Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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3.0 out of 5 stars
OK but nothing really new, 24 Jul 2000
Like the other reviewers, I bought this book mainly because of the new Stephen King story. However, there were also entries by the likes of Ramsey Campbell and Joe R Lansdale to whet the appetite.Although most of the stories are OK, and a few are quite good, I was somewhat disappointed that only a small handful really did anything to take the horror story into the 21st Century. The Lansdale story, in particular, although a fairly interesting read, was far from something new, incorporating much visited themes such as the 'Monster' who rescues the main characters from the real monster (a serial rapist-killer) and Depression-era Deep-South racism ('To Kill a Mockingbird', anyone?). And this from the man who brought us the very disturbing 'The Night They Missed the Horror Show'! This criticism aside, there are some highly individual entries from Chet Williamson and Neil Gaiman, and these, along with an on-form Stephen King, are probably worth the investment.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent showcase for lesser-known horror writers, 28 May 2000
By A Customer
The work of the "King" of horror fiction attracted me to "999" - I read it expecting to find a typically excellent Stephen King short story and a collection of unintelligable "also rans". In reality, 999 is a treasure chest of excellent work by authors I had, in the main, never heard of.Offerings range from the touching "Owl and the Pussycat", through more traditional supernatural offerings such as Joyce Carol Oates novella, to the truly bizarre Chet Williamson tale "Exerpts from the Records of the New Zodiac". In his introduction to this collection, Al Sarrantonio expresses his hope that the book will bring a new audience to horror fiction and encourage it to be considered "literature", as well as pure entertainment well into the new millenium. On this evidence, it was seem that the genre (unlike the protagonists in Kim Newman's "Amerikanski"....) is alive and well and thriving. More please, Mr Sarrantonio !
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Some pretty good stories in here - more please!, 24 April 2000
I bought this book simply on the strength of the fact it contained a previously unpublished Stephen King short story, and I have not been disappointed yet, although I have not yet read ALL the stories - that might take a little while! It is pretty good stuff all the way through from a selection of well known, established writers such as William Peter Blatty (The Exorcist), but it would be a great idea if a similar project could be launched featuring a showcase of unpublished writers with invitations for people to send in their work. I'm sure that would really catch the imagination - not to mention mine. I would certainly welcome it also if the publishers get together to continue 999 in a series of books every so often, featuring similar writers (but always with Stephen King involved). Oh, and call me superstitious if you will, but I will NEVER have this book sitting upside down (it would read 666!)
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