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Splatterpunks II: Over the Edge
Reach beyond the limits of convention and rationality and into the darkest corners of the human soul in this new volume of taboo-shattering short fiction.
Reviewers called Splatterpunks: Extreme Horror "a forceful anthology-cum-manifesto of splatterpunk [that] makes a strong case for splatterpunk as valuable, morally confrontational art. An authoritative and intelligent collection for horror fans willing to go all the way" (Kirkus Reviews) and "a work of 'dangerous visions.'" (Booklist)
Splatterpunks II: Over the Edge continues in the groundbreaking tradition of the first volume by featuring acknowledged masters of the bizarre Clive Barker, Martin Amis, and Brian Hodge; established women writers Kathe Koja and Poppy Z. Brite; underground favorites and Bram Stoker Award-winners Nancy Holder, Melanie Tem, and Elizabeth Massie. Steve Rasnic Tem and Michael Ryan Zimmerman help round out this second daring collection.
Provacative, shocking, and frightening, as well as literate, intelligent, and revolutionsary, Splatterpunks II: Over the Edge promises to open your eyes to a new, and perhaps dangerous, way of looking at the world.
416 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
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About the author
Paul M. Sammon
44 books29 followersPaul M. Sammon has written for The Los Angeles Times, The American Cinematographer, Cahiers Du Cinéma, and Cinefantastique. His fiction has appeared in many collections and he is editor of the best selling American Splatterpunks series. As a film maker Paul M. Sammon has produced, edited and directed dozens of documentaries on films such as Platoon, Dune, and Robocop. He is the author of Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner and his latest book is about the making of the movie Starship Trooper directed by Paul Verhoeven (Robocop).
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
June 9, 2019
Splatterpunk usually isn't a genre I'm especially fond of, but I bought this anthology because it was fifty cents at a book sale and contained work by writers I know I tend to enjoy. Also, its focus on fiction by women or featuring female protagonists made me hope that it would be free of the aspect of splatterpunk I'm most often put off by-- that is, stories that read like straight dudes' boring, misogynist sexual fantasies about raping and torturing women, disguised by the thinnest possible patina of "no, don't you see, it's satire/social commentary/bold literary transgression in the spirit of the Decadents/whatever". I was right about that; there are several stories here that deal with women being raped and/or tortured, but on the whole they're *way* more interesting and nuanced than that, or at least more interested in women's experiences, agency, and interiority.
That said, many of the pieces in SPLATTERPUNKS II still have a kind of immature try-hard edgelord factor that seems very, very 1990's and is very, very much what tends to make me roll my eyes at splatterpunk even when it doesn't read like a Ted Bundy wet dream. A few are tinged with the kind of libertarian "I hate everyone equally"/"You're all just sheeple" misanthropy that would feed into alt-right culture 20 years down the line; it's fascinating and depressing to consider the ideological trajectory there, as this anthology definitely hails from an era in which misanthropic libertarians tended to side with the left on at least some issues (e.g. trans rights, racism is bad).
Most of the content in this anthology isn't actively bad, but a lot of it just wasn't quite to my taste. Still, an engaging read, and a fun/weird blast of pure, unadulterated 1995 goth bullshit. Elizabeth Massie's "Hooked On Buzzer", which I first encountered in a different anthology about ten years ago, still freaks me out; I highly recommend it. Kathe Koja's contribution is also memorably horrible/haunting and original, although I felt it lapsed too much into summary and telling the reader that things happened instead of depicting them in the last third (before recovering admirably for a strong, surreal conclusion).
I wouldn't have wanted to pay more than $3 or $4 for this collection, but in no way do I regret spending that fifty cents!
P.S. Much like "Androgyny" from BORDERLANDS II, there are a couple stories in here that deal with trans characters (specifically trans women) in a way that clearly tries for empathy and emotional realism but does come off as VERY dated by 2019 standards, and which may be upsetting/offensive to some readers. Poppy Z. Brite's "Xenophobia" attempts a satirical critique of dumb white bro racism, but ends up just being kind of actually racist, so heads up for that one, too.
That said, many of the pieces in SPLATTERPUNKS II still have a kind of immature try-hard edgelord factor that seems very, very 1990's and is very, very much what tends to make me roll my eyes at splatterpunk even when it doesn't read like a Ted Bundy wet dream. A few are tinged with the kind of libertarian "I hate everyone equally"/"You're all just sheeple" misanthropy that would feed into alt-right culture 20 years down the line; it's fascinating and depressing to consider the ideological trajectory there, as this anthology definitely hails from an era in which misanthropic libertarians tended to side with the left on at least some issues (e.g. trans rights, racism is bad).
Most of the content in this anthology isn't actively bad, but a lot of it just wasn't quite to my taste. Still, an engaging read, and a fun/weird blast of pure, unadulterated 1995 goth bullshit. Elizabeth Massie's "Hooked On Buzzer", which I first encountered in a different anthology about ten years ago, still freaks me out; I highly recommend it. Kathe Koja's contribution is also memorably horrible/haunting and original, although I felt it lapsed too much into summary and telling the reader that things happened instead of depicting them in the last third (before recovering admirably for a strong, surreal conclusion).
I wouldn't have wanted to pay more than $3 or $4 for this collection, but in no way do I regret spending that fifty cents!
P.S. Much like "Androgyny" from BORDERLANDS II, there are a couple stories in here that deal with trans characters (specifically trans women) in a way that clearly tries for empathy and emotional realism but does come off as VERY dated by 2019 standards, and which may be upsetting/offensive to some readers. Poppy Z. Brite's "Xenophobia" attempts a satirical critique of dumb white bro racism, but ends up just being kind of actually racist, so heads up for that one, too.
December 29, 2014
Overall review:
Excellent, gory horror anthology. Of course, in a work featuring twenty-eight stories, there are bound to be a few stories I don't care for, but that is due to personal preferences regarding writing tenses, overwriting and other (relatively minor) issues. If you're a horror/gore fan, get this collection.
Standout stories:
1.) "Accident d'Amour" - Wildy Petoud: Excellent, witty, cut-to-it tale about a woman's literally sick vengeance against an ex-lover. Memorable, vivid.
2.) "Impermanent Mercies" - Kathe Koja: A callous photographer (Ellis) witnesses an accident involving a little boy (Andy) and his unlucky dog (True). Bizarre, disturbing (for animal lovers) and excellent work.
3.) "One Flesh: A Cautionary Tale" - Robert Devereaux: Multi-layered, horrific and laugh-out-loud clever story about the conjoined reincarnation of a son and father and all the tragedies that stem from it. Great work, with a chuckle-worthy finish.
4.) "Rant" - Nancy A. Collins: A divine white supremacist being with conspiratorial leanings tells the tale of his undoing. Darkly hilarious and chilling (his rhetoric is disturbingly media realistic) piece.
