Prom Night

I found many of the stories to be fun and witty. Some were even touching. Overall, an intriguing collection of stories! I'm really glad I stumbled on this anthology!

You think with theme anthos that it will be just another collection around the same tired cliche, and prom night, at least in mainstream "American" culture screams Carrie. Not so with Prom Night, a total surprise--reading it, I was jealous that I hadn't had such a wonderfully chaotic and sad experience as those led in PM--especially Lorelei Shannon's ironic and wildly humorous look at who's the real dog at the local high school in "Peggy Sue Got Slobbered," Fred Saberhagen's hauntingly sad "The Senior Prom" where sex is the only thing that keeps you safe from the rest of your life, and A.R. Morlan's mesmerizing changing colors of language in "That Dress", a short story shorter than any miniskirt and ten times as sexy.The writing is topnotch; the viewpoints are horrifying,creative, always a surprise; I'll buy the next novel anyone in this collection puts out.

Any anthology will have big names for marquee value-Fred Saberhagen here-but the reason to read them is to get a first glimpse of new talents you'll be seeing again, and this is a great collection for that. The idea of a SF/fantasy anthology themed around the prom is a kick, and these writers rebuff what you might call the "Carrie syndrome," the stereotype of bookish types that never got invited to their proms and can only think about it in terms of bitter sarcasm and bloodshed. There are some gently funny and truly sweet stories here. Be sure not to miss Jenn Coleman-Reese's "Memory and Reason" in particular.