Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It's alive! It's alive!, 27 Aug 2001
Coming out of RazorBlade Press, Hideous Progeny is one monstrously beautiful anthology that explores the world as it would be if Dr. Victor Frankenstein's gruesome experiments had not gone awry. Writers such as Tim Lebbon, Peter Crowther, Steve Rasnic Tem, and Rhys Hughes (to name just a few) each donate a small literary organ to the mix, and everything is skilfully stitched together into a marvellous book by first-time editor Brian Willis.Cosmetically, the book is a two-face: while cover design by Chris Nurse is nothing short of outstanding, the internal layout is not without blemish. For example, outside margins are too wide, story titles are not always at the same height in the page, and the author's name is italicised in some but not all of the instances. Another gripe I have is that page numbers on the right-hand pages are left-aligned; plus, headers have no indication about the stories presented below them: these will give you a bad time if you want to riffle through the book to look up a specific something. There are a few extra typesetting warts and moles as well, as I noticed some characters showing up in a different size than the rest of the text, uneven spacing between words, typos derived from bad OCR, and so on. I sincerely encourage RazorBlade Press to pay more attention to internal design in the future, and run a few spell checks as well. Still, don't let appearances fool you, because the writing on these pages is top-notch. In the whole, I was not in the least disappointed by Hideous Progeny while expecting quality work. Many short stories surprised me by their original angles, and all are very well written. I have my favourites, of course: Peter Crowther's piece is shocking yet touching at the same time, and the idea behind "Mad Jack" is a simple but nevertheless brilliant one. "The Banker of Ingolstadt" is perhaps the funniest in the book, and I found Steven Volk's "Blitzenstein" to rank among the best. Whatever shortcomings the book has, they're quickly overwhelmed by the superb short stories it contains, not to mention a downright gorgeous cover....it's well worth getting Hideous Progeny: not only will you be adding a fine specimen of a book to your library, you'll also be helping small press business to thrive. Because I want to see more from RazorBlade Press. Oh yeah.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstandingly produced, well-written small press anthology, 15 May 2000
Wow! That was all I could utter when I was handed this marvellous piece of work at its launch in Swansea.For what is essentially the production of a Small Press, the professionalism that has gone into this work shines, both on the quality of the book itself and the outstanding stories held within. HIDEOUS PROGENY is an anthology from up and coming RAZORBLADE PRESS, its stories taking the assumption that Frankenstein succeeded. The cover art by Chris Nurse is breathtaking, and at close to 300 pages, this is an anthology every horror fan should grace their bookshelf with. Edited by the very talented Brian Willis, with notably fantastic stories from Tim Lebbon, Ceri Jordan, Peter Crowther and Steve Lockley (relative? Perhaps!) this is one you'll pick up again and again, that is if you can get it back from whatever friend is first to ask to borrow it! Buy it now and discover what the best of the UK's Small Press has to offer.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
"Behold, I give you life - well, several bits of you at least", 2 Oct 2009
What if Frankenstein's experiments had worked? What would history have looked like if the dead could be revived? That's the sort of thing the 'Hideous Progeny' anthology (edited by Brian Willis) wants to know. Lots of potential in the idea but not all the stories here rise to it. One author gets himself all in a flurry thinking up horrible things the Nazis could have done with Frankenstein's technology, while others go all pop with Frankenstein takes on Princess Di. and 'Gladiators'. Not much fun there. Better stories are on offer too though - Simon Morden's 'Traitors Gate' and (especially) Ceri Jordan's 'Mad Jack' really bring out how odd the 19th century might have been if the dead could be brought back mechanically. Steven Volk's 'Blitzenstein' is very sad and very effective, (almost Frankenstein meets 'The Machine Gunners'). Rhys Hughes' 'The Banker of Ingolstadt' is horrible, funny and horribly funny, especially if you've ever been a student on a grant. Steve Rasnic Tem's 'Cubs' is almost unbearable - I don't mean that as an insult either. (A prize also goes to the contributor whose surname starts with a 'P' for a very precious and unintentionally funny author self-description.) There's also a good intro. by Our Man from the Uncanny, Kim Newman. So, overall: quite a few worthwhile stories but not all of the pieces fit together, which seems kind of appropriate.
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