Rating: 
Summary: good collection of influential short horror
Review: "My Favorite Horror Story" is exactly what it says it is. A handful of today's better known horror authors, including the omnipresent Stephen King, and the slightly less inevitable Poppy Z. Brite ( I loved her introduction to Ramsey Campbell's "The Pattern." Very funny.) The main drawback to this book is that some of the stories have been very heavily anthologized, such as the two Lovecraft tales and Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart." And can anyone actually read "Young Goodman Brown" and not suffer horrible high-school flashbacks? That said, let us move on to the high points of the anthology. My three favorites would be the aforementioned "The Pattern," which is among Campbell's best work and is absolutely terrifying. I believe that Mr. Campbell has always done his best work in short fiction (with exceptions such as "The Parasite") and this story serves to reinforce my opinion. Look up his excellent short story collections "Waking Nightmares," and "Ghosts and Grisly Things" if you have an interest in his style. "The Father-Thing" by Philip K. Dick may seem to be out of place in a horror anthology at first, but after you read it, you may never look at your dad in the same way! Chilling. All of the late Mr. Dick's books come VERY highly recommended from me. "The Inner Room" by Robert Aickman may not seem to be as relentlessly horrifying as some of the other stories, but it has a way of nagging at your mind that leads to some very disturbing thoughts. Seek out "Cold Hand in Mine" which is lamentably out of print, for more work by this unsung hero of atmospheric, ghostly horror tales. All in all, this is quite a good collection. Every fan of horror will find something they like here.
Rating: 
Summary: Sigh.
Review: Fifteen modern-day authors of horror were asked to chose the short story that influenced them the most, that left the biggest impression, and the stories chosen were some of the best I've ever read. "The Father Thing" by Philip K. Dick was incredibly chilling, and "The Inner Room" by Robert Aickman will probably always nag at my mind. It's unfair to single out these two stories, though, because all were very, very good. I have quite a few horror anthologies, but didn't have all these stories. This is a definite must-have for anyone who likes good, scary short stories.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent group of horror stories
Review: Fifteen modern-day authors of horror were asked to chose the short story that influenced them the most, that left the biggest impression, and the stories chosen were some of the best I've ever read. "The Father Thing" by Philip K. Dick was incredibly chilling, and "The Inner Room" by Robert Aickman will probably always nag at my mind. It's unfair to single out these two stories, though, because all were very, very good. I have quite a few horror anthologies, but didn't have all these stories. This is a definite must-have for anyone who likes good, scary short stories.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable and Creepy
Review: I agree with a lot of what the other reviewers said. A few of these stories are heavily anthologized. I think I've been assigned to read "The Tell-Tale Heart" no less than 15 times in my life as a student, and for that, I chide Joyce Carol Oates for her laziness (or maybe she was just being honest).
Some of the author introductions to stories are overblown or surprisingly unrelated to the selection that follows. But for the most part, this was an enlightening collection of stories, and some are extraordinarily creepy and stay with you long after you're done reading.
I think about "The Dog Park" by Dennis Etchison a lot, mainly because I live in L.A. and can see that he got the culture here and found a way to parlay it into a story about lost ideals and the vultures -- real, metaphorical -- who circle above the hopeful artists, waiting to strike.
"The Human Chair" by Edigawa Rampo pops into my head now and again too. A great twist. This was like the most thrilling, most bizarre "Tales from the Darkside" episode you never saw. It has a distinctly Japanese edge to it -- a little mythic, a lot grotesque. This story made me want to seek out more Japanese genre fiction.
I don't want to comment on every story, because I'd be here forever. Many of these (i.e. "The Distributor" by Richard Matheson) are classics I never knew about but see repeated everywhere now that I've read them. It's funny -- ever since reading "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" in this collection, I see references to it everywhere. Producers want scripts just like it. And if you think about it, that's exactly what half the Hollywood horror stories are like these days -- dealing with that limbo area surrounding death -- "Is he dead, does he know he's dead?," etc.
