Review – Selected Stories: Horror and Dark Fantasy by Kevin J Anderson

I’ve read quite a bit of Kevin Anderson’s work – some Star Wars, some Dune, some of the other sci-fi and his Terra Incognita series. While I wouldn’t say I’ve loved everything I have read, I’ve come to the conclusion that he’s a damn fine writer. With that in mind, I was not prepared for how much I enjoyed this audio recording of various horror and dark fantasy short stories he has churned out of the years. There are 29 tales in all, and while I couldn’t imagine anyone (other than KA) loving every story, for the most part this was a great collection. We had a mixed bag of creepy, weird, thought-provoking and funny (sometimes hilarious) stories that kept me engaged throughout. Many of them revolve around the town of Tucker’s Grove, but he covers some of the old school vampires and werewolves, and even a couple on Frankenstein and his monster. My favourite was definitely the one about vampire hunter, but I liked most of them.

The narrator (Bryan Anderson (related?)) was terrific throughout, and captured the vein of each story masterfully. In addition, Sonya Anderson (also related?) voiced the female characters, which was a nice touch. At the start of each story, there was a little snippet from KA explaining the origin of the piece. Some of the stories were co-written by some of musician friends such as Neil Pert, and worked well too.

Probably worth 4.5 out of 5 stars.