A Book of Horrors, edited by Stephen Jones

    Recently, I picked up A Book of Horrors edited by Stephen Jones. I kind of stumbled upon it by accident, picked it up and then saw that it included an original short story by Stephen King: “The Little Green God of Agony”. King’s story was more or less up to snuff, but what I really want to talk about is “The Music of Bengt Karlsson, Murderer” by John Ajdive Lindqvist. He’s the author of Let the Right One In and the story is translated into English from the Swedish.

     In this story, a widower bribes his son to learn to play the piano because he feels he spends too much time playing video games. They become aware that the house they’d moved into was once inhabited by a child-murdering musician who hung himself inside the house. The strange music the boy plays becomes a connection between the boy and the murderer.

     I won’t spoil this by telling you the rest, but I will say that it’s one of the most legitimately scary stories I’ve read in a very long time. And that’s what I read horror for—to be made to feel genuinely uncomfortable if not scared to death by what I just read. You know, in a tasteful way. And it’s very welcome in an era of sparkly vampire love interests.

     Though I actually borrowed this from the library where I work, this story is worth the price of admission alone. Also notable is “Ghosts with Teeth” by Peter Crowther. As with most anthologies, it’s a bit of a mixed bag (though there is no repetition in it). Also, unlike quite a few Steve Jones anthologies, these are original stories. So, if you want try scary, I definitely suggest picking this up.