I was pretty mixed on this collection. However, rather than my disappointment being with the stories, I think it was self-induced. I'm not exactly sure what I was expecting but these stories didn't really match my expectations. Going off the title, each story did have blood splatters of some sort, so I should have been happy there. And each story centered on a different approach to a politically sensitive idea: AIDS, social activism, gun control, and religious guidance. I think that I was expecting the politically incorrect portion to be a bit more bizarro and less political. My thoughts on the individual stories are below; as for the collection, enjoyable but not as offensive and I had hoped.

"Sick Puppy" by Del James - This story focused on AIDS, more specifically an AIDS infected werewolf. A cool idea but I don't think it was taken in an exciting direction. A fair amount of pure data on the AIDS epidemic which nicely provided the background for what was happening to the werewolf. But the ending was more conspiracy than reality and proved disappointing.

"A Revolution of One" by Brian Keene - This story involved social activism. It also worked its way in subtlety. The story is basically a big rant of how someone is saving the world from all the passively active, ineffective, want to help but only from a consumer point of view, type of people. And while there is some stuff in that to disagree with, there is also a lot of stuff to cheer for someone doing something and to demand a fix. Then it ends fast and hard with a quick punch to the gut. My final thoughts were "but... but... oh, nicely done, Mr. Keene".

"Real Gun Control is Hitting What You Aim At" by Thomas F. Monteleone - The title gives this one away as the gun control story. Monteleone kept the story brief but it unfortunately didn't work for me. There were too many moments of "Really? That makes no sense for him to do." It ends with a nice bit of irony but at the same time, there was no punch or shock. Or maybe I was still reeling from Keene's gut punch that it took away from Monteleone's story.

"Testify" by Lee Thomas - This story was about religious guidance, or more accurately a public relations scandal. The story is told as a series of press releases and interviews, all focused on a preacher testifying against a gay lifestyle while simultaneously getting publicly caught in his own homosexual affair. His solution is much more interesting than the normal way these things play out in that he uses voodoo to solve the problem. ( )

Four stories that completely miss the mark by focusing on political ideology. Most disappointing is "Sick Puppy," by Del James: the story of a werewolf who contracts AIDS, forcing him to spend most of the month in a hospital room, then for one night every 4 weeks, he heals. ( )