A review by discocrow
Borderlands, Book One: The Anthology of Weird Fiction by Thomas F. Monteleone
4.0
The "Borderlands" anthologies purport to collect the most innovative, strange, and disturbing weird fiction that is submitted to them. Between the covers of these books you may be perplexed, confused, and outright disgusted but you will certainly never be bored. I was first introduced to these books through "From the Borderlands" which went into Mass Market Print due to it containing a story by Stephen King. Since that fateful day I had been looking for the rest of the anthologies. Thanks to them going into print once more last year I can finally get my hands on them.
This first foray into the Borderlands was published in 1994 and to some extent does show its age. Some of the shock horror, here's looking at your Lansdale, isn't particularly interesting to me; Poppy Z. Brite also falls a bit flat, but these are pretty much personal taste. Your mileage will vary. Nevertheless, there is more than enough to hold my interest in the tales between the covers. "The Pounding Room" has stuck with me rather strongly. "His Frozen Heart" as well, which is surprising given how basic a premise it holds.
I'd recommend this book to people interested in horror fiction, although with some reservations. The stories are strange - the publication lives up to its claim of publishing only the most original - at least by my estimation. There's certainly a fair bit of the odd to be found in here.
This first foray into the Borderlands was published in 1994 and to some extent does show its age. Some of the shock horror, here's looking at your Lansdale, isn't particularly interesting to me; Poppy Z. Brite also falls a bit flat, but these are pretty much personal taste. Your mileage will vary. Nevertheless, there is more than enough to hold my interest in the tales between the covers. "The Pounding Room" has stuck with me rather strongly. "His Frozen Heart" as well, which is surprising given how basic a premise it holds.
I'd recommend this book to people interested in horror fiction, although with some reservations. The stories are strange - the publication lives up to its claim of publishing only the most original - at least by my estimation. There's certainly a fair bit of the odd to be found in here.