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Christopher Golden

aka Thomas Randall

1967-

Reviewed by Mark Pawlyszyn,
Robert Thompson, Stefan Raets,
Beth Johnson

Christopher Golden is an award-winning and bestselling writer of horror, fantasy, and suspense for adults, teens, and children. He also writes the Body of Evidence thriller series and contributes to Star Trek, Hellboy, X-Men, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Wars, Angel, and Battlestar Galactica. His original novels have been published around the world in more than fourteen languages. He lives in Massachusetts. Learn more at Christopher Golden's website.

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Veil — (2006-2008) Publisher: Yielding to his father's wishes, Oliver Bascombe abandoned his dream of being an actor and joined the family law firm. Now he will marry a lovely young woman bearing the Bascombe stamp of approval. But on the eve of his wedding, a blizzard sweeps in-bringing with it an icy legend who calls into question everything Oliver believes about the world and his place in it…. Pursued by a murderous creature who heeds no boundaries, Jack Frost needs Oliver's help to save both himself and his world-an alternate reality slowly being displaced by our own. To help him, Oliver Bascombe, attorney-at-law, will have to become Oliver Bascombe, adventurer, hero-and hunted. So begins a magnificent journey where he straddles two realities… and where, even amid danger, Oliver finds freedom for the very first time.

book review Christopher Golden Veil 1. Myth Hunters 2. The Borderkind 3. The Lost Ones

book review Christopher Golden Veil 1. Myth Hunters 2. The Borderkind 3. The Lost Ones Veil

The Veil series, by Christopher Golden, is something of a mixed bag. The first two books, The Mythhunters and The Borderkind, are fairly good. I enjoyed the world created in The Mythhunters. The books are a new take on some of our well-known characters from various fairy tales, legends, and pantheons. The legends of The Veil, however, are to children's bedtime story characters what Stephen King's Pennywise is to circus clowns.

The story revolves around Oliver Bascombe and his family who are caught up in a down-the-rabbit-hole-style adventure in a parallel fantasy world, beyond the veil that separates our world from theirs.

There was a great deal of traveling accomplished by the main characters — Oliver, Frost, Kitsune, and co. — but overall the story was interesting. Books that involve a lot of traveling tend to be repetitious by nature, because the characters are never in one place long enough for deeper and more subtle plot developments to occur, so you don't usually encounter political intrigue and the like. Instead, you typically get a bunch of encounters with monsters or bad people opposing the journey of the good guys. And you also get the whole characters-bonding-because-they're-going-through-tough-times-together thing.The Mythhunters and The Borderkind do both fall into that trap, but there is still enough happening for them to rise above being a one-trick pony. The characters were reasonably well fleshed out, too.

Since Christopher Golden is a winner of the Bram Stoker award for horror writers, I expected there to be, well, some elements of horror. But there is nothing in any of the Veil books that would class this as anything other than your usual fantasy fare.

The first two books were decent. The third book, The Lost Ones, struggles to rise to mediocrity. It's not a terribly bad book; it's just exceedingly average, filled with cliches, trite and stilted dialogue, and a very predictable plot. And sneering — everyone sneers all the time. Sometimes a minor character will speak “with disdain,” usually just prior to being put in their place by a main character who then sneers at them. It's like listening to a bunch of 10-year old boys trying to be tough.

The female characters are really men in drag, I'm sure of it; There is absolutely no difference in the way the women are written compared to the men. They just don't seem like female characters at all. I don't expect them to sit and gossip with their knitting class, but there is something decidedly lacking in them that makes them a lot less convincing than they should be. Of course, all of the characters are much flatter in this book for some reason. Somehow they deflated between novels to become distinctly less interesting in The Lost Ones.

In addition, the description of the numerous battles in The Lost Ones is incredibly unrealistic. In one scene, a petite woman with absolutely no martial training fights her way out from the midst of a group of heavily armored and armed trained soldiers. One of them she manages to knee in the groin and cripples him... Right. On another occasion one of the good guys gets hit by something in the lower back and ends up with a gaping wound large enough to see through, destroying his spine and blasting out of his abdomen. He not only lives, but, while still wounded, he walks around carrying another character. And since The Lost Ones is primarily concerned with various battles, this sort of thing crops up quite a bit.

There are a whole slew of other minor plot discrepancies, too. For instance, while galloping on a horse through city streets, Oliver notices a small, young girl. Several blocks later this girl somehow gets ahead of him and she was on foot and stopping to speak with people as she went. Ok, so that's not anything that would come close to spoiling a book for me — I'm not quite that pedantic — but stuff like that crops up every other page and the sheer frequency of it is annoying.

I think one of the biggest peeves for me is the way that the Christopher Golden writes assuming you care about his characters as much as he does. I'll explain that: the adverbs and adjectives he employs always cast the bad guys in a loathsome light and the good guys in glowing halos. I really hate to have an opinion of the characters forced down my throat. I want to make up my own mind based on their actions. Oh, and the bad guys do a lot of gloating while telling the good guys all their plans and allowing them to knock them silly instead of actually living up to the ruthless reputations they've had built for them throughout the books. It's painful sometimes how ineffective the bad guys are.

So, although Meatloaf might disagree, two out of three ain't good. Although I enjoyed The Mythhunters and The Borderkind and would rate them at three stars apiece, had I known how much the writing would fall off by in The Lost Ones, I would not have begun the series at all. The third book rates at one and a half stars and brings the entire Veil series down to two and a half stars. In other words, it's readable if you have nothing much else to do and possess a fairly high tolerance for cliches. —Mark Pawlyszyn

Ghosts of Albion — (2004-2006) With Amber Benson. Publisher: Even death could not stop Britain’s greatest defenders. In 1838, William and Tamara Swift inherit a startling legacy from their dying grandfather, transforming them into the Protectors of Albion, mystical defenders of the soul of England. But the shocked, neophyte sorcerers also inherit unique allies in their battle against the dark forces. Fighting alongside them are the famous — even infamous — Ghosts of Albion: Lord Byron, Queen Bodicea, and Lord Admiral Nelson. When strange and hideous creatures appear in the slums of London, an unholy plague threatens to launch an epic battle that may rage all the way to Buckingham Palace... and beyond. Time is running out as William and Tamara must learn whether their friends will stand beside them, or seduce and betray them.

Amber Benson Christopher Golden Ghosts of Albion review Astray Accursed Initiation Witchery

The Shadow Saga (Peter Octavian) — (1994-2011) Publisher: When a mysterious and ancient book, called the Gospel of Shadows, is stolen from a secret sect dedicated to the destruction of vampires, private detective Peter Octavian — a vampire himself — is drawn into a desperate search for the missing book.

