Richard Laymon’s latest posthumous novel, THE LAKE, begins with a teenage girl named Deana watching her boyfriend get killed by a man in a chef’s hat at their makeout point. It’s kind of like how her mom Leigh watched her own boyfriend die post-orgasm in a rickety old cabin during that one summer at the lake 18 years ago.

Could the two incidents be related? Of course they could. How else could Laymon stretch this thing out to 400 pages otherwise? I liked the first two-thirds of THE LAKE, but the rest falls victim to dialogue that rings false, piss-poor plotting and an unforgivable absence of logic. In real life, two women living on their own as Leigh and Deana do wouldn’t hang around the house when they know that not one but two killers are on the loose and out for their blood. Nor would a loving mother like Leigh leave her daughter alone in the middle of the night amidst all this craziness to go settle a fight at her restaurant. These two just don’t know how to dial 911.

But they do know how to get freaky. The sex is always abundant and fairly explicit in Laymon’s novels, but these gals have to be the horniest female characters he’s ever written. Alas, this isn’t enough to save THE LAKE from drowning in its own mediocrity. Tighter plotting and more believability may have resulted in a more satisfying suspenser, but what we have is something like feels like a hasty first draft. It’s not the worst of Laymon’s books I’ve read, but there are far better ones.

Halloween is here again, and those of you paying attention hopefully have noticed we’ve spent the days leading up to it reviewing some notable horror anthologies of the past couple years. There were 12 in all – no rhyme or reason behind that number – each denoted with that cute little skull-pumpkin graphic you see to your right.

In case you missed any of them, here are handy-dandy links to each one, in the order we reviewed them:
• INTO THE MUMMY’S TOMB
• 999: TWENTY-NINE ORIGINAL TALES OF HORROR AND SUSPENSE
• FOUR DARK NIGHTS
• THE MANY FACES OF VAN HELSING
• JACK THE RIPPER
• THE ULTIMATE FRANKENSTEIN
• THE BEST HORROR FROM FANTASY TALES
• THE 13 BEST HORROR STORIES OF ALL TIME
• DON’T OPEN THIS BOOK!
• THE ULTIMATE HALLOWEEN
• THE COLOUR OUT OF SPACE: TALES OF COSMIC HORROR
• AMERICAN GOTHIC TALES

With another month gone, it’s time for another look at the most popular search phrases that bring Internet surfers to BOOKGASM. Last time, you folks were all about the “Sudoku” and “Mimi Rogers’ breasts.” This month, there wasn’t a single Sudoku query to be found, but you’re still interested in Mimi’s mammaries – and I, for one, cannot blame you.

However, you’re also interested in the almighty chest of Uschi Digard, in asking a jillion Lemony Snicket questions and in some kind of AMITYVILLE HORROR crossword puzzle, whatever that is. I’m not sure what BOOKGASM has to do cannibals or people named Mario who cavort with magicians, but that’s the magic of the Internets! So without further ado, October’s list:

• naked actresses
• mr skin skincyclopedia
• bookgasm
• best american nonrequired reading 2005
• carrie rickey
• 24 declassified
• uschi digard celebrity
• doomed magazine idw
• mimi rogers
• www.bookgasm.com
• meg: hell’s aquarium
• king kong photos and art
• scary movies
• when does the penultimate peril come out?
• john birmingham designated targets
• lemony snicket penultimate peril
• george r r martin free audio book
• how many pages is the penultimate peril ?
• film titanius
• king kong edgar wallace and merian cooper 1932 1st edition
• thrillers
• steve alten
• 24 operation hell gate
• ted thompson snicket
• knife of dreams review
• esquire magazines sexiest woman
• profoundly erotic sexy movies that changed history
• jennifer esposito naked
• dc comics
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• the amityville horror crossword puzzle
• mamie van doren
• stephen king salem’s lot
• jay mohr gasping for airtime
• evangeline lilly naked
• cannibal stories in magazines
• illustrated ’salem’s lot
• nick hornby smallest country
• mrskin.com username password
• literary style for mario and the magician
• yellow wallpaper

Stephen King will add comic books to his writing resume when THE DARK TOWER, a monthly series based upon his seven-volume fantasy opus of the same name, debuts next April from Marvel Comics.

