Horror tales to suit virtually every taste make this follow-up to the Stoker-winning Dark Delicacies
(2005) a fulfilling feast of fear. As with its predecessor, Howison and Gelb imposed no thematic restrictions on contributors, and the result is a refreshingly varied anthology of above-average quality. Peter Atkins's “Stacy and Her Idiot,” a wry exercise in supernatural noir, perfectly couches its horrors in the hard-boiled idiom. Joe R. Lansdale transforms man's best friend into his worst nightmare in “Dog,” a taut thriller that achieves the intensity of supernatural fiction in its riveting account of a maniacal dog's relentless pursuit of a human victim. In Barbara Hambly's suspenseful “Sunrise on Running Water,” a vampire passenger aboard the Titanic
struggles to avoid inevitable immolation the morning after the ship goes down. In addition to rare short stories from novelists Max Brooks and Robert Masello, the volume includes an eclectic mix of older and younger talents that ensures broad-based appeal to horror readers. (Oct.)
