Reviews

Bending the Landscape: Original Gay and Lesbian Horror Writing by Leslie What, James Van Pelt, Brian A. Hopkins, Holly Wade Matter, Kraig Blackwelder, Mark W. Tiedemann, Barbara Hambly, Carrie Richerson, Alexi Smart, Kathleen O'Malley, Alexis Glynn Latner, A.J. Potter, Stephen Pagel, J.K. Potter, Gary Bowen, Nicola Griffith, Ellen Klages, Keith Hartman

wlbolm's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

gutterpede's review

3.0

Pretty good anthology of works! The horror aspect was a bit tame and the homo of it all def could have been stronger but yea, good stories

simlish's review against another edition

3.0

None of them really scared me. Uneven quality. The good were good stories just not.... horrifying.

keithhanson's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

bitterindigo's review

4.0

Really well-done on the whole - varied, skillful, deeply unsettling. Some of them made me feel actual nausea. Mostly in a good way. If you know what I mean.

sucreslibrary's review

3.0

Two major things: some of the authors are straight, and this isn't leave-the-lights-on horror. There's a lot of good stories in here (a decent handful about southern gay ppl dealing with ghosts and other such things, which is exactly the kind of thing I love) and there's also some that are just bad. The last story, which involves a lot of torturing and murder of gay men, was really tasteless. Some of the stories feel more like bad comedy routines (true hell is the DFW airport and your nagging bitch of a wife, amirite?) and others are obviously men writing lesbians. Several stories were touching and emotional with horror elements incorporated (post-apocalypse settings, more ghosts) and some felt like writing exercises that should never have been published (looking at you, story #3). All in all a decent anthology, if mostly white, able-bodied and cis.

apostrophen's review

3.0

Although I didn't enjoy this one as much as the SF stories (gore and horror actually horrifies me, in a usually unpleasant way that I don't over-enjoy much, though thrillers and psychological suspense are really enjoyable - so about half of these just made me queasy).

This is my failing, by the way, not the stories. Horror fans? This one is a great collection for you. I'm just a wuss. Still, there's something to be said even for a wuss like me in these tales! The story with the pink triangle from Nazi Germany made me shiver down to the bone, and the opening story about a homophobic gay man whose arm ends up trapped under another man post coitus, and he feels he must eat his way out of this trap had me just about ready to vomit.