The issues will expand upon Roland the Gunslinger’s quest via prequels and other original stories, rather than strict adaptations of the books. Handling art duties will be Eisner-award-winning artist Jae Lee (TRANSFORMERS/G.I. JOE, ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR). A hardcover edition collecting the first six issues will be available by year-end 2006.

For more information, visit http://www.marvel.com/king.

Some movies are designed to titillate, yet none set out to alter the very fabric of our nation, much less the world. However, every now and then, some do – whether legally, culturally or otherwise – and America’s foremost drive-in movie critic Joe Bob Briggs examines 10 such instances in PROFOUNDLY EROTIC: SEXY MOVIES THAT CHANGED HISTORY.

A sequel to 2003’s PROFOUNDLY DISTURBING: SHOCKING MOVIES THAT CHANGED HISTORY, this all-EROTIC volume has nothing but sex on the brain, mining hormonally charged gems (and turds) from the silent era to the VHS revolution. Arranged chronologically, each chapter focuses on one landmark film, detailing its ever-torrid history from conception to afterlife. Even the movies that hold no interest for you – say, the Rudolph Valentino vehicle THE SHIEK – make for completely fascinating stories under Joe Bob’s tutleage, what with such irresistible leads as “In 1921, the entire civilized world became entranced by a rape fantasy.”

Without question, the stories behind the movies are more interesting than the movies themselves. You learn about Valentino’s pre-fame gig as a gigolo; Ann-Margret’s utterly bizarre rollercoaster of a career, reaching its nadir with KITTEN WITH A WHIP (though Joe Bob convincingly argues for the film’s unappreciated merits); Kim Basinger’s fragile emotional state during the making of 9 1/2 WEEKS, thanks to the manipulation of her director and co-star; and the racuous behavior of the lead of Russ Meyer’s THE IMMORAL MR. TEAS, drunkenly demanding one of his comely co-stars to bed him. Best of all is the chapter on I AM CURIOUS (YELLOW), the Swedish political porno that became embroiled in a fierce legal battle when its U.S. distributor first tried to release it in the late ’60s. I’ve never seen the film, nor do I want to; it would pale in comparison to the rich events told here.

As with DISTURBING, absent are Joe Bob’s patented “drive-in totals,” which rate flicks on a basis of bosoms bared and bombs blown up. But EROTIC doesn’t need it. This is a more serious – but highly entertaining – tour of cinematic history, yet told as only Joe Bob could tell it: funny, well-researched and compelling. It’s also a reminder of how good a writer Briggs (aka John Bloom) really is; behind that goofy, redneck TV-host persona lies one intelligent, talented guy. If you want a crash course on the salicious history of sex epics, this is your luridly illustrated textbook.

Joe Bob notes in his introduction that “chances are the film you found to be the sexiest ever made is nowhere mentioned. That’s because eroticism involves the most personal of judgments.” But if you’re wondering where films like IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT, LOLITA, BELLE DE JOUR, THE OUTLAW, EMMANUELLE and SEX, LIES, AND VIDEOTAPE are, join the club. These titles were all cited in pre-release press materials for the book, so one can only hope Joe Bob has another EROTIC volume waiting under his 10-gallon hat.

FIRST & FIFTEENTH: POP ART SHORT STORIES is a graphic novel unlike any other. Written and illustrated by renowned graffiti artist Steve Powers, the book is comprised of eight brief vignettes in an urban, not-unlike-NY setting. Each square page (or two-page spread) is its own bleeding panel, leading up to a punchline that – while not always funny – caps an always interesting walk to the finish.

