Outsiders: 22 All New Stories from the Edge

I work @ a major book store shain & was so impressed I added it to our basic stock.

This anthology includes a who's who of horror writers from Poppy Z. Brite (but don't call her a "horror writer" please), Neil Gaiman, Michael Marano, Joe R. Lansdale (who's recently risen to greater fame through the Bubba Ho-Tep film and The Masters of Horror TV series), and Tanith Lee. It's pretty hard to write a convincing story about an outsider, since out is so in these days. Some of the stories do miss the mark in that regard, but all of them are extremely well-written and the book does manage to convey a feeling of having a cohesive theme while making sure each story is as disparate from its neighbor as possible. Kudos to the editors, Nancy Holder and Nancy Kilpatrick. Standout stories include 'Expanding Your Capabilities Using Frame/Shift Mode' by wicked wordsmith David J. Schow; the quiet fury of Michael Marano's first person chiller '...And The Damage Done' is indelible; and 'Violent Angel', a hilariously black tale by Thomas S. Roche, is truly devilish. Personally, I enjoyed all the stories! Another nice touch is having the author's bios on the same page that their story begins, rather than putting them all in the back. The only downside is the thin, cheap paper the publisher used in the making of this book... mine arrived with a marred, crushed spine; the front cover will crease; and the paper inside is tissue-thin.

This twenty-two collection anthology focuses on the OUTSIDERS of society; those individuals who seem either beneath the food chain or scarred as if they were flushed down the toilet of life. These are pariahs and loners who survive on the edge or beyond the boundary of the so called acceptable norm. These freaks brood and some seem suicidal as only the maladjusted can but make readers ponder what does adjusted truly mean beyond relativity theory. Though there are some name contributors like Gaiman, Little, Tanith lee, Lansdale, and Brite, many of the authors are just as good but not as widely known writers. The tales run the speculative fiction gamut from fantasy, science fiction, horror, suspense, and even poetry. Overall the fine compilation is funky, way out and different due to the wacko cast, who make the abnormal seem like the normal. The Nancys have provides a fun compilation. Harriet Klausner