5.) "Heels" - Lucy Taylor: A shoe fetishist-turned-serial killer (Theo) meets a woman (Jules) whose sexual predilections impact his own. Blunt read with concise and masterful explanations for why Theo and Jules are the way they are.
The resulting film short was released stateside on August 2, 2014. Jeremy Jantz scripted and directed it. Brian Adrian Koch played Theo. Julia Angelo played Felicia.
6.) "Scape-Goats" - Clive Barker: Two couples on an island-crashed sailboat quickly recognize that there's something wrong about the rocky mass their boat is abutting.
Atmospheric, solid read with an interesting island backstory.
"Scape-Goats" also appeared in the single-author anthology Clive Barker's Books of Blood, Volume Three.
7.) "Cannibal Cats Come Out At Night" - Nancy Holder: Two cannibals (Dwight and Angelo) who are also best friends approach a crossroads event which may undo their bond of amity. While the event itself isn't surprising, there is a well-foreshadowed twist to it, making this exemplary, fast-moving story even better.
8.) "Embers" - Brian Hodge: Entertaining, good read about an arsonist-for-hire (Mykel) whose reaction to a shocking, personal tragedy drives him to revenge.
9.) "Xenophobia" - Poppy Z. Brite: Two Goths roaming through Chinatown find themselves working an unexpected, morbid job. Brite's deft writing keeps this dark-hued morality tale humorous and fresh.
10.) "Calling Dr. Satan: An Interview with Anton Szandor LaVey" - Jim Goad: Interesting, philosophical and provocative (in a productive way) conversation between Anton and Bianca LaVey and the author.
11.) "Within You, Without You" - Paul M. Sammon: A post-gig campfire hang-out with her favorite industrial-noise band (Detour) leads Reba down heady and dangerous by-ways.
The direction and ending of the story aren't surprising (nor are they meant to be). Sammon's worthwhile writing - with its theme-appropriate media-savvy references - renders the destination less important. This one is about experience.
(This review originally appeared on the Reading & Writing By Pub Light site.)
Excellent, gory horror anthology. Of course, in a work featuring twenty-eight stories, there are bound to be a few stories I don't care for, but that is due to personal preferences regarding writing tenses, overwriting and other (relatively minor) issues. If you're a horror/gore fan, get this collection.
Standout stories:
1.) "Accident d'Amour" - Wildy Petoud: Excellent, witty, cut-to-it tale about a woman's literally sick vengeance against an ex-lover. Memorable, vivid.
2.) "Impermanent Mercies" - Kathe Koja: A callous photographer (Ellis) witnesses an accident involving a little boy (Andy) and his unlucky dog (True). Bizarre, disturbing (for animal lovers) and excellent work.
3.) "One Flesh: A Cautionary Tale" - Robert Devereaux: Multi-layered, horrific and laugh-out-loud clever story about the conjoined reincarnation of a son and father and all the tragedies that stem from it. Great work, with a chuckle-worthy finish.
4.) "Rant" - Nancy A. Collins: A divine white supremacist being with conspiratorial leanings tells the tale of his undoing. Darkly hilarious and chilling (his rhetoric is disturbingly media realistic) piece.
5.) "Heels" - Lucy Taylor: A shoe fetishist-turned-serial killer (Theo) meets a woman (Jules) whose sexual predilections impact his own. Blunt read with concise and masterful explanations for why Theo and Jules are the way they are.
The resulting film short was released stateside on August 2, 2014. Jeremy Jantz scripted and directed it. Brian Adrian Koch played Theo. Julia Angelo played Felicia.
6.) "Scape-Goats" - Clive Barker: Two couples on an island-crashed sailboat quickly recognize that there's something wrong about the rocky mass their boat is abutting.
Atmospheric, solid read with an interesting island backstory.
"Scape-Goats" also appeared in the single-author anthology Clive Barker's Books of Blood, Volume Three.
7.) "Cannibal Cats Come Out At Night" - Nancy Holder: Two cannibals (Dwight and Angelo) who are also best friends approach a crossroads event which may undo their bond of amity. While the event itself isn't surprising, there is a well-foreshadowed twist to it, making this exemplary, fast-moving story even better.
8.) "Embers" - Brian Hodge: Entertaining, good read about an arsonist-for-hire (Mykel) whose reaction to a shocking, personal tragedy drives him to revenge.
9.) "Xenophobia" - Poppy Z. Brite: Two Goths roaming through Chinatown find themselves working an unexpected, morbid job. Brite's deft writing keeps this dark-hued morality tale humorous and fresh.
10.) "Calling Dr. Satan: An Interview with Anton Szandor LaVey" - Jim Goad: Interesting, philosophical and provocative (in a productive way) conversation between Anton and Bianca LaVey and the author.
11.) "Within You, Without You" - Paul M. Sammon: A post-gig campfire hang-out with her favorite industrial-noise band (Detour) leads Reba down heady and dangerous by-ways.
The direction and ending of the story aren't surprising (nor are they meant to be). Sammon's worthwhile writing - with its theme-appropriate media-savvy references - renders the destination less important. This one is about experience.
(This review originally appeared on the Reading & Writing By Pub Light site.)
February 13, 2024
So. Splatterpunk. Pet genre of late-80s Fangoria. I've read much work from the forefathers of the movement (Clive Barker, who has a story included here, and Joe Lansdale, who does not) but never engaged with the raw stinking material itself. I wondered if it might not be insufferable, a bunch of high school trench-coat loners standing on their pulpits made up of human viscera and shouting, "Wake up, sheeple!" And yeah, some of it is like that.
Let's go story by story (I will not refrain from spoilers):
"Intro" by editor Paul Sammon - Sammon really falls all over himself pointing out that this second volume of the Splatterpunks anthology series is women-centric. Meaning that half the entries are written by women (I'm including Brite here because he identified as female at the time) and SOME of the pieces by male authors have female protagonists. Is the volume, overall, empowering to women? I'm too lazy to generate any statistics, but my feeling is: no, not really. Seems like women are still victims more often than not. But hey, this was thirty years ago--on the bright side, at least very little has changed since then, right? Anyway, there have been plenty of think pieces about the "deadlier-than-the-male" mentality and how misogynistic that expression is while operating under the guise of female empowerment, so I don't really need to elaborate on that point too much.
