A Pandora's Box (999: New stories of horror and suspense - Al Sarrantonio)

Member Name: Darkterrains

Product:	999: New stories of horror and suspense - Al Sarrantonio
Date:	20/03/01 (18 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The sheer quantity of fiction means that there will be something in here to grab you.

Disadvantages: The quantity and variety also means that there will doubtless be some stories which don't work for you in the slightest.

According to all the hype generated at the time, this was simply THE anthology to own last millennium. One novel, three novellas, eight novelettes and seventeen plain old short stories. Most of the names on the contents page are from the A-list of dark fiction. It has a nice, eye-catching red cover and an enormous marketing campaign. It would probably iron your shirts for you, given the chance.

Headlining is the short novel 'Elsewhere', from the pen of William Peter Blatty. Though far from his best work, nor indeed the most interesting piece in the collection, 'Elsewhere' is an interesting tale of a haunted house in the middle of nowhere. A premise older than God, but there is enough inversion of the norm to keep the reader confused for much of the tale, and the resolution is ultimately satisfying, if a little simplistic. The characters are as sharp as we've come to expect from this author, but the plot seems to lack the inspiration of his earlier work. Enjoyable, though.

From the novellas, let me pick out David Morrell's 'Rio Grande Gothic', a fabulous (if not defining) example of Southern Gothic. From a frankly bizarre premise, whereby a police officer is bewildered to find a new pair of shoes in the middle of the road on his route each morning, the plot streamlines along, taking the protagonist through various degrees of obsession and anguish. From the man who brought us 'First Blood', this is a brilliant exercise in building suspense, culminating in a frantically violent ending, with splendidly macabre touches littering each page. Excellent work, in short.

Of the novelettes, Stephen King again manages to shudder me out. 'The Road Virus Heads North' shares some territory with his earlier novella 'The Sun Dog'. A writer of dark fiction (aren't they all?) picks up a disturbing painting on his way home one day, featuring a maniacal gent in a hideous car. As he drives home, he n
otices the picture is a little different each time he looks at it, and the new details are terribly familiar. None of this is new ground for King. It's old ground, trodden with laudable skill.

Finally, my short story of choice must be Michael Marshall Smith's breathtaking 'The Book of Irrational Numbers', wherein mathematics and serial murder are fundamentally linked. I was so dizzied by what I had read, the sheer artisanship and thought laid out before me, that I had to go for a calming walk afterwards. Truly.

In picking out these stories, I have done a disservice to almost every other piece featured. Though the list of authors is never going to suit everybody's palate (not enough new blood for mine!), it is a dazzling illumination that our genre is far from dead. Kudos to Mr Sarrantonio for giving us this feast. Now I'm sending it merrily towards my pile of ironing. Watch it go!

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