"Blood, too. And something else, something the investigators said they're unsure of-add that to a hundred other things they're unsure of." - Mrs. Hogan

Rhino Publications deliver to the waiting hordes a collection of twenty stories that focus on body changes that have gone awry due to either the receiver of the wet changes or unscrupulous individuals that are using the victim's body for all manner of depravities. David Cronenberg would be right at home with this exploration of the body terrible, certain stories even go beyond what the Canadian Director has to his credit. While there are clearly medical experiments going into the realms of the macabre Editor Weldon Burge doesn't dispense with the supernatural or usual horror tropes. If you are unhappy with your body shape, thanks to the smug advertising and venal magazine industries, then this collection may be a salient lesson in not craving plastic surgery. And there I thought recent photos of Boredwood female celebs might be enough to leverage people off the operating tables of the medical mercenary. Let's get down to it and see what the collection has hiding on its pages, there are some excellent stories to rock out to folks.

I wasn't quite sure what I was getting with this collection, body modifications aren't really my thing at the best of times with the exception of Mr Cronenberg of course, so dialled in with a slight feeling of this being a job of work ahead of me. Turned out to be a labour of love y'all, this collection rocked the house down, built it back up, and then rocked it down once again. The first story by Michael Bailey, Bootstrap - the Binds of Lasolastica, dragged me into the collection and I pretty much didn't surface for air as story after story delivered superb narration with a definite touch of the macabre to make you want to turn on those lights as you make a late night trip out to the kitchen for a glass of water. While there's definitely body modification going down it's happening in completely surprising ways that will achieve the satisfaction level you are craving from your dark genre reading.

You are probably wondering how deep the collection dips its toes into the dark genre, and I'm going to say it goes ankle deep. Besides some pretty shocking concepts, chick hung up by hooks enduring them slowly ripping out - Clive Barker would be proud of that one, we get trips to the Cthulhu mythos, mad scientists creating monsters, more blood than you can throw a mop and bucket at. Hell yeah, we might not be downtown in horror-ville but we are definitely approaching the town limits. So if you want to get your horror read on then this is the collection that is going to stone you to the groove.

I got to admit there was one out and out Sci-Fi tale in the collection, like cockroaches people, and I have to say this was the one entry in the collection that really did disappoint me. A good horror writer would have been all over where that story could have headed but it kind of tappers out into a social comment that had me wanting to flip through to the next story.

While I'm clearly happy with the reading matter to hand I don't think most readers will want to tackle this collection in one sitting. There's a whole bunch of ideas going down that tend to blend together somewhat if you don't take the book in bite sized chunks. I'm not saying everything is same old same old, I'm saying there's such a spectrum of ideas and mental pictures going down that you will need to approach the collection with a view of reading it over several days. Guess it's like one of those French boxes of chocolates, make a pig of yourself and you will suffer for it, spread the goodness out and you will be left with the warm happy feeling of enjoyment. Just a suggestion, if you want to tackle this one like a wild night up the Cross then knocked yourself out and don't complain to me if you are left slightly dissatisfied with your efforts.

Once again I'm very pleased to report that a dark genre collection displays excellent narration skills, originality in thought, and that slight something that gives you a feeling of time well spent as you finish the last few pages. For a while during the 1990s the genre was feeling its way and complete rubbish was being published but it would seem Publishers have knocked those days on the head, outside of the odd zombie specific House, and we are back to getting very solid prose in the genre that makes other genres green with envy. Editor Burge was clearly all about ensuring the stories were not only very solid in scope but were also written with an eye to not throttling the language to within an inch of its life. Two thumbs up for Burge, the dude rocks, the book hits the spot for the well versed reader.

I've given up highlighting personal favourites in collection reviews, invariably I receive mail back asking why I didn't consider other stories, and that has proven to be a good decision with this collection. Besides a couple of minor issues with a couple of stories about every entry in the collection is worthy of note. I don't have room here to list each story and wax lyrical about why I liked it, read the collection and draw your own conclusions folks. I'm not the arbiter of good taste after all. Just rest easy with the knowledge that it is an outstanding collection that will pay you back in spades for the time spent in country.

So I rocked out to this collection after initially being somewhat nonplussed by the idea. The cool thing is there's a sequel already published so twice the goodness yo! The stories are overall pretty solid, well written, and more importantly awesomely original. The Authors selected by Editor Weldon Burge have taken the basic idea of body modification and headed in all directions across the plains of imagination. About every aspect of the dark genre is covered to two thumbs up from yours truly. Full recommendation, this is a very solid collection that will have you giving it a standing ovation as you finish the final few pages. Rock out people, this is the collection for those wanting to see what the dark genre can do if let off the leash.