Karl Edward Wagner (1945–1994)

One in a long running series, this was published in 1985 to showcase the best stories of 1984. Not all are what I would catagorise as horror: for example, Mrs Todd's Shortcut by Stephen King is about ageing, loss, new beginnings and other dimensions, and would perhaps fit better in a fantasy collection, which is not to minimise its impact as a great story. Similarly, Dinner Party by Gardner Dozois is an alternative future tale in which the United States is building up to a second Civil War, but foregrounds a story of the horror of what human beings can do to each other mentally and emotionally as well as physically.

Tiger in the Snow by Daniel Wynn Barber is a poignant story of a young boy's last hours, while The Thing in the Bedroom by David Langford is a tongue in cheek story which makes fun of the cliches of the genre. The End of the World by James B Hemesath, set in a remote part of the USA that is suffering a long drought, is another story of the horrific crimes human beings perpetrate against each other. Never Grow Up, one of two stories by John Gordon in this volume, is also in this vein and takes the form of a young boy telling the story of his life with his parents to the grave of a long-dead girl. Fred Chappell's Weird Tales is a Cthulhu Mythos tale with a twist in which the real life characters of H P Lovecraft and others appear.

Stories that "fit" the traditional genre include Daniel S Schow's Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You about an embittered Vietnam veteran and Leslie Halliwell's Hands with Long Fingers, a traditional story of supernatural vengeance. Talking in the Dark by Dennis Etchison is a rather nasty story where a reclusive and socially awkward fan gets the chance to meet the author whose work he idolises. The other stories in the collection are fairly standard supernatural revenge type tales, but for the standout stories that don't fit a formula, the collection merits 4 stars.… (more)

I would’ve given this story two stars but the first scene in the house actually scared me so it gets an extra star for that. Pretty average otherwise. I like the idea of using one small, seemingly innocuous, item to hint at a large horror. With cosmic horror a small grounding in reality that everyone understands really stands out. Mediocre writing but good ideas. I didn’t like the ending though. It felt like it was meant to be a big horrific reveal but fell flat. It just didn’t add anything. I was already introduced to the lichs so the “reveal” of this guy being one wasn’t scary or interesting. Maybe if the main character had gotten closer to him and felt comfortable with him it could’ve been better.

Merged review:

I would’ve given this story two stars but the first scene in the house actually scared me so it gets an extra star for that. Pretty average otherwise. I like the idea of using one small, seemingly innocuous, item to hint at a large horror. With cosmic horror a small grounding in reality that everyone understands really stands out. Mediocre writing but good ideas. I didn’t like the ending though. It felt like it was meant to be a big horrific reveal but fell flat. It just didn’t add anything. I was already introduced to the lichs so the “reveal” of this guy being one wasn’t scary or interesting. Maybe if the main character had gotten closer to him and felt comfortable with him it could’ve been better.… (more)