The Second Black Book of Horror

Black Books of Horror #2

by Charles Black (Editor), David A. Sutton (Contributor), D.F. Lewis (Contributor)

The Second Black Book of Horror brings you thirteen macabre chillers of ghoulish terror and fiendish fear.

Contents:
Black Glass - Gary McMahon
Amygdala - David A. Sutton
Now and Forever More - David A. Riley
The Cold Harvest - Steve Goodwin
On the Couch - Craig Herbertson
All Under Hatches Stow'd - Mike Chinn
The Crimson Picture -Daniel McGachey
Squabble - D. F. Lewis
The Eye in the Mirror - Eddy C. Bertin
The Meal - Julia Lufford
In Sickness And... - John Llewellyn Probert
Onion - L. H. Maynard & M. P. N. Sims
The Pit - Rog Pile

Genres: Horror

200 pages, Paperback

First published January 3, 2008

About the author

Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Hugo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A much stronger, and varied, selection of stories in this volume, though not without a few clunkers - particularly those tales with endings that are obvious from the start, and/or leave you wondering what the point was.

Particular favourites were Gary McMahon's rock 'n' roll ghost story Black Glass, Mike Chinn's Ballardian All Under Hatches Stow'd, Daniel McGachey's classic and old-fashioned (in the best way) The Crimson Picture, and Rog Pile's layered and satisfying The Pit.

[Jameson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recently, I filled in some holes in my Black Book collection and I wager I’m the first kid on my block to have the complete set. I love the covers and the spines and how they look on my shelf. This Second book doesn’t quite live up to the first, safe to say.

This baker’s dozen of tales, rated on a scale of 1 to 5, average out to a perfect 3: average. There weren’t many standouts. Even a few authors I otherwise like delivered stories not to my taste. Your mileage may vary.

I love when reviews summarize and review anthologies story-by-story but I’m too lazy to do the former; here’s the latter.

Gary McMahon – Black Glass
3. Pretty okay. Cromulent, even.

David A. Sutton – Amygdala
1. The prose style was too annoying to get into the story.

David A. Riley – Now and Forever More
5. I’m a big fan of Riley. This one reminds me of Ringing the Changes crossed with one of those Dunwich Horror sequels.

Steve Goodwin – The Cold Harvest
2. Don’t care for child protagonists, don’t care for stories told in the present tense, don’t care for this.

Craig Herbertson – On the Couch
2. Like everyone else in the world I only find my own dreams interesting.

Mike Chinn – All Under Hatches Stow’d
1. Not my cup of tea.

Daniel McGachey – The Crimson Picture
3. Not my favorite Dr. Lawrence story. The radio drama was well done, though.

D. F. Lewis – Squabble
4. Jesus H. Christ. This is the piquant seasoning every anthology like this needs.

Eddy C. Bertin – The Eye in the Mirror
4. Very Twilight Zone. Or should I say Black Mirror.

Julia Lufford – The Meal
4. Nothing wrong with a wholesome romance story every once in a while.

John L. Probert – In Sickness And …
3. Great title. I wish we spent more time marriage counseling.

L. H. Maynard & M. P. N. Sims – Onion
3. I’ve been meaning to get into these fellows and I’m not sure what I expected from them, but I was pleasantly surprised by this one.

Rog Pile – The Pit
4. Once upon a time I believe I read more than a few laudatory comments about this story at vaultofevil. It’s probably my favorite of the bunch.

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read this anthology a number of times and enjoyed it immensely.