Hot Blood X

This 10th annual edition of the Hot Blood series amply proves that erotic horror is no passing fad: the physical and psychological connections between bodies in lust and bodies in extremis appear to stimulate the imaginations of horror writers as few other themes can. And the behavior of people in sexual situations is always open to new turns of the screw. As Lawrence Block writes in the effective opening tale, "Three in the Side Pocket," "People always got more interesting when you handed them something they didn't expect. Especially if it wasn't what they wanted. Especially if it was painful, or frightening, or both."

The 17 original tales in Hot Blood X include a brilliant, shocking story about radical body-sculpting by the underrecognized Brian Hodge, an atmospheric Civil War piece by Stephen Gresham, a wry suspended-time tale by Graham Masterton (inspired by Peter Weir's film Picnic at Hanging Rock), and a fine tale about fire fetishism by Bentley Little. The other well-crafted stories are by Ramsey Campbell, Max Allan Collins (with Barbara Collins), O'Neil De Noux, Dawn Dunn, Nancy Holder, Greg Kihn, Marthayn Pelegrimas (with Robert J. Randisi), Melanie Tem, Judy Tracy, Graham Watkins, and each of the editors (Jeff Gelb and Michael Garrett).

If you aren't yet collecting the Hot Blood series, start now, before the previous volumes go out of print. Nearly every year, a tale in this series is a finalist or winner of a Bram Stoker Award. --Fiona Webster