Alex Scully

[Note: this review is for "Enter at Your Own Risk: The End Is the Beginning". For some reason this book seems to be getting mixed up with another book on LibraryThing.]

Anthologies, especially those featuring multiple authors, are very often a mixed bag. Usually I'm pretty content if there are at least a few stories that I enjoy. When I first opened the Early Reviewer file for this book and discovered that it had over two dozen stories spread out across more than 400 pages, I actually felt a show more little intimidated and was wondering how I was going to get through it all. By the time I was a few stories in, I was pretty well hooked and trying to find more time to read every day. I found the vast majority of these stories to be very enjoyable, thought provoking, and in a few cases, haunting. I really liked how the stories are divided into four distinct sections, each dealing with a common theme. There were a couple of stories (“So Many Tiny Mouths” and “Their End My Beginning (The Melting World Above)”) that I actually read twice before moving on to the next story. I’ll definitely be taking a closer look at those authors, as well as a few others. show less

This collection of short stories is a real mixed bag. I liked the idea of the theme, "be careful what you wish for." In execution some of the stories come off like something you would find in an old EC comic. This is not always a bad thing.
I liked the mix of classic and modern fiction, although some of the classics were real duds. My favorite piece was "Bad Things Happen." This started off the book on a high point that none of the other stories quite attained.
Overall, I could take or leave show more this collection. show less

4 1/2 Stars.

I really enjoyed this anthology. Strong stories by several modern writers, particularly B. E. Scully (definitely have to read Verland now) juxtaposed with classic writers exploring similar themes. And not just the obvious most published stories by the older writers. "There Was A Man Dwelt by a Churchyard" by M.R. James was hair-raising and "The Spectre Bride" by William Harrison Ainsworth is one of the darkest stories I have ever read.

If you want to commune with some Gothic show more ghosts, this story will conjure them up for you. show less

The stated purpose of this collection (and the competition that produced it) was to generate Gothic fiction which relied on more than just the "gross-out" (as Stephen King famously called his last resort) to horrify the reader. The introduction takes you on a brief tour of the history of Gothic fiction from Lewis' The Monk to Rebecca. And I think the collection does well with mirroring that broad a reference: some of the tales are more old-school Gothic, some are newer, with elements of sci show more fi and fantasy, and some are more mid-range. Like many collections, I found it uneven - there were a few tales I really enjoyed, a few I really didn't and a few in the middle. But I think modern Gothic does indeed often veer too far in the direction of gross rather than scary, and this collection provides a great modern complement to many older classics. Any student of Gothic literature or person who enjoys modern horror and is looking for a different experience of a scary read should enjoy this collection, as will fans of the Lovecraft mythos and darker fantasy. show less