Some of Powers’ stories are based on fact, others spring from his fertile mind, yet they all coexist nicely in the wild universe he’s created. A few feature the chemically enhanced and oft-lazy superhero known as Superfeen, more interested in smokes and shots (those administered both via glass and syringe) than saving lives. Other stories involve shoplifted hams, insurance fraud, dodgeball fights and lowlife con artists.

But with so few words, the storytelling is beside the point; FIRST & FIFTEENTH exists for art’s sake, and Powers’ work is magnificent. True to the “pop art” aesthetic, his images are clearly drawn and garishly colored, with dialogue conveyed not through word balloons, but via lettering that looks lifted from matchbook covers, grocery-store signage and classified ads. Each page simultaneously looks like it was assembled with Colorforms and like it’d look damn cool on your wall behind a frame.

Anyone who’s picked up an anthology in recent years is bound to find a story from the ridiculously prolific Joyce Carol Oates in there; she excels at the format. And as an anthologist, she ain’t bad, either, judging from AMERICAN GOTHIC TALES.

A brick of a book, this collection of TALES examines the path of Gothic fiction through 46 stories spanning 200 years. It attempts to draw a direct line from the likes of Nathaniel Hawthorne to the likes of Stephen King, and I think it succeeds. It begins with established classics like Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat,” working its way up through Henry James, Ambrose Bierce and the ghost stories of Edith Wharton.

The next generation includes H.P. Lovecraft, August Derleth, Ray Bradbury and Shirley Jackson (though not, as would would expect, “The Lottery”), while the new crowd is represented by Anne Rice, Peter Straub and Oates herself. It’s not surprising that you would find such luminaries in a book like this. What is surprising, however, is finding names you wouldn’t normally associate with Gothic or horror literature: Sylvia Plath, Raymond Carver, Don DeLillo, E.B. White and William Faulkner, to name a few.

With the exception of Ursula Le Guin’s “Schrödinger’s Cat,” there are no “finds” in AMERICAN GOTHIC TALES, but it’s awfully nice to have so many classic stories in one volume.

A mere week after being named one of the 100 greatest novels by Time magazine, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ landmark graphic novel WATCHMEN has its almost-20th-anniversary celebrated in the pages of the new issue of Entertainment Weekly.

Written by Jeff Jensen, “WATCHMEN: An Oral History” recalls how an idea to reinvent old Charlton Comics characters instead transformed into a wholly original masterpiece that is even more relevant today. Putting in their two cents are Moore, Gibbons, Neil Gaiman, Joss Whedon and LOST producer Damon Lindelof, among others. The article coincides with the release of WATCHMEN: ABSOLUTE EDITION, a hardcover edition with supplemental extras, which you can buy for me as a Christmas present.

Michael Crichton’s latest novel, STATE OF FEAR – just out in paperback – supposes that radical environmental groups help aid their causes by spreading fear. They accomplish this by becoming terrorists who control the weather with complicated technology, all to create “natural” disasters to make the public think global warming is happening far faster than reality has it.

So they create an earthquake here and a flash flood there. They can even assassinate people by causing a lightning storm to track intended victims through their cell phones. A lawyer and a government agent head up a small group of people out to thwart the group’s plans, which leads them on a dangerous adventure around the globe, culminating – and this is timely – in one mother of a tsunami.

Somehow, all the science talk (and this is a book riddled with factual footnotes and charts) proves fascinating, forming a bridge between the fast-paced action scenes in which Crichton excels. Treading on TWISTER territory with its focus on extreme weather (but minus the goofy cheese, thankfully), STATE OF FEAR is not his best, but it is rather enjoyable.

The unmistakable work of illustrator Charles Burns on the cover is your first clue that THE COLOUR OUT OF SPACE: TALES OF COSMIC HORROR is something special. A glance at the contents is your next.