"Accident D'Amour" by Wildy Petoud - a story about the trauma of realizing that the guy you're fucking doesn't necessarily want to be fucking you. Good opening story to let you know exactly what you're in for here, what with a woman sewing up her own vagina etc. I don't think the act of having sex with someone and wishing they were someone else is necessarily a crime punishable by death, but Petoud soften the morality-play aspect with poetic prose that makes this feel almost like a splatterpunk fairy tale. 4/5
"Impermanent Mercies" by Kathe Koja - a surreal story about a street photographer (who may be a pedophile? the language is ambiguous) getting pulled into the weird relationship between a young boy and a demonic talking dog. Speaking of prose, I found Koja's difficult to get through, and the final payoff was ho-hum. 2/5
"One Flesh: A Cautionary Tale" by Robert Devereaux - a tale of reincarnation with a twist in which both a man AND his father are reborn into one body, as the baby of the dead man's wife. "I'm my own grandpa", the (even more) horrifying version. Interesting conceit, with the child having to navigate his sexual attraction to both his wife/mother and his father's wife/mother/grandmother, but Sammon's introduction tries to paint the brutality against women in the torture porn ending as somehow "a commentary on sexism" and I'm not buying it. 2.5/5
"Rant" by Nancy A. Collins - a first-person narrative in which a white supremacist who believes himself the second coming of Christ hunts down the pregnant woman he believes will give birth to the Anti-Christ. Deeply, deeply unpleasant, which I suppose is what splatterpunk aims for, but in service of what? I couldn't really find any kind of point. 1/5
"Lacunae" by Karl Edward Wagner - a transgender woman gets roofied with a magic (I think? or else sci-fi) drug that brings her face-to-face with the male persona inside her brain struggling for dominance. I really couldn't tell if this story is attempting to be sympathetic to the plight of transgender individuals or simply punishing its main character, but the notion that trans people are "at war" with themselves is transphobic propaganda based on flawed psychological studies designed to convince the public that transgenderism is just a "fad" and that people who "believe" themselves to be trans will opt for gender affirmation surgery only to discover too late, after irreparably harming their bodies, that this wasn't what they really wanted after all. Essentially, it's a fear tactic to try to strip away gender-affirming care for transgender people under the noble banner of "saving them from themselves". Given that this story was written in 1986, the propagation of a mistruth is certainly forgivable if the story is indeed meant to be sympathetic, but the fact that the main character is given a drug (by a character who is apparently meant to be a hero--Sammon's introduction clarifies that Kane is a recurring protagonist in Wagner's work) without being told that the effects on one's brain are the psychological equivalent of an atomic bomb makes the story feel pretty icky nonetheless. Sort of sends the message that it is incumbent upon cis people to FORCE transgender individuals to face their own demons, with or without the latter's consent. 2/5
"Heels" by Lucy Taylor - another story that might be indulging in the shock value of splatterpunk as pretense for hard truths and social commentary (presumably from a leftist perspective) while actually enforcing the status quo. It's about a foot fetishist (who is also a serial killer, because even in splatterpunk sexual deviants are evil and dark and terrible and not just, you know, nerds, like you ACTUALLY find in the kink community IRL) who starts dating an overweight woman with the intention of making her his next victim. She turns the tables on him in the end, so I guess ostensibly we're supposed to root for her, but Taylor's typical '90s obsession with describing the woman's body with a grotesque, bemused distance that is decidedly unflattering seems to indicate that you're supposed to be repulsed by her rolls of fat, or at least fascinated in a sick kind of way, as the (perverted psychopathic) protagonist is. The punchline is pretty good, though. 2.5/5
"Brian De Palma: The Movie Brute" by Martin Amis - speaking of fatphobia, this non-fiction piece literally opens with a disgusted description of the movie director's paunch spilling over the waistband of his pants. If you don't like De Palma's work, fine, but this was clearly intended to be a hit piece from the very beginning, and it's not that interesting to read Amis's self-satisfied, and frankly repetitive, takedown of De Palma as a trashy auteur. The piece is only worth reading for the actual quotes from De Palma. 2/5
"I Walk Alone" by Roberta Lannes - a zombie plague story told from the perspective of one of the zombies (or a kind of half-zombie) that descends into urban sex dungeons as the main character searches for love, or at least stimulation. This one is kinder to the kink community than the stories that simply revel in S&M or whatever because splatterpunk is edgy and therefore reveling in the perverse and "disgusting" exploits of fetishists is "insightful" somehow rather than simply "bullying". I appreciate Lannes' resistance to taking cheap shots, but still, the story is a bit overlong for what it actually has to say, and errs toward dullness. 3/5
"Scape-Goats" by Clive Barker - some boaters run ashore on one of those deserted islands that doesn't appear on any map; while waiting for the tide to take their boat back to the ocean, they stumble across a pen of sheep on the otherwise abandoned rock and eventually discover the island's dark purpose. The blunt truth is that Barker has survived so much longer than most of the writers in this volume because he's just better . I don't always love his "here's a female character you're meant to hate because she's not the right kind of woman so let's all cheer when she dies" shtick, but the main story here is compelling enough to overcome the Angela problem. 5/5
"Cannibal Cats Come Out Tonight" by Nancy Holder - a couple of misunderstood kids in the punk rock scene develop a taste for human flesh. The best part of this story is the fantasy of chasing down and eating famous rock luminaries of the time like David Bowie and Tina Turner; the rest of it is forgettable. 2.5/5
"All Flesh is Clay" by John J. Ordover - I rolled my eyes at the author's intro where he brags about his kindergarten self assessing See Spot Run as "flawed minimalism at best" (that's either a lie or this was one annoying kid), but I must grudgingly admit this is one of the better stories. It's about a man whose job is to reconstruct living bodies for the zombies who come to his door haunted by unfinished business. 4.5/5
"Imprint" by Nina Kiriki Hoffman - a short and bitter story about a woman who was abused as a child reenacting that abuse on her own children. Bleak. I guess the moral is "hurt people hurt people" but like I knew that already, I didn't need to read excruciating descriptions of child abuse to grock it. 1.5/5
"Twenty-Two and Absolutely Free" by john Piwarski - an increasingly absurd, darkly funny story about a young girl living in a rotten city full of totalitarian police forces and gimmicky serial killers trying to make names for themselves. THIS is how you use splatterpunk for satire and not just empty shock value. 4.5/5
