[**] Fear 2: Gay Horror Fiction Horror Book Review

[**] Fear II builds on the successes of its predecessor, [**] Fear, the groundbreaking gay-themed horror anthology that Gothic.net called “the best horror anthology of [the year],” which won the [**] Horror Award, and was a finalist for a Spectrum Award and two Lambda Literary Awards.

This second volume includes among its stories new work by some stars of the previous volume—International Horror Guild Award winners Gemma Files and Michael Marano, Bram Stoker Award winners David Nickle and Edo van Belkom, and screenwriter Ron Oliver. Science fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer, winner of the Aurora and Nebula Awards, crosses genres to appear alongside newer writers like Bram Stoker Award winner Brett Savory, novelist Sephera Giron, and classic British ghost story author Steve Duffy.

And if that’s not enough, [**] Fear II will also feature a new, unpublished story by internationally acclaimed horror writer Poppy Z. Brite.

The dark pleasures and anxieties of the [**] Fear books have their roots in the nightmarish, viral machinations of AIDS and homophobia, as well as the ghoulish, old-fashioned thrills of confronting things that go bump in the night. [**] Fear II will keep you up long past the witching hour.

Michael Rowe is co-editor of Sons of Darkness and Brothers of the Night, and author of the essay collections Writing Below the Belt and Looking for Brothers. A journalist and essayist whose work has appeared in The Advocate and The Globe & Mail, he lives in Toronto, Ontario.