We are told that the holidays are a festive time of year,
one full of joyful celebrations with friends and family while also being
offered a taste of childhood nostalgia. Many people have fond memories of
getting up on Christmas morning, not really sleeping due to being so wired, the
anticipation building until your parents finally allowed you to get up and you
bolted downstairs to open what Santa brought you. But Christmas isn’t always
happy and horror, as a genre, has been all about peeling back the shiny
wrapping paper, the glittery veneer, to see the darkness churning underneath. That
darkness and more is revealed in Hark theHerald Angels Scream, an anthology edited by Christopher Golden, which
features some well-known horror writers and some fun explorations of very
familiar horror tropes set against the backdrop of the holidays.
With anthologies to which many authors contributed, the
quality can feel inconsistent, but there are also a lot of hidden gems that are
sure to chill you, even as you roast chestnuts on an open fire. This collection
has a Joe Lansdale ghost story, “The Second Floor of the Christmas Hotel,”
that’s almost unrecognizable as vintage Lansdale. Rather than throwing a tidal
wave of insane action and fast-talking protagonists, he offers a quiet ghost
story that should remind readers of The
Ring, of Mama, of basically any
of the ghosts they might have seen on a movie screen. Whatever your horror
preferences are, this anthology has even more solid stories to read while the
wind howls outside and the snow keeps falling (or rain, if you live in the
Southeast). If you like Jacobs’s “The Monkey’s Paw,” try James A. Moore’s “Mistletoe
and Holly,” a tale about a grieving wife and mother whose dead husband wants to
see his family and no distance or grave can hold him. If you prefer your horror
less supernatural and more psychotic, there’s John McIlveen’s “Yankee Swap.”
Like your horror by way of fairy tales, give “Fresh as the New-Fallen Snow” by
Seanan McGuire a go. Want something cuddly? Snuggle up with Thomas E Sniegoski’s
“Love Me.”
This anthology is a holiday horror buffet without the bloat
afterward. Within these pages full of tinsel-strewn tales may just be your next
favorite author, one that’s bound to have a bibliography that may contain your
next great read. Maybe even your next favorite book. And that is a better
Christmas gift than any sweater, ugly or otherwise.
No comments:
Post a Comment