"Hooked on Buzzer" by Elizabeth Massie - the horrors of a Southern evangelical upbringing, about a woman who electrocutes herself to get closer to divinity. Doesn't really seem to have much interest in actually unpacking the psychological ramifications of said upbringing; just a quick sketch with an underwhelming punchline. 2/5
"Pigs" by Gorman Bechard - a twist on the "all-female hit squad" formula of many a drive-in movie, revolving around a mission to take down a religious leader. Early on in the story the main character gets a syringe of drugs injected directly into her how-do-you-do (or does that euphemism only refer to male genitalia?) and you wonder how Bechard is going to top that as an off-putting moment and then at the end he very much does. I don't really like invoking sexual assault against children merely to motivate the story, but then I guess I shouldn't be reading splatterpunk. 2/5
"Embers" by Brian Hodge - another story about the brazen corruption of people in authority, centering around an arsonist-for-hire who torches buildings so that their rich owners can collect on the insurance. Our MC is only a step away from going over the edge, but thank goodness he's got a pregnant girlfriend who represents all that is good and pure in this world, gee I think these two crazy kids might just make it.... Not a terrible story, but not really distinct enough to earn its nearly thirty-page share of the book. 2.5/5
"Headturner" by Kevin Andrew Murphy and Thomas S. Roche - second story with a transgender protagonist, this one a self-loathing woman who laments her inability to "pass". I'm sure there is some kind of metaphor at the heart of her encounter with a vampiric, head-swapping creature of Filipino folklore, but I honestly can't figure out what it is. 2/5
"Nothing But Enemies" by Debbie Goad - more of a quick character sketch than a story, an implication of a Travis Bickle type poised to explode. For what it is, it's....fine? 2.5/5
"Boxer" by Steve Rasnic Tem - very short, very weird, about an overconfident man at a boxing gym getting into a bout with what looks like a skinny weakling begging for punishment. Things are, of course, not what they seem. This reminds me of a lot of the short fiction of the aforementioned Joe Lansdale, in that nothing makes any overt sense (Lansdale once blamed such stories on the weird dreams he had after eating pizza) but it's evocative enough in its minimal page count to leave you intrigued, confounded, and, most importantly, not unsatisfied. 4.5/5
"Xenophobia" by Poppy Z. Brite - some guys have a weird encounter in Chinatown. It's difficult to tell if this is a story ABOUT prejudice or simply a story from a prejudiced writer--a bit of both, I think, in the sense that the main (non-Chinese) protagonists are portrayed as dumbbells for their belief in the veracity of a racist joke, but the Chinese characters in the story are still Xenophobic stereotypes. Too bad because I like Brite's prose. 2/5
"Dripping Crackers" by Michael Ryan Zimmerman - tops "Pig" as the most disgusting story in the collection, for similarly fecal reasons. A tabloid reporter putting together a post-mortem piece about a scatalogically-obsessed standup comedian finds himself buying into the late entertainer's Scheissenfreude philosophy (to coin a term) to a violent degree. Boy oh boy. Before reading this story, I would have said there's nothing worse than fictional stand-up comedy, but Zimmerman showed me how wrong I was by giving me a fictional stand-up comedian who ONLY talks about excrement with a kind of Bill Hicks pseudo-intellectualism and, in the world of the story, BECOMES A COMEDY LEGEND. I guess the story is trying to present some kind of hard-to-face truth about how something as unpleasant and embarrassing as poop is nonetheless intrinsic to the human experience, but I personally don't find that to be too much of a revelation. 0/5
"Intimates" by Melanie Tem - a woman has a string of extramarital sexual encounters in an attempt to find some solace that her condescending husband will not provide, but finds only emptiness and isolation and resorts to more extreme measures to take back some amount of control over her life--or death. A sad (one might say pathetic) portrait of a lonely woman who did everything society told her to do and wound up trapped in the realization that none of it is fulfilling. 3.5/5
"For You, the Living" by Wayne Allen Sallee - a man finds love and heartbreak amidst the outbreak of a new sexually-transmitted zombification virus in Chicago. I found Sallee's prose difficult to read--stylistic without being evocative, which made it difficult to follow, and the story lacked focus. I got to the end without feeling like I really knew anything about the love interest or why the guy liked her so much, which robbed the tragic ending of most of its emotional impact. 1.5/5
"Calling Dr. Satan" by Jim Goad - an interview with Anton LaVey. Goad's non-fiction writing style is as smug and self-satisfied as Martin Amis's from the earlier piece about De Palma, and he commiserates with LaVey about how much smarter they are than the general populace because they're the first people to discover misanthropy. LaVey, as it turns out, is not even sensationalistic enough to be interesting. 0.5/5
"Red Shift" by Shira Daemon - another story about a woman in an unhappy, possibly abusive marriage, this one seeing a Black man in the mirror of her condo being tortured in a prison-like setting of blue light and striving to figure out how to set him, and consequently herself, free. The prose is 1940s gangster moll bimbo--it's hard not to read it in Harley Quinn's voice, which lends an interesting timeless Sin City vibe to a melodrama about a woman who has clearly been institutionalized in the past (she keeps referring to the "mad" that had to be cured out of her) as a way for men to control her. 4.5/5
"Within You, Without You" by Paul Sammon - a girl trying to outrun an abusive home life winds up in the clutches of a popular rock band that may also not have the best intentions for her. I'm not sure what the message is here--Reba was abused by her mother, now she's being abused by rock stars, the former was terrible but the latter gives her some kind of release. Okay. Something to do with the transcendent power of music I guess. Well, it's certainly not the worst-written story in the collection. 3/5
"Epiphany" by Christa Faust - more S&M imagery making explicit the link between sexual release and death, this time with the motif of an angel mixed in. All in all it's not difficult to see the Hellraiser influence, but with a more profound exploration of the feminine desires at play. 4/5
Let's go story by story (I will not refrain from spoilers):
"Intro" by editor Paul Sammon - Sammon really falls all over himself pointing out that this second volume of the Splatterpunks anthology series is women-centric. Meaning that half the entries are written by women (I'm including Brite here because he identified as female at the time) and SOME of the pieces by male authors have female protagonists. Is the volume, overall, empowering to women? I'm too lazy to generate any statistics, but my feeling is: no, not really. Seems like women are still victims more often than not. But hey, this was thirty years ago--on the bright side, at least very little has changed since then, right? Anyway, there have been plenty of think pieces about the "deadlier-than-the-male" mentality and how misogynistic that expression is while operating under the guise of female empowerment, so I don't really need to elaborate on that point too much.