Christopher Golden The Shadow Saga 1. Of Saints and Shadows 2. Angel Souls and Devil Hearts 3. Of Masques and Martyrs 4. The Gathering Dark

Christopher Golden The Shadow Saga 1. Of Saints and Shadows 2. Angel Souls and Devil Hearts 3. Of Masques and Martyrs 4. The Gathering Dark 5. Waking Nightmares

Prowlers — (2001-2002) Publisher: An ancient race of sentient predators lives amongst us. Their numbers are few and they hide themselves well — like all predators, they are expert at the art of concealing themselves from their prey. They can pass as human, and blend seamlessly in to human society, whether it be in the guise of cunning corporate lawyers like Eric Carver, or gangland psychopaths like alpha male Owen Tanzer. They are not werewolves — but they are the reality that lies behind the legend of werewolves. When bar-owner Jack Dwyer's best friend Artie is brutally murdered, his restless spirit leads Jack to uncover the truth. Jack burns to avenge Artie's death — but who will believe his story of who or what the murderers really are? Jack is on his own — except for his girlfriend Molly, his sister Courtney and their head barman, Bill, who hides a potentially shocking secret under the skin. The four of them must destroy the pack that threatens to take over Boston, before they themselves are hunted down as prey.

Christopher Golden Prowlers 1. Prowlers 2. Laws of Nature 3. Predator and Prey 4. Wild Things

Menagerie — (2004-2007) With Thomas E Sniegoski. Publisher: They are beings of myth and legend. They possess powers beyond imagining. They are our only hope... The Menagerie. Behind the facade of a stately Boston brownstone, humanity's last defenses are being marshaled. Called to action by the enigmatic, brilliant man known only as Mr. Doyle, they hail from all planes of existence and are born from an array of supernatural and otherworldly backgrounds and bloodlines. But as the group struggles to come to terms with their shadowy pasts, personal demons, and conflicting loyalties, their greatest challenge awaits them. Together, they will confront the minions of utter darkness, who have already begun their quest to resurrect the most malevolent of the fallen angels — whose wrath against mankind knows no bounds.

Christopher Golden Thomas E Sniegoski review Menagerie 1. The Nimble Man 2. The Tears of the Furies 3. Stones Unturned 4. Crashing Paradise

The Hollow — (2005-2006) Young adult. With Ford Lytle Gilmore. Publisher: New to Sleepy Hollow, teens Aimee and Shane Lancaster find that upon their arrival an ancient curse has been unleashed upon the town, tracing back to the town's famous legend, which just might be more truth than myth. Now an array of evil demons is after them, with the infamous Headless Horseman leading the pack.

Christopher Golden Ford Lytle Gilmore The Hollow 1. Horseman 2. Drowned 3. Mischief 4. Enemies

Outcast — (2004-2005) Ages 9-12. With Thomas E Sniegoski. Publisher: Timothy is a freak, a weakling, an impossibility. He's the only person in existence without magical powers and has spent his entire life hidden on a remote island. When Timothy is finally taken back to the city of his birth, he is fascinated by the current of magic that fuels the world, and mesmerized by the buildings and orbs that hang weightlessly in the sky. But he is also marked for death. Assassins are watching his every move, and the government wants him destroyed. Timothy can't imagine what threat he could possibly pose; after all, he wields no power in this world. Or does he?

Christopher Golden Thomas E Sniegoski Outcast review 1. The Un-Magician 2. Dragon Secrets 3. Ghostfire 4. Wurm War

The Hidden Cities — (2008-2011) With Tim Lebbon. These are stand-alone novels with a similar theme. Publisher: You never know when you'll find yourself falling through one of the cracks in the world.… Two of today's brightest stars of dark fantasy combine their award-winning, critically acclaimed talents in this spellbinding new tale of magic, terror, and adventure that begins when a young woman slips through the space between our everyday world and the one hiding just beneath it. Always assume there's someone after you. That was the paranoid wisdom her mother had hardwired into Jasmine Towne ever since she was a little girl. Now, suddenly on her own, Jazz is going to need every skill she has ever been taught to survive enemies both seen and unseen. For her mother had given Jazz one last invaluable piece of advice, written in her own blood: Jazz Hide Forever. All her life Jazz has known them only as the “Uncles,” and her mother seemed to fear them as much as depend on them. Now these enigmatic, black-clad strangers are after Jazz for reasons she can't fathom, and her only escape is to slip into the forgotten tunnels of London's vast underground. Here she will meet a tribe of survivors calling themselves the United Kingdom and begin an adventure that links her to the ghosts of a city long past, a father she never knew, and a destiny she fears only slightly less than the relentless killers who'd commit any crime under heaven or earth to prevent her from fulfilling it.

Christoper Golden, Tim Lebbon Hidden Cities 1. Mind the Gap 2. The Map of Moments

Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon The Shadow Men

fantasy book review Christopher Golden Tim Lebbon Hidden Cities Mind the Gap Mind the Gap

Even though Mind the Gap is extremely fast-paced, the novel started out really slowly for me and it wasn’t until 160 pages in that I began to get excited about the book. The problem was that for almost the first half it seemed like Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon were just going through the motions, delivering a plot that was one recognizable convention after another:

The protagonist’s mother mysteriously murdered by shadowy people and forced on the run… Raised to trust no one, Jazz constantly lives in a state of paranoia… Discovers a forgotten subterranean Underworld of abandoned bomb shelters and train stations… The whole London backdrop and its ghosts of the past… A group of runaway urchins — and their Fagin-like mentor Mr. F — who survive by stealing from those ‘topside’… Possessing abilities that no one else has...

It wasn’t until the gentleman thief came into the picture in Chapter Eleven that Mind the Gap began to get really interesting. Questions were answered, pieces of the jigsaw puzzle started to fall into place, the intensity and excitement was ramped up, and the novel began to show off some of that imagination and panache that the authors are known for, including a heart-pounding finish — particularly the last fifty pages — of unexpected twists, tragedy, old magic, and rebirth…

Mind the Gap may be the first collaboration between Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon, but their writing styles mesh together so well, it’s like they were born to work with one another. Both write with great confidence, possess smooth prose, know how to tell an engaging story, and are vividly creative. Plus, they really complement one another. Lebbon has a gift for evoking the horrific, while Golden knows how to appeal to the younger/mainstream audience, both of which come into play in the novel. The one drawback regarding the authors is their characters. While Mr. Golden and Mr. Lebbon can write well-drawn characters, they tend to lack a certain depth and intimacy and the cast in Mind the Gap is no exception. Other than that, there’s not much to complain about apart from the slow beginning.

