Book Review: 'The Mammoth Book of New Terror' edited by Stephen Jones
'The Mammoth Book of New Terror' (496 pp.) was issued by Carrol and Graf in 2004, and features cover art by John Picacio, and interior illustrations by Randy Broecker.
This is a rather odd mashup of older material, first published in the decades from the early 1970s to the late 1990s; and some material from 2003, presumably the 'new' stuff alluded to in the anthology's title. Of the 26 stories, many are authored by familiar names, and there are some splatterpunks included, which always is good.
One thing that emerges from this collection is that many of the UK contributors frame their entries as what nowadays is referred to as 'folk horror,' a term which really wasn't in widespread use in 2004. Indeed, many of the entries in 'New Terror' would be very much at home in Jones's 2021 anthology, 'The Mammoth Book of Folk Horror.'
My capsule summaries of the contents of 'New Terror':
Fruiting Bodies (1988), by Brian Lumley, deals with fungus, and an abandoned seaside town in North Yorkshire. It mingles an atmosphere of entropy (that M. John Harrison and J. G. Ballard would approve of), with physical horror.
Needle Song (1979) is the obligatory Charles L. Grant entry. It's about an old lady whose piano-playing brings corruption to an otherwise prosperous suburb. Old ladies and pianos ? Must be Quiet Horror, of course......
Turbo-Satan (2004) by Christopher Fowler: Mats is a loser. Until he learns that texting to a certain number, can bring good things into his life. An interesting premise, but one paired with an underwhelming denouement.
Talking
in the Dark (1984) by Dennis Etchison: the obligatory Etchison entry. Victor
Ripon is a damaged loner who finds some purpose to life via a
correspondence with the bestselling horror author Rex Christian. Maybe
Rex can come visit Victor, and instruct him in how to write horror
fiction ? This tale has an interesting premise, but a Quiet Horror diet
of figurative language, metaphors, and similes leads to a conclusion
that I found contrived.
The Circus (1980) by Sydney J. Bounds, is a clever tale about a Most Unusual Show, a tale with the sensibility of the more memorable stories appearing in the EC horror comics of the 1950s.
Foet (1991) by F. Paul Wilson: very dark, but impactful, humor about the latest and greatest in fashion accessories.
The Candle in the Skull (1984), by Basil Copper: Martin has a plan to make his life quite a bit more enjoyable. But his daughter Kathy might not cooperate. This is one of those stories where the author is evasive about whether Something Spooky is 'real,' or simply a hallucination. I don't like stories like that......
The Chimney (1977) by Ramsey Campbell: overwritten tale about a neurotic, whiny British boy who suspects the
Boogeyman is hiding in his bedroom's chimney. I was hoping for the Boogeyman to do something awful to our Brit Boy, but sadly, it was not to be............
Dark Wings (1982) by Phyllis Eisenstein: walking the beach late at night, a spinster spies an unusual species of eagle. She soon is obsessed with portraying the bird in her art. Lots of metaphors and similes in this Quiet Horror piece: Night upon night, in fair weather and foul, when the waves were slick as glass, when the waves were wild things clutching for the sky. There is a 'shock' at the conclusion that made this story, for me at least, digestible.
Reflection of Evil (2004) by Graham Masterton: a trio of Brits, out on the moors on a miserable November day, uncover an artifact that may be worth a great deal of money. An interesting tale from Masterton, one with a bit of splatterpunk.
Mirror of the Night (1998) by E. C. Tubb: a squabbling husband and wife must take refuge in an abandoned house. It, too, has a dose of splatterpunk, but that can't save the story from its overpurpled prose.
Maypole (2004) by Brian Mooney: UK folk horror, with some explicit grue. A good combination, in my opinion !
Under the Crust (1993) by Terry Lamsley: Maurice finds himself in Dove Holes, a real place north of Buxton in Derbyshire. A communal dump ('tip,' in the British vernacular), Dove Holes has some disturbing qualities. A very good story, one that takes an atmospheric approach to its horror, in a manner akin to that of Ramsey Campbell. But Lamsley avoids Campbell's abstruse prose and indifferent plotting in favor of clearer language, and a plot that comes to an imaginative, quasi-Lovecraftian conclusion in the closing pages.
After reading Tir Nan Og (1999), by Lisa Tuttle, you'll never look at middle-aged Cat Ladies quite the same way again......
A Living Legend (1982) by R. Chetwynd-Hayes: Chetwynd-Hayes is one of the those authors whose stories are nicely set up, but meander to anemic denouements. So it is with 'Legend,' where a reporter named Brian Radcliffe travels to a dilapidated mansion in rural England, there to interview a woman who allegedly is 117 years old. Yet another tale where it's never clear if what the protagonist experiences is 'real,' or only the product of a Diseased Imagination, etc., etc.
Wake-Up Call (2004) by David J. Schow: zombies, and black humor. As only Schow can do it !
The Fourth Seal (1975) by Karl Edward Wagner: a physician discovers that his profession has its darker side. A competent, but not memorable, tale from Wagner.
Unlocked (2004) by John Kaine and Tanith Lee: a husband-and-wife collaboration, and one of the lamer entries in the anthology. There is no horror content. The plot is overwrought, and has something to do with illicit lesbian love in late 19th century France. Lee's relentless use of metaphoric, figurative prose doesn't help matters.
Neil Gaiman's Closing Time (2003) is about an abandoned house and some foolish Brit schoolboys. It has a subdued creepiness, that proves effective in the closing paragraphs.
It Was the Heat (1988) by Pat Cadigan: a thirty-five year-old lady executive attends a business conference in New Orleans. She makes some dangerous liaisons in the French Quarter. Cadigan is ambiguous as to whether a female interpretation of the trope of 'when boys are away, they will play,' is a good thing, or a bad thing.
Fodder (2002) by Brian Keene and Tim Lebbon: France, the Argonne Forest, the First World War. A group of British 'tommies' discover something sinister in a trench network. This story has an interesting premise, but loses its way, due to too many story beats competing for attention. It would have been better off as a one-author production.
Open Doors (2003) by Michael Marshall Smith: the first-person narrator seeks solace for his Suburban Anomie.
Andromeda Among the Stones (2003) by Caitlín R. Kiernan: in a house overlooking the northern California coast, a family of Seeker of Eldritch Knowledge confront Cosmic Horror. This is the worst entrant in the anthology: a rudimentary plot, overlaid with an excess of pulp-inspired purple prose.
Flowers on Their Bridles, Hooves in the Air (2003) by Glen Hirshberg: a trio of hipsters discover a spooky arcade sitting at the end of a pier in Long Beach, California. Like Terry Lamsley's story (above), this story, too, is modeled on Ramsey Campbell's style of horror prose. However, compared to Lamsley's effort, 'Flowers' is labored and devoid of action.
Amerikanski Dead at the Moscow Morgue, or: Children of Marx and Coca-Cola (1999) by Kim Newman: a tale about Romero's zombie apocalypse unfolding in Russia (the 'Amerikanski' are zombies, generated by some secret biological weapon the yankees have unleashed on Russia). It's an interesting take on the zombie story, however, after setting up an offbeat premise, Newman lets the story sputter out in the denouement.
Among the Wolves (1971) by David Case: a maniac is murdering folks, picking them at random from the ranks of the elderly and helpless. This story suffers from overwriting, with too many long-winded philosophical musings. Where it does work, surprisingly, is as a 'wilderness adventure.'
The verdict on 'The Mammoth Book of New Terror' ? It's a Three Star collection, some good stories, some mediocre ones. It does show that older and newer content can be placed side-by-side to good effect, and for that, getting a copy may be advisable for horror fans.
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