Queen of the Cold-Blooded Tales (American Storytelling)

Twenty-three original, horrific tales of vengeful spirits and nefarious supernatural creatures are made all the more sinister by comfortable, contemporary settings. Innocent beginnings a tiny spot of blood on a hand-embroidered pillowcase, a summer camper's prank played on his counselor, and a hotel night clerk's failure to place a wake-up call all result in surprising and chilling endings. But what else would one expect from a writer proclaimed the Queen of the Cold-Blooded Tales?

From Publishers Weekly

The ghosts of murder victims return to finger their killers and violently avenge their deaths; nature takes on ominous tones in the hooting of an owl, the nighttime crashing of waves on the shore, or the petals of a dying rose; and fate never fails to administer a righteous justice in this collection of 23 contemporary horror stories. Brown ( The Walking Trees ), a professional storyteller who lists National Public Radio among her performing credits, deftly retains an oral quality in these short tales. Her quirky imagination and macabre sense of humor lead the reader on eerie, atavistic journeys, sometimes concluding with an O. Henry-like twist. While the stories lose a bit of their effectiveness on paper, they are tailor-made for reading aloud--on nights, say, when the moon is hidden and unknown things are bumping about. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Over 20 brief (average, about six pages) horror yarns that feature heavily motivated ghosts, plus a witch or two, doing nasty things, dripping body parts and various pieces of ick-with-teeth: in short, efficient gross-out tales that kids love and adults take care to read long after eating. These ghosts are mean and revoltingly corporeal. Steal an old lady's money and watch out! The hands burying the boys alive were ``nothing but bones!'' Then no knows ``Where Freddy Is,'' except--yuck!--his family will know where his feet are. In another piece, hands appear unattached and active, and two heads talk and hoot in the woods. Animals are featured in two tales: Old Dare the hound makes a rather compassionate return from the Great Kennel in the Sky, but Big Cat, kept in the cellar with its appreciative owner, crunches up...well, let's say the village is depopulating. Ghosts are really into revenge seemingly for eternity, like the group in ``The Wake-Up Call,'' wiped out in life because the clerk had forgotten the call; now when that clerk ``dropped out of sight,'' it seems to be only the beginning. Earrings whisper, scissors attack, a handle (of a casket) hops around, etc., etc. Old stuff, reminiscent of magazines like Weird Tales, but Brown spins a tight yarn and keeps her eye on the last (splat! eek!) image of each tale. Just the thing for the campfire when ``only a few coals glow in the dark, like eyes.'' -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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