It was touch and go for while: would the
Dark Terrors series survive? The definitive anthology of horror stories (edited by Stephen Jones and David Sutton) originally appeared under the Pan imprint, and was in fact a continuation of the legendary
Pan Book of Horror Stories series, edited by the controversial Herbert Van Thal. This was the series which had introduced many aficionados to the genre, with its adroit mix of the traditional (Wells, Poe, Stoker) and contemporary authors of the day. But the Pan series was starting to decay faster than one of the ambulant corpses in the stories, and Jones and Sutton's reinvention of the anthology under a new name represented the perfect rejuvenation.
Dark Terrors 5 (now published by Gollancz, since Pan let their classic legacy go) is the latest triumphant manifestation of the series that really belongs on every horror aficionado's shelf. Jones' singular skills seem to bring out the very best in these writers,. particularly in the very British tales, such as Christopher Fowler's
At Home in the Pubs of Old London, which is a tale of terror rendered in typically gruesome Fowler fashion, but with a strong sense of locale. Similarly, Ramsey Campbell's entry,
No Story In It, is the kind of subtle, understated but genuinely chilling piece that the author excels in, with its Englishness a primary part of its appeal. Not so Kim Newman's
Going to Series, which is far more cosmopolitan (it's a media-based tale of the bizarre told entirely in documents and transcripts). Of course, Jones and Sutton will always find a space for horror tales along formal lines (having been raised on such fare themselves), and thankfully include such pieces as Brian Stableford's deliciously nasty
The Haunted Bookshop. But the whole panorama of modern horror can be found here, from these traditional tales to scabrous and eye-opening modern pieces such as Mick Garris'
Starfucker:
I jerked violently in fulfilment. It was irresistible impulse; I didn't mean to pull away the handfuls of flaxen hair and grey, preserved flesh.
--
Barry Forshaw
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
