999

Exceptionally different in style, the common denominator of these 29 never-before-published short stories is their ability to haunt and terrify. As editor Al Sarrantonio states in his introduction, "if it scares you, that's it." Worthy stand-outs in this massive fear factory are Joyce Carol Oates's quasi-gothic tale, "The Ruins of Contracoeur," the sorrowful tale of a family forced into exile because of the patriarch's fall from grace. "Not ten days following the upheaval of our lives, ... Father, disgraced and defeated, uprooted his family from the state capital to live in the ruin of Cross Hill, his grandfather's estate in the foothills of the Chautauqua Mountains." Despite its classic horror style, Oates's contribution is very much set in the contemporary world of computers and high technology, and for 13-year-old Graeme Matheson, losing access to the Internet is almost as disturbing as the faceless man who haunts him at night.

F. Paul Wilson (The Barrens and Others, The Tomb) contributes the book's most traditional vampire story, "Good Friday." Vampires have taken over Europe, and America seems about to suffer the same fate. The nuns of a New Jersey Catholic school quickly realize that no amount of holy water can save them from the undead.

Over 650 pages, a quarter of a million words, and enough adrenaline rushes to keep the average horror reader up for nights, 999 is dark decadence indeed . --Naomi Gesinger

CONTENTS
Amerikanski Dead At The Moscow Morgue by Kim Newman
The Ruins of Contracoeur by Joyce Carol Oates
The Owl and the Pussycat by Thomas M. Disch
The Road Virus Heads North by Stephen King
Keepsakes And Treasures: A Love Story by Neil Gaiman
Growing Things by T.E.D. Klein
Good Friday by F. Paul Wilson
Excerpts from the Records of The New Zodiac and the Diaries of Henry Watson Fairfax by Chet Williamson
An Exaltation of Termagants by Eric Van Lustbader
Itinerary by Tim Powers
Catfish Gal Blues by Nancy A. Collins
The Entertainment by Ramsey Campbell
ICU by Edward Lee
The Grave by P.D. Cacek
The Shadow, The Darkness by Thomas Ligotti
Knocking by Rick Hautala
Rio Grande Gothic by David Morrell
Des Saucisses, Sans Doute by Peter Schneider
Angie by Ed Gorman
The Ropy Thing by Al Sarrantonio
The Tree Is My Hat by Gene Wolf
Styx And Bones by Edward Bryant
Hemophage by Steven Spruill
The Book OF Irrational Numbers by Michael Marshall Smith
Mad Dog Summer by Joe R. Lansdale
The Theater by Bentley Little
Rehearsals by Thomas F. Monteleone
Darkness by Dennis L. McKiernan
Elsewhere by Willam Peter Blatty