CONCLUSION: “It’s now how you start, but how you finish.” This old adage has been applied to everything from life to sports, and it works just as well for a novel. At least for me, I will always appreciate more a novel that starts slowly and ends on a high note opposed to one that starts strongly and peters out at the end. Mind the Gap by Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon is the former: a novel that takes a while to get going, but when it finally does kick into high gear, the results are spectacular. Because of the terrific finish — and the combined talents of two great authors in Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon — I highly recommend Mind the Gap and have high hopes for the next Hidden Cities novel. —Robert Thompson

fantasy book review Christopher Golden Tim Lebbon Hidden Cities Mind the Gap 2. The Map of Moments The Map of Moments

Mind the Gap, the first collaboration between award-winning and bestselling authors Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon, was a solid offering, marred by a slow start and conventional plotting, but ended on a very strong note. Their second collaboration follows a somewhat similar path — slow beginning, powerful ending — but with some key differences.

Firstly, the setting for The Map of Moments is much more interesting than it was in Mind the Gap. No offense against the city, but I’ve read so many books set in London that every time I go back there, it’s like déjà vu. On the flipside, I’ve only read one short story set in post-Katrina New Orleans, so reading a novel in that milieu was a fresh experience. Of course, it also helps that the authors were able to render the environment with such vividness. Not just the devastation, the horrors and the sorrow, but also little moments — a helpful stranger, an optimistic waitress — that expresses hope for the city, that New Orleans will rebuild, that “we’re still here, and we’ll survive”…

Secondly, The Map of Moments features a more inventive plot than its predecessor, revolving around a map that allows the protagonist to visit magical moments throughout New Orleans’ history starting with The First Moment way back in July 15, 1699. By visiting these moments, Max will supposedly gather magic to himself, and once he’s acquired enough magic, he’ll be able to journey back in time and save Gabrielle — the woman that Max loved — from her death during Hurricane Katrina. What really makes this story so fascinating however, is not the concept itself, but the questions that Max continuously uncovers with every new Moment — Why was Gabrielle estranged from her family? Who is Coco? What is the Tordu and why does the very mention of that word inspire such great fear? How is Gabrielle connected with all of this? Who or what is Seddicus? Et cetera — questions that are suspense-building and gut-wrenching.

Thirdly, I found the character of Max Corbett more compelling than Mind the Gap’s protagonist Jazz Towne. For one, it’s because he’s just a regular guy, someone without powers or a preordained destiny that readers can connect and sympathize with on a common level. After all, if you had the chance to save the life of someone you loved, wouldn’t you want to try, regardless of how impossible the methods may seem? Additionally, I liked Max more because he had substance and felt like a real person, an issue which I’ve had with the authors’ characterization in the past. In fact, not only does Max possess substance, but he also evolves over the course of the novel — both naturally and realistically — so the Max found at the end of The Map of Moments is a completely different person.

As to the rest, the writing of Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon is proficient as usual with skillful prose, believable dialogue and well-executed pacing and plotting. My only real complaint is the ending, which I thought was a bit anticlimactic — and perhaps not the ending I was hoping for — but I’m glad the authors stuck to their guns. On a personal note, as good as the Novels of The Hidden Cities are, I still prefer the authors’ own works like Christopher Golden’s Veil Trilogy and Tim Lebbon’s Noreela stories.

Compared to Mind the Gap, The Map of Moments is better written, better executed, creatively superior, and just overall a more gripping and satisfying reading experience than its predecessor. A haunting, yet inspirational novel that could resonate very strongly with readers, The Map of Moments is undeniable proof that Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon make a great team. —Robert Thompson

The Shadow Men

The Shadow Men is the fourth book in Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon’s THE HIDDEN CITIES series. If (like me) you’re not familiar with the previous books, it may be good to know that all four books can be read as standalone novels that share a common premise but (as far as I know) no major characters or plot elements. In the series’ fantasy universe, cities have something like a soul or consciousness, which is incarnated in a human “Oracle” who helps the inhabitants and the city itself. The previous three novels (Mind the Gap, The Map of Moments and The Chamber of Ten) were set in London, New Orleans and Venice respectively, and The Shadow Men takes place in Boston.

When Jim wakes up from a nap, he discovers that his wife Jenny and daughter Holly have disappeared. There’s no trace whatsoever left of their existence: their numbers are gone from his mobile phone, all their pictures and possessions have vanished without a trace, and no one even remembers them except their friend Trix. Jim and Trix manage to contact the Oracle of Boston and learn that, because of the failed sorcery of a previous Oracle in the 19th century, Boston now exists simultaneously in three separate dimensions, and Jenny and Holly are now in one of the other versions of the city. Both Jim and Trix have had visions of the other Bostons in the past, Jim in his paintings and Trix in her dreams, but neither of them had any idea that those other versions really existed. As they set out to find Jenny and Holly, they discover that there’s much more at stake than just their missing family and friends: the future of Boston depends on their success...

On the plus side, The Shadow Men is smoothly written and fast-paced. It starts off with a massive hook (the mysterious disappearance of Jim’s family) and then relentlessly pulls the reader along as Jim and Trix find out more about the Oracle of Boston and the three different versions of the city. The story rarely if ever slows down until it reaches the end, so if all you’re looking for is an action-packed urban fantasy novel, The Shadow Men will certainly deliver for you. If you’re looking for more, though, you may end up disappointed.

One problem is that, aside from Jim and Trix, the characters in The Shadow Men rarely feel like more than templates, and even the two main characters are mostly defined by what’s needed to move the story along. It’s hard to get sucked into a story about a missing family if, as the reader, you don’t really care for the missing people or the searchers. The one aspect that makes Trix more interesting (a secret crush on the missing Jenny) gets ruined later on in the story. Revealing how would be a spoiler, but you may figure out where things are going early on anyway because it’s not exactly unpredictable.

The novel also suffers from an unfortunate lack of detail in terms of world-building and history. I would have loved to learn more about the history of the three Bostons, the failed sorcery that caused the schism, and the Oracle who was responsible for it. Instead, all of this is mostly just mentioned in passing. There’s an infodump with some (admittedly interesting) historical information about why and how the three Bostons evolved along separate paths, but the main difference, when you see the cities in the book, appears to be architecture. Maybe the authors didn’t want to slow the novel down too much by including all this information, but fleshing out these details would have reinforced the feeling that parts of it take place in a wholly different dimension, rather than in an almost identical city that just happens to have a skyscraper where there’s supposed to be a cathedral.

I also had a problem with the entire concept of the doppelgangers, on which a good chunk of the plot relies. These are people who appear in multiple versions of Boston, so e.g. the missing Jenny has a counterpart in the other Bostons. It’s hard to believe that some of those doppelgangers are mostly identical to their originals, aside from maybe not being married to the same person, being in slightly better shape and so on. If an entire city has had a completely different history for over a century, encompassing multiple generations, you’d think there would be much more significant changes. And that’s not even mentioning the whole “wish fulfillment” resolution of Trix’ storyline, which for me was the final drop in terms of being able to take this novel entirely seriously.

