Avenue X and Other Dark Streets

by Nancy A. Collins

Avenue X and Other Dark Streets marks Ms. Collins' first attempt at self-publishing. The selections chosen for this volume were picked by the author herself to illustrate her diverse literary talents and include the Stoker nominated novelette "The Thing From Lover's Lane." What Others Have to Say About The "Imaginative, dynamic, and highly entertaining." --Clive Barker "Nancy Collins [is] possibly the most original voice in the world of vampire fiction since Anne Rice published Interview With The Vampire in the mid-70s. --Film Threat "Nancy A. Collins...raises the notorious splatterpunk genre perilously close to high art." --Norman Spinrad [Nancy Collins] chronicles excess with an almost elegant stylistic restraint. --Locus "Deftly weaves the literary and the metaphorical..." --Mystery Scene

Genres: Horror, Short Stories

292 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2000

About the author

Nancy A. Collins (born 10 September 1959) is a United States horror fiction writer best known for her series of vampire novels featuring her character Sonja Blue. Collins has also written for comic books, including the Swamp Thing series, Jason Vs. Leatherface, Predator: Hell Come A Walkin and her own one-shot Dhampire: Stillborn.

Collins was born in McGehee, Arkansas, United States. She lived in New Orleans, Louisiana in the 1980s; after time in New York City and Atlanta, Georgia she settled in Wilmington, North Carolina in the late 2000s.

Collins has written twenty novels since 1989, many of which refer to and directly include races of creatures the author calls Pretenders, monsters from myth and legend passing as human to better hunt their prey.

Collins has also written a number of highly acclaimed Southern Gothic short stories and novellas, most of which are set in Seven Devils, Arkansas, a highly fictionalized version of her hometown.

Most recently, she has focused her attention onto the Golgotham urban fantasy series,published by Penguin. Golgotham is the 'supernatural' ghetto of New York City, where creatures from myth and folklore--including witches,shapeshifters,leprechauns and centaurs--live and work in uneasy alliance with mankind.

Reviews

[Craig Rettig · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always enjoy Ms. Collins's writing. I'd read a fair number of the stories in this collection in other anthologies or collections, but they were fun to revisit.

There are a fair amount of editing errors in the copy I read, so if you're particularly anal about that sort of thing, consider it fair warning.

Overall, I enjoyed it a lot all the same.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a self published book its brilliant quality. As for the short stories there is a wide range on show here and anyone familiar with Nancy Collins will not be disappointed there is even a short Sonja Blue story - all in all worth finding and reading.