CarlosMcRey (USA: IL) (2008/08/22):
Anthologies like these can be a great way to discover new authors. This is a particularly strong sampling of late-80s horror writers, covering terrain from King to Ligotti. I really suspect your mileage may vary when it comes to the individual stories, but if you are a horror fan you will certainly come away enjoying some of the stories, perhaps discovering a new author. There weren't any stories I would have described as bad, but there were definitely a good share (ironically the Straub, Etchison, and Strieber pieces come immediately to mind) that really weren't particularly scary or creepy. Of particular note: King's "The Night Flier" had some nice tension and a clever scene of horror at the end, but the protagonist Richard Dees is kind of a bore. Clive Barker's "Falling into Grief" was a nice bit of quiet horror, perhaps a bit surprising from someone more associated with shocking violence. Ramsey Campbell''s "Next Time You'll Know Me" is a pretty creepy and somewhat odd piece of psychological horror. A disturbed man thinks someone is stealing his stories. M. John Harrison's "The Great God Pan" is another piece of quiet horror, this one leaning a bit towards the obtuse. Still creepy and would probably merit a re-read. Thomas Ligotti's "Alice's Last Adventure" is a surreal look at the rather bizarre end of a children's book author. Jack Cady's "By Reason of Darkness" plays like an odd riff of Apocalypse Now on American soil. David Morrell's "Orange is for Anguish, Blue is for Insanity" is the story of a Van Gogh-like painter who met a horrible end. A young scholar tries to find the secret of his work, but gets a little too close.
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