In the end, The Shadow Men can be an entertaining read if you’re willing to suspend your disbelief sufficiently and if you can accept the relative thinness of both plot and characters, but with a little more depth and attention to detail this could have been a much better novel. I’ve enjoyed the works of both Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon in the past, but unfortunately this collaboration wasn’t a successful one for me. —Stefan Raets

The Secret Journeys of Jack London — (2011-2012) With Tim Lebbon. Ages 9-12. Publisher: The world knows Jack London as a writer who lived his own thrilling, real-life adventures. But there are parts of his life that have remained hidden for many years, things even he couldn’t set down in writing. Terrifying, mysterious, bizarre, and magical — these are the Secret Journeys of Jack London. We meet Jack at age seventeen, following thousands of men and women into the Yukon Territory in search of gold. For Jack, the journey holds the promise of another kind of fortune: challenge and adventure. But what he finds in the wild north is something far more sinister than he could have ever imagined: kidnapping and slavery, the murderous nature of desperate men, and, amidst it all, supernatural beasts of the wilderness that prey upon the weakness in men’s hearts. Jack’s survival will depend on his ability to quell the demons within himself as much as those without. Acclaimed authors Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon, along with illustrator Greg Ruth, have crafted a masterful tale both classic and contemporary, a gripping original story of the paranormal in the tradition of the great Jack London.

The Secret Journeys of Jack London 2. The Sea Wolves

As Thomas Randall

The Waking (Gaijin Girl) — (2009-2011) Young adult. Publisher: Starting over in a place that's haunted by death... Kara Foster thinks the hardest thing about moving to Japan will be fitting in as an outsider. But dark secrets are stirring at her new school. When Kara befriends Sakura, a fellow outsider whose rebellious nature sets her apart from the crowd, she learns that Sakura's sister was the victim of an unsolved murder on school grounds. And before long, terrible things begin to happen.It starts with nightmares — strange, otherworldly dreams that wake Kara in terror every night. Then more students start turning up dead, with strange marks on their bodies. Is Sakura getting revenge on those she suspects are responsible for her sister's death? Or has her dead sister come back to take revenge for herself? This first book in a frightening new trilogy will have teens glued the page and scared to go to sleep.

fantasy book reviews Christopher Golden Thomas Randall The Waking: Dreams of the Dead

fantasy book reviews Christopher Golden Thomas Randall The Waking 2. Spirits of the Noh

Forthcoming: The Waking: A Winter of Ghosts

fantasy book reviews Christopher Golden Thomas Randall The Waking: Dreams of the Dead The Waking: Dreams of the Dead

Considering what an awkward foot Dreams of the Dead by Thomas Randall (Christopher Golden) starts off on, I was pretty surprised when, shortly after beginning, I found myself unable to put it down.

In spite of my overactive imagination, I like something scary once in a while. Poor Thomas Randall was already up against some stiff competition, since only days ago I wheedled my husband into watching Ringu (the Japanese horror film re-made as The Ring) with me. Fortunately, Dreams of the Dead has a lot of its own strengths to carry it.

Kara Harper and her father move to Japan, a sort of long time dream of theirs. There, in her new school, Kara meets fellow outsider (though in a different way) Sakura. Shortly after, she learns that Sakura’s sister, Akane, was murdered months ago — and the murderer was never brought to justice. While Kara is busy struggling to fit in, the school’s most popular students start having nightmares and, eventually, some of them turn up dead themselves. Sakura is convinced that Akane has returned from the grave to take revenge on her murderers — but Kara is having these nightmares as well. Who — or what — is really behind it all?

I wasn’t certain of Kara as a character at first. She felt younger than her supposed sixteen years and I feared this would be another case of “I’m so perfect because I’m smarter and deeper than those shallow popular girls” (not exactly an unusual device in manga and anime). But there’s a turning point early on, where Kara’s father points out that perhaps she’s being a bit catty (with a not-so-subtle “Meow?” that made me laugh). Considering the way most of her new fellow students are treating her, Kara’s attitude here — unrepentant, but willing to admit that yes, she’s being catty — helps to define her as a more realistic and sympathetic character. I find her a little bit inconsistent, especially towards the end, but otherwise she’s easy enough to like.

And she benefits from a pretty good supporting cast, as well. I found her relationship with her father quite wonderful, set up in a way that’s smart and sensitive and makes sense. As well, her dynamic with her two misfit friends — Sakura and Miho — was surprisingly realistic. They actually do things teenage girls do (much to my relief, as too often in fiction when you’re dealing with misfit teens, they tend to scorn the things their peers like to do, as if this somehow makes them better). The popular girls are pretty one-dimensional and stereotypical, almost as if perhaps Mr. Randall has been reading shoujo manga for inspiration, and I wish Kara’s relationship with Hachiro had been more strongly developed. Overall, though, the cast comes together well and works with the story.

I had a lot of fun with the story; as I already mentioned, I found Dreams of the Dead difficult to put to down. Randall uses his pacing well. While the first half of the book isn’t very scary overall, it does set a good stage and allows time for the reader to get to know the characters. The tension really begins to build about midway through, after which point I found myself flipping pages all afternoon. The book does get scary, unsettling even. I’d rather not say too much, except that Randall leans smartly on Japanese myth and legend, using it to shape a fascinating twist in his plot.

Dreams of the Dead had a couple other problems, aside from a slightly rough start. If you don’t have much knowledge of Japanese culture and customs then the explanations probably won’t bog you down much, but for me, I felt a little bit like I was back in Basic Spoken Japanese (except that Randall, fortunately, doesn’t digress and ramble quite as much as my sensei did). Also, I didn’t care much for the nightmare sequences and didn’t find most of them very scary. Which is probably for the best, because I was jumpy enough as it was when I finally put the book down.

Dreams of the Dead definitely fulfilled my scary needs and, happily, it did so without the excessive blood and gore we call horror these days. Between it and Ringu, I’ll probably be good until May rolls around, bringing with it the next book in Thomas Randall’s The Waking: Spirits of the Noh.
—Beth Johnson

Selected stand-alone novels:

Strangewood — (1999) Publisher: Strangewood is the story of Thomas Randall, creator of Adventures in Strangewood, the most popular series of children's books in the world. Thomas is recently divorced, and dealing with the repercussions of that trauma, as well as the damage it has done to his five year old son, Nathan. But there is other damage being done as well. Due to his recent life changes, Thomas has begun to neglect the world and characters of Strangewood. The creatures who live there are not at all happy. Strangewood must be saved, but to do so, they are willing to risk anything, even the life of a little boy.