"Accident D'Amour" by Wildy Petoud - a story about the trauma of realizing that the guy you're fucking doesn't necessarily want to be fucking you. Good opening story to let you know exactly what you're in for here, what with a woman sewing up her own vagina etc. I don't think the act of having sex with someone and wishing they were someone else is necessarily a crime punishable by death, but Petoud soften the morality-play aspect with poetic prose that makes this feel almost like a splatterpunk fairy tale. 4/5
"Impermanent Mercies" by Kathe Koja - a surreal story about a street photographer (who may be a pedophile? the language is ambiguous) getting pulled into the weird relationship between a young boy and a demonic talking dog. Speaking of prose, I found Koja's difficult to get through, and the final payoff was ho-hum. 2/5
"One Flesh: A Cautionary Tale" by Robert Devereaux - a tale of reincarnation with a twist in which both a man AND his father are reborn into one body, as the baby of the dead man's wife. "I'm my own grandpa", the (even more) horrifying version. Interesting conceit, with the child having to navigate his sexual attraction to both his wife/mother and his father's wife/mother/grandmother, but Sammon's introduction tries to paint the brutality against women in the torture porn ending as somehow "a commentary on sexism" and I'm not buying it. 2.5/5
"Rant" by Nancy A. Collins - a first-person narrative in which a white supremacist who believes himself the second coming of Christ hunts down the pregnant woman he believes will give birth to the Anti-Christ. Deeply, deeply unpleasant, which I suppose is what splatterpunk aims for, but in service of what? I couldn't really find any kind of point. 1/5
"Lacunae" by Karl Edward Wagner - a transgender woman gets roofied with a magic (I think? or else sci-fi) drug that brings her face-to-face with the male persona inside her brain struggling for dominance. I really couldn't tell if this story is attempting to be sympathetic to the plight of transgender individuals or simply punishing its main character, but the notion that trans people are "at war" with themselves is transphobic propaganda based on flawed psychological studies designed to convince the public that transgenderism is just a "fad" and that people who "believe" themselves to be trans will opt for gender affirmation surgery only to discover too late, after irreparably harming their bodies, that this wasn't what they really wanted after all. Essentially, it's a fear tactic to try to strip away gender-affirming care for transgender people under the noble banner of "saving them from themselves". Given that this story was written in 1986, the propagation of a mistruth is certainly forgivable if the story is indeed meant to be sympathetic, but the fact that the main character is given a drug (by a character who is apparently meant to be a hero--Sammon's introduction clarifies that Kane is a recurring protagonist in Wagner's work) without being told that the effects on one's brain are the psychological equivalent of an atomic bomb makes the story feel pretty icky nonetheless. Sort of sends the message that it is incumbent upon cis people to FORCE transgender individuals to face their own demons, with or without the latter's consent. 2/5
"Heels" by Lucy Taylor - another story that might be indulging in the shock value of splatterpunk as pretense for hard truths and social commentary (presumably from a leftist perspective) while actually enforcing the status quo. It's about a foot fetishist (who is also a serial killer, because even in splatterpunk sexual deviants are evil and dark and terrible and not just, you know, nerds, like you ACTUALLY find in the kink community IRL) who starts dating an overweight woman with the intention of making her his next victim. She turns the tables on him in the end, so I guess ostensibly we're supposed to root for her, but Taylor's typical '90s obsession with describing the woman's body with a grotesque, bemused distance that is decidedly unflattering seems to indicate that you're supposed to be repulsed by her rolls of fat, or at least fascinated in a sick kind of way, as the (perverted psychopathic) protagonist is. The punchline is pretty good, though. 2.5/5
"Brian De Palma: The Movie Brute" by Martin Amis - speaking of fatphobia, this non-fiction piece literally opens with a disgusted description of the movie director's paunch spilling over the waistband of his pants. If you don't like De Palma's work, fine, but this was clearly intended to be a hit piece from the very beginning, and it's not that interesting to read Amis's self-satisfied, and frankly repetitive, takedown of De Palma as a trashy auteur. The piece is only worth reading for the actual quotes from De Palma. 2/5
"I Walk Alone" by Roberta Lannes - a zombie plague story told from the perspective of one of the zombies (or a kind of half-zombie) that descends into urban sex dungeons as the main character searches for love, or at least stimulation. This one is kinder to the kink community than the stories that simply revel in S&M or whatever because splatterpunk is edgy and therefore reveling in the perverse and "disgusting" exploits of fetishists is "insightful" somehow rather than simply "bullying". I appreciate Lannes' resistance to taking cheap shots, but still, the story is a bit overlong for what it actually has to say, and errs toward dullness. 3/5
"Scape-Goats" by Clive Barker - some boaters run ashore on one of those deserted islands that doesn't appear on any map; while waiting for the tide to take their boat back to the ocean, they stumble across a pen of sheep on the otherwise abandoned rock and eventually discover the island's dark purpose. The blunt truth is that Barker has survived so much longer than most of the writers in this volume because he's just better . I don't always love his "here's a female character you're meant to hate because she's not the right kind of woman so let's all cheer when she dies" shtick, but the main story here is compelling enough to overcome the Angela problem. 5/5
"Cannibal Cats Come Out Tonight" by Nancy Holder - a couple of misunderstood kids in the punk rock scene develop a taste for human flesh. The best part of this story is the fantasy of chasing down and eating famous rock luminaries of the time like David Bowie and Tina Turner; the rest of it is forgettable. 2.5/5
"All Flesh is Clay" by John J. Ordover - I rolled my eyes at the author's intro where he brags about his kindergarten self assessing See Spot Run as "flawed minimalism at best" (that's either a lie or this was one annoying kid), but I must grudgingly admit this is one of the better stories. It's about a man whose job is to reconstruct living bodies for the zombies who come to his door haunted by unfinished business. 4.5/5
"Imprint" by Nina Kiriki Hoffman - a short and bitter story about a woman who was abused as a child reenacting that abuse on her own children. Bleak. I guess the moral is "hurt people hurt people" but like I knew that already, I didn't need to read excruciating descriptions of child abuse to grock it. 1.5/5
"Twenty-Two and Absolutely Free" by john Piwarski - an increasingly absurd, darkly funny story about a young girl living in a rotten city full of totalitarian police forces and gimmicky serial killers trying to make names for themselves. THIS is how you use splatterpunk for satire and not just empty shock value. 4.5/5
"Hooked on Buzzer" by Elizabeth Massie - the horrors of a Southern evangelical upbringing, about a woman who electrocutes herself to get closer to divinity. Doesn't really seem to have much interest in actually unpacking the psychological ramifications of said upbringing; just a quick sketch with an underwhelming punchline. 2/5
"Pigs" by Gorman Bechard - a twist on the "all-female hit squad" formula of many a drive-in movie, revolving around a mission to take down a religious leader. Early on in the story the main character gets a syringe of drugs injected directly into her how-do-you-do (or does that euphemism only refer to male genitalia?) and you wonder how Bechard is going to top that as an off-putting moment and then at the end he very much does. I don't really like invoking sexual assault against children merely to motivate the story, but then I guess I shouldn't be reading splatterpunk. 2/5
