New Dark Voices 2
Edited by Brian Keene. Delirium Books, $16.95 (218p) ISBN 978-1-934546-06-2

Review by Paul Goat Allen

Envision a candy store in Hell selling samplers – heart-shaped boxes filled with a plethora of bite-sized confectionary nightmares – and you have a pretty good idea of what's going on in New Dark Voices 2, a simply stellar anthology edited by Brian Keene that shines the (black) light on three relatively new horror wordsmiths; writers, who according to Keene, "haven't yet garnered a huge audience but certainly deserve one."

The theoretical advantage of buying and reading an anthology – numerous authors and a diversity of stories for the price of one book – is also many times its fatal flaw. Some selections are exceptionally entertaining while others are mediocre at best; some authors explore new narrative terrain while others just rehash well-trod themes and conventions. New Dark Voices 2, however, is one of those rare anthologies that are not only powered by a satisfying variety of storylines but also skull-crushing, soul-blackening, singularly brilliant writing as well.

All three stories featured within are standout selections in their own right. Brett McBean's "Sins of the Father" is a Twilight Zone-nuanced story set in the Pyrenees region of Australia that revolves around a drug and alcohol addicted hardware salesman who, after retreating into the mountains to sober out, returns home to find not only his wife and child gone but everyone else in the rural hamlet as well. "Eliminate the Improbable" by Nick Mamatas is an undisputable masterpiece of sardonic speculative fiction that blends together elements of SF, dark fantasy and amateur sleuth mystery to create an unforgettable urban tale of drugs, rats, baseball bats, disappearing old, fat ladies and a plaque of "toxoplasmodic lunatics."

"Borealis" by Ronald Damien Malfi – which will undoubtedly draw comparisons to John W. Campbell's classic 1938 story "Who Goes There?" – pits a crew of Alaskan fishermen against an entity of unfathomable evil.

Kudos go out not only to McBean, Mamatas and Malfi for writing a trio of macabre literary gems but also to Keene for being the master confectionist behind this addictively readable sampler of dark fiction. A word to the wise, however, stay away from the chocolate covered cherries – they're not really cherries… (January)