The Many Faces of Van Helsing

This seemed appropriate to read around Halloween!
I was actually surprised at the quality and variety of the stories featured here. You'd think that the concept (asking authors to write a story about Stoker's vampire hunter) might get a bit one-note, but no. There's some really good stuff here, from some excellent authors, and although I believe all the stories were written specifically for this volume, I didn't think any of them felt "commissioned." I guess Van Helsing is just an inspiring character!
The only story that I felt really didn't fit was the piece by Nina Kiriki Hoffman. There's no Van Helsing in it, and I didn't really like the story, either.
However, I particularly liked: Joe Hill's "Abraham's Boys" (Stephen King's son, good show more even before his first novel came out), Kathe Koja's "Anna Lee" (though it's short), Thomas F. Monteleone's "Sideshow," Tanith Lee's gorgeous and heartwrenching origin story, "Remember Me," and Brian Hodge's horror story of Goya, "Brushed in Blackest Silence." show less

Overall I was really pleased with this collection. There were a couple stories I found boring, and one that I didn't understand, but other than that, I really enjoyed all the unique takes on Van Helsing and his life. I bought this book solely for Tanith Lee's story (which I really loved), but I came away very glad to have read all the other stories.