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A review by erinys
Hauntings by
4.0
A solid reprint anthology. Most of the stories are good quality, one or two are genuinely surprising or known classics.
The books starts strong, and I was particularly impressed with "Cargo" by E. Michael Lewis and "Delta Sly Honey" by Lucius Shepard, which I cannot remember having read before. "The Ammonite Violin" by Caitlin Kiernan is justly famous and beautifully told, but of course it's based on a famous murder ballad and therefore somewhat predictable, which can take the sting out of any horror tale.
Unexpected delights included "Two Houses" by Kelly Link, a story that was simultaneously a contemporary ghost story and a space opera ghost story, "The Have-Nots" by Elizabeth Hand, which startled me with its ending, and two well-crafted tales of interstitial horror, "The Pennine Tower Restaurant" by Simon Kurt Unsworth, and "Spectral Evidence" by Gemma Files.
My vote for the most horrifying story of the collection would probably go to "The Horn" by Stephen Gallagher, although "Where Angels Come In" by Adam L. G. Nevill and "Hunger: An Introduction" by Peter Straub both had some deeply disturbing aftershocks.
The books starts strong, and I was particularly impressed with "Cargo" by E. Michael Lewis and "Delta Sly Honey" by Lucius Shepard, which I cannot remember having read before. "The Ammonite Violin" by Caitlin Kiernan is justly famous and beautifully told, but of course it's based on a famous murder ballad and therefore somewhat predictable, which can take the sting out of any horror tale.
Unexpected delights included "Two Houses" by Kelly Link, a story that was simultaneously a contemporary ghost story and a space opera ghost story, "The Have-Nots" by Elizabeth Hand, which startled me with its ending, and two well-crafted tales of interstitial horror, "The Pennine Tower Restaurant" by Simon Kurt Unsworth, and "Spectral Evidence" by Gemma Files.
My vote for the most horrifying story of the collection would probably go to "The Horn" by Stephen Gallagher, although "Where Angels Come In" by Adam L. G. Nevill and "Hunger: An Introduction" by Peter Straub both had some deeply disturbing aftershocks.