Poison Ink — (2008) Young adult. Publisher: SAMMI, TQ, CARYN, Letty, and Katsuko are floaters. None of them fits in with any particular group at Covington High School — except each other. One night, to cement their bond, the girls decide to get matching, unique tattoos. But when Sammi backs out at the last minute, everything changes. Faster than you can say “airbrush,” Sammi is an outcast, and soon, her friends are behaving like total strangers. When they attack Sammi for trying to break up a brawl, Sammi spies something horrible on her friends' backs: the original tattoo has grown tendrils, snaking and curling over the girls' entire bodies. What has that creepy tattoo artist done to her friends? And what — if anything — can Sammi do to get them back? This deliciously creepy psychological thriller is the perfect summer read.

fantasy book review Christopher Golden Poison Ink Poison Ink

Poison Ink is the first YA novel that I’ve ever read by Christopher Golden, and from start to finish, I couldn’t be more impressed. As usual, the first thing that stands out is the author’s top-notch writing. Which in this case encompasses his ability to convincingly adopt the personality of a sixteen-year-old female high school student; faithfully capture domestic, social and high school life — including different cliques, lunch ladies, texting, flirting, and peer pressure — and a gift for witty banter:

“My Clever plan for world domination failed.”
“So what next, evil overlord? What’s Plan B?"
“No Plan B. I met this girl. Makes me think maybe it’s time to leave world domination schemes to my flunkies, stop and smell the roses, blah blah blah. Want to hang out Saturday night?”
“Well, if it means preventing world conquest by a tyrannical madman, it would be selfish of me to say no.”

Characterization is also superb, for both Sammi and her friends. Of the latter, TQ, Caryn, Letty, and Katsuko each have their own distinctive traits — TQ is tall, quiet and shy; Letty is a Puerto Rican lesbian with a bit of a rebellious edge; Caryn is artistic, but has anger management issues; and Katsuko is serious and a bit snobbish — all of which comes into stark focus when they suddenly start behaving completely out character such as cheating, smoking, shoplifiting, dressing slutty, doing lines of coke, and so on. Sammi meanwhile is wonderfully developed, extremely likeable, and has her own set of individual characteristics — I particularly liked Sammi’s love for music which provided numerous opportunities for dropping familiar musical references including Jack Johnson, the Shins, the Strokes, Jason Mraz, Keane, Josh Ritter, the Beatles, Alanis Morissette, Fiona Apple, etc. At the same time, Chris also does a great job of exploring Sammi’s thoughts and emotions, like the hurt, loneliness, and anger she feels when she’s shunned by her friends; the joy she experiences when she’s around Cute Adam; or the dismay and betrayal she suffers from her parents’ separation.

Structurally, Poison Ink is an incredibly well-crafted novel. There’s an opening fast-forward prologue that immediately sets the tone; characters and plot are given plenty of time to develop even though the pace is page-turning; the middle act is intense and shifts into the second part of the story — which ventures into more horrific/supernatural territory — without any problems; and the dramatic finale is breathtaking, all the more so because Christopher Golden doesn’t flinch away from the harsher aspects of life. In other words, blood is spilled, characters die, love is lost and not all endings are happy.

The only quibble I had with the book was its central concept of tattoos and their link with the paranormal. Considering how popular tattoos are in this day and age — heck, even I have a tattoo — I thought this was a really cool idea. However, aside from a couple of facts about the history of tattoos, some magical symbols and grimoires, this concept was never really explored to its fullest potential. Then again, considering how Poison Ink could be considered a cautionary tale against tattoos, especially if you're under eighteen, I can understand if the author didn’t want to glorify body modification.

Christopher Golden has consistently delivered smart, creative and entertaining storytelling that can be enjoyed by readers of all ages and tastes, and Poison Ink is no exception. In fact, I actually enjoyed Poison Ink more than some of Christopher’s other adult efforts, and highly recommend the book to teens, Christopher Golden fans, and anyone in the mood to be thrilled, chilled and entertained.
—Robert Thompson

The New Dead: A Zombie Anthology — (2010) Publisher: RESURRECTION! The hungry dead have risen. They shamble down the street. They hide in back yards, car lots, shopping malls. They devour neighbors, dogs and police officers. And they are here to stay. The real question is, what are you going to do about it? How will you survive? HOW WILL THE WORLD CHANGE WHEN THE DEAD BEGIN TO RISE? Stoker-award-winning author Christopher Golden has assembled an original anthology of never-before-published zombie stories from an eclectic array of today's hottest writers. Inside there are stories about military might in the wake of an outbreak, survival in a wasted wasteland, the ardor of falling in love with a zombie, and a family outing at the circus. Here is a collection of new views on death and resurrection. With stories from Joe Hill, John Connolly, Max Brooks, Kelley Armstrong, Tad Williams, David Wellington, David Liss, Aimee Bender, Jonathan Maberry, and many others, this is a wildly diverse and entertaining collection... the Last Word on the New Dead.

fantasy anthology book review Christopher Golden The New Dead: A Zombie Anthology The New Dead: A Zombie Anthology

FORMAT/INFO: The New Dead is 400 pages long divided over nineteen short stories. Also includes a Foreword by the editor Christopher Golden, and biographies on all of the anthology’s contributors. February 16, 2010 marks the North American Trade Paperback publication of The New Dead via St. Martin’s Griffin. Cover art provided by Per Haagensen. The UK version will be published on February 18, 2010 via Piatkus Books under the altered title: Zombie: An Anthology of the Undead. Subterranean Press is also producing a limited signed edition of The New Dead that is already long sold out.

ANALYSIS:

1) “Lazarus” by John Connolly. Connolly, author of the CHARLIE PARKER novels and last year’s YA title The Gates, kicks off The New Dead with a chilling, mournful, and somewhat contentious reimagining of the Bible’s Lazarus of Bethany who was brought back to life by Jesus four days after he had died.

2) “What Maisie Knew” by David Liss. One of the best entries in the anthology, “What Maisie Knew” has a little bit of everything: inventiveness (the dead reanimated as servants, Nazi science, soul photography), depravity (sex, torture and mutilation of reanimates), great writing (a compelling first-person narrative), and a fitting ending.

3) “Copper” by Stephen R. Bissette. The author is best known as an illustrator, having worked with the likes of Alan Moore, Heavy Metal, R.L. Stine, Rick Veitch and co-creating the comic book character, John Constantine. In fact, he even provided the cover art and interior illustrations for the Subterranean Press version of The New Dead. Stephen R. Bissette can write too though, as attested by his Bram Stoker Award-winning novella Aliens: Tribes, and in “Copper” the artist/editor/writer delivers a noir-esque tale that is as much an examination of war and soldiers as it is about zombies. The best thing about this story is the Charlie Huston-meets-Dr. Seuss presentation, although it does take some getting used to: “Copper, wrapped in the cloth houses and cloth street and cloth neighbors and cloth Copper in his cloth rocker on his cloth porch.”

