The Mammoth Book of Monsters reviewed by jseger9000

Here's a review I wasn't gonna post on here. But since I went through and commented on everyone else's stuff, maybe I should put myself before the firing line.
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I've decided I need to read more anthologies. I found a number of The Mammoth Book of... anthologies on sale and picked them up. I started with The Mammoth Book of Monsters simply because it seems to be the least reviewed.

I started with Stephen Jones introduction but stopped reading it because it seemed to serve as a spoiler for each of the stories in the collection, saying "'Blah Blah' is an example of a modern vampire story, followed by So and So's story 'Blah Blah' which deals with werewolves." I'm surprised in all his years of editing, Stephen Jones isn't better at writing introductions.

Unfortunately the first story in the book 'Visitation' by David J. Schow got things off to a bad start. The story felt fifty years out of date. A sort of modern version of William Hope Hodgson's Carnacki the Ghost Finder stories that just didn't work for me. Things weren't much better with Ramsey Campbell's 'Down There'. A story with a promising setup and fine writing that is just missing something at its core.

Things picked up a bit with Scott Edelman's 'The Man He Was Before', sort of a take-off of I Am Legend except the survivors are a dysfunctional family. Works better than I am probably making it sound.

From there (almost) each story was an improvement on the previous one. I really enjoyed Michael Marshall Smith's 'Someone Else's Problem', Sydney J. Bounds 'Downmarket' and Kim Newman's 'The Chill Clutch of the Unseen'. But the problem is that the good stories weren't quite good enough to make up for the misses and there were too many stories that were just so-so.

Even the stories by very good, known writers tended to be stories that were far from their best. For instance, Clive Barker (one of the best short horror writers I've ever read) is represented by 'Rawhead Rex' one of the cheesiest stories in the excellent Books of Blood collections.

It's doubly disappointing because a collection of monster stories offers such a wide canvas. In one way or another almost any horror story could fit that requirement. So why isn't this one better? A selection of okay stories and duds with an exceptional story or three does not make for a very good collection. And front loading the collection with two disappointments kind of affected my view of the book.

I will read further 'Mammoth Horror' volumes, but would be hard pressed to recommend this one.

Overall I liked the review, just technical things that would make it read smoother.

2nd Para

"I started" you used this to begin the last sentence of the previous para. Not to mention that sentence is REALLY long too! I suspect it should be split in 2.

3rd para
I think it needs a comma before the book and after the author, since you mean 'Visitation' IS the first story not the first story IN visitation.

Unfortunately the first story in the book, 'Visitation' by David J. Schow, got things off to a bad start.

4th para
sort of a take-off of I Am Legend except seems a little clunky

maybe

sort of an I Am Legend take-off

5th para
But the problem is that the good stories weren't quite good enough to make up for the misses and there were too many stories that we just so-so.

maybe

But the good stories weren't quite good enough to make up for the poor ones and there were too many stories that were just so-so.

6th para
Even the stories by very good, known writers tended to be stories that were far from their best.

I like it as a review. Short story anthologies can be difficult! But you've got a good balance between details fo the stories and lisiting every one.

#2 - I caught that 'we-were' when I was posting, but looks like I forgot to fix it!

I made all the other changes. It required a bit of rewriting for that run-on sentence. Hopefully it didn't just cause more problems.
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I've decided I need to read more anthologies. I found a number of The Mammoth Book of... anthologies on sale and picked them up. I started with The Mammoth Book of Monsters simply because it seems to be the least reviewed.

I enjoy reading anthology introductions and was looking forward to what Stephen Jones would have to say as he is such a well known and respected editor of horror fiction. I stopped reading it because it seemed to serve mainly as a laundry list of the monster in each story: "'Blah Blah' is an example of a modern vampire story, followed by So and So's story 'Blah Blah' which deals with werewolves." I'm surprised in all his years of editing, Stephen Jones isn't better at writing introductions. Starting the book with spoilers for each of the stories in the collectionis not a good idea. Ah well, on to the stories.

Unfortunately the first story in the book, 'Visitation' by David J. Schow, got things off to a bad start. The story felt fifty years out of date. A sort of modern version of William Hope Hodgson's Carnacki the Ghost Finder stories that just didn't work for me. Things weren't much better with Ramsey Campbell's 'Down There'. A story with a promising setup and fine writing that is just missing something at its core.

Things picked up a bit with Scott Edelman's 'The Man He Was Before', a sort of I Am Legend take-off, except the survivors are a dysfunctional family. Works better than I am probably making it sound.

From there (almost) each story was an improvement on the previous one. I really enjoyed Michael Marshall Smith's 'Someone Else's Problem', Sydney J. Bounds 'Downmarket' and Kim Newman's 'The Chill Clutch of the Unseen'. But the problem is that the good stories weren't quite good enough to make up for the poor ones and there were too many stories that were just so-so.

Even the stories by very good, known writers tended to be far from their best. For instance, Clive Barker (one of the best short horror writers I've ever read) is represented by 'Rawhead Rex' one of the cheesiest stories in his excellent Books of Blood collections.

It's doubly disappointing because a collection of monster stories offers such a wide canvas. In one way or another almost any horror story could fit that requirement. So why isn't this one better? A selection of okay stories and duds with an exceptional story or three does not make for a very good collection. And front loading the collection with two disappointments kind of affected my view of the book.

I will read further 'Mammoth Horror' volumes, but would be hard pressed to recommend this one.

Sounds good to me. Good review.

Good review. Too bad you were not invited to write the intro instead of Stephen Jones.