"Embers" by Brian Hodge - another story about the brazen corruption of people in authority, centering around an arsonist-for-hire who torches buildings so that their rich owners can collect on the insurance. Our MC is only a step away from going over the edge, but thank goodness he's got a pregnant girlfriend who represents all that is good and pure in this world, gee I think these two crazy kids might just make it.... Not a terrible story, but not really distinct enough to earn its nearly thirty-page share of the book. 2.5/5
"Headturner" by Kevin Andrew Murphy and Thomas S. Roche - second story with a transgender protagonist, this one a self-loathing woman who laments her inability to "pass". I'm sure there is some kind of metaphor at the heart of her encounter with a vampiric, head-swapping creature of Filipino folklore, but I honestly can't figure out what it is. 2/5
"Nothing But Enemies" by Debbie Goad - more of a quick character sketch than a story, an implication of a Travis Bickle type poised to explode. For what it is, it's....fine? 2.5/5
"Boxer" by Steve Rasnic Tem - very short, very weird, about an overconfident man at a boxing gym getting into a bout with what looks like a skinny weakling begging for punishment. Things are, of course, not what they seem. This reminds me of a lot of the short fiction of the aforementioned Joe Lansdale, in that nothing makes any overt sense (Lansdale once blamed such stories on the weird dreams he had after eating pizza) but it's evocative enough in its minimal page count to leave you intrigued, confounded, and, most importantly, not unsatisfied. 4.5/5
"Xenophobia" by Poppy Z. Brite - some guys have a weird encounter in Chinatown. It's difficult to tell if this is a story ABOUT prejudice or simply a story from a prejudiced writer--a bit of both, I think, in the sense that the main (non-Chinese) protagonists are portrayed as dumbbells for their belief in the veracity of a racist joke, but the Chinese characters in the story are still Xenophobic stereotypes. Too bad because I like Brite's prose. 2/5
"Dripping Crackers" by Michael Ryan Zimmerman - tops "Pig" as the most disgusting story in the collection, for similarly fecal reasons. A tabloid reporter putting together a post-mortem piece about a scatalogically-obsessed standup comedian finds himself buying into the late entertainer's Scheissenfreude philosophy (to coin a term) to a violent degree. Boy oh boy. Before reading this story, I would have said there's nothing worse than fictional stand-up comedy, but Zimmerman showed me how wrong I was by giving me a fictional stand-up comedian who ONLY talks about excrement with a kind of Bill Hicks pseudo-intellectualism and, in the world of the story, BECOMES A COMEDY LEGEND. I guess the story is trying to present some kind of hard-to-face truth about how something as unpleasant and embarrassing as poop is nonetheless intrinsic to the human experience, but I personally don't find that to be too much of a revelation. 0/5
"Intimates" by Melanie Tem - a woman has a string of extramarital sexual encounters in an attempt to find some solace that her condescending husband will not provide, but finds only emptiness and isolation and resorts to more extreme measures to take back some amount of control over her life--or death. A sad (one might say pathetic) portrait of a lonely woman who did everything society told her to do and wound up trapped in the realization that none of it is fulfilling. 3.5/5
"For You, the Living" by Wayne Allen Sallee - a man finds love and heartbreak amidst the outbreak of a new sexually-transmitted zombification virus in Chicago. I found Sallee's prose difficult to read--stylistic without being evocative, which made it difficult to follow, and the story lacked focus. I got to the end without feeling like I really knew anything about the love interest or why the guy liked her so much, which robbed the tragic ending of most of its emotional impact. 1.5/5
"Calling Dr. Satan" by Jim Goad - an interview with Anton LaVey. Goad's non-fiction writing style is as smug and self-satisfied as Martin Amis's from the earlier piece about De Palma, and he commiserates with LaVey about how much smarter they are than the general populace because they're the first people to discover misanthropy. LaVey, as it turns out, is not even sensationalistic enough to be interesting. 0.5/5
"Red Shift" by Shira Daemon - another story about a woman in an unhappy, possibly abusive marriage, this one seeing a Black man in the mirror of her condo being tortured in a prison-like setting of blue light and striving to figure out how to set him, and consequently herself, free. The prose is 1940s gangster moll bimbo--it's hard not to read it in Harley Quinn's voice, which lends an interesting timeless Sin City vibe to a melodrama about a woman who has clearly been institutionalized in the past (she keeps referring to the "mad" that had to be cured out of her) as a way for men to control her. 4.5/5
"Within You, Without You" by Paul Sammon - a girl trying to outrun an abusive home life winds up in the clutches of a popular rock band that may also not have the best intentions for her. I'm not sure what the message is here--Reba was abused by her mother, now she's being abused by rock stars, the former was terrible but the latter gives her some kind of release. Okay. Something to do with the transcendent power of music I guess. Well, it's certainly not the worst-written story in the collection. 3/5
"Epiphany" by Christa Faust - more S&M imagery making explicit the link between sexual release and death, this time with the motif of an angel mixed in. All in all it's not difficult to see the Hellraiser influence, but with a more profound exploration of the feminine desires at play. 4/5
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 5, 2017
Hit or miss. In general, the stories are technically good. However, many of them are also badly dated. The fact that trans bodies were ever considered appropriate fodder for body horror says a lot about how far we’ve come, but aside from that, throwing a trans woman into a story and leering over her body anxiety just felt...cheap. Use of kink for shock a couple times contributed to this feeling. These authors were trying HARD to make it stick. Sometimes I felt like I was reading a horror version of The Aristocrats. If you’re going to construct horror, construct it - the Barker and Petoud stories were good examples of the genre, and Petoud was as gory as you could possibly want, but the gore had a purpose, you know?
And what is up with horror writers leaning on lesbian relationships? I swear the book had eight to ten incidents of girl lovin’ and precisely zero of boy lovin’. (Aside from general use of male homosexuality for shock value in “For You, The Living.”) It’s not just this book, and I still see it in modern works, but the phenomenon really stuck out here and it made me wonder once again about the relationship of the queer community to horror and how that relationship has evolved. There’s probably a doctoral thesis in there somewhere but I’ll leave it for someone with more coffee and less time. You’re welcome.
Moments where I was truly, viscerally disturbed by these stories were fairly rare considering. It’s hard to say if that was a reflection on their quality or the fact that they were tapping into a zeitgeist that is twenty years gone. “The Human Centipede” and “Saw” have ruined us, apparently. Alas, to be so jaded, and yet to have paid three bucks for this book.
And what is up with horror writers leaning on lesbian relationships? I swear the book had eight to ten incidents of girl lovin’ and precisely zero of boy lovin’. (Aside from general use of male homosexuality for shock value in “For You, The Living.”) It’s not just this book, and I still see it in modern works, but the phenomenon really stuck out here and it made me wonder once again about the relationship of the queer community to horror and how that relationship has evolved. There’s probably a doctoral thesis in there somewhere but I’ll leave it for someone with more coffee and less time. You’re welcome.
Moments where I was truly, viscerally disturbed by these stories were fairly rare considering. It’s hard to say if that was a reflection on their quality or the fact that they were tapping into a zeitgeist that is twenty years gone. “The Human Centipede” and “Saw” have ruined us, apparently. Alas, to be so jaded, and yet to have paid three bucks for this book.
June 27, 2023
Splatter Punks II Over the Edge: softcover, 416 pages. TOR 1995, edited by Paul M. Sammon.
