Be Very Afraid!: More Tales of Horror

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

Award-winning author Edo van Belkom, who edited Be Afraid! (2000), has
assembled (and contributed to) a second collection of 14 scary stories
that range in length from 4 to 27 pages. The stories’ authors, more
than half of them Canadians, include well-known names, such as Robert J.
Sawyer and Ed Greenwood, and virtual newcomers, like Loren L. Barrett
and Sheri White.

In his foreword, van Belkom explains that “each of these stories has
its roots in the everyday lives of young people as they try to make
their way in the world.” Some of the stories, such as Sawyer’s
“Driving a Bargain,” in which a teen’s first car happens to be
“haunted,” or Michael Kelly’s “In the Shadows,” wherein
David’s physically abusive father is devoured by the “thing” under
David’s bed, are of the more traditional “spooky” variety. Others,
like Michael Aruda’s “Monster on His Back,” which finds a teenage
boy overcoming his fear of inviting a girl out on a date, explore the
normal anxieties in adolescents’ lives.

Contemporary issues also make their way into the stories. Michael
Rowe’s “The Night Is Yours Alone” sees a junior-high boy having to
deal with homophobic bullies. Two girls learn just how harmful smoking
can be to their health in Randy D. Ashburn’s “Just One Taste,”
while an unusual outcome of anorexia is found in White’s “Wasting
Away.”

With nine of the stories featuring male central characters, reluctant
male readers may be especially drawn to the book. The collection’s
closing pages provide brief biographical paragraphs about the
contributors, including their Website URLs where available. Recommended.