Scan barcode
weaselweader's review
4.0
Of course, Canadian horror is particularly chilling! What else?
In his introduction, editor Don Hutchison provides us with a wonderful rationale for the accumulation of this marvelous little collection of horror shorts with a very clear Canadian twist:
"If New England's witch-ridden woods and the haunted Gothic South have so inspired authors, it occurred to me that the Canadian North - that brooding land of unexplored wilderness - should provide similar fantasmic raw material."
And indeed it does.
NORTHERN FRIGHTS is an all too short and completely entertaining collection of stories that beautifully covers the entire spectrum of emotions that well written horror and dark fantasy can elicit. These stories are moody, thought-provoking, frightening, darkly humorous and just plain old creepy! To my pleasure, these Canadian stories were also written in that distinct, uniquely Canadian flavour with a quiet and unerringly accurate pride of place and setting.
Some of my favourites (that is to say, what I felt to be the "best" among a collection of good stories) were TEAR DOWN, the story of a brutal, sadistic serial killer who is utterly confused by the fact that his latest victim doesn't seem to be frightened of him at all; UNDERGROUND, a bemusing story of an on the job hazing in the deep, dark confines of the Toronto subway system; COLD, the shivering story of a retired Toronto manager who just couldn't seem to come to grips with living in a cabin in the Muskoka wilderness; FARM WIFE, an utterly hilarious story that lets us in on a Northern Ontario farm wife's very special approach to dealing with a pesky vampire; BOOGIE MAN, an all too realistic (and, frankly, almost stomach turning) story about the adulation that fans accord to rock stars and the extent to which agents and the moneyed people behind the stars will go to profit from that "fan"-aticism!
I count myself as having been lucky to find this one at a deep discount on the remainder table of a local book store. But, now having read and so thoroughly enjoyed the first and third books in this growing themed series, I wonder why such a fine collection of stories met with such an ignominious fate. I'm certainly going back to find copies of the second, fourth and fifth collections that Don Hutchison has put together for my enjoyment. If they're as good as this one, they'll be well worth the effort!
Paul Weiss
In his introduction, editor Don Hutchison provides us with a wonderful rationale for the accumulation of this marvelous little collection of horror shorts with a very clear Canadian twist:
"If New England's witch-ridden woods and the haunted Gothic South have so inspired authors, it occurred to me that the Canadian North - that brooding land of unexplored wilderness - should provide similar fantasmic raw material."
And indeed it does.
NORTHERN FRIGHTS is an all too short and completely entertaining collection of stories that beautifully covers the entire spectrum of emotions that well written horror and dark fantasy can elicit. These stories are moody, thought-provoking, frightening, darkly humorous and just plain old creepy! To my pleasure, these Canadian stories were also written in that distinct, uniquely Canadian flavour with a quiet and unerringly accurate pride of place and setting.
Some of my favourites (that is to say, what I felt to be the "best" among a collection of good stories) were TEAR DOWN, the story of a brutal, sadistic serial killer who is utterly confused by the fact that his latest victim doesn't seem to be frightened of him at all; UNDERGROUND, a bemusing story of an on the job hazing in the deep, dark confines of the Toronto subway system; COLD, the shivering story of a retired Toronto manager who just couldn't seem to come to grips with living in a cabin in the Muskoka wilderness; FARM WIFE, an utterly hilarious story that lets us in on a Northern Ontario farm wife's very special approach to dealing with a pesky vampire; BOOGIE MAN, an all too realistic (and, frankly, almost stomach turning) story about the adulation that fans accord to rock stars and the extent to which agents and the moneyed people behind the stars will go to profit from that "fan"-aticism!
I count myself as having been lucky to find this one at a deep discount on the remainder table of a local book store. But, now having read and so thoroughly enjoyed the first and third books in this growing themed series, I wonder why such a fine collection of stories met with such an ignominious fate. I'm certainly going back to find copies of the second, fourth and fifth collections that Don Hutchison has put together for my enjoyment. If they're as good as this one, they'll be well worth the effort!
Paul Weiss
More...