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weaselweader's review
4.0
Canadian horror to make you shiver ... and it ain't the low temperatures!
The opening story in this frightening little anthology of horror shorts is entitled WILD THINGS LIVE HERE. Perhaps, editor Don Hutchison should have included a foreword entitled "WILD, WEIRD, AND WONDERFUL HORROR AUTHORS LIVE IN CANADA"!
NORTHERN FRIGHTS 3 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 very, very good stories) were WILD THINGS LIVE HERE, a distinctly creepy take on missing children in Vancouver's Stanley Park; IMPOSTER, an insider's look at vampire culture in a modern world; THE SUCTION METHOD, a laugh out loud story about cleaning even the most stubborn dirt off your carpets at home; and, GRIST FOR THE MILLS OF CHRISTMAS, an exceptionally clever re-writing of the Christmas myth of St Nicholas and the tradition of gift-giving (I hope this one in particular makes you scratch your head and wonder how it could possibly qualify as a horror story!).
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 it, 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 first two collections that Don Hutchison put together. If they're as good as this one, they'll be well worth the effort!
Paul Weiss
The opening story in this frightening little anthology of horror shorts is entitled WILD THINGS LIVE HERE. Perhaps, editor Don Hutchison should have included a foreword entitled "WILD, WEIRD, AND WONDERFUL HORROR AUTHORS LIVE IN CANADA"!
NORTHERN FRIGHTS 3 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 very, very good stories) were WILD THINGS LIVE HERE, a distinctly creepy take on missing children in Vancouver's Stanley Park; IMPOSTER, an insider's look at vampire culture in a modern world; THE SUCTION METHOD, a laugh out loud story about cleaning even the most stubborn dirt off your carpets at home; and, GRIST FOR THE MILLS OF CHRISTMAS, an exceptionally clever re-writing of the Christmas myth of St Nicholas and the tradition of gift-giving (I hope this one in particular makes you scratch your head and wonder how it could possibly qualify as a horror story!).
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 it, 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 first two collections that Don Hutchison put together. If they're as good as this one, they'll be well worth the effort!
Paul Weiss
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