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Monster's Corner by Christopher Golden (Editor) (view source)
Revision as of 21:18, 21 November 2011
, 21:18, 21 November 2011no edit summary
There are no vampire love stories here – Christopher Golden outlines in his foreword that there were only two monsters out of bounds: vampires and zombies. Probably declared off limits because of the dearth of zombie and vampire fiction available, the complete absence of them makes this a fabulously refreshing read. As a fan of mythical creatures and monsters, it's nice to see a few new and interesting ones get to spend some time in the limelight. Hopefully a few others will read this and remember that vampires, werewolves and zombies aren't the only badass monsters out there.
And though there are love stories (notably between two man eating plants and a whole bunch of monsters fangirling – for want of a better word – over [[:Category:Joyce Carol Oates|Joyce Carol Oates]]) there is none of the sickly 'monsters that aren't monsters really, deep down, falling for the pretty human' sort of love story that is also so prevalent at the moment. The emphasis in this anthology is definitely on the horror.
I loved the humour of ''Jesus and Satan Go Jogging in the Desert'' by Simon R. Green and the unflinchingly disgusting ''The Awkward Age'' by David Liss and ''The Screaming Room'' by Sarah Pinborough was an interesting take on Medusa (though I may be biased – I'm an unabashed fan of anything Greek Mythology). Less enjoyable, but by no means boring – just not up to the astronomical standard of the rest of the collection – were ''The Lake'' by Tananarive Due and ''The Other One'' by Michael Marshall Smith.