Ten Tall Tales: And Twisted Limericks

by Ramsey Campbell, Michael Marshall Smith, Sarah Pinborough

Ten tall tales of horror, dark fantasy and dark science fiction, commissioned from some of the most twisted imaginations writing today, as part of NewCon Press' 10th anniversary celebrations. Each story is inter-leafed with a wicked limerick from that master of terror, Ramsey Campbell. Contents:
1. Introduction - Ian Whates
2. Ten Twisted Limericks - Ramsey Campbell
3. The Power Of... - Paul Kane
4. We Know By the Tenth Day Whether They Live or Die - Simon Clark
5. One Little Mouth to Kiss You Goodnight - Lynda E. Rucker
6. The Fruit of the Tree - Maura McHugh
7. 9 + 1 - Michael Marshall Smith
8. The Book of Sleep - Edward Cox
9. For The Win - James Barclay
10. Do You Believe in Ghosts? - Mark West
11. The Loathing of Strangers - Sarah Pinborough
12. The Marble Orchard - Andrew Hook

192 pages, Paperback

Published October 3, 2016

About the author

Ramsey Campbell is a British writer considered by a number of critics to be one of the great masters of horror fiction. T. E. D. Klein has written that "Campbell reigns supreme in the field today," while S. T. Joshi has said that "future generations will regard him as the leading horror writer of our generation, every bit the equal of Lovecraft or Blackwood."

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclaimer: my short story, "The Marble Orchard", is included in this anthology.

For NewCon Press' 10th anniversary in 2016 this collection of ten short stories was published, all of which were required to have '10' in someway represented. To be fair, the guidelines are so fluid that this theme floats only at the peripheries which means none of the stories are straightjacketed to those guidelines and few are dependent on them. This makes for a stronger book, in my opinion, and well worth your time.

Anthologies rarely are five star overall simply because of the diversity of material which touch readers in different ways. There are certainly a couple of five star pieces here (Maura McHugh's "The Fruit of the Tree" and Mark West's "Do You Believe In Ghosts?" were my personal favourites), others which were equally gripping but didn't quite click with me, and a couple that I found myself skipping rather rapidly. I won't name those - and another reader might easily find my choices are reversed - but just to state that if you're seeking horror or SF or the supernatural or fantasy or slipstream or crime then you won't come away unrewarded.

[Kevin Burke · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the caveat that collections of short stories will always feature some that are more to a reader's taste than others, this is a strong collection. All loosely themed around the number 10, there are some real crackers here, with my personal accolade going to Sarah Pinborough's 'The loathing of strangers'. I am not convinced about the conceit of putting a 'twisted limerick' between each story, but that's just my own personal view... they did nothing for me but I'm sure there will be those who loved them. Overall, I would encourage all lovers of dark tales, whatever your favourite genre, to read this book... it doesn't disappoint!