Urban Nightmares

by Keith R.A. DeCandido, Josepha Sherman (Editor), &. DeCandido Sherman

Folklore in the past has given body to ghosts, ghouls, vampires, werewolves, and other sinister creations of human fears and imagination. Modern urban folklore provides a host of new menaces, and these terrors are now lurking in distant European castles, but are waiting for readers down the block, in the office elevator, under the concrete of their street. Is that only air clanging in the plumbing or is some thing coming up from the dark depths of the city and into readers' personal urban nightmare?

Genres: Horror, Fantasy, Anthologies, Short Stories, Urban Fantasy

278 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1997

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun anthology of short stories based on urban legends. There's not much in the way of character development; they're mostly all quite short, humorous, twisty little idea pieces, light and enjoyable, the kind that you can carry around and read when you've got a few minute wait here or there, or between periods of the hockey game so you don't have to watch the commercials. My favorite was Gator by Robert J. Sawyer.

[Wednesday · Rating 1 out of 5]

This in infinitely skippable. It sounds cool, a bunch of short stories based on urban legends! Except, without much curation, you get 4 stories about the hook handed killer on lovers' lane, 5 stories about alligators in urban sewers, 2 stories about spiders, etc. The only good story was by Christie Golden, "The Remaking of Mille McCoy," about a single woman taking a vacation alone to Mexico on her 40th. There's a very interesting, but not good, story, "Disney on Ice," works in both selling your soul to the devil and Walt Disney's frozen head. That was the most interesting choice of urban legend, much more off the beaten path than don't swallow your gum, or don't dive when there's a forest fire nearby.

[Alex · Rating 1 out of 5]

These are very raw and cliched. Like, no editor in their right mind would have put all these weak stories together in one volume and called it good. I read the introduction by the editors and it feels like maybe they just wanted to make a book with some of their very freshman writer friends. Read the dictionary of urban legends instead of this anthology. Even the cover art sucks.

[behsforensics]

Cutting is for. My Brother’s Keeper
By Mike Resnick and Jack Nimershein

[Tabitha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this collection when it first came out. I was on a very obsessive urban legend bent at that time. Even having read the base materials over and over just shortly before, the re-imaginings in this book kept my attention and felt new and interesting to me.
'Nallygator' remains one of my favorite short stories.

[Trevor Taundry]

1st story "Gator" is entertaining but nothing more.
Could not read the rest of the book as I could be reading something much better.