Flight or Fright

July 9, 2018
This entertaining anthology of horror, mystery, and literary tales about aircraft (most reprinted) will have the reader thinking twice about flying. The stories span the entire century of human flight, beginning with Arthur Conan Doyle’s riveting “The Horror of the Heights,” in which a pilot attempts to discover what lurks in the clouds. Most of the tales tend to skew toward horror. In E. Michael Lewis’s “Cargo,” the crew of a plane bringing bodies back from Jonestown start hearing noises coming from the cargo bay. In Cody Goodfellow’s “Diablitos,” an art smuggler gets more than he bargained for when he tries to bring a tribal mask to the U.S. Others take a different approach, such as Ray Bradbury’s “The Flying Machine,” which sees a Chinese emperor realizing the risk that flight poses to the Great Wall. Standouts include the two original stories: King’s “The Turbulence Expert,” a perfectly tense tale about a mysterious group that prevents aircraft crashes though unusual means, and Joe Hill’s “You Are Released,” made terrifying by its proximity to reality: it follows the crew and passengers on a 777 en route to Boston, who learn that North Korea has just nuked Guam and other countries are retaliating. This is a strong anthology full of satisfying tales.

August 1, 2018
Even for people without flight phobia, commercial air travel can be unpleasant. But that is exactly what makes it the perfect frame for an anthology of horror stories, especially one coedited by King (The Outsider, 2018), who has a lifelong fear of flying. The terror often writes itself, a point that King and Vincent (The Road to the Dark Tower?, 2004) prove with this expertly compiled collection of tales that entertain and scare. Besides brand-new stories by King and Joe Hill, the contents include 15 reprinted surprises, tales of horror in the air from famous authors like Arthur Conan Doyle, Richard Matheson, Ray Bradbury, and Dan Simmons as well as an 1899 story by the often overlooked Ambrose Bierce. Whether readers take it to the airport or read it with feet firmly planted on the ground, Flight or Fright delivers on its promised theme and will make the next plane ride a little more exciting. Pair it with themed horror anthologies edited by Ellen Datlow (Black Feathers, 2017) and John Joseph Adams (What the #@&% Is That , 2016).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)