This was such a fun collection of short stories, and I read it at the perfect time. I was in a bit of a reading slump, and this helped knock me out of it. There were no stories that I just flat out didn't like, and all of them had something in them I enjoyed. I didn't feel like it was horror in the "traditional" sense, but every story had something of the crawl under your skin to it, even if it was just sheer strangeness. I would recommend it to anyone looking for some fun, weird stories, but if your aim is to be truly horrified, this isn't the collection for you. I, however, would like to eventually read the other Dark Delicacies collections. ( )

Dark Delicacies is an anthology assembled to celebrate the California bookstore of the same name. It starts out promising, because most of the good stories are front-loaded. There is a touching zombie story told from a new perspective by Ray Bradbury, body horror by Brian Lumley and F. Paul Wilson, a tale of madness by Roberta Lannes, and a darkly funny story about a man who has a very bad day by John Farris. My two favorites were "The Seer" by Robert Steven Rhine, about a precognitive man who cannot escape his destiny, and "Kaddish," in which Whitley Strieber imagines a wounded America rebuilt as a fascist theocracy--easily the most frightening of the lot. About halfway through the quality takes a dive. Chelsea Quinn Yarbro and Steve Niles provide a couple of half-baked mysteries featuring their ongoing characters (St. Germain and Cal McDonald, respectively). Nancy Holder's story of two cannibal buddies reads like Poppy Z. Brite lite (and I'm not a fan of Ms. Brite.) Gahan Wilson's story of an artist who paints unusual subjects is good but anyone who's read Lovecraft will guess the reveal early on, and David J. Schow's tale of a forbidden book of dreams is the only real bright light in the second half. The collection wraps up with a typical z-grade entry from Richard Laymon (somehow contributing four years after his death) and a tale of necromancy by Clive Barker that is weak especially for him.

There is some good work in here but I really can't recommend the book as a whole. I hope [b:Dark Delicacies II|4448835|Dark Delicacies II Fear More Original Tales of Terror and the Macabre by the World's Greatest Horror Writers|Del Howison|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266738079s/4448835.jpg|776957] is better and more consistent. ( )

Del has done an excellent job of collecting a great set of stories. Generally when I finish a collection of stories, the book can fit into one of three categories: not so good with only a couple of good stories, pretty good with around five stories that qualify as favorites, and really good where almost every story is good and choosing the top favorites is difficult. This book fit in between the last two categories; I was able to pick favorites but the overall feel was that all the stories were good. I've already enjoyed the follow-up second book and look forward to reading the third. And hopefully even more.

"The Seer" by Robert Steven Rhine - A watchmaker is able to see the future in addition to his own death.

"Part of the Game" by F. Paul Wilson - An old fashioned, hard-boiled detective story set in San Francisco's Chinatown in the 1930s.

"Dark Delicacies of the Dead" by Rick Pickman - A fun mix of real and the unreal as a massive book signing at a horror store goes awry. By the way, Del Howison owns a store in Burbank dedicated to Horror; it's called Dark Delicacies.

"The Diving Girl" by Richard Laymon - A man obsesses over a woman performing dives into a pool.

"Haeckel's Tale" by Clive Barker - A man tells the story of being trapped in a cottage near a cemetery with a old man and his younger wife. ( )

I normally have a hard time with anthologies. This one was excellent with only a dud or two (can't win them all) in the bunch. Excellent! ( )

I recently bought about five anthologies of horror stories, and so far this is best. Dark Delicacies is a bookstore in LA that specializes in horror writing, and this is a compilation of some of their best authors.

I have yet to read a clinker story in the bunch. Some actually made my skin crawl, something which does not happen very much to me. This is also a good cross section of newer and more established authors.

If you are going to get ONE anthology of horror stories, and you like to be scared, shocked, or made squirrely, I highly recommend this collection. ( )