

Others I especially liked: Oaks Park by M.K. Hobson, That Girl by Kaaron Warren, and Following the Double-Face Woman by Erzebet YellowBoy.

The idea behind this book—writers taking local legends, perhaps most never even written about before and turning them into original stories—was a perfect fit for the season and I had so much fun reading it. Makes me want to dig deeper into legends myself and see what I can cook up. Haunted Legends contains ghosts, Jersey Devils, Mothman-like creatures, phantom hitchhikers, curses, sentient inanimate objects, Native American legends, Resurrection Mary and more! Loved it!

http://www.read-all-over.net/fiction/darkfantasy/review-haunted-legends/ ( )