The blurb on the back cover “…an enjoyable book featuring many good stories by a bunch of fine writers”taken from my own review of ‘TerrorTales # 1’ for The Alien Online, aptly describes in a few words the first volume. But, alas, never take anything for granted. To ask a group of renowned writers to send in their contributions doesn’t necessarily mean you produce an outstanding anthology. Let me say quite frankly that some of the authors included have betrayed the editors’ trust by submitting material which is not up to their fame. For instance neither Paul Finch (‘The Other One’) nor Peggy Jo Shumate a.k.a. Brutal Dreamer (‘Time To Scare Gramma’) are at their best and David Price (‘The Spirit of Rock and Roll’) can certainly do better.

Even the story by Michael Marshall Smith, one of my favourite writers, turns out to be a bit disappointing. ‘Victoria’s Secret’ is a semi-humorous tale with a kafkian touch about a girl who wakes up to find a familiar body - quite dead - in her own bed. Despite Smith’s notorious writing ability, the tale remains somehow unconvincing and can hardly be listed among his most memorable productions.

Tim Meads and Marie O’Regan’s contributions are so short to defy a proper judgement. So much for the wrong notes. Fortunately, there is good fiction in this volume and here it comes. Sarah Crabtree’s ‘Drop Dead Gorgeous’ is a nasty short tale describing quite effectively the pros and cons of being a beautiful woman. With ‘Blue Skin,’ Lisa Negus provides an odd mix of horror, mystery and science fiction. To tell you the truth I’m not sure I got the plot all clearly, so I won’t try to explain the content in detail. It’s a like one of those detective movies which in the end leaves you wondering what exactly has happened and why, but manages to keep you pleasantly entertained while you’re watching it.

In ‘Sent Down’ by Gemma Files, foreign gods are not merciful to the Roman legions deployed at the outskirts of the Empire. Files’ writing style is nervous and vivid, gripping the reader’s attention throughout the story.

‘Sermon,’ a co-operative work by F. Paul Wilson and John B Ford, is a moving tale concerning an autistic child and his strange relationship with the animal world. A strong, compelling tale, told in a subdued but effective fashion.

In Jeffrey Thomas’ ‘The Tripod,’ a photographer working for the police and facing day after day of gruesome crime scenes, becomes capable of scanning reality more in depth than the detectives themselves. This atmospheric, dark tale, which seems to be taken from a film noir of the black-and-white era, results in a stunning performance by an author who appears ready to express all his enormous potential.

The final praise is for ‘Comparative anatomy’ by Stephen Gallagher, by far the best piece of fiction in TT #2. The story- which is worth alone the price of the book - is certainly one of the greatest tales published in the English language during the year. Two lovers on a trip abroad end up being the only passengers on a mysterious ferry-boat bound to…where? A truly terrific and chilling story, conveying an increasing sense of dread as the narration goes on. Gallagher provides convincing evidence of how horrifying a good story can be without resorting to the usual paraphernalia (freaks, gore, gallons of blood) of certain cheap horror fiction.

As in the first volume, to make the dish more meaty, the Editors have included an interesting non-fiction section, mostly compiled by Paul Kane, featuring an article about zombies, interviews, film and book reviews. One more reason for continuing to collect the ‘Terror Tales’ series.

Mario Guslandi was born and raised in Milan, Italy, where he’s currently living. He became addicted to horror and supernatural fiction more than twenty years ago, after accidentally reading a reprint anthology of stories by MR James, JS Le Fanu, HP Lovecraft and A Machen. Since then his collection of horror books has expanded to the point of requiring continuous addictions of new shelves to his library, in order to avoid the collapse of the whole structure. Most likely the only Italian who regularly reads (and reviews) dark fiction in English, he’s always tempted to hide his true identity under feigned English or american pen-names, just for the fun of it, but then he keeps forgetting to do that.

© 2004 Laura Hird All rights reserved.