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Title: Darkness Rising: Night's Soft Pains by L. H. Maynard, M. P. N. Sims, Hugh Lamb ISBN: 1-58715-406-4 Publisher: Wildside Press Pub. Date: January, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.00

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Average Customer Rating: 5 (1 review)

Rating: 5
Summary: Very readable, with a few really outstanding stories.,
Comment: This is the second volume of a collection of stories with a remit that seems to include anything that might be even remotely termed supernatural, and hence has a refreshing range and variety. I myself found it much better than the first volume. Like that volume, it contains a couple of weakish stories that tread old ground, and a large group of stories which are more than competent and perfectly readable and entertaining. (And I say this as a person not greatly into supernatural fiction.) But - and this is where it has the edge on the earlier book - there is also a group of really outstanding stories, whatever criteria you apply. Steve Duffy's 'Todhunter's Rock' is a brilliant tour de force, starting off in a metafictional way a la Calvino, then playing with the tropes and topoi of the bunch-of-marooned-suspects detective story, excellent vignettes within the genre, but also adding so much more, bringing in real excitement, and finally standing everything on its head, yet at the same time making you feel that's the way it has to be. Rhys Hughes' 'The Century Just Gone', after a slightly imperfect start - too much info dumping, however cleverly done - then takes off into an amazing concept (about the most evil people in the twentieth century) that only he is capable of, with a denouement utterly unexpected, and horrifically logical (and even throws in a Supermaggot!). Excellent! Steve Lockley and Paul Jones introduce the big boss of all angels in their story 'Gabriel Restrained', and at first I thought 'Oh no!', but they actually made it work, and the image of the angel patiently sitting there on the bed is still with me! (The story does suffer from a common flaw in this sort of thing - why would any god judge a whole race based on the actions of a single person?) Iain Darby has a most original story in 'Phylotas' Tomb' (think perfidious maiden and peculiarly nasty sacrifice!) with another perfect twist at the end, which brings together ancient Greek treachery with modern day error. And William Simmons' 'The Wind, When it Comes' is baffling, haunting, beautifully written. Also highly recommended are stories by Adrian Versteegh and SJ Pinborough (the latter recommended for people dissatisfied with their spouse!) Altogether,an admirably eclectic collection that should satisfy (and in some cases surprise)both new readers, and others already familiar with the editorial work of Maynard and Sims.

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