Dark Little Dreams: An Anthology of Dark Fiction

Bad Dream editor Reistroffer assembles an impressive variety of 15 breezy dark fantasy tales that chill and unnerve as they explore survival, revenge, insanity, loneliness, and pleasure. Some stories retread overdone themes, such as a man trapped in a virtual reality game in Robert G. Ferrell’s “Mousetrap.” But the inventive tales dominate. In Louis Rakovich’s parable “The Fox God and the Fox,” a fox, civet, and warthog teach a lesson about religious manipulation. In Brian Culp’s humorous standout, “BuzzWord,” a new hire gets indigestion from office interviews and corporate jargon. The unconventional stories are most entertaining. Travis Burnham’s “The Bone Washer” is a murder mystery set in a chamber where beetles eat the flesh off skeletons, and a young apprentice has a special communion with the insects. In the unsettling “Witchy Man, Woman Skin” by Anna Yeatts, one of only two female writers included in the anthology, a child in the bayou gets revenge on her abusive warlock father with the help of her dead mother’s skin. Boys being boys turn destructive in Eric J. Guignard’s “Midnight and Jefe Bowman,” in which masochistic little Jefe and his hellhound wreak havoc from the Civil War to Katrina. These stories precisely strike the notes of dark fantasy, with plenty of fun and thoughtfulness, and little gore. (Mar.)