Synopsis: A cruel count drives his servant to death in pursuit of a futile passion. A struggling author tries to escape from his desire to lampoon the real world. A dead killer finds a way to strike again. A house holds memories of thwarted passion. A suburban scholar turns to the dark arts to protect his daughter from adolescence. A student in need of cash agrees to protect a corpse from witches. A changeling child prepares for a grim rite of passage. 

 Do you want to read something really scary?

Review: Gothic! is a collection of ten weird, macabre and unsettling horror stories, written in the tradition of the Gothic by such varied authors as Joan Aiken, K.T. Anderson, Neil Gaiman and Celia Rees.

 In the nature of anthologies it is a mixed bag, which means that there is something for most readers to like, although few will be truly taken with all. Some may take to the almost domestic horror of Janni Lee Simner’s Stone Tower, or the shocking reversal of… but that would tip you off. Others will prefer the affectionate parody of Neil Gaiman’s Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Saves in the Nameless House of the Night of Dread Desire, or Garth Nix’s weirdly lyrical Endings. 

 While not every story will be for every reader, the standard of writing in Gothic! is high. Each story is a strong example of its own corner of the genre, which of course makes the collection a superior example of the horror anthology.

2008-04-06