"The Pattern" by Ramsey Campbell is totally freaky. I mean, seriously. Don't read it in the dark when you're about to go to sleep in an otherwise empty apartment. Make sure someone's there with you. That's the most satisfaction I got from a horror story in 15 years. The only other time I was ever that scared was after I read "Children of the Corn" when I was 9 years old. This story can return you to that level of primal, irrational fear.
Rating:
Summary: Sigh.
Review: I found this book to be as average and blah as most of the people that picked them. Some notable exceptions, but overall, if you like your horror homogenized, pasturized, and generic, like most contemperary stuff is, then this is the book for you.
Rating:
Summary: You gotta get this book
Review: I have quite a few horror anthologies, but I don't have several of the stories in this collection. What a bargain. Not a clunker in the bunch. Whether you're new to horror or an old hand, this is a great book to have.
Rating:
Summary: You gotta get this book
Review: I have quite a few horror anthologies, but I don't have several of the stories in this collection. What a bargain. Not a clunker in the bunch. Whether you're new to horror or an old hand, this is a great book to have.
Rating:
Summary: Very entertaining, frightening tales
Review: Short story collections are always fun and this one is no exception. The Robert Bloch story was really great, I had actually read it before, but I think a lot of his work is out of print now so maybe most people haven't. "The Human Chair" was a highlight by a lesser known Japanese writer, this story is decidedly creepy. My favorite story in the collection is "Patterns" by Robert Aickman. This story is really genuinly frightening and gave me chills. The Lovecraft story has been heavily anthologized, so you probably have read it already. Its a great collection, and I would highly recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: It's okay.
Review: The worst thing here is having to read some of the authors' introductions. Not a few wax ABSOLUTELY lyrical about how great the story is that follows. The most laughable is F. Paul Wilson's introduction to The Distributor by Richard Matheson. At the end, Wilson talks again about the story: "Yeah, I know. Pretty damn unsettling." Was it? Was it? Wilson suggests that the story would still work today, if you substitute certain things with contemporary topics like incest/pedophilia -- I beg to differ. Nope, I am not immune to things like incest and/or pedophilia; certainly they are horrible things to happen to anyone. But, my point really is, it wouldn't work because this story, the way it's written is not terrifying at all. "This is one of the most effective uses of minimalist technique you'll ever see" Wilson adds. That's just plain exaggeration. I just found the whole effort by Matheson strained.With regards to the book itself, there are a few interesting stories, but the rest of them are just not very good. Maybe due to the nature of these being short stories, the reader is often left unsatisfied. As I was with say "Opening the Door" and "The Rats in the Walls". I don't think I'm some kind of horror genre hater, it's just that, I'd say such stories don't work for me anymore. I mean, I used to rent every tape of Creepshow available from the store, and watched the Twilight Zone more than I did homework. But that was when I was in my early teens. Now, it is rare that I don't find a horror story predictable/laughable/ridiculous. The stories I've always liked here include "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" and "The Human Chair".
Rating:
Summary: A fine anthology of psychological thrillers
Review: This anthology of horror stories are favorites of noted writers. That Edgar Allen Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, and Robert Bloch are selected is no surprise. That the hoary, high school, standard, "Young Goodman Brown" is also here is unexpected. To give Mr. Hawthorne his due, the story does belong in this anthology. It is more enjoyable the second time around.
Each favorite story is prefaced by an author's introduction. The writer briefly explains how this story inspired and influenced their careers.
My favorite selections were:
1. Paul Wilson's choice, "The Distributor" by Richard Matheson. This story seems reminiscent of "The Auctioneer" and Stephen King's "Needful Things". The new stranger in town who seems to good to be true.
2. Joe R. Lansdale's choice, "The Animal Fair" by Robert Bloch. This story has not one ghost or ghoulie and nary a supernatural event. It was a horrifying, depressing, and pathetic(I don't mean this as a put down) story. The description of the Fair is a bleakly realistic portrayal. I really can empathize with the hot dog episode.
3. Harlan Ellison's choice, "The Human Chair" by Edigawa Rampo. It was a perversely humorous piece. Warning: after reading this you may say, "Nevermore!" to a La-Z-Boy.;-)
Other authors choices such as Peter Straub, Stephen King, and Joyce Carol Oates are present. They are fine choices. What are they? Find out and read the book!
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