4) “In the Dust” by Tim Lebbon. I’m a big fan of the NOREELA tales by Tim Lebbon, and the author in general, so for me his contribution was one of the more anticipated short stories in the anthology. “In the Dust” is a fairly routine zombie story though, starring survivors in a post-infection milieu and dealing with such familiar ideas and themes as military quarantines, perseverance, and finding closure like discovering what happened to the protagonist’s wife. Nevertheless, another solid offering from the three-time British Fantasy Award-winning author.

5) “Life Sentence” by Kelley Armstrong. Featuring magicians, shamans, necromancers, vampires, and other urban fantasy elements, I believe “Life Sentence” is set in the same world as the author’s popular WOMEN OF THE OTHERWORLD series. For an urban fantasy tale, “Life Sentence” was actually darker than I expected, and follows a very rich magician, who is diagnosed with inoperable cancer and uses his considerable wealth to discover a means of extending his life, no matter the consequences. A delightful surprise and one of the better short stories in the anthology.

6) “Delice” by Holly Newstein. Zombies have long been associated with voodoo, so it only makes sense that a zombie anthology would include at least one story with voodoo in it. Set in New Orleans, “Delice” is a tale of dark voudou magic, zombies, and vengeance.

7) “The Wind Cries Mary” by Brian Keene. Only four pages long, “The Wind Cries Mary” is the shortest story in the entire anthology. Despite its length however, “The Wind Cries Mary” is a sweet tale of love set in the aftermath of a zombie outbreak.

8) “Family Business” by Jonathan Maberry. The author's awesome zombie/techno-thriller, Patient Zero, was a favorite of mine in 2009. As a result, I couldn’t wait to see what Maberry brought to the table in The New Dead, and the author doesn’t disappoint. Not only is “Family Business” the longest story in the anthology, it’s also one of the best, featuring creative ideas like cadaverine (a nasty-smelling concoction that disguises humans from zoms) post-zombie jobs (Erosion Artists, Locksmith Apprentice, Fence Tester, Carpet-Coat Salesman, Pit Thrower, Ash Soaker, bounty hunters, etc.), the Children of Lazarus religion, and a surprisingly poignant story about family, closure, and respecting the dead.

9) “The Zombie Who Fell from the Sky” by M.B. Homler. If I’m not mistaken, M.B. Homler is actually St. Martin’s Press editor, Michael Homler, and as far as I can tell, he doesn’t have anything else published. If that’s the case, then it might explain “The Zombie Who Fell from the Sky”, a story that has some impressive stuff going on like the black humor and craziness (a chihuahua named Butt Muncher, footnotes, zombie poetry, etc.), but ultimately is one of the weaker entries in the anthology due to inconsistent writing and poor execution.

10) “My Dolly” by Derek Nikitas. “My Dolly” has a strong biblical theme running through it with various references to the Apocalypse, which could have been interesting if the author had explored the concept further. Instead, Derek Nikitas' focus on a former emergency medical technician and the Dolly of the title results in one of the anthology’s more forgettable stories.

11) “Second Wind” by Mike Carey. Starring zombie Nicky Heath, one of my favorite supporting characters from Mike Carey’s superb FELIX CASTOR urban fantasy series, “Second Wind” was a treat to read even if the voice and story weren’t quite what I was expecting.

12) “Closure, LTD” by Max Brooks. When discussing contemporary zombie fiction, Max Brooks’ name is almost guaranteed to come up every time, so what would a zombie anthology be without the author’s inclusion? Though on the short side — six pages long — “Closure, LTD” is an interesting tale set in the world of Max Brooks’ highly popular World War Z about a company specializing in providing ‘closure’ for its clients.

13) “Among Us” by Aimee Bender. A zombie that eats other zombies; salmon; Being John Malkovich; usury; a recently divorced sixty-year-old man... these individual parts make up “Among Us”, one of the more original and thought-provoking stories in the anthology.

14) “Ghost Trap” by Rick Hautala. Rick Hautala’s contribution about a U.S. Coast Guard discovering a corpse while diving for ‘ghost traps’ — lost lobster traps — has an old-school horror feel to it, but nevertheless is one of The New Dead’s spookier stories...

15) “The Storm Door” by Tad Williams. When I think of Tad Williams, I immediately think of epic fantasy, so I was a little surprised to see him included in a zombie anthology, but Tad Williams more than holds his own with an impressive tale about a paranormal investigator named Nathan Nightingale, who discovers that predatory souls are taking over the bodies of the recently deceased.

16) “Kids and their Toys” by James A. Moore.What would happen if a bunch of twelve-year-old boys found a zombie one day and decided to keep it as their pet/toy? That’s the scenario James A. Moore explores in his short story and the answer, as one might expect, is not pretty. It does, however, make for same damn good reading.

17) “Shooting Pool” by Joe R. Lansdale. Trouble finds a group of friends one night in a local pool hall in Joe R. Lansdale’s Southern-influenced crime story, which is engrossing but has little to do with zombies. As a result, “Shooting Pool” feels terribly out of place compared to the other entries in the anthology.

18) “Weaponized” by David Wellington. The author is no stranger to zombies, having written about them in the MONSTER trilogy and Plague Zone, and it’s quite apparent that he is comfortable with the subject based on his entertaining contribution, which takes place in the year 2019 and focuses on wars, a savvy reporter, and a new, cheaper form of weaponry: remote-controled PMCs (PostMortem Combatants).

19) “Twittering from the Circus of the Dead” by Joe Hill. Told entirely in the form of Twitter messages (TYME2WASTE: “Hello Twitterverse. I am Blake and Blake is me. What am I doing? Counting seconds.”), Joe Hill’s story about a family that comes across a zombie circus on the way home from vacation is just pure genius, and a perfect ending to The New Dead anthology.