As editor D. Thin writes in his afterword, “The tale of cosmic horror reveals the appalling unnatural essence of nature, something positively indifferent or actively inimical to humanity, which, from the vertiginous perspective thus disclosed, find itself everywhere set apart, outside, undone.” In other words, “weird tales,” with some of its finest practitioners being H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe and Algernon Blackwood.

The basis of the forgotten film DIE, MONSTER, DIE!, Lovecraft’s title tale is a dialogue-free account of an otherworldly force that infects a small farming community. It’s one of his best, though not his best-known. By the same token, Poe has a handful of more beloved tales than “MS. Found in a Bottle,” but this is the one that best fits this collection’s theme and tone.

Ambrose Bierce is represented with three stories, the best of which is “Moxon’s Master,” detailing the narrator’s memory of a night playing chess against an automaton. You also get Algernon Blackwood, Henry James and Arthur Machen, but for me, the high point lies with Bram Stoker’s “The Squaw,” a hilariously gory story that warns against killing cats – however accidental – while playing tourist at a German castle. The violence is surprisingly over-the-top for someone who wrote the rather somber-by-comparison DRACULA, and the kick it delivers is alone worth the price of admission.

Part art book and part graphic novel, FIRST & FIFTEENTH: POP ART SHORT STORIES is the work of Steve Powers, a New York-based graffiti artist with a six-count felony indictment to prove it! Look for our review within a few days; in the meantime, here’s a Q&A with the author/illustrator, as unconventional and welcome as his work.

BOOKGASM: Each page of FIRST & FIFTEENTH is suitable for framing. What media are used and, on average, how long did you spend crafting each page?

POWERS: Each page is enamel on aluminum. They took between three days and one week each, depending on if I had assistants helping and how distracted I was.

BOOKGASM: In terms of graffiti, where do you think the line between “vandalism” and “work of art” falls?

POWERS: It’s all a matter of catering; graffiti gets you a baloney sandwich, and “work of art” gets you wine and cheese.

BOOKGASM: And why do you think graffiti is still seen as the former rather than the latter by the general public? How does a book like this help change that, if at all?

POWERS: Graffiti is a name written where it doesnt belong, and the public’s perception of that depends on how threatened they are by it. The kids that write graffiti don’t think my book is graff, but they like it just the same. At least they can show it to their parole officers as an example of a vandal getting a job.

BOOKGASM: What’s up with Superfeen? What’s behind the creation of this hard-drinking, pill-popping, chain-smoking, mostly lazy superhero?

POWERS: He’s like a lot of people I know floating around in Manhattan. Superfeen is a step farther, though. He takes in wrong, and puts out right. That’s what makes Superfeen heroic. Most of the derelicts I know give off nothing but bad smells.

BOOKGASM: There are eight stories in the book, but everyone knows the Naked City has a million of them. Do you have plans to tell more? Is your daily life ripe enough to provide you with endless inspiration?

POWERS: I tell stories everyday. Some are even true. Just the other day, a group of church ladies saw me breezing through the airport, and one of them said, “Oooh, where you going dressed like that?” I said, “I’m already there.”

In FROZEN, FBI profiler Ulyssess Grove is investigating the maddeningly random Sun City serial killer when, on a trip to the latest crime scene, he’s waylaid by an uncharacteristic dizzy spell. To give him some time off, his superior sends him to Alaska for a piffle of an assignment: meeting a Discover magazine reporter to profile a body recently discovered in the ice that appears to have been murdered some 6,000 years ago.

Any hopes of rest and relaxation for Grove are shattered when he sees the prehistoric mummy posed in exactly the same position as the serial killer’s long string of victims. Though the mere thought seems impossible, the evidence points to a clear connection, and Grove hopes to finally catch the killer by studying this iceman. What he ultimately discovers is beyond anything he or his peers could ever imagine. I hate to sound so vague, but I don’t wish to give the surprises away.

