Proving the “better late than never” adage true is Cemetery Dance’s anthology THRILLERS 2. Edited by Robert Morrish, it arrives 14 years after the original. If you’ve been counting the days, you’ll find much of it worth the wait. For this edition, Morrish invited four authors to contribute 20,000 words of original dark fiction, which results in nine short stories making their debut.

First up is Gemma Files, the only author to be represented by one story, “Pen Umbra.” It’s practically a novella; unfortunately, it’s awfully fractured – on purpose, I suspect – and confusing. Ending the book, Caitlín R. Kiernan offers two helpings of H.P. Lovecraft-inspired horror that also fails to fully engage, but at least improves upon Files.

But don’t give up, for it’s the meat between these slices of stale white bread that makes THRILLERS 2 worthy of being devoured.

Tim Waggoner proves a triple threat with his three stories. First, a man suspects his perfect daughter of slaughtering suburban dogs in “The Faces That We Meet,” while “Long Way Home” presents a rain that brings creatures falling from the sky. “Darker Than Winter” is a decidedly more oddball tale of a man pursued by police after he stages a bloody snowman in the park for fun.

It’s R. Patrick Gates, however, whose deliberate, uneasy marriage of horror and humor makes the book a must-read. If you’ve ever read Gates’ crowning achievement – the decidedly warped fairy-tale slaughterhouse known as GRIMM MEMORIALS – you’ll know exactly what to expect. But then you’ll be shocked anyway.

I speak mostly of “Midnight Popeye,” in which a man confesses bizarre dreams to his shrink of Popeye coming to him in the middle of the night. He can’t comprehend them at first, until … well, hell, you’ve just gotta read it! Go ahead and do it now; I’ll wait. … See what I mean? Isn’t that ending wonderfully fucked-up?

Gates’ other two tales don’t quite cross that line of taste, but they’re still homers. Especially “K.D.’s Wish,” in which a mentally handicapped girl has the power to make things happen simply by thinking them; the O. Henry-esque ending is wickedly genius. “The Tell-Tale Nose” can’t live up to its predecessors, but Gates is always good for something.

Hopefully, THRILLERS 3 won’t require another double-digit wait. Perhaps Morrish can get a head start by asking Gates if he has any leftovers. –Rod Lott

Buy it at Cemetery Dance or Amazon.

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THESE AUTHORS:
• GRIMM MEMORIALS by R. Patrick Gates
• GRIMM REAPINGS by R. Patrick Gates
• PANDORA DRIVE by Tim Waggoner