Darker Masques

by J.N. Williamson (Editor), Paul Dale Anderson, Ray Bradbury

Compiling the hardcover horror collections Masques III and Masques IV, this volume contains nightmarish tales from the farthest reaches of twisted imaginations to the deepest, most intimate recesses of tortured minds. Such horror masters as Ray Bradbury, Graham Masterton, Dan Simmons, F. Paul Wilson, and others contribute. Original.

Genres: Horror, Anthologies, Short Stories, Fiction, Fantasy, Collections

574 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Gerald Neal Williamson (April 17, 1932 - December 8, 2005) wrote and edited horror stories under the name J. N. Williamson. He also wrote under the name Julian Shock.

Born in Indianapolis, IN he graduated from Shortridge High School. He studied journalism at Butler University. He published his first novel in 1979 and went on to publish more than 40 novels and 150 short stories. In 2003 he received a lifetime achievement award from the Horror Writers of America. He edited the critically acclaimed How to Write Tales of Horror, Fantasy & Science Fiction (1987) which covered the themes of such writing and cited the writings of such writers as Robert Bloch, Lee Prosser, Richard Matheson, Ray Bradbury, H. P. Lovecraft, August Derleth, William F. Nolan, and Stephen King. Many important writers in the genre contributed to the book. Williamson edited the popular anthology series, Masques. Some of his novels include The Ritual (1979), Playmates (1982), Noonspell (1991), The Haunt (1999), among others.

He was also a well known Sherlockian and received his investiture (The Illustrious Client) in the Baker Street Irregulars in 1950.

Source: Wikipedia

Reviews

[Evans Light]

I love anthologies of short horror fiction like this. Right up my alley.

I never seem to read them in order, though - so I'll just update this review from time to time as I go with my thoughts on each story in the order I read them.

PLEASE DON'T HURT ME - by F. PAUL WILSON
**** Four Stars

A very short little story but a lot of fun, that manages to defy expectations while simultaneously fulfilling them. To say more would spoil the tale. Reminiscent of some Joe R. Lansdale tales.

SPLATTER ME AN ANGEL - by JAMES KISNER
***1/2 Three and a half Stars

I've neve heard of James Kisner before, but I really enjoyed his writing style and unabashed wickedness. This story bordered on bizarro, and reminded me a bit of writings by Chuck Palahniuk. Not the best story ever written, but I enjoyed the ride and sense of giddy wrecklessness it evoked. Will definitely be checking out other works by this author.

DRIFTER - by ED GORMAN
**** Four Stars

Another fantastic story, very short, by a writer I've not read before. A drifter finds his way into a small town on halloween, but the local Sheriff wants him back on the road ASAP. A blond in a red VW Beetle has other plans for him though. Not groundbreaking, but well written and satisfying in its conclusion - no mean feat for a fourteen-page tale. I've already ordered an Ed Gorman collection from Amazon, looking forward to reading more from this writer.

[Maurean · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were some really good horror shorts in this one! I enjoyed just about every single one of them, but some of my favorites include;

"Drifter" by Ed Gorman - your not-so-typical hitchhiker tale
"Ever, Ever After" by Graham Masterton - true love lasts forever.
"Sea Gulls" by Gahan Wilson - be careful who's watching.
"Please Don't Hurt Me" by F.Paul Wilson - 'I just don't understand men'.
"The Heart of Helen Day" by Graham Masterton - an interesting ghost story.
"The Collapse of Civilization" by Ray Russell - ironic & funny, in a terrifying way.
"My Private Memoirs" by Dan Simmons - a rather interesting concept about the 'true' nature of people.
"The Secret" by Steve Allen - an intriguing note to end on.

A great collection of horrific tales by some excellent storytellers.

[Cindi Kelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some I enjoyed and some I didn't but isn't that usually the case with anthologies?
I didn't like any of "poems". Ray Bradbury's happened to be one of those "poem". *sigh*
My favorites of the 59 stories are:
Drifter
Refractions
Ever, Ever, After
Long Lips**
Chosen One
Shave and a Haircut, Two Bites
Children
Please Don't Hurt Me**
Splatter Me an Angel
The Heart of Helen Day
Savages
Love, Hate and the Beautiful Junkyard

**the funniest

[Sabella Daiabczenko · Rating 1 out of 5]

AWFUL. Not one decent story in the whole thing - and DON'T believe that Ray Bradbury wrote this - there was one poem bu him and they plastered his name all over the cover. Bleah.

[[on hiatus, probably forever] The rockabilly werewolf from Mars · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short reviews of the stories (updating this as I read them):

Drifter: a drifter gets caught up in a supernatural revenge plot when he ends up in a small town on Halloween. A fairly strong start to the collection; the story itself isn't anything particularly unusual, but I liked the noir-ish voice of the narrator.

Reflections: an extremely short, rather jokey take on the 'rules' of vampires. Definitely lesser Russell; the height of his career in the 50s and 60s was long past by the time this was written, and it shows.

The Happy Family: a man fixates on the mannequins at a department store. Solid, but unexceptional piece of psychological horror.

Dew Drop Inn: a (rather irritating) family on a road trip stops at a motel where something seems to be off. I can handle ambiguous endings (in fact, I often prefer them in certain circumstances), but this one felt incomplete rather than deliberately ambiguous. Also, the daughter in this story was one of the most annoying characters in anything I've read in a while.

Refractions: a woman sees a strange figure after putting on the wrong contact lenses, violence ensues.

The Spelling Bee: the reigning spelling bee champion faces a new challenger, but the contest is revealed to be more than it initially appears.

Better Than One: a man finds himself losing control of his actions, while a voice in his head taunts him. Predictable.