CONCLUSION: In the Foreword, editor Christopher Golden asks, “Why are we fascinated by zombies?” I’m not sure The New Dead anthology ever adequately answers that question, but it does provide readers with a collection of short stories that not only celebrates the zombie genre, but also examines it from different perspectives, and in some cases, introduces new ideas. On top of that, the anthology boasts an impressive mix of big-name authors, rising stars and new faces, while the stories themselves are indeed, “wildly diverse and entertaining”. Granted, there were stories ("What Maisie Knew," "Twittering from the Circus of the Dead," "Family Business," "The Storm Door," "Weaponized," "Life Sentence," etc.) that I enjoyed reading more than others, but a lot of that has to do with personal tastes, and it is an opinion that will differ from reader to reader. One thing is for sure though — if you love zombie fiction, then you will love Christopher Golden’s The New Dead. —Robert Thompson

When Rose Wakes — (2010) Publisher: Her terrifying dreams are nothing compared to the all-too-real nightmare that awaits... Ever since sixteen-year-old Rose DuBois woke up from months in a coma with absolutely no memories, she’s had to start from scratch. She knows she loves her two aunts who take care of her, and that they all used to live in France, but everything else from her life before is a blank.Rose tries to push through the memory gaps and start her new life, attending high school and living in Boston with her aunts, who have seriously old world ideas. Especially when it comes to boys. But despite their seemingly irrational fears and odd superstitions, they insist Rose not worry about the eerie dreams she’s having, vivid nightmares that she comes to realize are strangely like the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty. The evil witch, the friendly fairies, a curse that puts an entire town to sleep — Rose relives the frightening story every night. And when a mysterious raven-haired woman starts following her, Rose begins to wonder if she is the dormant princess. And now that she’s awake, she’s in terrible, terrible danger...

The Monster's Corner: Stories Through Inhuman Eyes — (2011) Publisher: An all original anthology from some of todays hottest supernatural writers, featuring stories of monster's from the monster's point of view. In most stories we get the perspective of the hero, the ordinary, the everyman, but we are all the hero of our own tale, and so it must be true for legions of monsters, from Lucifer to Mordred, from child-thieving fairies to Frankenstein's monster and the Wicked Witch of the West. From our point of view, they may very well be horrible, terrifying monstrosities, but of course they won’t see themselves in the same light, and their point of view is what concerns us in these tales. Demons and goblins, dark gods and aliens, creatures of myth and legend, lurkers in darkness and beasts in human clothing… these are the subjects of The Monster’s Corner. With contributions by Lauren Groff, Chelsea Cain, Simon R. Green, Sharyn McCrumb, Kelley Armstrong, David Liss, Kevin J. Anderson, Jonathan Maberry, and many others.

The Monster's Corner: Stories Through Inhuman Eyes

FORMAT/INFO: The Monster’s Corner is 400 pages long and consists of 19 short stories. Also included is an Introduction by the editor Christopher Golden, and biographies of all of the anthology’s contributors. September 27, 2011 marks the North American Trade Paperback publication of The Monster’s Corner via St. Martin’s Griffin. The UK version will be published on the same day via Piatkus Books.

ANALYSIS: The New Dead was one of my favorite books of 2010, so when it was announced that Christopher Golden was putting together another horror-themed anthology, I couldn’t wait. Like The New Dead, The Monster’s Corner features nineteen brand new, never before published short stories from a wide variety of authors from all genres. Where The New Dead focused on zombies, The Monster’s Corner is about monsters — specifically monsters that readers can sympathize with, like the Frankenstein monster, King Kong, Godzilla, Magneto, Blade Runner’s Roy Batty, or the whale from Moby Dick. No vampires or zombies, however. Christopher Golden forbade their inclusion. He also discouraged human monsters for reasons explained in his Introduction, although “a couple of them slipped in.” Instead, the anthology features monsters that reflect the author’s philosophy about monstrosity. “About how we define each other and how we define ourselves. About what we see in the mirror and what we fear others will see. About perspective and seeing the world through inhuman eyes”:

1) “The Awkward Age” by David Liss. It’s no surprise that Christopher Golden elected to open The Monster’s Corner with a David Liss story. After all, the author’s contribution to The New Dead was one of the best stories in the entire anthology. With “The Awkward Age,” Liss delivers another satisfying winner, a cleverly written and thought-provoking tale about a relationship that develops between a forty-five-year-old husband and father stuck in an unhappy marriage, and a fourteen-year-old goth girl who is either preying on the weaknesses of a much older man for her own entertainment... or a ghoul...

2) “Saint John” by Jonathan Maberry. Saint John believes the Voice of God speaks to him, providing guidance and answers. This could be true. Then again, Saint John could just be mentally insane because of the terrible things that were done to him when he was a child. Either way, Saint John is now a deadly killer. He is also an unlikely beacon of light in a post-apocalyptic world plagued by disease and chaos and people stripped of their humanity. Dark and disturbing, but also interjected with glimpses of hope, “Saint John” is another impressive offering from Maberry.

3) “Rue” by Lauren Groff. I loved Groff’s debut novel, The Monsters of Templeton (Reviewed HERE), but haven’t read anything by the author since then. So I was excited to see Lauren’s inclusion in The Monster’s Corner. Unfortunately, “Rue” was a disappointment. The tale may be beautifully written and atmospheric, kind of like a fairy tale, but I had a hard time grasping what the story was trying to convey. There is an old woman who steals a baby and raises the girl — named Rue — secluded from the rest of the world, only to lose her anyway, but who the old woman is, why she stole the baby, and the story’s setting with its Ministers and work camps, are all cloaked in a confusing haze of mystery.

4) “Succumb” by John McIlveen. Not only is “Succumb” short — only six pages long — but it’s written by someone I’ve never heard of before. In fact, I have no clue what else John McIlveen has even written since his bio provides very little information and I was unable to learn anything online. So not a lot to get excited about, although I did find the presentation of the story — a seductress having a one-sided conversation with a sinful preacher during foreplay and intercourse — somewhat interesting. For the most part though, “Succumb” is one of the weaker stories in The Monster’s Corner.

5) “Torn Stitches, Shattered Glass” by Kevin J. Anderson. It’s only fitting that an anthology about sympathetic monsters would include a story featuring arguably the most sympathetic monster of them all — Frankenstein’s monster. It also makes sense that Kevin J. Anderson is the author of this particular story, since he has written about the monster before in Frankenstein: Prodigal Son, although there is no connection between Anderson’s tale and Dean Koontz’s series. Instead, “Torn Stitches, Shattered Glass” acts as a semi-sequel to Mary Shelley’s classic novel with the monster living among Jews in the Nazi-occupied city of Ingolstadt in the year 1938. The short story shares many of the same themes found in Shelley’s book, even referencing the novel several times, but Anderson’s writing is much more accessible and straightforward. Overall, “Torn Stitches, Shattered Glass” is more entertaining than thought-provoking, but it’s a good contribution nonetheless.

6) “Rattler and the Mothman” by Sharyn McCrumb. Native American folklore, West Virginia history (the collapse of the Silver Bridge, George Washington’s Lost Colony), the Mothman legend, and urban fantasy collide in McCrumb’s amusing tale about a garuda supposedly responsible for “wiping out dinosaurs”, “sending the Ice Age mammals into extinction”, and other atrocities. Highlighting the short story is a wonderful narrative voice: “There’s a lot wrong with life in the twenty-first century, which is why I took to the woods in the first place, but in a world where the Dalai Lama is on Twitter, I don’t reckon there’s much hope for any of us Shamen — New People’s word — to get let alone.”

