BOOK REVIEW: TALES OF THE LOST VOLUME II: A COVID-19 CHARITY ANTHOLOGY EDITED BY EUGENE M JOHNSON

Tales of the Lost: Volume II is a collection of dark creative work: short fiction, poetry, and black and white artwork dedicated to the essential workers and victims of the Covid-19 pandemic. Editors Eugene Johnson (Where Nightmares Come From) and Steve Dillon (Things in the Well) set the dinner table with a potluck of eighteen entrees cooked up by established speculative genre scribes. All but four stories are original to the anthology, but the reprints include those from powerhouses Joe Hill and Neil Gaiman. Unlike some of the other Covid-linked collections released over the past year, the stories are free of even the tiniest jab of political soapboxing. There appears to be no fixed theme except that all of the pieces fall somewhere on the horror spectrum, ensuring there is something for every reader. Six of the offerings stood out for me in their originality, prose style, and impact.


Rock and metal music often hoard a lion’s share of tragic storylines in their lyrics, and the music of Our Tragic Heroine, the band on which Matthew R. Davis’ story is named, is no different. In one of the quieter horror pieces in the book, four members at the height of their band’s career gather in their guitarist’s dressing room to discuss news of a sudden tragedy, the death of their dark muse, a woman whose personal torments they used to fuel their most successful songs. In his biography, Davis reveals that he is a musician himself, and his inside knowledge works to his advantage, as the subtle details with which he imbues the tale ring true, rendering an engrossingly sad and heartfelt story of the darkness that exists behind a concert’s curtain.


Lisa Morton offers another compelling psychological portrait; “The Deals We Make” opens with “There’s a man who comes through my window at night. Sometimes he crawls into my bed. Sometimes he sleeps in a dresser drawer. I made a deal with him.” After learning of her aging, divorced mother’s medical diagnosis—vascular dementia— the unnamed narrator is instantly saddled with the weight of caring for her infirm parent until a fortuitous encounter with a mysterious figure offers her respite. Unfortunately, nothing that comes easy is ever really free. Sprinkled with Morton’s whip-smart prose, her story might be the best twist on the Faustian tale I’ve ever encountered.


Christina Sng’s poem “Little Lost Girl” is a creepily fun little ditty about a serial killer, a hostage, her daughter…and a question of which of the three is truly the most dangerous. “Lady of Styx” by Stephanie M. Wytovich is only four stanzas in length, but each of them drip with thickly dark imagery, like a hypnotist luring his patient into a trance. Perhaps the most delightfully disturbing of the eighteen pieces is John Palisano’s “The Revival of Stephen Tell,” a story akin to ingesting a powerful psychogenic drug that produces a nearly immediate effect, one that skirts the boundary of diving headlong into a bad trip in the very best way. Oscar and his wife Martha attend an unusual show: according to the latter, they have been invited to witness a magician die, then return from the dead. Oscar is dubious, but sure enough, when Stephen Tell first appears, the magician is bound to a metal frame and promises the audience “a glimpse into the great beyond.” What follows is one of the most strangely terrifying acts of body disarticulation that makes any sawing a woman in half act seem like child’s play.


Hands-down, my favorite in the collection was Tim Waggoner’s ghost story “Forever.” I returned to the tale after I finished the anthology because of its loveliness. A narrator returning to her hometown recalls a childhood friendship with an abused girl who found a way to escape her torment: she went missing and never returned. Though the narrator’s explanation to police in her youth was far from truthful, the adult she became questions the accuracy of what she actually witnessed, and it beckons her to investigate further.  Waggoner’s writing is melodious; his story, haunting. “There’s a light breeze blowing, and the leaves on the trees above us rustle softly, making a sound like a rushing river. I imagine I hear voices as well, whispering words that I can’t quite make out. These voices aren’t sinister, though. Their tone is soothing, comforting, a balm for the spirit.” “Forever” is the perfect opening number in a satisfying collection that serves not only to entertain the reader with a diverse selection of horror fiction and verse, but to benefit a worthy and relatable cause.

Tales Of The Lost Volume II: A Covid-19 Charity Anthology
Edited by Bram Stoker Award Winner Eugene Johnson and Steve Dillon


We lose many things during our time in this universe. From the moment we are born we start losing time, and loss becomes a part of our life from the beginning. We lose friends (both imaginary and real), loved ones, pets, and family. We gain stuff and lose stuff, from our socks to our money. We can lose our hope, sanity, passions, our mind, and perhaps even our soul! In the end when death finds us, we end up losing everything... Don't we?


Loss is part of who we are. We can't escape it. We learn from it, grow from it, and so much more. Some of the greatest stories ever forged come from loss. Within this book is some of those stories.


Featuring stories and poetry by an amazing lineup including:
Tim Waggoner * Lisa Morton * Neil Gaiman * Joe Hill * Heather Graham * Christopher Golden * Tim Lebbon * Christina Sng * Vince Liaguno * John Palisano * Kaaron Warren * Chris Mason * Greg Chapman * Tracy Cross * Stephanie W. Wytovich * Alexis Kirkpatrick * Ben Monroe * Lucy A. Snyder and Matthew R. Davis.


Edited by Bram Stoker Award Winner Eugene Johnson and Shirley Jackson award nominated author Steve Dillon. Coming in 2020 from Plaid Dragon Publishing in association with Things in The Well. With cover art by the brilliant Francois Vaillancourt, and interior art by the amazing Luke Spooner.


Money raised by the anthology will go to benefit the Save the Children Coronavirus response.

---

Rebecca Rowland is the American dark fiction author of the short story collection The Horrors Hiding in Plain Sight and the novel Pieces and curator of four horror anthologies. Her work has appeared in venues such as Bloody Disgusting’s Creepy podcast, The Sirens Call, Coffin Bell, Curiouser, and Waxing & Waning and has been anthologized in collections by an assortment of independent presses. She delights in creeping about Ginger Nuts of Horror partly because it’s the one place her hair is a camouflage instead of a signal fire. For links to her latest publications, social media, or just to surreptitiously stalk her, visit RowlandBooks.com.​

---