Mardi Gras Madness: Stories of Murder and Mayhem in New Orleans

by Martin H. Greenberg (Editor / Contributor), Jane Lindskold (Contributor), David Bischoff (Contributor)

What sort of creatures may have haunted the Mardi Gras festival and who may have said farewell to the flesh in a horribly unique way (and why and how) are the subjects of this collection of murder stories set in New Orleans.

Genres: Short Stories

243 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Martin Harry Greenberg was an American academic and speculative fiction anthologist. In all, he compiled 1,298 anthologies and commissioned over 8,200 original short stories. He founded Tekno Books, a packager of more than 2000 published books. In addition, he was a co-founder of the Sci-Fi Channel.

For the 1950s anthologist and publisher of Gnome Press, see Martin Greenberg.

Reviews

[Redsteve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice collection of horror and supernatural stories set in New Orleans during the Carnival Season. I especially liked that almost all of the stories NEEDED to have that setting and that the majority of the authors had at least a decent understanding of "Mardi Gras culture." Favorites were "Sacrifice" (Jane Lindskold), "King Corpus" (Bruce Holland Rogers), and "Skeleton Krewe" (Nancy Holder). The other stories were enjoyable, although Peter Crowther's "Songs of Leaving" was "meh" and didn't really have a New Orleans feel to it. Minor criticisms: Most of the stories' treatment of voodoo was rather pulpy and Charles de Lint's "Masking Indian" described three people making a full Indian "suit" in a week and a half - without magic, that's not happening. 3.5 stars.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent collection of horror and fantasy stories, all dealing in some way with Mardi Gras. There's not a weak story in the collection.

[Amélie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Michelle West's story is about a woman who lost her husband and son. One day she met a stranger in the cemetery next to her family's tombs and he gave her an invitation for a party during Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

[Joe Holtzman]

did not think much of this - stories over the top and not interesting