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Richard Chizmar (editor), Shivers V (Cemetery Dance, 2009)
Generally speaking, there are two kinds of horror anthologies. There are themed ones, wherein all of the stories are built around a central conceit or critter. These tend to be a matter of personal taste -- either you're in the mood for sixteen stories about zombies or Hell or Swedish vampire cockroaches, or you aren't -- and as such, a reader's mileage tends to vary. Then there are the more general anthologies, wherein the only theme is horror. These include such notable series as Masques, Borderlands, the Charles L. Grant-edited Shadows, and Cemetery Dance's Shivers. With these, it's a little trickier to get a sense for them going in. Because they're general, they tend to be catholic in scope and tone, meaning that there's potentially a better chance of something that just absolutely doesn't work for a given reader being part of the mix. And despite the admirable track record of the aforementioned anthology series (and new contenders like the Braunbeck-Schwaeble edited Five Strokes To Midnight), there's no guarantee that you'll like everything, or even most things, in the next installment. It's simply the luck of the draw. Which brings us to Shivers V, the latest in that series' illustrious history. Boasting stories from a wide range of big names (Stewart O'Nan, among others), rising stars (Stoker-winner Sarah Langan, Nick Mamatas) and old favorites (Rick Hautala, John Skipp, and more), and edited by Cemetery Dance head honcho Richard Chizmar, one would expect great things from the collection. On the whole, the stories live up to expectations. Things start off well with the first two pieces, Norman Prentiss' "The Albright Sextuplets" and Langan's "The Burn Victim." The former is a refreshing take on the "creepy infant" tale, while the latter is the story of a road trip that goes hideously, dangerously wrong. Indeed, Langan's story is the best one in the book, and the only quibble that can be thrown at it is that it's not really a horror story; a little minor tweaking at most and it would look perfectly at home in The New Yorker. Other highlights are O'Nan's disjointed and unsettling serial killer tale "Summer of '77" and Steve Rasnic Tem's off-kilter "Stench." "The Forever Long Snake of Olan Walker," by Steve Vernon, may go some strange places by the time it wraps up, but it's the most ambitious piece on the book and has genuinely striking and unique imagery. And then there's Chet Williamson's take on Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," "Marley's Cat," which would be almost heartwarming if not for the impressively high rodent body count. There are a few stories that don't quite sing. Mick Garris' "Forever Gramma" is a somewhat overheated Southern Gothic, while Ronald Kelly's "Cumberland Furnace" is a too-understated example of the same. Scott Nicholson's "Good Fences" and Al Sarrontonio's "Cookies" are both "gotcha" stories, albeit from different ends of the spectrum, and neither really feels like it pays off. Finally, there's R. Patrick Gates' "Dead Head," which takes an amusing concept -- zombies don't want to eat brains, they want to screw around instead -- and buries it under lumpen on-the-nose writing. On the whole, the book is a worthwhile read, and there's more than enough in here to keep horror fans of various tastes satisfied. Only the Gates story is a real clunker, and all the rest offer, at the very least, something of interest. For an anthology with this diverse a base and author list, that's a real win.
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