The Daily Monocle

Strictly speaking, horror is one of the most widely-disputed genres. What truly makes a book scary? What will send chills down the reader’s spine? One author’s guts-and-gore fest won’t appeal to another’s psychological horror cravings. And let’s not forget about the audience that demands zombies and tales of the undead without comedic effect. In a word, umbrella-term horror simply won’t suffice.

Enter Crucified Dreams, an alleged collection of urban horror edited by writer and anthologist Joe R. Lansdale. Comprised of reprinted short stories by legends (such as Stephen King) and relative new-comers alike, Lansdale has attempted to define horror as he sees fit.

Crucified Dreams ranges from the visceral, to the psychological--from the tangible, to the supernatural. For example, Harlan Ellison’s stunning “The Whimper of Whipped Dogs” (which opens the anthology) provides both psychological and graphic visual representation of what is the popularly perceived horror genre (murder, dark beings, etc.). Norman Partridge’s strange western-esque “The Mohave Two-Step” isn’t so much horror as it is highly strange and borderline surrealist. And the various crime stories sprinkled liberally through the volume don’t seek so much to scare the audience, as they do provide a gritty sort of context that filters through the page and into the real world.

Standout stories include the aforementioned Ellison tale; “The Evening The Morning and the Night” by the late Octavia Butler; and “The Quickening” by Michael Bishop.

And what makes each of these stories special? Quite simply, the single element that makes anthologies like this one so tricky to pinpoint in the first place: each author’s own personal brands of horror. While Ellison prefers to stick with the most basic interpretation of “urban horror”, Butler expands her horizons into something more akin to a zombie-style epidemic (which, admittedly, would be most dangerous in a city setting) and Bishop’s hapless main character falls into a Tower-of-Babel-like situation with nothing but his wits to guide him.

Interestingly enough, although each of these stories has it’s own unique flavor and style, they’re all connected by the elements which make up the foundation of a horror story: isolation, deprivation, panic, and pain.

Operating on a wide spectrum of definition, Crucified Dreams allows authors to explore their own personal writing style, while adhering loosely to the genre at hand. Readers need to keep in mind that this “loose” adherence is what defines the anthology; that arguably, no two stories are in the same specific genre or sub-genre. At the same time, this very element is what makes Crucified Dreams so interesting: it’s like an self-sufficient eco-system of horror, where new “breeds” create themselves on every page.

Ultimately, Crucified Dreams isn’t necessarily a volume of “urban horror”; its stories aren’t especially scary, as much as they are thought-provoking and engaging. And honestly, the truly striking stories in this anthology are a bit scarce. Nevertheless, Crucified Dreams is an enjoyable foray into the seedy underbelly of city life, and does provide some thoughtful material for the reader who’s willing to pick and choose.

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Sometimes a book comes along, and you get this pleasant feeling of déjà vu. Not in the sense that you’ve read the book before, per se, but that the book knows you. It’s the feeling of familiar tales; warm tales—the kind of tales told in old world taverns to weary travelers by the fireside.

Peter S. Beagle—author of such fantasy classics as The Last Unicorn—has created a world of such familiar magic in his newest offering, Sleight of Hand. Gloriously simple, and open-mindedly innocent, this thirteen-story anthology will entice even the most jaded reader to read long hours into the night.


Beagle’s writing revels in the simplicity of childhood wonder. Most of the stories in Sleight of Hand are good on paper, but cannot be given true justice until they are read aloud. Beagle consistently strikes the bittersweet chord between The Brothers Grimm and the lullaby your mother sang you to sleep with. These are stories penned in old world calligraphy; here there be dragons.

The stories themselves are predictable in the same way that a fairytale is. Of course, there is a happy ending… but it’s not necessarily the ending you expect. Which yes, kind of belays the concept of predictability, but that’s beside the point. It’s more of a flavor of familiarity than predictability, and Beagle uses this familiarity to pull his readers closer, and wrap them in words.

He even uses familiar characters—at least, characters that are familiar to him. The first two stories in the collection seem to feature the same wizard whose claims his most sophisticated trick is pulling fantastic objects out of people’s ears. And in Oakland Dragn Blues, we are acquainted with an unfortunate story dragon blocking traffic in the human world.

Standout stories include The Children of the Shark God, an imaginative and melancholy take on sea-side folk tales; The Rabbi’s Hobby, in which a Rabbi is haunted by the image of a beautiful woman who seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth; and The Rock in the Park, which is a true story (or so Beagle claims) of the author himself and a childhood friend who meet a family of lost centaurs in the park.

Transcending the age boundary, Beagle has created, not just stories, but living, breathing images for anyone who chooses to open his book. Delighting in the small people and simple sorcery, Sleight of Hand will beguile and enchant, threading together the most disconnected stories with the steady constant of ordinary magic.

Sleight of Hand hits shelves on March 1st

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This is a world where the government has absolute control; agriculturally, technologically, reproductively and culturally. This is a place where it's illegal to have children, because the elderly live forever. This is a place where people are stoned to death in the name of tradition; a place where jesters cause chain reactions just to throw the world off schedule. These places are called Brave New Worlds.

