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Queer Fear: Gay Horror Fiction

Queer Fear: Gay Horror Fiction

List Price: $16.95
Your Price: $11.53
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great stories, well-chosen
Review: One of the best horror anthologies I have ever come across. Really well-chosen, well-written stories. Starts off with a bang with NIGHTGUARD and keeps getting better. HEY, FAIRY! is a great story. Real imagination here, all through the book. Can't wait for the sequel!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Disappointing, with a few gems
Review: Too many of the short stories in this collection pander to the worst of the horror genre. Which is a shame, because this could have been an important anthology. Generally, the mix of gay sex and scares falls flat and, by and large, the writing waffles between mediocrity and badness. Most of Queer Fear seems determined to remind us why "gay fiction" is so lamentable. There are a couple of notable exceptions, especially Caitlin R. Kiernan's "Spindleshanks." Kiernan's always a joy, but this is a particularly finely-crafted tale, a refreshingly-quiet story that comes across like the best of Shirley Jackson or Joyce Carol Oates. So, the book's probably worth cover price for that story alone.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Disappointing, but not a total loss
Review: What disappointed me the most about Queer Fear was that the editor seems to think that "gay" and "queer" should mean "gay male." All but one of these stories are about men, and most are of the carelessly-written sort that one expects to find in anthologies of "gay fiction." There's very little that's frightening (or even interesting) here, more a preoccupation with sex than writing good stories. However, Caitlin Kiernan's "Spindleshanks," the ONLY story in the book about lesbians, is, curiously, also the only story in Queer Fear that transcends the pulply, hackneyed tone of the anthology to deliver something of literary merit. I would have given the book one star, but Kiernan's lush prose and skillful characterization are worth a couple more.


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