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It’s hard to believe Stark House has been publishing great crime and mystery paperbacks for 25 years. To celebrate their quarter century in publishing, Rick Ollerman and Gregory Shepard have assembled The Stark House Anthology. Check out the wonderful 30 stories in this book!
I’m hard pressed to pick favorites from these quality stories, but I really enjoyed “Chester Drum Takes Over” by Stephen Marlowe, a tale of murder and betrayal. Frank Kane’s “Sleep Without Dreams” involves Johnny Liddell in a deadly love triangle. Day Keene delivers a noir thriller in “The Geek-Girl.” I really liked Bill Pronzini’s story of a hit-man who finds himself hunted in “Night Games.”
The Stark House Anthology stands as a sterling example of the excellence Stark House maintained over its 25 years of publishing quality books by outstanding writers! Don’t miss this marvelous anthology! GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Stark House Press: The first 25 Years/Gregory Shepard — 7
Introduction/Rick Ollerman –10
- Hangover/Charles Runyon — 13
- A Matter of Balance/Peter Rabe — 24
- Invitation to an Accident/Wade Miller — 35
- The Tormented/James McKimmey — 48
- Murderer #2/Jean Potts — 64
- To Kill a Wife/Lionel White — 75
- So Curse the Day/Jada M. Davis — 89
- Art for Money’s Sake/Dan J. Marlowe — 198
- Chester Drum Takes Over/Stephen Marlowe — 204
- Sleep Without Dreams/Frank Kane — 216
- The Memory Guy/228
- Nothing in My Way/Orrie Hitt — 241
- Preventive Medicine/Harry Whittington –250
- Die, Darling, Die/Gil Brewer — 256
- The Geek-Girl/Day Keene — 275
- Woman Missing/Helen Nielsen –297
- Backbite/Lorenz Heller writing as Fredrick Lorenz — 218
- Angie/Ed Gorman — 323
- Night Games/Bill Pronzini — 336
- The Silent One/Fletcher Flora –343
- Beware of the Dog/Fredric Brown — 349
- Hit Me/Rick Ollerman — 354
- Axe/Gregory Shepard — 370
- Last Night at Skipper’s Lounge/Timothy J. Lockhart –378
- Barbarians/Robert W. Chambers — 390
- Politics Pays Best/E. Phillips Oppenheim — 402
- Secretaries Make Such Nice Wives/A. S. Fleischman — 415
- The Dead Man’s Eyes/Robert Silverberg –418
- Disorderly/Barry N. Malzberg — 432
- Instruction for Murder/Bruno Fischer — 436
A little math tells me that some, maybe all, these stories were written more than 25 years ago! Still, it’s a swell lineup and ought to make for some good reading!
Bob, THE STARK HOUSE ANTHOLOGY is the best short story collection I’ve read in 2024!
I’ve been dipping into my copy, stretching it out rather than devouring it in big gulp. I just want to make the joy last.
Great stories, great authors. My favorite so far is Ed Gorman’s “Angie.” Almost every thing Ed wrote was pure gold. I would count the stories in this book that come in a very close second, but I just don’t have enough fingers.
Jerry, Rick Ollerman and Greg Shepard picked marvelous stories for this anthology!
Nice one. This looks like a must get for me. I bet Bill Crider would have been all over it.
Jerry, Ed Gorman’s short stories are my favorite of all his writing. He was a master of the form.
OK – got it. The internet is not all bad. George the Tempter strikes agasin!
short “stories” obviously.
Jeff, you’ll be happy that I tempted you after you finish reading THE STARK HOUSE ANTHOLOGY! A great collection!
That anthology looks great, I will have to get a copy soon. I want to read all of those stories. Many of the authors I know by name but haven’t read anything by.
Tracy, you’ll enjoy Rick Hollerman’s informative introductions to each story in THE STARK HOUSE ANTHOLOGY! You’ll learn a lot about all of the writers included in this wonderful anthology!
I need to finish and write up my copy…