Dark Delicacies

This book was really wonderful. There were so very original unique stories. Wound up purchasing part II also, as I was so impressed with this collection.

No, this collection of short stories isn't an intellectual excercise in academia, but it does have such a wide variety of horror styles by excellent writers, that it DOES make you think about "What is horror?" What is horror, what does it try to say and accomplish? As others have said, the horror styles range from poetic (Harryhausen) to hack and slash, and everything in between. There's even political horror in there. After all, what makes horror, horror? Blood and guts, sure. But also what people do to other people, defining the Other as the reader and putting you smack in the middle of the horror of different situations. Wonderful anthology. I'm planning on making the trip to Dark Delicacies (a short drive away). I hadn't heard of the store until I found this book in the library.

First off, the title of this book is a little misleading. Dark Delicacies is not a trip into fantastic eroticism, vampiric tales of obscene delight, or anything in the vein of goth. This book carries the name of a book shop, nothing more, that is known for carrying only horror books and other such things dealing with the occult, with Del Howison as the proprietor of this shop as well as co-editor of this book. After I learned as much, I found myself diving deep into the terror-tales in this book, and no book in recent years has opened up as good as this. Ray Bradbury's tale is an intricate, circling story that really introduces what can be expected from the other tales in this book. What is great about this book is that it covers all ranges of horror, from the hack-and-slash to the psychological, and most of them are successful in there attempts to elicit a chill. And, along with Ray Bradbury, there are quite a few high-powered writers contributing their talent to this book, including Clive Barker, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Ramsey Campbell, Nancy Holder, and Richard Matheson, and those are the ones I've heard of before. While I hesitate to say what some of the stories are about, I will say that of the 20 tales (I've read 15), I was only disappointed maybe twice. Not once did I feel exploited, though, which is something very important to me when I read horror. These stories are smart, as well as scary. Because of that reason, I have to recommend this book above all other short story collections this year that relates to horror or dark fantasy. Often, I pick up a best of collection and realize that only four or five of the tales actually appeal to my tastes. Not with this one. If you love old-fashioned horror written by some of the fields masters, then get Dark Delicacies.

First, I'll say that in my opinion, there wasn't a single "clunker" of a story in this entire anthology. Each tale worked in its own way to captivate and satisfy --even for this "jaded" reader of horror. Second, I must say that I strongly disagree with the reviewer who attacked Whitley Streiber's story on the basis that it had a "liberal" slant. (What does that have to do with merit of the story???) If you don't like liberals, that's fine, but why include your opinion in a book review?) Anyway, I digress, as did the writer of that review. Finally, some of the best stories in the book are by the lesser known authors, though the superstars who were included didn't send in any "trunk stories" either. Recommended!

There are a number of quality stories in the horror genre but few vehicles in which to showcase them. I keep hoping for a breakthrough, and we just might have it with DARK DELICACIES, a new horror anthology edited by Del Howison and Jeff Gelb. Howison is the owner of Dark Delicacies, a bookstore that caters to horror fans. Gelb has made his own contributions to the horror field, most notably with the critically acclaimed HOT BLOOD anthology series that he edits with Michael Garrett. Howison and Gelb have assembled a stellar cast of authors to contribute to the inaugural voyage of DARK DELICACIES, providing a collection of stories that for the most part live up to even the grandest expectations. It would be difficult to top a volume that opens with an original Ray Bradbury story. The inclusion of "The Reincarnate" sets the tone of quality that permeates this collection. It is reminiscent of Bradbury's work in the 1960s --- a fine, bittersweet tale of loss and yearning with a classic supernatural tone, one that relies on mood and emotion rather than shock and splatter (not that there's anything wrong with that!) to carry it along. There are so many great stories here that it is difficult to pick a consistent favorite. "The Pyre and Others" by David Schow will resonate with bibliophiles, while giving a whole new meaning to the term "dream book." A previously unpublished Richard Laymon story, "The Drowning Girl," plays on a male fantasy dealing with voyeurism (as, indeed, much of his work did), yet it is as haunting a work as one is likely to encounter. William F. Nolan is also well-represented here with "Depompa." Nolan was writing well-crafted, understated short stories before I could even hold a pencil properly (and I'm old enough to remember black-and-white television). Yet "Depompa" may well be his best work, wherein he puts a new spin on Hollywood and hero worship with a James Dean-like actor and a fan with a death wish. However, I would have to narrow my favorite stories down to three. "Art of the Game" by F. Paul Wilson is an understated, old-school story wherein a corrupt cop gets his comeuppance in San Francisco's Chinatown; "Bloody Mary Morning" by the criminally under-appreciated John Farris concerns a family of businessmen who carry the method of their ultimate destiny as a genetic trait; and "Haeckel's Tale," Clive Barker's best work in years, puts a whole new twist on grave robbing. There is only one story in DARK DELICACIES that suffers by its inclusion, and that is "Kaddish" by Whitley Strieber; it doesn't seem to belong here at all, either qualitatively or thematically. Certainly, however, the collective embarrassment of riches contained here makes one quickly forget about this addition. The inaugural volume of DARK DELICACIES easily could have been subtitled "The State of the Horror Genre, 2005." I'll be looking forward (hopefully) to similar summations in 2006, 2007 and beyond. Highly recommended. --- Reviewed by Joe Hart