Terrifying, isn't it?

Brave New Worlds—edited by anthologist extraordinaire, John Joseph Adams—is a collection that seeks to revolutionize the definition of dystopic fiction by taking one of the oldest concepts in sci-fi, and the hottest authors to today and combining them into one, winning volume.

Adams has culled a careful selection of stories from today's market. With well-known names like Harlan Ellison and Orson Scott Card—to relative newcomers such as Paolo Bacigalupi and S. L. Gilbow—readers are treated to textured and diverse styles of writing.


Standout stories include Ten With a Flag by Joseph Paul Haines; Of a Sweet Slow Dance in the Wake of Temporary Dogs by Adam-Troy Castro, and Caught in the Organ Draft by Robert Silverberg, among others. Orson Scott Card's latest offering has his trademark characterization and personal feel, while Cory Doctorow's follows his mode of detached, technologically-based science-fiction. Each author is free to showcase his or her personal style of writing. And because of this literary freedom, there are very few stories which readers will skim or skip over.

The stories themselves are diverse in subject matter as they are in style, ranging from reproductive dystopias (Like Bacigalupi's Pop Squad), to tales of poverty and claustrophobic surroundings (Like Billenium by J. G. Ballard). Neil Gaiman treats his readers to a story of political extremism told in comic-strip form, whereas Vylar Haftan treads the boundary between "utopia" and "dystopia" with her readers in the form of a choose-your-own-adventure tale. Some concepts (as explored in Jordan's Waterhammer by Joe Mastroianni) are so far-fetched as to not seem dystopian at all. But they all share the common thread of desperation.

These stories and styles, although different in texture and subject matter, really boil down to the same message: no one can wield excess power. By taking the concepts of the perfect society—immortality, peace, happiness—these writers seek, not only to entertain and enthrall with tales of the fantastic and extravagant, but also to shock their readers. In the great tradition of near-future science-fiction, these authors (and their esteemed editor) seek to provide us with a picture of what the world could become, if society moves into any one extremity.

This stunning anthology will delight fans of science-fiction and devotees of the dystopian genre, alike. Its one major vice is, if consumed in one marathon session, readers will tire of the dystopian, and perhaps not give each story the credit it deserves. However, as one of the hottest sub-genres in sci-fi, dystopian fiction is sure to continue its ascent, and Brave New Worlds will become a treasure for years to come.

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It is the most epic battle of all time, between two of the most epic creatures in all of history. You've been waiting for it; I've been waiting for it. And finally, it's here…

What is it? Zombies versus unicorns, of course. And thanks to editors Holly Black (team unicorn) and Justine Larbalestier (team zombie), we can find all of this action-packed epicness in a handy anthology aptly titled… Zombies vs. Unicorns.

This collection of stories exceeded my expectations. Whereas only a fraction of most anthologies are worth reading, Zombies vs. Unicorns offers something witty, surprising, and, most importantly, original on every page.

Each tale is a unique take on the tried-and-true concept of either zombies, or unicorns (or occasionally, both). And alternating between these two (three?) possibilities, we as readers get an unbiased presentation of epicness that allows us to choose our own side—zombies, or unicorns?

Zombies vs. Unicorns hosts a plethora of well-known YA, and/or speculative fiction authors. From Naomi Novik, to Scott Westerfeld—from Meg Cabot to Cassandra Clare—you'll find a vast array of different styles and textures to whet your reading appetite. And, although the subject matter exists primarily within two different mediums—zombies and unicorns, of course—I never got tired of either concept.

Although it's difficult for me to choose any one story that I liked the best, there were three that really stood out from the crowd.

--The Third Virgin by Kathleen Duey (team unicorn) – Told from the point of a view of a unicorn, the Third Virgin shows us the soul of a tortured being trapped within his existence. It is a tale of desperation and bittersweet happiness, but is characterized extraordinarily well and has a satisfying conclusion.

--Love Will Tear Us Apart by Alaya Dawn Johnson – is, in my opinion, the most well-written story within this anthology. It follows two distinct characters—one human, one zombie—and the relationship that grows between them. Again, wonderfully characterized.

--Bougainvillea by Carrie Ryan – Not only does this story have legions of the undead, it also has pirates. And while pirates-versus-ninjas is another battle entirely, I can say that I am team pirate and was more than pleased to see two of my favorite creatures combined into a plot-driven fantasy set in a small island in the Tropics.

If I'm being perfectly honest, there are plenty of other stories that could have been featured here for perfectly valid reasons. I had such a difficult time choosing only three (my self-imposed limit).

Zombies vs. Unicorns hits shelves September 21st, and it's definitely an anthology to read. Plus it enables you to answer that all-important question: zombies or unicorns?

To aid you in this difficult choice, The Daily Monocle is hosting a giveaway of one hardcover copy of Zombies vs. Unicorns. This giveaway is open to residents of the USA and Canada and runs from September 12th – September 26th. Just fill out the form below to enter. DEADLINE EXTENDED. CONTEST NOW RUNS UNTIL THE END OF SEPTEMBER!