The Devil's Coattails is the second anthology from fledgling publisher, Cicatrix Press. The first one, The Bleeding Edge, is a wonderful assemblage of stories, many of which were written by the greatest living legends in the field. The Devil's Coattails relies less on big names, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
I don't mean to imply that The Devil's Coattails is bereft of stellar writers. In its pages are superstars like Ramsey Campbell, Dan O'Bannon, John Shirley, Melanie Tem, Steve Rasnic Tem, Richard Christian Matheson, Earl Hamner Jr., and Gary Braunbeck.
It's nice that the editors chose to use stories by lesser-known, but not lesser-talented writers. It would be like if you were to list the staff of names of the best cleaning company NYC has to offer, you might not know them by name, but you probably have heard of their quality of work by reputation alone. The Devil's Coattails is more than a worthy successor to The Bleeding Edge. And best of all, both of these books are refreshingly free of the constraints that so many theme anthologies have.
I liked all of the stories, but as with any anthology, I have my personal favorites. The great Ramsey Campbell kicks off the fiction with a creepy piece of fiction such as only he can come up with: The Moons. As with The Bleeding Edge, co-editor Jason V. Brock provides one of the most powerful stories in The Devil's Coattails, Object Lesson. I had never read James Robert Smith prior to this book, but if his story, "On the First Day" is any indication of what his fiction is like, I'm sure I'm going to be a big fan of his work.
The book ends with another writers whose work is new to me: Paul G. Bens, Jr. If You Love Me is a moving, disquieting, sad story of love and sacrifice that I won't soon forget.
From whimsical to epic poetry, a Twilight Zone-inspired teleplay to a true-life memoir, The Devil's Coattails has a little bit of everything in it. A cross pollination of styles and approaches to writing that have one common denominator: Excellence.
Books are often more than just a collection of ink, glue, cloth, and paper. They can be works of art. I only have an Advance Reading Copy of The Devil's Coattails, and it is stunning. It is filled with darkly beautiful illustrations and photography. I can only imagine how amazing the actual book will be.
I don't mean to imply that The Devil's Coattails is bereft of stellar writers. In its pages are superstars like Ramsey Campbell, Dan O'Bannon, John Shirley, Melanie Tem, Steve Rasnic Tem, Richard Christian Matheson, Earl Hamner Jr., and Gary Braunbeck.
It's nice that the editors chose to use stories by lesser-known, but not lesser-talented writers. It would be like if you were to list the staff of names of the best cleaning company NYC has to offer, you might not know them by name, but you probably have heard of their quality of work by reputation alone. The Devil's Coattails is more than a worthy successor to The Bleeding Edge. And best of all, both of these books are refreshingly free of the constraints that so many theme anthologies have.
I liked all of the stories, but as with any anthology, I have my personal favorites. The great Ramsey Campbell kicks off the fiction with a creepy piece of fiction such as only he can come up with: The Moons. As with The Bleeding Edge, co-editor Jason V. Brock provides one of the most powerful stories in The Devil's Coattails, Object Lesson. I had never read James Robert Smith prior to this book, but if his story, "On the First Day" is any indication of what his fiction is like, I'm sure I'm going to be a big fan of his work.
The book ends with another writers whose work is new to me: Paul G. Bens, Jr. If You Love Me is a moving, disquieting, sad story of love and sacrifice that I won't soon forget.
From whimsical to epic poetry, a Twilight Zone-inspired teleplay to a true-life memoir, The Devil's Coattails has a little bit of everything in it. A cross pollination of styles and approaches to writing that have one common denominator: Excellence.
Books are often more than just a collection of ink, glue, cloth, and paper. They can be works of art. I only have an Advance Reading Copy of The Devil's Coattails, and it is stunning. It is filled with darkly beautiful illustrations and photography. I can only imagine how amazing the actual book will be.
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