Flights: Extreme Visions of Fantasy
Al Sarrantonio has previously edited two anthologies – the perfectly decent REDSHIFT: EXTREME VISIONS OF SPECULATIVE FICTION and the great horror-centric 999 – but his latest, the now-in-paperback FLIGHTS: EXTREME VISIONS OF FANTASY, is his best yet. And this comes from someone who generally dislikes fantasy.
Say the word “fantasy” and people immediately think of wizards and dragons and elves, often ignoring the fact that BIG and FIELD OF DREAMS qualify, too. Luckily, Sarrantonio doesn’t ignore that, filling his book with stories that have nothing to do with Hobbit-like worlds. Oh, sure, there are a couple of wizards and dragons and elves within, but when have you ever read a story about an elf who goes to San Francisco, picks up AIDS and takes it back to his elf village to infect all the other elves? Never, until now, as it’s one of 29 stories here.
Sarrantonio gave his contributors – ranging from Neil Gaiman to RAMBO creator David Morrell – full creative freedom to explore taboos if they so wished. Thus, Peter Schneider reimagines FIGHT CLUB with diaper-clad toddlers, Joyce Carol Oates offers a rather disturbing tale of a family stricken with a mysterious disease and BUBBA HO-TEP author Joe R. Lansdale contributes a sexually charged fairy tale about a steam shovel that wants to do nothing more than demolish forests and insert his dipstick into a tailpipe.
This is an excellent collection that pushes boundaries and exceeds expectations, and is one of the most solid anthologies I’ve ever encountered. Highly recommended.
Oh, sure, there are a couple of wizards and dragons and elves within, but when have you ever read a story about an elf who goes to San Francisco, picks up AIDS and takes it back to his elf village to infect all the other elves?
GREATEST. PLOT. EVER.
[...] Up until this final segment, I was running right alongside the quick pace of Sarrantonio’s story, which accurately captures that small-town-in-fall feel that Ray Bradbury perfected. While the supernatural-heavy climax by no means wrecks the book, it’s departure from solid horror was a little disappointing. Still, HALLOWS EVE is not your run-of-the-mill horror novel, with Sarrantonio almost as compelling as an author as he is an anthologist. [...]
[...] OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THESE AUTHORS: • BERSERK by Tim Lebbon • FLIGHTS: EXTREME VISIONS OF FANTASY edited by Al Sarrantonio • HALLOWS EVE by Al Sarrantonio • 999: TWENTY-NINE ORIGINAL TALES OF HORROR AND SUSPENSE edited by Al Sarrantonio [...]
[...] There are 31 pieces here – many of them award winners and a few of which I had already read before in books like FLIGHTS, 999, MCSWEENEY’S MAMMOTH TREASURY OF THRILLING TALES, THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF VAMPIRES, NOISY OUTLAWS… and THE MATRIX COMICS. [...]
[...] OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR: • FLIGHTS: EXTREME VISIONS OF FANTASY edited by Al Sarrantonio • HALLOWS EVE by Al Sarrantonio • 999: TWENTY-NINE ORIGINAL TALES OF HORROR AND SUPSENSE edited by Al Sarrantonio [...]