This is a no-frills collection from Megazanthus Press, edited by D. F. Lewis (I’d have liked a brief introduction by the editor on the theme of the collection and some info about the authors). It plunges straight in to the twenty-five stories included. I must confess to being a little nonplussed regarding the collection’s theme before I began reading. After all, how can there be horror if there are no victims? I’ll be blunt: some of the authors cheated and don’t really adhere to the collection’s theme, which was a little annoying, but there are some enjoyable stories mixed in here that really do genuinely adhere to the idea of a horror story that doesn’t contain victims. It’s an intriguing concept for a themed collection, and clearly an interesting design challenge/constraint for the authors. So how did they do?

Here were a few of the stories that stood out to me (mild plot spoilers follow):

Eric Ian Steele, “Clouds”: A man notices that his city is changing in significant ways every night – buildings are disappearing out of existence – and he’s the only one to notice. Reminded me (thematically at least) of Stephen King’s “The Langoliers.”

Alistair Rennie, “The Carpet Seller’s Recommendation”: A Victorian British businessman living in Turkey takes a “pleasure cruise” on the Bosphorus that we won’t soon forget. Dare I say that his life will never be the same after that voyage?

Mark Patrick Lynch, “Point and Stick”: Ever wonder what goes on inside your neighbors’ homes? The narrator gets a peek inside his downstairs neighbor’s apartment and sees some mysterious goings-on. No spoilers, but it’s an amusing little tale.

All in all, the collection was a decidedly mixed bag. I liked a number of the stories in the collection and appreciated the ones in which the authors found ways to genuinely abide by the theme of “horror without victims.” Other stories meandered or were simply unclear. Without a “victim,” many of the stories simply presented a strange situation that they mostly left unresolved. A lukewarm recommendation; if the collection’s theme intrigues you, then by all means check it out, as it does include some stories well worth reading. I think it really is possible to craft a story that contains plenty of horror without a true victim, though that certainly presents a significant challenge for the author.

Review copyright © 2014 J. Andrew Byers ( )

Review Copy

An interesting collection of stories that came from the following call for submissions.

"Horror Stories, Weird Literature, Ghost Stories, Literary Fiction. Each story must either subtly or directly reflect the title of the anthology."

Unfortunately, only a handful of stories seemed to pull that off. It's possible I didn't fully grasp the concept, but the anthology definitely got started on the wrong foot for me as the first story seemed to be more of an essay on reading and how weather or music can compliment the reading of a book. Since the first story in any anthology should really set the tone, I was not looking forward to the rest of the tales and nearly decided not to read them.

For the most part, the stories were of a more literate nature than what I'm used to, that's not a bad thing, but I kept coming came back to the title of the anthology. If the title is Horror Without Victims and the protagonist is dead at the end of your story isn't there something wrong with that?

Don't get me wrong, there are some very entertaining pieces here. Take "Clouds" for example. The clouds are erasing buildings and soon much more. The tale is quite original, it's entertaining, there is certainly an element of horror, but again, there are victims.

If you've ever tried to come up with a horror story without a victim, it's a lot tougher than you might think. I applaud the authors in this collection who succeeded where others failed. Alistair Rennie was one such writer who contributed, "The Carpet Seller's Recommendation" to the anthology. You get plenty of horror and in the end, there is no real victim. Another story that delivers on the anthology's theme is, "The Yellow See-Through Baby," by Michael Sidman. A ghost story told by a toddler going through potty training. A charming horror tale that works on many levels.

To sum things up. I enjoyed more stories than I didn't, but I was bothered by what I saw as a lack of faithfulness to the theme of the anthology in many of the tales.

Horror Without Victims is available as a paperback from Amazon.com or directly from the printer http://www.lulu.com/shop/d-f-lewis/horror-without-victims/paperback/product-2107...

If you enjoy literary horror there is a lot to like in this book, just don't be surprised if you find a few victims along the way. ( )