The Beauty of Death reviewed by Judy Comeau

Judy Comeau reviewed on Tomb of Dark Delight 'The Beauty of Death' Anthology, edited by Alessandro Manzetti. Excertp of the review: 

This is a huge anthology both literally and figuratively speaking, weighing in at nearly 700 pages of dark fiction created by a stellar group of both established and upcoming practitioners of terror tales. Most of the stories have never been published previously, and there a few superbly selected reprints from Shane McKenzie, Ramsey Campbell, Poppy Z. Brite, Allesandro Manzetti, Del Howison, Maria Alexander, and the inimitable Peter Straub. Monica O’Rourke opens the anthology with her trademark mixture of terror and humor, followed by a bleak dark fantasy by Thersa Matsuura, which is an indication of the depth and breadth of the style of tales that follow. Each of the stories followed the broad theme of this anthology summed up in the title, and death arrives in these pages in all manner of guises, exposing the terror, the beauty, and often the hilariously funny facets of the final moments of life faced by each of us. Lisa Morton exposes the daily horrors experienced by caretakers of the aged in “In the Garden.” The tables are turned on a group of hunters stalking a dangerous mythical creature in Daniele Bonfanti’s “Game”. Famed gore master Edward Lee grosses us out again in a gleefully vicious excerpt from “White Trash Gothic.” Bruce Boston and Marge Simon have created a poetically chilling reinterpretation of a beloved children’s fairy tale in “Cold Finale.” Kathryn Ptacek’s “The I of the Beholder” is a chilly but exquisitely touching story of an isolated young woman who struggles to make sense of her separation from her world and from herself. Although the voice and subject matter of each story is quite different, the result of the stories taken as a whole is cohesive and satisfying as a volume. THE BEAUTY OF DEATH is perfect Halloween reading.

​Read the review on Tomb of Dark Delight
​Buy The Beauty of Death Anthology on Amazon