The Color of Evil is the first part of the split up anthology 'The Dark Descent', and a good part it is too, averaging 3.76.
The introduction to the latter is also reproduced.
Hartwell says this grew out of some conversations at conventions, etc. where he asked horror writers who influenced them, and in the main, they said writers who were short story writers. Goes on to say this was the main form of horror fiction until the 80s came, and the novel became dominant, before a big flameout, but still won't be changing back.
So, he thought the late 80s was a good time to take stock of the history of the horror short story, and what he sees as three major variant types, this being the first. This covers a couple of centuries, and has three standout stories.
Color Of Evil : The Reach [Do the Dead Sing?] - Stephen King
Color Of Evil : Evening Primrose - John Collier
Color Of Evil : The Ash-Tree - M. R. James
Color Of Evil : The New Mother - Lucy Lane Clifford
Color Of Evil : There's a Long Long Trail A-Winding - Russell Kirk
Color Of Evil : The Call of Cthulhu [short story] - H. P. Lovecraft
Color Of Evil : The Summer People - Shirley Jackson
Color Of Evil : The Whimper of Whipped Dogs - Harlan Ellison
Color Of Evil : Young Goodman Brown - Nathaniel Hawthorne
Color Of Evil : Mr. Justice Harbottle - Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
Color Of Evil : The Crowd - Ray Bradbury
Color Of Evil : The Autopsy - Michael Shea
Color Of Evil : John Charrington's Wedding - Edith Nesbit
Color Of Evil : Sticks - Karl Edward Wagner
Color Of Evil : Larger Than Oneself - Robert Aickman
Color Of Evil : Belsen Express - Fritz Leiber
Color Of Evil : Yours Truly Jack the Ripper - Robert Bloch
Color Of Evil : If Damon Comes - Charles L. Grant
Color Of Evil : Vandy Vandy - Manly Wade Wellman
Mainland ghost, gran.
4 out of 5
Shop people.
3 out of 5
Keep dead witches and bloody big spiders away from the house.
4 out of 5
Wooden tail tale.
2.5 out of 5
I'm axeing for help, Frank.
4 out of 5
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.
4.5 out of 5
Could be worse, could be Crystal Lake.
3.5 out of 5
City god call.
3.5 out of 5
Witchocrites.
3 out of 5
Hanging judge, yes.
3.5 out of 5
Accident cycle.
3.5 out of 5
Bodysnatcher's new home in serious need of repair.
5 out of 5
Best if the groom's still alive, really.
3.5 out of 5
Who knows what evil lurks in the heart of the Old Ones? Kent Allard's nephew!
4 out of 5
Religious synthesis forum, very weird.
3 out of 5
Nazi gas delayed, no chamber.
3.5 out of 5
Doc, you are actually right at the sharp end, stoopid.
4.5 out of 5
Cat, kid, you can have the lot, woman.
3.5 out of 5
Washington gives no quarter, warlock.
4 out of 5
4.5 out of 5
Monday, May 12, 2008
Sticks - Karl Edward Wagner
Who knows what evil lurks in the heart of the Old Ones? Kent Allard's nephew!
4 out of 5
4 out of 5
The Lies Of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch
Untruthful little Bastard has a surfeit of problems.
The major problem with this book is that it appears to be padded to get up to 'the length the editor wants', it seems. This makes the start boring. Like Jimmy the Hand in the Raymond Feist books, the main character is a smart, alone kid that falls in with thieves, and has a flair for being different. However, rather than an interesting an entertaining introduction such as Fritz Leiber may have delivered, we get about four flashback incidents of what the kid does that is clever and lacking in common sense. By that time, you are about ready to say 'hey, why don't I lie down and you can hit me with a hammer that will imprint in big neon letters on my forehead "Locke Lamora is a clever reckless brat".
Other than that, though, once the boring kid stuff is finally dispensed with many pages later, and kept a lot more brief later on the book is quite entertaining. You have an urban Italian style setting, with no firearms and a carts/ships/crossbows level of tech, and the odd hint of fantasy as Locke as his fellow band of thieves look to lay in a long con.
This is shortcircuited by what is basically a gang war, and revenge plots, and draws in both the official and unofficial sides of the city into the bloodshed.
I didn't notice until almost finished as on the back in faint type is 'Book One of the..' but it says sequence, not trilogy, so given the ending, it may be a sequence of adventures, as opposed to a trilogy given that is how it is worded. This would also explain some of the padding.
I would go so far as to call this one a 3.75, with the really slow start dragging it down from a 4, and an inventive faster moving end bringing it back up in that direction.
3.5 out of 5
The major problem with this book is that it appears to be padded to get up to 'the length the editor wants', it seems. This makes the start boring. Like Jimmy the Hand in the Raymond Feist books, the main character is a smart, alone kid that falls in with thieves, and has a flair for being different. However, rather than an interesting an entertaining introduction such as Fritz Leiber may have delivered, we get about four flashback incidents of what the kid does that is clever and lacking in common sense. By that time, you are about ready to say 'hey, why don't I lie down and you can hit me with a hammer that will imprint in big neon letters on my forehead "Locke Lamora is a clever reckless brat".
Other than that, though, once the boring kid stuff is finally dispensed with many pages later, and kept a lot more brief later on the book is quite entertaining. You have an urban Italian style setting, with no firearms and a carts/ships/crossbows level of tech, and the odd hint of fantasy as Locke as his fellow band of thieves look to lay in a long con.
This is shortcircuited by what is basically a gang war, and revenge plots, and draws in both the official and unofficial sides of the city into the bloodshed.
I didn't notice until almost finished as on the back in faint type is 'Book One of the..' but it says sequence, not trilogy, so given the ending, it may be a sequence of adventures, as opposed to a trilogy given that is how it is worded. This would also explain some of the padding.
I would go so far as to call this one a 3.75, with the really slow start dragging it down from a 4, and an inventive faster moving end bringing it back up in that direction.
3.5 out of 5
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