This book came out in 1995, toward the end of the first generation of Splatterpunk. I wrote a few stories in that movement back in the day, Razor White (which appeared in Dark Voices 4 The Pan Book of Horror), Splatter of Black (which appeared in Dark Terrors), and Wall of Love (which appeared in Agony in Black). I haven’t done anything like those stories since, and I haven’t read a lot of this kind of material since then either. Even at age sixty-four, though, in 2023, I found myself wincing emotionally and viscerally at a few of these tales. There’s still power in these older stories. Below is the TOC, with a little description. My primary comments follow.
Personal Acknowledgments, by Paul M. Sammon
Introduction, Essay by Paul M. Sammon
Accident d'Amour, story by Wildy Petoud, Translated from French
Impermanent Mercies, story by Kathe Koja
One Flesh: A Cautionary Tale, story by Robert Devereaux
Rant, story by Nancy A Collins
Lacunae, story by Karl Edward Wagner
Heels, story by Lucy Taylor
Brian De Palma: The Movie Brute, essay by Martin Amis
I Walk Alone, story by Roberta Lannes
Scape-Goats, story by Clive Barker
Cannibal Cats Come Out Tonight, story by Nancy Holder
All Flesh is Clay, story by John J Ordover
Imprint, story by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Twenty-two and Absolutely Free, story by John Piwarski
Hooked on Buzzer, story by Elizabeth Massie
Pig, story by Gorman Bechard
Rockin' the Midnight Hour, essay by Anya Martin
Embers, story by Brian Hodge
Headturner, story by Kevin Andrew Murphy and Thomas S. Roche
Nothing But Enemies, story by Debbie Goad
Boxer, story by Steve Rasnic Tem
Xenophobia, story by Poppy Z. Brite
Dripping Crackers, story by Michael Ryan Zimmerman
Intimates, story by Melanie Tem
For You, the Living, long story by Wayne Allen Sallee
Calling Dr Satan, interview with Anton Szandor Lavey by Jim Goad
Red Shift, story by Shira Daemon
Within You, Without You, story by Paul M. Sammon
Epiphany, story by Christa Faust
Note on the Splat II Soundtrack, essay by Paul M. Sammon
This is a big book with a lot of material. I didn’t read it quickly but typically read a story or two each day, depending on length. Some of these tales are long enough to be called Novellettes. None of them are weak tales. All are professional, although some resonated with me more than others for various personal reasons.
I bought the collection primarily for the works of certain authors whose careers I’ve followed. These would be Karl Edward Wagner, Clive Barker, Poppy Z. Brite (here), and Wayne Allen Sallee. I’ve actually met all four of these authors at various cons, though could only consider Sallee to be a friend. Wagner, of course, is gone now, a great tragedy.
I love the Kane stories by Karl Edward Wagner, most of which are set in a primitive Sword & Sorcery/Dark Gothic type of universe (ancient Earth). This is a rarity in that it’s set in the modern world. Not one of my favorite Kane stories but it still has that touch and I enjoyed it.
Clive Barker wrote some of the best horror stories in history in his Books of Blood. This one, “Scape-Goats,” fits right into that legacy. Very compelling and one of the strongest stories in the collection.
Poppy Z. Brite’s entry here is Xenophobia. Brite definitely had a finger on the pulse of a generation with the excellent novel, “Lost Souls.” This tale has many of those same kinds of touches.
Wayne Allen Sallee is in my top five favorite horror authors. He’s really created a unique and oftentimes grotesque body of work. I’d read this tale, “For You, The Living,” in another setting so it was no surprise for me. It still had the power to make me both viscerally and emotionally uncomfortable, and embodies (For me) a lot of what the Splatterpunk movement was about.
Like I said, I’m enjoyed all these tales. I’m only going to mention a couple more that hit me particularly hard. “Boxer,” by Steve Rasnic Tem was absolutely brutal. Nancy Holder’s “Cannibal Cats Come Out Tonight” was very well written.
My favorite story in the collection was the last one, by Christa Faust, “Epiphany.” Beautiful prose and a distinctly discomfiting subject matter for me. This one inspired some ideas for tales of my own.
As for the nonfiction, interesting material. I rather enjoyed the interview with Anton Lavey. I’ve not paid much attention to his philosophical thoughts previously but he had some interesting things to say, and not what one might typically expect.
All in all, I’m happy to add this anthology to my burgeoning collection.
This book came out in 1995, toward the end of the first generation of Splatterpunk. I wrote a few stories in that movement back in the day, Razor White (which appeared in Dark Voices 4 The Pan Book of Horror), Splatter of Black (which appeared in Dark Terrors), and Wall of Love (which appeared in Agony in Black). I haven’t done anything like those stories since, and I haven’t read a lot of this kind of material since then either. Even at age sixty-four, though, in 2023, I found myself wincing emotionally and viscerally at a few of these tales. There’s still power in these older stories. Below is the TOC, with a little description. My primary comments follow.
Personal Acknowledgments, by Paul M. Sammon
Introduction, Essay by Paul M. Sammon
Accident d'Amour, story by Wildy Petoud, Translated from French
Impermanent Mercies, story by Kathe Koja
One Flesh: A Cautionary Tale, story by Robert Devereaux
Rant, story by Nancy A Collins
Lacunae, story by Karl Edward Wagner
Heels, story by Lucy Taylor
Brian De Palma: The Movie Brute, essay by Martin Amis
I Walk Alone, story by Roberta Lannes
Scape-Goats, story by Clive Barker
Cannibal Cats Come Out Tonight, story by Nancy Holder
All Flesh is Clay, story by John J Ordover
Imprint, story by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Twenty-two and Absolutely Free, story by John Piwarski
Hooked on Buzzer, story by Elizabeth Massie
Pig, story by Gorman Bechard
Rockin' the Midnight Hour, essay by Anya Martin
Embers, story by Brian Hodge
Headturner, story by Kevin Andrew Murphy and Thomas S. Roche
Nothing But Enemies, story by Debbie Goad
Boxer, story by Steve Rasnic Tem
Xenophobia, story by Poppy Z. Brite
Dripping Crackers, story by Michael Ryan Zimmerman
Intimates, story by Melanie Tem
For You, the Living, long story by Wayne Allen Sallee
Calling Dr Satan, interview with Anton Szandor Lavey by Jim Goad
Red Shift, story by Shira Daemon
Within You, Without You, story by Paul M. Sammon
Epiphany, story by Christa Faust
Note on the Splat II Soundtrack, essay by Paul M. Sammon
This is a big book with a lot of material. I didn’t read it quickly but typically read a story or two each day, depending on length. Some of these tales are long enough to be called Novellettes. None of them are weak tales. All are professional, although some resonated with me more than others for various personal reasons.
I bought the collection primarily for the works of certain authors whose careers I’ve followed. These would be Karl Edward Wagner, Clive Barker, Poppy Z. Brite (here), and Wayne Allen Sallee. I’ve actually met all four of these authors at various cons, though could only consider Sallee to be a friend. Wagner, of course, is gone now, a great tragedy.