7) “Big Man” by David Moody. Having put his own unique spin on zombies and apocalyptic fiction with Haters and the Autumn series, I was curious to see what Moody would do with his contribution to The Monster’s Corner. Consider my curiosity sated. Referencing Roger Corman, Samuel Z. Arkoff, King Kong, Godzilla and classic B monster movies like Attack of the 50 Foot Woman and War of the Colossal Beast, “Big Man” is a nearly perfect example of the monstrosity and perspective that Christopher Golden talks about in his Introduction.

8) “Rakshasi” by Kelley Armstrong. Armstrong’s short fiction has yet to disappoint me and that streak continues with “Rakshasi,” a compelling standalone story about a rakshasi named Amrita, who has served as a slave to the isha for two hundred years, eliminating evil in penance for her crimes as a human. A debt Amrita has long paid off, forcing the rakshasi to take matters into her own hands. One of my favorite entries in The Monster’s Corner, “Rakshasi” features a setup that I would love to explore further in a full-length novel or series.

9) “Breeding Demons” by Nate Kenyon. I’ve been meaning to read Nate Kenyon’s fiction for a while now, but haven’t been able to find the time. If “Breeding Demons” is any indication, then I’ve been missing out. Containing both assured prose and a nightmarish imagination reminiscent of Clive Barker, Kenyon’s visceral tale of a man caught between two worlds — love and normalcy versus evil, demons and “pornography for the supernatural” — is a standout of the anthology.

10) “Siren Song” by Dana Stabenow. “Siren Song” is a Kate Shugak short story. Who is Kate Shugak? Apparently she’s the star of a long-running mystery series; volume nineteen comes out in February 2012. As someone who has never heard of the series before, I wish the short story had done a better job acquainting me with Kate Shugak: who she is, what she does, or why I should care. Then again, “Siren Song” is not really about Kate Shugak. It’s about the Akulurak sisters, the pimp they are accused of murdering, the terrible ordeal they’ve suffered, and the real monsters inhabiting our world...

11) “Less of a Girl” by Chelsea Cain. Gretchen Lowell from Heartsick, Sweetheart and Evil at Heart would have been perfect for The Monster’s Corner. Sadly, the seductive serial killer is nowhere to be found in “Less of a Girl.” Instead, readers are treated to a short, stomach-churning tale about some ‘thing’ living in a fourteen-year-old girl’s bedroom. Very disappointing.

12) “The Cruel Thief of Rosy Infants” by Tom Piccirilli. Piccirilli has received numerous awards and nominations for his writing including four Bram Stoker Awards. It’s easy to see why after reading “The Cruel Thief of Rosy Infants,” a dark and haunting fairy tale about a fae creature charged with his family’s millennia-old duty to steal human babies and replace them with one of his own race. Definitely one of the anthology’s better entries.

13) “The Screaming Room” by Sarah Pinborough. Greek mythology is full of terrifying monsters like the Minotaur or Cerberus, but Medusa? Medusa is both terrifying and tragic, a contrast that is wonderfully captured in Sarah Pinborough’s striking short story, “The Screaming Room,” which is named such because of an interesting twist on the mythology where it takes years, not seconds before the monster’s victims are turned to stone...

14) “Wicked Be” by Heather Graham. “Wicked Be” is the first time I’ve ever read anything by Heather Graham. It was not a very memorable first impression, especially considering how much the protagonist’s narrative voice annoyed me, sounding more like a teenager than a centuries-old immortal witch. Things become better when the story focuses on Melissa’s friends and loved ones caught up in the witch trial madness of the 1600s, but as a whole “Wicked Be” is rather pedestrian.

15) “Specimen 313” by Jeff Strand. Featuring giant, carnivorous man-eating, gene-spliced Venus flytraps who can speak with each other and possess human thoughts and emotions — sadness, fear, love — “Specimen 313” offers a refreshing and entertaining take on monsters who turn against their creator...

16) “The Lake” by Tananarive Due. Can Tananarive Due write or what? Her prose alone makes “The Lake” a highlight of The Monster’s Corner. Of course, there’s more to “The Lake” than stunning prose. The story about a woman trying to get a fresh start in Graceville, Florida — “new job, new house, new lake, new beginning” — and the changes she undergoes there, both human and inhuman, is gripping and evocative.

17) “The Other One” by Michael Marshall Smith. “The Other One” is another expertly written offering from Michael Marshall Smith, highlighted by a convincing portrayal of a thirty-eight-year-old woman who has grown tired of her life — her job, her friends, her relationship with Richard — and an unexpected climax involving the ‘other one’. As good as the writing is, though, the short story was a bit allegorical for my tastes and left me feeling unfulfilled.

18) “And Still You Wonder Why Our First Impulse Is To Kill You: An Alphabetized Faux-Manifesto Transcribed, Edited, and Annotated (Under Duress and Protest)” by Gary A. Braunbeck. If The Monster’s Corner was a competition and I had to pick a single winner, it would easily be this story. Why? For starters, the setup which features Braunbeck as a character in his own story with monsters dictating what he should be writing in the alphabetized Manifesto — “A is for Abomination” — is incredibly inventive and fun to read. Then there’s the writing itself, which sparkles with cleverness and versatility. Finally, Braunbeck’s Manifesto is bursting with humor and imagination at every turn like the monsters’ favorite author and band — Joyce Carol Oates and Nazareth; their regret at using H.P. Lovecraft as a ‘PR man’; their fear of Ken Doll; the Colophon whose goal is to “erase all printed language and destroy all digital language”; and so much more. In short, “And Still You Wonder Why Our First Impulse Is To Kill You” is the must-read story of The Monster’s Corner.

19) “Jesus and Satan Go Jogging in the Desert” by Simon R. Green. Even though the previous story would have been a better choice to close out the anthology, Green’s amusing retelling of Satan’s temptation of Jesus from the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke is a nice way to end The Monster’s Corner.

CONCLUSION: Collectively, The Monster’s Corner is not quite as strong or as entertaining as The New Dead. This can partly be attributed to the anthology’s theme about monstrosity and perspective, which can be a little restrictive when compared to simply writing about zombies or post-apocalyptic settings. For me though, it was more of a personal issue I had with the editor’s choice of contributors. There’s no question the authors selected for The Monster’s Corner are talented and give the reader a diverse range of stories to choose from, but I was in the mood for something darker. Something that would send chills down my spine and leave me haunted by nightmares. In that regard, The Monster’s Corner doesn’t quite hit the spot. That all said, Christopher Golden has, in the end, compiled another impressive and successful horror-themed anthology in The Monster’s Corner. —Robert Thompson

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