Gathering the Bones

Gathering the Bones (2003) is an anthology by Jack Dann, Dennis Etchison, and Ramsey Campbell comprising 34 short horror stories from various authors. The stories range in subject matter from battling paranormal creatures to telling ghost stories in the trenches during WWI. Critics praise the anthology for attempting to redefine the horror genre and for testing the boundaries of common genre tropes. Dann is a multi-award-winning American editor, writing teacher, and science fiction writer; Etchison was a horror and fantasy editor and novelist; Campbell is the author of more than 30 novels and numerous short stories.

One of the best-known stories in the collection is “The Hanged Man of Oz” by Steve Nagy. The story centers on Michael and his neighbor Denise. Michael fancies Denise but he is scared to ask her out in case she rejects him. Finally, he asks her out, and they decide to watch The Wizard of Oz. She tells him scary stories while they watch the film.

After the date, Michael goes home alone. He cannot stop thinking about the movie characters. He sees them in his dreams, and he is convinced that they plan to harm him. Denise warns him that it is just a story and that he is allowing his imagination to consume him. However, the characters cause him to lose his sense of identity, and he becomes a shadow of his former self. “The Hanged Man of Oz” is an example of psychological horror.



Another psychological horror story in the collection is “Sounds Like,” by Mike O’Driscoll. This tale focuses solely on one character and his slow but sure mental deterioration. The protagonist, Larry, works as a call center monitor. One day, his child dies. Struggling to cope with his grief, his work helps to distract him. When he loses his wife a short time later, work becomes his obsession.

Larry can’t focus on anything but the sound waves. His sense of hearing goes into overdrive; he hears sounds that aren’t there, such as the movement of his own facial muscles and sweat sliding down his chest. More than anything, Larry wishes to hear his loved ones over the radio. Before long, he thinks that he can hear them. Larry’s state of mind deteriorates, and he eventually loses his ability to hear.

Some stories in Gathering the Bones are controversial, receiving very mixed critical reviews. One such story, “Li’l Miss Ultrasound” by Robert Devereaux, satirizes the sexual objectification of everything, asking why society obsesses over sexuality so much. Set some time in the future, “Li’l Miss Ultrasound” focuses on a beauty pageant for fetuses. In the story, women can airbrush their ultrasound images. There is a worldwide competition for the most attractive fetuses; the prettiest fetuses have their lives mapped out for them before they’re even born.



“Li’l Miss Ultrasound” isn’t simply about pretty babies. The expectant mothers and their doctors sexualize the fetuses by dressing them in adult clothes and cosmetics. They pose in highly provocative positions, and only the most daring mother has a shot of winning the contest. Throughout the story, these women and their pageant managers prove that they will do whatever it takes to win—even if that victory turns them into monsters.

A handful of stories in the collection have a very clear sense of time and place. They are about building an atmosphere and creating a feeling of unease. An example of this technique is “No Man’s Land” by Chris Lawson and Simon Brown. Taking place in the trenches during WWI, it begins with the men telling each other stories. With no campfire or light, they talk under cover of complete darkness.

One soldier talks about the ghosts that wander through No Man’s Land. The ghosts feast on the dead. They don’t discriminate between either side of the war—all they care about is devouring human souls. This story terrifies the other soldiers, giving them an extra incentive to stay alive.



For one soldier, however, the tension is too much to bear. The line between fiction and reality blurs, and he eventually ventures into No Man’s Land to confront the ghosts. Stepping into No Man’s Land gives this soldier control over his imagination, and he overcomes his fear of ghosts. The reality of No Man’s Land is far more terrifying than any campfire story.

Some tales pay homage to older, classic stories. “The Mezzotint” by Lisa Turtle, for example, is a retelling of “The Mezzotint” by M.R. James. Turtle takes James’s earlier concept and modernizes it for the contemporary reader. Another such story is “The Intervention” by Kim Newman. This is a retelling of Franz Kafka’s philosophical tale, “The Trial.” In both Newman and Kafka’s stories, the focus is on characters trapped by their circumstances who fall into paranoid, delusional states of mind.