FROZEN’s ingenious plot is like the kind of bizarro high-concept story CSI likes to trot out for sweeps weeks, but Bonansinga infuses his narrative with a 18o˙-turn that takes it somewhere into X-FILES territory. Grove is a strong, principled character, not to mention ripe with franchise potential (indeed, he’ll return in a storm-set TWISTED next year), anchoring a wholly absorbing story of science and suspense. Why this didn’t debut in hardcover is beyond me, because it’s one of the best pure thrillers I’ve read all year – a marvelous, addictive piece of detective fiction that will appeal to anyone who enjoys the strange-science leanings of the Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child novels.

I first read THE ULTIMATE HALLOWEEN exactly two years ago when it was reissued by iBooks, and I loved it. If only I had more time, I would re-read it every Halloween season.

For this anthology, editor Marvin Kaye (DON’T OPEN THIS BOOK!) has rounded up a host of short stories (and one novella) old and new, all more or less taking place on Halloween. The old guard finds representation with Edith Wharton’s “All Souls” and H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Unnameable,” but it’s the more current works which make this book a must-have.

Specifically, Al Sarrantonio and William F. Nolan turn in two similar but ultimately distinct tales (”Pumpkin Head” and “The Halloween Man,” respectively) involving children, cruelty and wicked endings that will throw your head for a loop. R.J. Lewis also impresses with “Into the Abyss,” in which a struggling makeup artist is hired for a nightclub gig that he will never forget, should he live through it.

But it’s not all horror. In fact, perhaps the best of the bunch is Edward D. Hoch’s “The Theft of the Halloween Pumpkin,” a smart little mystery in which a detective is hired by an obscenely wealthy publisher to determine who’s made off with his porch-dwelling jack-o’-lanterns (and perhaps more importantly, how). I couldn’t figure it out, which is but one reason why Hoch is considered a master of the short-form whodunit.

Only the novella – “The Banshee’s Comb” by DARBY O’GILL author Herminie T. Kavanagh – isn’t truly worthy of your time, frustratingly steeped in authentic Irish dialect as it is. However, the remains (if you’ll pardon the pun) make for an exceptional celebration of the season.

Here’s the film appreciation book that proves a flick can make more than just your thumbs go up.

THE X LIST is, as the subtitle hints, a criticism compilation about sex-themed films that got the reviewers’ motors runnin’. The National Society of Film Critics have tread this sticky floor before in 1995’s FLESH AND BLOOD, but that collection also hit upon violence and censorship, whereas THE X LIST is all sex, all the time.

Comprised largely of previously released material, the book is not each critic picking his or her favorite sexy movie, but rather selected reviews and essays on one of 40 titles, including such expected cinematic sizzlers as BLUE VELVET, BODY HEAT and BASIC INSTINCT, and more recent offerings like KINSEY and SECRETARY; not all of them are favorable. But the joy of THE X LIST is in the unpredictable, as the films cover a surprising range of tastes and genres, from horror (FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN) and adventure (TARZAN AND HIS MATE) to outright B-grade schlock (HERCULES UNCHAINED).

And, yes, there is porn. Carrie Rickey memorably deconstructs BEHIND THE GREEN DOOR, while Emanuel Levy encapsulates the DEEP THROAT experience in a mere five pages. In the softcore realm, Roger Ebert pays tribute to his late friend Russ Meyer, Desson Thomson hilariously recalls catching a screening of LAST TANGO IN PARIS with his grandmother when he was 15 years young and Ty Burr talks about his former employment screening dirty movies for Cinemax, where his programming of YOUNG LADY CHATTERLEY sent the numbers through the proverbial roof.

As you’d expect with so many cooks, not every chapter is great; some are dull and pretentious. But since even bad sex is good sex, I can overlook the few dry spots. Because any book that can expound upon the allure of such varied femme fatales as Rita Hayworth, Michelle Pfeiffer and Annabel Chong deserves your attention, standing or otherwise.

