You know the nights when you're wanting something to read just before you drop off? Something that's not TOO engaging, just interesting enough to keep your attention and complete in a very short span of time? How about a hundred short stories in a 570 page volume? Would that work for you?

Chances are you've seen these titles before. Barnes & Noble marketed them in the 90s and mid 00s. There were at least a half-dozen different titles I can remember, all horror related. Apparently someone was trying to ride the great wave of horror genre enthusiasm and JUST missed. But that's okay; the books were mass-produced and sold fairly cheaply, even the hardcovers were under $10. If you're lucky, you can find them at used book stores for $5 or less now…this one I got for $1. And it's worth that for one story alone: "The Thing In The Cellar" by David Keller. Wow! I read that one when I was in grade school and never forgot it…that's how powerful it is, to this day. Anyone who's ever ranked on their child for being afraid of something, read this and be shamed. Yes, I'm looking at YOU, Dad.

Now, in a collection this broad there are bound to be a few clunkers. But never mind! It's a hundred stories and at most they're 15 pages or so long. Or less. It'll be over soon, enjoy the one you're laboring through for what it is and expect that the next one will be better. And it probably will be. Any collection with entries from Joe Lansdale, Hugh Cave and Chet Williamson cheek-by-jowl with Frank Belknap Long, Ambrose Bierce, and Guy de Maupassant is worth it just for the novelty. I think the stories (besides the classic Keller) that struck me the firmest were L. A. Lewis's "Haunted Air", Saki's incomparable "The Interlopers", and a jewel of a tale, "Told In The Desert" by Clark Ashton Smith which is bittersweet defined. Not scary by any means but sad and touching. I loved it.

I have several more volumes of these "hundreds" from B&N on my shelf yet to be read, and with any luck I'll be reviewing another in the next few months. Uneven or not, they're still keepers. Get 'em while you can! ( )