Women of Darkness

Recognizing that anthologies of horror stories have been disproportionately dominated by male writers, Ptacek has assembled this corrective, subtitled ``Original Horror and Dark Fantasy by Contemporary Women Writers.'' This satisfying volume has a number of good stories, including several by novice writers. Among the best: Kit Reed's tale of an evil ``Baby,'' which recalls and outdoes Bradbury's ``Small Assassin''; Patricia Russo's medieval mystery tale ``True Love''; Lisa Tuttle's story of a woman undone by her love for her summer rental haunted house, ``The Spirit Cabinet''; Elizabeth Massie's powerful tale of an insane religious fanatic, ``Hooked on Buzzer''; Tanith Lee's beautifully crafted story of an unexpected betrayal, set in the 19th century, ``The Devil's Rose''; Wendy Webb's too sketchy but still quite creepy account of a warehouse sale gone bad, ``Midnight Madness,'' and Sharon Epperson's chilling cautionary tale for the age of AIDS, ``Slide Number Seven.'' (Dec.)