Read by Dawn: Volume One: 1 (Bloody Books) [Paperback]

READ BY DAWN: Volume 1
This has been a great year for anthologies. First we got Lee and Wilbanks' knock out collection, "Damned Nation", and then Skipp's long awaited zombie anthology, "Mondo Zombie", and now from Bloody Books we have READ BY DAWN. Put together by Adele Hartley, Director of "Dead By Dawn", Scotland's International Horror Film Festival, the anthology showcases writers from around the world, including Finland, America, Scotland, Canada, and Australia. If there is an international language for horror, this anthology is it. Among the 30 stories within, I consider only a few to fall into the mediocre category, most go straight to my favorite short stories of the year list. If this collection doesn't sweep the International Horror Guild and the Stokers awards next year, and get some respectable page space in Ellen Datlow's "Year's Best Fantasy and Horror", there is no justice.
Some of my particular favorites- I mean the ones that downright made me gasp aloud or shiver while reading them- were "Bloodwalker" by Michelle Lee, an alternative universe tale of practical evil, "The Face in the Glass" by Brian G. Ross, and Rayne Hall's "The Bridge Chamber" (take that, The Descent). I'd also like to call attention to Samuel Minier's "Stuck" as a particularly well-written piece, subtle and heart wrenching, even to the bloody end. And I liked the way Lavie Tidhar takes the Alice In Wonderland theme across the world and plops it into war torn Germany in "Eine Kleine Nachmusik (1943)". But I think if I had to choose a favorite it would be "The Kylesku Trow" by Stefan Pearson; the tale's last riddle will haunt me for many years to come.
Bloody Books knows how to package. The austere red, white, black and gray cover draws you in, and the font is easy reading despite the size of the slim volume. I have only one complaint with the book's construction: There are no author names listed with the tales themselves, neither in the Table of Contents or the traditional top of the page of each story. If one needs to find the author, one must either go back to the first page of the story, or scan the tiny print of the copyright page. But this is such a small thing compared to the fine stories this volume gives us. My hope is that subsequent volumes will fix this issue. But in the professional hands of the editor, I think the next volume will be even more engrossing and bring to light some of the new names in horror. And the U.K.'s most respected living horror author, Ramsey Campbell, must think they've got what it takes to become something quite special, as he adds a touching story of his own to the collection and provides a wrap around piece as well. "The Place of Revelations" seems to be his nod to the new voices in the genre and is, as usual, brilliantly written work from a master of the craft.
In the absence of so many beloved ongoing anthology series, this is one to keep your eyes on in the future to give you the well-written, exciting horror fix you need.

--Nickolas Cook

Read by Dawn is a delightful anthology of horror stories, from moody and atmospheric to wicked, cruel, amusing and oh-my-god-they-went-there. It's a book to have and keep and read over and over. I highly recommend it for horror fans everywhere.

Let's just forget for a moment that I have a story in this anthology (Read by Dawn volume 1) and say it just happened to be an Amazon.com order mistakenly delivered to my house. I'm not going to go over story (because there are 27 of them), as I do with magazines. Instead I'm going to highlight a few stories that stood out to me. In the order they appear in the book these are:

# Last Day on the Job by Jeff Jacobson- I loved the imagery of the world of skyscrapers which so many take for granted raining down upon the bug-like people below. The ending sort of fizzled, but the middle was creepy and amusing, a combination I love.


# The Seventh Green a Lost Lake by Scott Brendel- Golf horror. I love it!


# Lessons by Katherine A. Patterson- One of the creepiest stories in anthology. It's troubling on many levels, with a just desserts style ending and centers entirely on family dynamics, not violence per se.


# Popee by Justin Madison- My co-favorite in the anthology. I love dark humor and I can't even look at the title anymore without picturing a old man zombie gnawing on his grand son, being shoved back and leaving his dentures behind. When I go back through this will be the first one I read.


# The Bloom of Decay by Patricia McCormack- This one wins the creativity award in my opinion. It takes a strong veer from the rest of the stories. The horror in this one comes not from something that happens, or something the character has earned, but from who the character really is. I'm not sure it's flattering to the author, but I'd consider it flattering if someone said it of me, but this story inspired a little story of my own. This one most definitely made me think.

# Final Girl by Joe L. Murr- This one is my other co-favorite. (Hah! And you thought it was going to be my own.) This one caught me by surprise. It's so wrong but so right. It all makes sense with those last few lines, but the situation isn't the only horrible aspect of this tale.


# Frankie by Matt Wedge- This one wins the "I'd need therapy" award. In fact, just browsing the story again as I thumbed through the book to do this review made me put the book down fast, lest I reread a disturbing scene. I'll tell you one thing, these horror writers know human behavior too well. No wonder why normal people are scared of us. We use them against themselves.


# The Woman Who Coughs Up Flies by David Turnbull- This kind of story gives me hope, as a writer. The plot I guessed close to the beginning, but the sheer beauty of the writing sold me this one. It give me hope when I see those "the plot was too predictable" rejects.


# Special Offer by John Llewellyn Probert- I will never channel surf by HSN or QVC again and not think of this story. I really like that it gives a physical pain to people who spend recklessly, either due to a psychological problem or to plain old greed. I know many of these people who show off their neat new playthings while my family makes sure all bills are paid first and fully. I wonder if they would still act the same if they had the consequences presented in this story.


# Body Hunt by Chet Gottfried- Had the above mentioned "Popee" not been in this collection this tale would have won my humor vote. Amusing and dark but a natural dark, not forced. It almost reads like a dark sitcom.


# What Betty Saw by Joel Jacobs- A nice story at the end about the end. I would not have placed this story anywhere else in the collection as it does a fantastic job of bringing the anthology to a very final (burning) end.


I'd also like to note that there were no bad, poor, or even fair stories between these white covers. Every story had it merits, some merely connected better with me than others. My complete reading only serves to make me more proud of being including among these fantastic writers' tales. I am definitely putting volume two on my to buy list, as I will not be within it pages.

Good luck to Bloody Books and all the authors who have been included within their publications. May you receive the recognition you deserve.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 5 reviews  4.8 out of 5 stars