Walls of Fear

A sequel and companion volume to the praised Architecture of Fear , this anthology of 16 previously unpublished stories should delight fans of contemporary horror. In her chatty, scholarly introduction, Cramer explains the unifying theme: horror stories in which a building plays a prominent role (she alludes to ``the metaphor of house as mind''). Featured structures include, as might be expected, an ancient familial castle (Chet Williamson's ``The Cairnwell Horror'') and an isolated house perched high above the raging sea (Susan Palwick's ``Erosion''). Ian Wilson's ``Happy Hour'' is set in an old British pub, while James Morrow's ``Tales From a New England Telephone Directory'' casts a malevolent telephone booth as its villain. Richard A. Lupoff's fact-based ``The House on Rue Chartres'' tells of a New Orleans meeting between classic horror authors H. P. Lovecraft and E. Hoffman Price in a house of a bawdy sort. Perhaps most effective is Karl Edward Wagner's ``Cedar Lane,'' a painful tale about all the might-have-beens contained in each human life and the aftermath of civilization's most threatening horror of all. (Sept.)