The Sixth Black Book of Horror [Paperback]

Regular readers will know I am currently dissecting the excellent Back From The Dead: The Legacy Of the Pan Book Of Horror Stories by Johnny Mains (see here). It's been a delight to read so far and really brings home the power of the short horror story and the importance the Pan books played in the formative years of many of our current writers. Whilst debate and speculation abound on the future of a resurrected Pan line, Charles Black has been mining away at the coalface for the last six years producing its spiritual successor.

The Black Books share the same values as the Pan books, short, sharp and memorable stories. They even share the same taste in gory (and therefore fabulous covers). The Sixth Black book is published in time for the World Horror Convention and the list of authors promises great things.

Six of The Best by John Llewellyn Probert is a smart, gory and darkly humorous tale based around one of those fairly awful Most Haunted programmes. A shortage of ghosts leads to the producer taking matters into his own hands. Traffic Stream by Simon Kurt Unsworth is a nightmare journey into a land where a loss of direction can set you on the wrong road. Containing subtle references (and some not so subtle) to a recent controversy in the horror world (see Simon's blog for more) it manages to mix metaphor with terror to create an excellent and powerful story.

Imaginary Friends by Steve Lockley is a fantastic little piece. Scary, tragic and compelling it explores a father and son's deep connection through an imaginary friend. An Unconventional Exorcism by R.B.Russell takes us to meet a strange family. Clever and full of dark black humour. Paul Finch exploits his excellent blend of horror based on history in The Doom with an excellent story based on the discovery of a mural portraying the seven deadly sins.

Keeping It In The Family by Gary Fry is a great piece of psychological horror where we meet a disturbed horror writer and the demons that stalk him. Carig Herbertson takes us into the oppressive heat of Spain in Spanish Suite as a travelling salesman falls foul of the locals.

Mr Pigsny by Reggie Oliver manages to combine gangsters, Cambridge professors and slugs in an excellent tale of a very strange family. The Red Stone by Alex Langley starts out strongly with the promise of pagan practices but doesn't quite live up to that early promise. Room Above The Shop by Stephen Bacon is a great story and confirms my view that mannequins can't be trusted.

Their Cramped Dark World by David A. Riley uses the old spooky haunted house motif but has a neat twist. Gnomes by Mark Lewis finds a couple tripping after taking magic mushrooms and having terrifying hallucinations, or are they real? Anna Tarboska brings us Bagpuss a moving story of relationships as a young girl struggles to come to terms with her family breakup. The Switch by David Williamson has a neat twist as an escaped prisoner thinks he strikes lucky.

Finally Mark Samuels gives us Keeping Your Mouth Shut. Now I don't know if this is meant as a riposte to the Simon Kurt Unsworth story but it feels like it. A darkly cynical and frankly, quite bitter tale which seems to get drawn away from the main plot in an effort to criticise other horror writers. It's not a terrible story but I expected a lot more from the talented writer who brought us The White Hands, Vrolyck etc.

A very strong anthology and the Black Book should be an essential purchase for lovers of the short horror story. Stand-outs for me were Imaginary Friends, Room above the Shop and Mr Pigsny although several others were also excellent.

Last year I enjoyed reading the anthology Zombie Apocalypse! So I thought I would take the chance to dip my toes into the waters of shorts fiction once again. Sticking with horror, I was given the opportunity by Mortbury Press to read volume six of the Black Book of Horror.

There are fifteen short stories in this volume ranging from paranormal horror to psychological horror. Overall, the anthology was very good, but rather than give too much away I thought I would give some feedback on the entries that were personal highlights for me.

Six of the Best by John Llewellyn Probert - In the first story the psychic medium on a 'Most Haunted' style television show is plagued by gruesome visions of the dead. A strong start to this anthology with an unexpected and unpleasant twist. This sets a high standard for the other stories to measure up to.

Traffic Stream by Simon Kurt Unsworth - I liked the notion of taking a mundane activity, in this case giving directions over a phone to a colleague, and turning into something horrific.

An Unconventional Exorcism by R. B. Russell-A quirky and darkly comic tale that is more funny than horrific. I was amused by this odd and slightly surreal story. I think it's fair to say I have never read of an exorcism performed in the way described here.

The Doom by Paul Finch - A vicar meets a visitor to his church who is need of advice. The longer their conversation continues, the less sure of himself the vicar becomes. Leaving the reader to fill in the blanks at the stories end is a nice touch, as personally, I tend to always imagine the worst. This story benefits from being very firmly grounded in reality which, for me, made the horror seem that much more intense.

Room Above the Shop by Stephen Bacon -A young girl is pursued by the dummies that are stored in the room above her grandmother's dress shop. I think mannequins can have a natural creepiness about them and this makes them a good choice for horror story villains.

Their Cramped Dark World by David A. Riley - Two teenage friends meet in a lonely ruined house. This story reminded me of vintage James Herbert. There is a wickedly unrepentant villain, strange creatures and some graphic torture. The ending is memorable and stands out as being truly gruesome.

When it comes to genre fiction I do think that horror has the greatest potential for producing memorable short stories. While I was reading the anthology I was reminded of the best of the Hammer House of Horror TV series and Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected.

Currently, there are in total seven Black Books of Horror available. I advise checking them out as there is something here for all horror fans.

I was recommended these series of books from a horror forum...I am so glad I only bought 1 copy as these were the worse horror stories I have ever read.
I thought it would improve as I went along...But no. How these stories were published I will never know. They felt like some one from a creative writing class for beginners had given it members a subject and ask them to write about it and then published them...I mean in one story the writer writes...IT WAS A WET AND DRY SOUND THAT WAS COMING FROM THE CAVE...How the hell can it be wet and dry...I,m only sorry AMAZON do not have a NO-STAR award as this would get one...I would advise anyone thinking of buying this to go and spend their hard earned money on something decent.