Remember us telling you about the upcoming THRILLER anthology a while back? Well, here’s a sneak peek at the cover. I think it looks more like a movie poster than a book, which is probably why I love it so much.

Tagged as “the first pure thriller anthology ever published,” it will be edited by James Patterson and include short stories by the likes of Ted Bell (PIRATE), Lee Child (ONE SHOT), Lincoln Child (DANCE OF DEATH), Greg Iles (BLOOD MEMORY), Alex Kava (ONE FALSE MOVE), John Lescroart (THE MOTIVE), Eric Van Lustbader (MISTRESS OF THE PEARL), David Morrell (CREEPERS), Katherine Neville (THE EIGHT), Michael Palmer (THE SOCIETY), Douglas Preston (TYRANNOSAUR CANYON), James Rollins (MAP OF BONES), M.J. Rose (THE HALO EFFECT) and F. Paul Wilson (the Repairman Jack series), among many others.

Most time travel stories center around the premise that something in the past has gone awry and our heroes have to reverse the course of history to set things right. DESIGNATED TARGETS, John Birmingham’s second entry in his “Axis of Time” trilogy and immediate sequel to 2004’s WEAPONS OF CHOICE, flips this idea and plants our time travelers smack dab in the middle of something that went pretty right: World War II.

Read more »

After a quiet month, this week is busy as ever with new and notable releases, all out today. Remember, kids, all them there links are clickable – for more info, to order and whatnot.

• PROMISE OF THE WITCH-KING: FORGOTTEN REALMS – THE SELLSWORDS, BOOK II by R.A. Salvatore – What is this fantasy epic’s promise? To craft frustratingly long titles for the life of the franchise, one may assume. This sequel to SERVANT OF THE SHARD is about an elf named Jarlaxle Baenre who’s in search of – what’s that? We lost you at “elf”?

• KING KONG: THE ISLAND OF THE SKULL is Matthew Costello’s authorized prequel to the upcoming Peter Jackson remake. I’m not sure how exciting a story Costello can come up with using the same characters before they even meet Kong – not to mention each other – but we’ll read it and let you know. That’s what we’re here for.

• BAT BOY LIVES! THE WEEKLY WORLD NEWS GUIDE TO POLITICS, CULTURE, CELEBRITIES, ALIEN ABDUCTIONS, AND THE MUTANT FREAKS THAT SHAPE OUR WORLD by David Perel – Oh, don’t even pretend you don’t want it.

• PRIVATE WARS – This is Greg Rucka’s latest technothriller based upon characters from his graphic novel series QUEEN & COUNTRY. Mark Rose reviewed this positively a little while back for us, which you can read here if you missed it.

• DESIGNATED TARGETS is John Birmingham’s sequel to last year’s time-travel war novel WEAPONS OF CHOICE. And, in case you hadn’t already noticed, Ryun Patterson’s review for it appears on this very page … today!

• Finally, FIFTY DEGREES OF RAIN is the middle chapter in Kim Stanley Robinson’s “Science in the Capital” trilogy, which kicked off last year with the impressive FORTY SIGNS OF RAIN, which we reviewed here. We’d love to say this book is every bit as impressive – perhaps even more so – but our review copy has yet to arrive. (Hint hint, Bantam.)

In direct defiance of the title, I read DON’T OPEN THIS BOOK!, editor Marvin Kaye’s impressive collection of suspense stories old and new, all dealing with the forbidden and the unknown, and not a single one of which I’d read before.

Among the best were Issac Asimov’s “Obituary,” about a hateful time-traveling scientist with a devious scheme up the ol’ proverbial sleeve; Edward Hoch’s exploding-mail mystery, “The Problem of the Country Mailbox;” and H.P. Lovecraft’s underwater terror tale, “The Temple.” Others contributing stories include Arthur C. Clarke, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Robert Bloch.

