Lot of 3 SHIVERS Series Books - Horror RARE TS

Description

SHIVERS LOT
Editied by Richard Chizmar
By Cemetery Dance Publishing
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Trade Softcovers
SHIVERS : Chizmar (Trick or Treat), who edits horror's flagship fiction magazine, Cemetery Dance, assembles 22 previously unpublished stories in a compilation that reads much like a heftier version of his periodical. And like a periodical, this anthology seems more a snapshot of the genre at a given moment than an enduring monument. A fair share of the selections will doubtless earn archiving in annual "best of" anthologies, among them Douglas Clegg's "256 and Heaven," an unsettling account of a supernatural force that feeds on guilt and loneliness and drives its victims to psychopathic behavior. Al Sarrantonio's "The Green Face" is a similarly adept blend of psychological and supernatural horror. In "The Wager," Thomas F. Monteleone spins an old-fashioned revenge tale in the EC comics mode that, for all its creakiness, compels reading until its final ghoulish twist. The book's lack of a specific thematic focus gives writers a chance to explore a variety of topics and approaches, ranging from John Pelan's "The Sailor Home from the Sea," a work steeped in the classic ghost story tradition, to Simon Clark's "The Hand of Glory," which effectively imports a classic horror theme into an incongruous contemporary setting. Some shorter selections are little better than back-of-the-book filler, and others, like Graham Masterton's "The Sympathy Society," bury ideas with intriguing possibilities under piles of gore. Nevertheless, the diversity of contents and writing talents ensures something to suit each horror reader's tastes.
SHIVER III : With this third compilation of new and reprinted horror stories, Chizmar (Shivers II) establishes the Shivers series as the first nonretrospective horror annual in nearly a decade. There are selections to satisfy all tastes in terror, ranging from Meggan C. Wilson and F. Paul Wilson's "Itsy Bitsy Spider...," a giant spider infestation tale with overtones of 1950s B-movies, to Kealan Patrick Burke's "Underneath," a psychological suspenser spun from teenage angst. Thomas F. Monteleone's "Horn of Plenty," about a musical instrument that preys vampirically on a jazz musician, is a gracefully subtle dark fantasy at the opposite extreme from Edward Lee's "Please Let Me Out," a shamelessly puerile romp of erotic horror. There are highlights of both supernatural and nonsupernatural horror, including Tom Piccirilli's "This, and That's the End of It," a haunting afterlife fantasy fueled by powerful expressions of grief and loss, and Douglas Clegg's "Becoming Men," which evokes The Lord of the Flies in its gripping depiction of juveniles in revolt against authorities at a tough-love disciplinary boot camp. In contrast to previous volumes, this one leans more heavily on reprints, which represent most of the book's best selections. Nevertheless, the core horror audience for whom this anthology is intended will appreciate a series that has become as dependable for horror as Halloween.
SHIVERS IV : Shivers IV contains over twenty short stories from today's hottest writers, including William F. Nolan, Ed Gorman, Brian Hodge, Tim Lebbon, Al Sarrantonio, Ray Garton, T.M. Wright, Brian Keene, Kealan Patrick Burke, and many others! Featuring original dark fiction with a handful of rare reprints, Shivers IV is available only as a beautiful perfect-bound trade paperback!