"You wouldn't recognize me, Andy. I was a lifeless zombie, not caring if I lived or died." - Marla

Shane Cummings presents a collection of twenty five odd stories that strides to the centre of horror, holds a mirror up to its dark heart, and surprisingly survives the encounter. The Collection brings together a number of exciting Downunder talents but mixes in a lot of Authors from both Europe and North America as well to deliver a truly international flavour to the book. About the only thing missing was something shocking out of Japan involving some long haired dead chick climbing out of the pages to getcha. The collection pretty much forms a testament to ailing Aussie Writer Rocky Wood, and one thinks something he would appreciate, especially with Stephen King's involvement.

Before moving on to the actual review, which has been sometime in publishing I must say, I should mention Rage is being published by the legendary Brimstone Press out of Western Australia. Thoughts that the Publisher might have meet their demise, which seemed to be held with relish in some sections of the Downunder community, term used loosely, have thus proved to be misleading and premature. Like the antagonist of a slasher flick Brimstone are back up and publishing, much to the anticipation of true fans of the dark genre in this part of the world. Let's see what Cummings has brought to the table for our pleasure.

Back in the 1980s someone wrote, might have been Stephen King, that if you really wanted to write a shock ending for a horror movie then you would have the protagonists overcoming their adversaries and waking to a bring new dawn. Same thing holds true for the modern era, an issue Editor Cummings addresses in a book that seeks to go beyond the overtly nihilistic endings in typical modern horror fare. How often have you experienced a horror movie or book where you have been behind a couple of characters to only see them go down in the final few moments? It's boring, been done to death, Editor Cummings says to hell with that let's journey the light fandango of the dark genre except with people coming out the other end ahead of the game either through some self realisation, or some self sacrifice, or hell just winning the game. It's a brave move, and one that probably won't win hearts or minds amongst the increasing cynical horror masses out there. I'm giving two thumbs up however, life isn't all doom and gloom, even Dexter Morgan has a few lights at the end of the tunnel, barring mishaps in the final season of course.

What surprised me with this collection, and which clearly demonstrates Brimstone has some muscles to flex when the need arises, is the number of foreign Writers of some renown who populated the pages in amongst the local scribes. If the names Jonathan Maberry, Peter Straub, Ramsey Campbell, and Stephen King mean nothing to you then you are on the wrong site. We're talking some major dark genre firepower there that should have fans of the individual Authors rushing this collection like a mob of zombies smelling fresh meat. This really is a case of Downunder meeting the Northern Hemisphere and saying look what we're got for you, just answer that knock at your door at midnight, we have such worlds to discover together.

However if the collection had been just a show piece for foreign talent I would have been less impressed, there's a whole slay of local Writers also making the pages and holding their heads up in present company. Stephen M. Irwin, David Conyers, Gary Kemble, and Rocky Wood amongst others throw stories into the mix that are in no way out of place. So if scoring the collection because your favourite Writer has a story featured then also check out the other Writers, there's a whole lot of talent on the pages here that should have "readers gone wild" going down.

Okay so what you get for your bucks is a journey into the darker realms of the genre, with perhaps no overtly go for the throat writing involved. We get monsters galore, including some standard antagonists with twists on their modus operandi, dark thoughts about the future, and even some post apocalyptic nightmares. If needing a good solid horror collection then you are in the right place, the book has some stories that will really have you sitting up and begging. Overall good selection ranging from some Paranormal Romance to vampires that for sure aren't glittering in the sunlight, but perhaps lacking any tale where the metal meets the flesh. Remembering the proof here is that stories finish in the main with upbeat endings and not with typical depressive finality.

Surprisingly, for me at least, there was only one perhaps two stories that couldn't be construed as horror as such and thankfully no poetry. The collection delivers exactly what it claims to deliver, horror yarns that have upbeat endings to amuse and amaze the jaded reader. Please note I'm not saying all the stories in the collection end up in sunny meadows with Julie Andrews cat wailing, far from it in quite a number of cases, but the mode is upbeat, that light at the end of the tunnel. So for once we have a collection that delivers exactly what we expect without the sort of diversions this site seems to wallow in from time to time, namely Fantasy and Sci-Fi.

I had a fun time with the collection, was surprised when I ran across an Author I don't normally expect to see appearing in a Downunder collection, and pretty much can state no single story was flipped over. Each yarn included had its own charms, went at its own place, and most importantly entertained. As such I'm not going to single out any stories or Authors for that matter, it's all good, I had a hell of a good time chasing rainbows from the first page to the last page in a superb collection that rocked the house down. Full recommendation folks, if needing a collection to get you through the day then Rage Against The Night is that collection.

Rage Against the Night is of course featured at publisher Brimstone's site, right here. Is available for the Kindle via Amazon, and for all other formats via Smashwords. For the purposes of this review I read the pdf version converted to epub on a Kobo Glo.