cover image Chilling Tales: In Words, Alas, Drown I

Chilling Tales: In Words, Alas, Drown I

Edited by Michael Kelly. Edge (IPS, U.S. dist.; Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Canadian dist.), $14.95 trade paper (240p) ISBN 978-1-77053-024-9

Taking up where Don Hutchison's Northern Frights left off, 20 Canadian authors%E2%80%9412 men and eight women%E2%80%94offer artfully crafted tales of horror, alienation and death. Found herein are unsavory accounts of dark desires, love and murder entwined, and satanic contracts. As one would expect from horror's glorious history of enthusiastic xenophobia, one that reaches back to Lovecraft and beyond, some of the authors present other cultures in alarming ways calculated to pander to readers' fears, from the hungry revenant unleashed by the outraged Six Nations in "Dwelling on the Past" to a diplomat's embrace of honor killings and public stoning in "The Dog's Paw." Creepy neighbors are used to good effect in "In Libitina's House," while "Day Pass" recalls elements of Alan Moore's classic tale of menacing womanhood "The Curse." While some of the themes in the work may be regrettable, the prose itself is of a solidly consistent level, the work of professionals experienced at their chosen genre. Collectively, the authors prove expert at reinterpreting anxieties old and modern in ways carefully designed to entertain and horrify. (Mar.)