Jeff Gelb

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 show more 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. show less

Compared with past HOT BLOOD compilations, this one was not as thrilling. There were too many stories that I had read before elsewhere or stories that were just not exciting. They seemed to lack a lot of passion and came across as monotonous and repetitive. Or they read well for the bulk of the story but then lacked any kind of decent ending; they just faded in to oblivion or ended too predictably. The ones that I did like are ...

"The Great White Light" by Greg Kihn - Two horny teens show more experiment with drugs and sex in San Francisco

"Tricks or Treat" by Jeff Gelb - Two LA detectives get to visit a nudist camp

"Necros" by Brian Lumley - An old Italian folklore returns. Unfortunately I've read it before so the punch at the end was already known show less

Given the place this (and the broader anthology series) hold in the genre, and the lineup of 70s/80s/90s horror greats for this opening volume, this was surprisingly uneven across its stories. There's a super strong opener with the surprisingly introspective for its time but dated by today's standards 'Changeling', which does some interesting things with its tropes as does 'The Likeness of Julie'. The third entry, 'The Thang' is over the top silly in a way nothing else comes close to in the show more collection. And it was great to read story Mick Garris used for the Master's of Horror episode 'Chocolate'. Harlan Ellison has a strong showing, though I don't know that I even expect to see him in a collection like this, and Chet Williamson's story is 'interesting'. But by and large these stories feel like relatively weak offerings from authors who on average did a lot better. show less

I don't think that I've once been disappointed by any of the HOT BLOOD collections, and I'm still not. This is another collection of stories to get your adrenaline pumping, your nerves cringing and your loins throbbing. One of the other things about this collection is that I end up not wanting to put it down. I keep telling myself just one more story then go to bed. But one turns into two, then three. And suddenly it's three in the morning and I have to get some sleep for work the next show more morning! I just hate putting it down. So if erotic horror does the same for you, be sure to read this collection. Some of my favorites are below.

"Just A Phone Call Away" by John F. D. Taff - This one had me physically cringing through a good part of it

"I Am Joe's Penis" by Scott H. Urban - If for no other reason than the title

"Overeaters Ominous" by Stephen R. George - A new method of weight control

"Grub-Girl" by Edward Lee - A twist on the zombie

"Black And White And Bed All Over" by James Crawford - A side of 'toons that we haven't seen before

"The Watcher" by Rex Miller and Jeff Gelb - Something to make us guys not want a menage a trois show less