Love in Vein II edited by Poppy Z. Brite (HarperPrism) seems somewhat thrown together compared to the first volume. There are no author bios or introductions, and few powerful selections. The book overall is a disappointment, particularly because the first volume was so good.
The Hot Blood Series: Kiss and Kill edited by Jeff Gelb and Michael Garrett (Pocket) chugs along merrily with another bunch of good, bad, and indifferent stories, as the editors continue their mission to titillate and horrify.
Revelations edited by Douglas E. Winter (HarperPrism), called Millennium in the U.K., is an experiment that works, to a degree. Winter, editor in the late 1980s of the non-theme anthology Prime Evil, didn't want to repeat himself so he commissioned novellas from various writers, each to take one decade from 1900-2000. Clive Barker provides a moving wrap-around piece, and the other contributors (there are several collaborations) pick a touchstone of each decade: the hurricane that destroyed Galveston, the great influenza epidemic, the flapper era, etc. and weave a history of the twentieth century. My qualm is that although this is a brilliant depiction of the 20th century most of it isn't horror--there are horrific elements here and there but there's no terror--it doesn't give the reader that feeling of dread/impending doom that good horror must.
The Mammoth Book of Dracula edited by Stephen Jones (Robinson) is large and varied, as befits a centenary tribute to the greatest vampire of them all. The book, subtitled "vampires for the new millennium," has some nicely creepy (and some amusing) stories in which Dracula adapts to changes over the past century up through and past the new millennium. Jones has, for the most part, avoided the danger in producing an anthology about one character. Included is the long-lost Prologue to a theatrical version of Dracula by Bram Stoker and some reprints, scattered among the originals. The gem of the book is Kim Newman's "Coppola's Dracula," a wonderfully witty novella with two monstrous egos at work together.
Destination Unknown edited by Peter Crowther (White Wolf) is an interesting mixture of light and dark stories imbued with mystery and weirdness. I'm not exactly sure of the theme--possibly "strange travel" stories? But that doesn't really matter.
Tarot Fantastic edited by Lawrence Schimel and Martin H. Greenberg (Daw) has a mixture of fantasy and dark fantasy in it with some interesting stories in both genres.
The Fortune Teller edited by Lawrence Schimel and Martin H. Greenberg (Daw) is unfortunately close enough to the anthology above that it's virtually impossible to tell them apart. I read them interchangeably and could probably not tell you now which stories were in which book. Not because either anthology was bad but because the themes are just too similar and because six contributors are in both volumes.
Dying for It edited by Gardner Dozois (HarperPrism) seems to be a collection of mostly original erotic ghost stories but I'm not sure. The handful of science fiction stories don't feel integrated into the anthology and hurt the overall mood. But there are some excellent pieces in the book.
Northern Frights 4 edited by Don Hutchinson (Mosaic) is the latest in this noteworthy series of original anthologies from Canada. It includes some fine stories about ghosts, vampires, werewolves, and serial killers demonstrating that there's still blood in those old archetypes.
Palace Corbie Seven edited by Wayne Edwards is an excellent anthology based loosely on the theme of personal terror. The mini-theme antho within, entitled "The Piano Player Has no Fingers" is a neat little experiment in commissioned short-shorts written to the title above. It generates some truly bizarre stories.
Gothic Ghosts edited by Charles L. Grant and Wendy Webb (Tor) is a noteworthy attempt to recapture the feeling of the classic ghost story, although some of the stories are pretty bland. Despite this there are some good ones, including the incredibly moving "Dust Motes" by P.D. Cacek.
Copyright (C) 1997 by Omni Publications International, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.