I love the Kane stories by Karl Edward Wagner, most of which are set in a primitive Sword & Sorcery/Dark Gothic type of universe (ancient Earth). This is a rarity in that it’s set in the modern world. Not one of my favorite Kane stories but it still has that touch and I enjoyed it.
Clive Barker wrote some of the best horror stories in history in his Books of Blood. This one, “Scape-Goats,” fits right into that legacy. Very compelling and one of the strongest stories in the collection.
Poppy Z. Brite’s entry here is Xenophobia. Brite definitely had a finger on the pulse of a generation with the excellent novel, “Lost Souls.” This tale has many of those same kinds of touches.
Wayne Allen Sallee is in my top five favorite horror authors. He’s really created a unique and oftentimes grotesque body of work. I’d read this tale, “For You, The Living,” in another setting so it was no surprise for me. It still had the power to make me both viscerally and emotionally uncomfortable, and embodies (For me) a lot of what the Splatterpunk movement was about.
Like I said, I’m enjoyed all these tales. I’m only going to mention a couple more that hit me particularly hard. “Boxer,” by Steve Rasnic Tem was absolutely brutal. Nancy Holder’s “Cannibal Cats Come Out Tonight” was very well written.
My favorite story in the collection was the last one, by Christa Faust, “Epiphany.” Beautiful prose and a distinctly discomfiting subject matter for me. This one inspired some ideas for tales of my own.
As for the nonfiction, interesting material. I rather enjoyed the interview with Anton Lavey. I’ve not paid much attention to his philosophical thoughts previously but he had some interesting things to say, and not what one might typically expect.
All in all, I’m happy to add this anthology to my burgeoning collection.
July 2, 2019
Beginning a re-read of the horror authors I read back in High School/Post-College. An average of 3 stars for this collection. Some good ones, but a lot that just hit the "trying to be shocking" that you can get from horror. The better stories don't feel so "early-90s". But a good start Splatterpunks I and the two Book of the Dead anthologies, and more single author books.
October 14, 2019
There's some good stories in here, but a lot of it is embarrassing, cringey bullshit. Quite disappointing.
November 6, 2012
Some people think disgusting or plain weird equals horrific. If that's the case, any halfway talented writer could write "horror" stories, and this is what has happened in this collection, for the most part. Some stories are enjoyable, others are forgettable.
The worst part about the book though is editor Paul M. Sammon's shrill histrionics over female empowerment and such claptrap. Now, I am not speaking of someone who makes a strong expression of his desire for women's equality in the book's introduction. No. Paul M. Sammon is the kind of liberal nutcase who is out for blood, spewing his ugly hatred and filth all over the pages.
In his personal acknowledgments, refers to Reagan, Bush, Sr., Pat Buchanan among others as "criminals here on earth" who should also, "after death, rot in the agonizing eternities of their own private hells."
The editor's immature, pathological spewage is NOT why I bought a horror anthology. I got this to be entertained and discover some good writers, not hear some liberal nutjob's ravenous rants over some kind of delusional war meant to keep women "second-class citizens."
Sammon, if you're still involved in publishing, keep your opinions to yourself. Thank God I bought this used, so that no cent of my cash ended up in your pocket. You psychotic, liberal twit.
The worst part about the book though is editor Paul M. Sammon's shrill histrionics over female empowerment and such claptrap. Now, I am not speaking of someone who makes a strong expression of his desire for women's equality in the book's introduction. No. Paul M. Sammon is the kind of liberal nutcase who is out for blood, spewing his ugly hatred and filth all over the pages.
In his personal acknowledgments, refers to Reagan, Bush, Sr., Pat Buchanan among others as "criminals here on earth" who should also, "after death, rot in the agonizing eternities of their own private hells."
The editor's immature, pathological spewage is NOT why I bought a horror anthology. I got this to be entertained and discover some good writers, not hear some liberal nutjob's ravenous rants over some kind of delusional war meant to keep women "second-class citizens."
Sammon, if you're still involved in publishing, keep your opinions to yourself. Thank God I bought this used, so that no cent of my cash ended up in your pocket. You psychotic, liberal twit.
May 23, 2013
Another reviewer mentioned that the editor did a lot of "spewing' his "liberal" claptrap around, but I didn't read any of the notes or the introduction, only the stories, so I couldn't tell you about that. I have mixed feelings about this book. Splatterpunk is kind of hit or miss for me. I like scary, intense, shocking stuff, but I prefer it to have some substance and originality. Some fo these stories did, some didn't. I liked For You, the Living, a zombie story with the twist that the virus affects everyone slightly differently but they all become crazed sexually in one way or another. All Flesh is Clay was interesting, about a man who "sculpts" people's bodies after they did and brings them back to life. Heels was good, about a serial killer who is a foot fetishist and how he meets his fate. Lacunae was a cautionary tale of a transgender woman whose forray into strange illegal drugs leads to madness.
Overall, there was some stuff that was good, and, overall, it was worth reading.I was bored with the interviews and didn't read them, or the other material, I only read the stories. I would say three to three and a half stars.
Overall, there was some stuff that was good, and, overall, it was worth reading.I was bored with the interviews and didn't read them, or the other material, I only read the stories. I would say three to three and a half stars.
April 2, 2010
This book was ok. Certainly nothing to write home about. There were some interviews & other essays that I don't feel really went with the stories. They may have been ok with more of the same but they didn't work mixed in with the fiction. I bought it used and certainly don't feel an overwhelming need to go out & find the first one. Probably the best thing about it was it was a pretty fast read.
August 12, 2016
Stories in this collection were of generally good quality and enjoyable to read. However, this collection definitely lost the over the top, right on the brink, edgy feel of the first Splatterpunks collection. Sure it has its share of necrophilia, gratuitous gore, usw.; but, it just didn't do it for me. It's worth the read if you can pick it up cheap, but don't expect it to live up to the first collection.
September 29, 2013
Often a bit much. I guess I prefer my horror with more aesthetic style and less abuse... some of the stories weren't bad though - some good authors featured. I probably would have liked the book as a whole better if the editor weren't so keen on defining and validating the term "splatterpunk" at every given opportunity.
December 31, 2010
Most excellent anthology, with many remarkable authors who surprise us by writing stories in this genre. I think this edition is as good or better than the first Splatterpunks. Which is rare and somewhat unusual. A nice surprise.
July 6, 2008
Again, so much icky fun. I think the first collection was better, but I just can't get enough, and Splatterpunks 2 came through!
December 28, 2015
3.5 STARS
A good splat collection. If that's your thing, you'll like it. If it's not, you won't. Simple as that.
A good splat collection. If that's your thing, you'll like it. If it's not, you won't. Simple as that.
January 20, 2008
More short horror stories, this time focusing more on female authors.
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