Dark Duets

November 25, 2013
Authors collaborate with uneven and decidedly unscary results in this frustrating anthology. The 17 “all-new tales of horror and dark fantasy” are trite in concept and lazy in execution, eschewing pathos for laughs and terror for sentimentality. Among the few unsettling efforts is “Wielded” by Tom Piccirilli and T.M. Wright, which plumbs the depths of the human condition while charting the effects of violence on the living and the dead. Charlaine Harris and Rachel Caine merge Christian myth and recovery from rape in the painfully effective “Dark Witness.” A single woman’s recurring nightmares lead her to violent destiny in “Branches, Curving” by Tim Lebbon and Michael Marshall Smith. By contrast, echoes of classic myth are belittled by misplaced humor in “T. Rhymer” by Gregory Frost and Jonathan Maberry and “Sisters Before Misters” by Sarah Rees Brennan, Cassandra Clare, and Holly Black, and the promising internal conflict of a child-hungry troll is reduced to Disneyland moralizing in “Trip Trap” by Sherrilyn Kenyon and Kevin J. Anderson. Readers seeking the truly dark should look elsewhere, which is a shame and a surprise, considering the talent assembled here.

January 1, 2014

The premise for this unusual anthology is, unsurprisingly, twofold. The selections are all dark fantasy or horror (most trending more towards horror), and they are collaborations between authors who have never before written together. The tales generally succeed, with some real standouts, including Charlaine Harris and Rachel Caine's piece that pits a mother's love against a demonic force and a fable by David Liss and Robert Jackson Bennett about an ex-con offered a deal with the devil. There's a very weird and creepy story for those distrustful of cat ladies and another for those who think their GPS might be possessed. Less successful is the only tale written by a trio, the slight "Misters Before Sisters" by Sarah Rees Brennan, Cassandra Clare, and Holly Black. VERDICT Collected anthologies such as this can be a great way to expose readers to new writers, giving them a taste of the style of authors famous in the horror genre as well as offering them dark turns from well-known authors from other genres. This work proves that even those new to collaboration can make beautiful music together.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2013
Seasoned fantasy/horror writer Golden set up this anthology to explore the potential of writers who have never collaborated before, joining forces to produce horror or dark fantasy short fiction. The result covers the entire spectrum of those genres, including paranormal romance, a recent addition to short fiction after a flourishing career at novel length. Some are between well-knowns and unknowns, some between comparative unknowns, and at least one is among three women, whose skill has turned what might have been a didactic bore into an absorbing exploration of gender working their way around one another. The level of both concept and execution is consistently high. And this volume also serves as a respectable introductory volume to its fields for smaller collections.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)