With the exception of three of the 39 stories (one of which, “The Testament of Magdalen Blair,” is an utterly disturbing work from renowned Satanist Aleister Crowley), I really enjoyed it. Its mix of horror, dark fantasy and mystery combined with a mix that eschews reprinting the usual make for an anthology that’s thankfully not your average one.

This year’s installment of THE BEST AMERICAN NONREQUIRED READING should really be called THE BEST LIBERAL, DEPRESSING, SELF-IMPORTANT AMERICAN NONREQUIRED READING 2005. I can’t quite figure out how this annual series has gone from great fun to a complete wrist-slitter in just three short years of existence. Unless it can gain back its sense of irreverence, I won’t be buying another.

Started in 2002 as a “genre-busting” collection of “fiction, essays, satire, journalism – and much more,” we’re now woefully down to mostly just fiction. And not the good kind, but the woe-is-me, Daddy-beat-me, Mommy-left-me, I’m-fat, nobody-loves-me, everybody-persecutes-me kind of fiction. It’s not that the writers are bad; it’s that their scope is myopic, their tales interchangable.

Out of two dozen contributions (which includes such names as Dan Chaon, Al Franken and Aimee Bender), there are only two worth reading. One is Ryan Boudinot’s “Free Burgers for Life,” which at least is funny and amusing before falling prey to the aforementioned style in its final pages. It’s about a young print shop worker who wins a fast-food contest, and it proves to be the one thing in life on which he can count. After reading it, I’ll never look at a Dunkin’ Donuts napkin the same way again.

The other is a sampling of three cartoons from Joe Sayers. However, these comprise less than two pages and are relegated to the confines of Dave Eggers’ pompous and rambling foreword, which explains they didn’t fit with the book. Why? Because they’re good?

What makes all this so sad is that this series debuted with so much promise. Excerpts from graphic novels. An article about how discarded T-shirts end up in Third World countries. A genuine mix of genres and subjects. Just like 2004’s volume, now the majority of the contents are bleak beyond belief. The fact that they were picked by high school students makes me want to take them by the shoulders, shake them and say, “You’re too damn young to be this jaded already! Life’s too short! Laugh! Have a drink! And for God’s sake, lighten up!”

Using a title like THE 13 BEST HORROR STORIES OF ALL TIME is always bound to stir up some controversy, since what constitutes the “best” is so subjective. A more apt description for Leslie Pockell’s compilation may be 13 NOTABLE HORROR STORIES OF ALL TIME, ALL BUT TWO OF WHICH ARE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN. But I’m just nitpicking; either way, this is a great collection.

It’s amazing how many of these stories I read as part of English class in junior high and/or high school: Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart,” W.W. Jacobs’ “The Monkey’s Paw,” Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper.” I had no idea my education was so cool! It’s fairly safe to say all of these four are indisputable classics of the short story form, horror or otherwise. Even after multiple readings and many more years, “The Lottery” never fails to give me chills. “The Yellow Wallpaper” still creeps me out, even if I can’t understand exactly what the hell is going on in the ending. Several critics have referred how powerful and unsettling the ending is, but its meaning has forever eluded me. Anybody out there who can end this mystery for me, please post a comment!

Bram Stoker’s lost chapter from DRACULA – “Dracula’s Guest” – appears, as does Robert Louis Stevenson’s “The Bottle Imp,” as mischievous and clever as its titular character. H.P. Lovecraft and H.G. Wells are here, but each with stories – “The Call of Cthulhu” and “The Country of the Blind,” respectively – that are far from their finest or even most well-known, in my estimation.

Rounding out the collection are ghost stories from Oliver Onions, Algernon Blackwood, M.R. James and J. Sheridan Le Fanu, each effective even in their old age. But for me, the real find of this book was Arthur Machen’s “The Great God Pan.” It’s been anthologized several times over, yes, but this my first exposure to the shapeshifting monstrosity, and I found it to be a disturbing, suspenseful masterpiece. Its inclusion here signals Pockell knew what what s/he was doing in assembling this baker’s dozen.