When I picked up The Best New Horror 6 (Stephen Jones, editor) I didn’t realize it was first published in 1995, so this made it not just an anthology of horror stories but also a bit of a trip down memory lane because as hard as it is for me to wrap my head around, 1995 was nearly twenty years ago.
Without any overall theme driving it, this collection covers everything from splatterpunk to Lovecraft homage, with plenty of sex, drugs and rock and roll mixed in. Overall I found the stories worthwhile, without any I actively disliked.
The introduction by Jones is a rather exhaustive look at the year in horror writing, along with a forecast of doom for the genre in the years ahead, a curious way to set the tone for the stories he has collected. Likewise, the book concludes with a look back over notable people related to the horror industry (book, film, TV) who have died that year. It’s been twenty years since Claude Akins died. That seems kind of weird to me.
My favorite stories were:
- Sensible City (Harlan Ellison). The world’s best curmudgeon writes a horribly fun tale of just desserts about a pair of thugs who take a very wrong turn. This one has a neat Twilight Zone feel to it and is written with a nice economy and droll wit.
- Sometimes, in the Rain (Charles Grant). A moving story about old age and the ghosts that haunt those still hanging on.
- Isabel Avens Returns to Stepney in the Spring (M. John Harrison). Another tale that uncoils its horror quietly, about a woman obsessed with flying and unfortunately getting her wish.
- The Alternative (Ramsey Campbell). Another Twilight Zone-ish story about a family man with everything who seems to have an alternate life where he has nothing and what happens when the two collide.
- The Singular Habits of Wasps (Geoffrey A. Landis). A Sherlock Holmes story told from the perspective of Watson that blends Jack the Ripper with alien intrigue.
- Out of the Night, When the Full Moon is Bright (Kim Newman). A long story that weaves together two narratives, one about a modern British journalist riding along on police patrol in near-future Los Angeles, the other about a werewolf in the past that co-ops (or creates) the Zorro legend.
I didn’t dislike any of the stories, which is surprising for me, as I’ve found horror collections to be notoriously uneven. The weakest was probably “Dead Babies” and it wasn’t bad at all, just a very conventionally told horror tale. Recommended.