Stories: All New Tales edited by Neil Gaiman & Al Sarrantonio

Stories: All New Tales edited by Neil Gaiman & Al Sarrantonio

This collection from 2010 was chocked full of stories from all kinds of amazing writers. The majority of them had some component of either horror, science fiction or something similar. The book started out extremely strong and ended extremely strong with only a few stories in the middle that didn't quite have the imagination or wow factor. The thing I love about the book most is that it was all extremely well written without being pretentious at all. Some of the stories that stood out to me from an outstanding collection are;

Blood by Roddy Doyle. This is a story about a man's unexpected urge to eat raw meat then blood. Great start to the book and a fun story.

Wildfire in Manhattan by Joanne Harris. This one is along the same lines as Neil's book American Gods. It's basically about gods fighting in Manhattan.

The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman. This one's got at lot going on but surrounds a sojourn to a magical cave filled with gold. Lots of twists and interesting character/plot reveals throughout.

The Stars Are Falling by Joe R. Lansdale. A man returns to his family after war to his wife who thought he was dead. Not to give to much away but there's some attempted murder and some actual murder going on.

Juvenal Nyx by Walter Mosley. Man meets woman, woman is a vampire, man becomes vampire.

Weights and Measures by Jodi Picoult. Very sad story about a couple who looses their young daughter. Only really bummer in the book but it was great.

Mallon the Guru by Peter Straub. Really short story that's 100% intrigue and leaves everything to the imagination. Both infuriating and amazing.

Catch and Release by Lawrence Block. Creepy story written in the 1st person by a serial killer. Bad bad man.

Loser by Chuck Palahniuk. Truly original writer.

Therapist by Jeffery Deaver. This is about a therapist who sees who he perceives as a young woman in dire need of his help. The story starts there and has too many twists to ruin

The Cult of the Nose by Al Sarrantonio. A man tracks down a cult who he sees in famous pictures of disasters identified by wearing a fake nose.

The Maiden Flight of McCauley's Bellerphon by Elizabeth Hand. I believe this is the first of many pieces I'll be ready of hers. Fantastic story with lots going on but has one theme of dealing with loss. Finding new artists like this is one of the reasons I love anthologies.

The Devil on the Staircase by Joe Hill. Written in an exploitative manner where the text is in the shape of stairs. The devil is literally on 1 of them.


I'm leaving out a bunch of great stories but these were my favorite.