Ever, Ever After: a woman marries a man, he dies, she marries his brother. Said brother begins to suspect that she is having an affair, although he doesn't suspect who it's with. The best story in a while, although it's perhaps somewhat predictable

Prometheus's Declaration Of Love For The Vulture: a poem.

Long Lips: a strange man is killing prostitutes in an unusual way. Basically an extended dirty joke, unfortunately not a particularly funny one.

Sinners: two teen-agers attempt to play a practical joke on the people at a nearby church, but it goes awry.

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although the publication date says 2002, all of the stories had been originally published in Masques III & Masques IV in 1989 and 1991, respectively. Although many of the stories were dated (Berlin Wall, Reagan, the Cold War) this was still a pretty good collection.

[Screamingbutterfly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing too memorable here. I ended up liking the poetry in it more than the short stories. You got an awesome poem by Ray Bradbury, but not too much else that stood out to me as being great.

[Kailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

i love horror short stories. I pick up these paperback collections used and leave them on my nightstand. I am a big fan of reading them alone at night when I cannot sleep.

[Andrea Martin · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was the literary equivalent of an 80's low budget slasher film.

[Jaime Hudson · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were some stories I really liked.

Overall it was just a book to read and nothing truly special or attention grabbing for me.

I also realized this was the second time I read this book.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

.

[Mark Stattelman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I liked this anthology more than the first one (Dark Masques). I had read the first couple of stories and then let the book pretty much sit in my Currently Reading category. The book spent most or the year (2024) there. I picked it back up last Friday, deciding to finish it off for the year.
A lot of the authors, as in the first book, are well known if you are a horror buff. Ramsey Campbell and Christian Matheson and a few others. Not sure why there was a Ray Bradbury poem in the book (or any poems for that matter). I read the poems, but don't really care for them. If you want Bradbury, go directly to Bradbury's works.
Around 1989 and up through the 90s, and perhaps on into the early 2000s, there seemed to be an upsurge of horror stories published by these authors. There were quite a few anthologies: Under the Fang, Love in Vein, Prime Evil . . . the list goes on. A lot of them were edited by Douglas E. Winter, who was a big promoter of newer horror writers. Poppy Z. Brite being one of them. At that time she lived in my town and a friend of mine knew her. He would get the scoop from her as to what was going on in the world of horror books/stories. I read her novel (Lost Souls(?)) and her book of short stories, Wormwood. Later on I think she edited one of the Love in Vein anthologies.
It was a time where there seemed to be a lot of excitement in/for the genre. Some of the stories were over the top and outlandish, just the authors playing around and having fun it seemed. There was one story that I want to find and reread (it was in a different anthology). I think it was called "Skin so Soft and Purty," by Chet Williamson. The story had a western theme. It was hilarious. Chet Williamson has a story in Darker Masques called "The Pack" that was pretty strange, dark and creepy, dealing with a pack of dogs. It was ok. One of my favorites was "The Heart of Helen Day," by Graham Masterson. I also enjoyed "Refractions," by Thomas Millstead.
Many of these horror anthologies are getting more and more difficult to find. There were some really good ones "back in the day" and I really wish someone would re-issue or reprint and distribute them again on a mass scale. I think horror fans would appreciate it.
There is a mix of authors here, some big names that are very familiar, and some not so much, but still good. One of my favorite authors from the time period was Joe R. Lansdale. He had a story in Dark Masques("The Rock" I think it's called) that was sort of mediocre in my opinion, but he is good. There was a Stephen King story in Dark Masques that was OK about vampires in a van at the mall (that's all I remember about it). So, yeah, there is a mix of authors here in both books (Dark Masques and Darker Masques). And there is a smorgasbord of stories between the two books. You've got aliens, creepy diners in the desert west, scary motels in the south, vampires, flesh-eating plants, molesters who get their due, etc.
I highly recommend both books in this anthology series!

[NickMohr · Rating 3 out of 5]

A large number of stories in this collection, offering wide variety, but many of them feel a bit too short. The poems were an interesting inclusion, but I’ll admit they mostly bounced off of me. Still, there are about a dozen stand outs in this collection.

A word of warning, multiple stories in this book deal with child molestation. I’m not sure what was in the water when these were first published back in 1989/1991 (known then as “Masques, volumes 3 and 4), but it’s a little off-putting.

[Corwin Mollett · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF, but just couldn't bring myself to continue reading it. I liked one story, "The Dewdrop Inn" was kind of funny. This book is like a collection of "my first horror stories", every single story is so overplayed.

[Hugo · Rating 3 out of 5]

An omnibus edition, collecting Masques III: All-New Works of Horror and the Supernatural and
Masques IV: All-New Works of Horror and the Supernatural, so plenty of chances to impress.

Clear winners here (stories I can remember off-hand, days, sometimes weeks, after reading them), are Dan Simmons' Shave and a Haircut, Two Bites and My Private Memoirs of the Hoffer Stigmata Pandemic, and Ed Gorman's Drifter and The Coming of Night, the Passing of Day - two contributions apiece, and both of them corkers.

Stories I did enjoy, but had to look them up to remind myself, were: Joseph A. Citro's Them Bald-Headed Snays, Kristine Kathryn Rusch's Children, Gahan Wilson's Sea Gulls, Mort Castle's Love, Hate and the Beautiful Junkyard Sea, and Diane Taylor's The Skull.

There were a small handful of stories I didn't enjoy, a couple I couldn't even finish, and some poetry - all of it execrable, even Ray Bradbury's. The rest of the contributions fall into the middle ground of perfectly acceptable time-passers.

[Heather Wildman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent read. My favorite story was the F. Paul Wilson story that was written completely in dialog. Fantastic!

[Bill Borre]

"Animal Husbandry" by Bruce Boston - wc