"Damned: An Anthology of the Lost" edited by David G. Barnett
Reviewed by: Tracy Vonder Brink

This anthology features 11 short stories and one novella by newer, hardcore horror writers. If you're averse to gore and sex, stop reading now--this book is not for you. However, if you don't mind eyeballs being gouged out regularly, and if you like your horror with a nasty edge, the collection is worth your time. The general theme is Hell, both in the traditional Biblical sense and in the sense of the hell that people inflict upon themselves.

The first story, "The Coliseum," is by Patrick Lestewka. A hockey stadium has been converted to a super maximum security prison where the worst of the worst are shipped in, the doors are locked, and they're left to fend for themselves. It's a dog eat dog (and sometimes prisoner eat prisoner) world inside, and the cons battle viciously for supremacy and survival. Too much time is spent on the prisoners' backgrounds and not enough time is spent in the prison itself, but it's still a rivetingly gruesome read.

"No We Love No One" by Gerard Houarner tells the story of pod babies who fall from the sky and change the lives of everyone who takes them in. I didn't get this one. The babies are kind of unsettling, but too much is left unexplained, and the human kid who tells the story is more frightening than the babies themselves.

It's back to gore galore with "Casuistry" by Charlee Jacob. Set in the future, it's about a hit man who no longer feels any physical sensations due to an overdose of a new drug. He tries more and more desperate means to try and feel anything, but it's hard to tell what's reality and what's just in his fevered imagination. Despite the gruesome descriptions and various murders and sex crimes, it comes off as more odd than scary.

"Damned If You Do" by Jack Ketchum is a mere five pages long, and there's not a wasted or superfluous word. It's about a man seeing a psychiatrist about some marital troubles, and the twisted ending left me chuckling in a sort of nasty way. It's what a horror short story should be.

"Green Green Glass" is by John Everson and is about a self-indulgent rock star whose life has taken a bad turn. There's not a wrong note in this one--the descriptions are perfect, and the rock star's hopeless misery is palpable. It's excellent.

Another terrific story is Brian's Hodge's "When the Bough Doesn't Break." It's about a nihilistically inclined young woman who travels to Ireland on a sort of pilgrimage to the grave of a serial killer of priests. It's an example of grand storytelling, encompassing myth and religion against the backdrop of a remote Irish village. It's atmospheric, chilling, and wonderful.

"Thief of Golgotha," by Tom Piccirilli, is a sort of religious "what if." What if the thief who was crucified next to Christ and who accepted Christ as his savior passed the gift of his salvation on to his descendants? But what if his descendants were so inherently bad that they were unwilling to fully accept God? It's a sort of battle royale between Good and Evil, but Evil evokes some pity, and Good may be good, but it definitely isn't nice.

Hell is the biblically literal place in "Siren" by Jeffrey Thomas. A newly made angel is bored with Heaven (finding he has no more luck with women in Heaven than he had when he was alive on Earth) and decides to sight see in Hell. The notion of an angel deciding to take a day trip to Hell is kind of whimsical, but the poor damned souls he encounters there are anything but. It manages to be both humorous and horrifying.

There's also a touch of humor in "The Angel" by Edward Lee, which features a writer's encounters with a fallen avenging angel. Stylistically it's on the verge of being too wordy, but its amusing irony makes up for its excesses.

"Close" by Mehitobel Wilson would make a great "Tales from the Crypt" episode. A hotel employee devises an ingenious way to spy on amorous guests with some unforeseen consequences. It's deliciously nasty.

"That and the Rain" by Gary A. Bruanbeck is my favorite. It's about another fallen angel, one that mourns being condemned to Earth but who also has grown to like mortals and wonders why they do so much harm to themselves. I found it beautifully sad and touching despite some nasty scenes of violence, and the last few lines are perfect.

And then, alas, comes "Nexus of Crisis" by Doc Solammen. It's about a man who's on a train trip from Hell, literally. At 132 pages it's nearly a novel, and I hated it. For one thing, it's wordy, with the author evidently believing the more adjectives, the better. For another, each scene tries to outdo the one before in terms of violence, brutality, and depravity. There's so much gross stuff going on that it becomes mind numbing. And, worst of all, it ends up being completely pointless. I found it a miserable way to end an otherwise sterling collection.

Overall, it's a well put together anthology. It presents a wide range of writing styles and themes, from the more traditional horror story to the completely outlandish. If only it hadn't been for that last miserable piece, and if only that story hadn't been such a long slog, it'd be a four star book. As is, I can only give it three.

Publisher:  Necro Publications, 2004, $50
ASIN/ISBN: 1889186422