A good collection - some stories absolutely brilliant, others only fillers but do not regret reading it. ( )

Dead Bait is an anthology of horror stories centered on fishing and aquatic critters released by Severed Press in 2009. It has no introduction (Unfortunately! I would really have liked to learn how the book came together.), 277 pages of text and a few pages of brief biographies of the authors. For the $14.95 list price (with a discount by Amazon), it is pretty generous as far as small presses go. The attractive cover art is by Tjie Tsang. There is no editor credited with the book; mostly I found production qualities good. I only noticed a few scattered typos.

As I cannot find it elsewhere I am providing the table of contents:

Fox Goes Fission - Ron Leming
Chum Bucket - Eric Hermanson
Test Drive - Mike Norris
Old Man and the Puddle - Hayden Williams
Brunch - James Harris
Crawlies - David Dunwoody
Jungle Rot - Steve Lowe
Under the Boardwalk - Julius James DeAngelus
Noodlers - Murphy Edwards
Grim Adaptations - Aaron A. Polson
Blood in the River - Steven R. Southard
Piraya - Tim Curran
The Hanged Man -Bosley Gravel
Something Fishy is Going On -Mark Zirbel
Topwater - C.J. Killmer
Dawes - Steve Ruthenbeck
Searching for Sea Monsters - Lance Schonberg
Lobster Stew - Gregory L. Norris
Death Roe - Mark Onspaugh

I have a rather specialized interest in horror, Cthulhu mythos fiction, so I go trolling in aquatic themed books to see if I can uncover a hidden gem or two. The first story, Fox Goes Fission was an overlong disorganized mess and almost soured me on the book. However, I persevered and I'm glad I did. For the most part I was entertained and some stories were well written stand outs. Old Man and the Puddle was a very nicely creepy fish story, about a man in Hawaii who finally lands the big one in his favorite fishing hole...alas. Crawlies and Test Drive were somewhat similarly themed, about the unpleasant behavior of invertebrates, and both of them made me squirm! I also enjoyed the reverse fishing story Under the Boardwalk, the Vietnam war themed Jungle Rot, Piraya as as one of several zombie-ish tales in the book and the fish/lycanthropy undercurrents in Blood in the River. I would single out Noodlers, about rednecks and catfish, for outstanding prose. I was awestruck but the horrific lunatic hilarity of Something Fishy is Going On, which defies description. For my own particular taste, I think Chum Bucket fills the bill quite nicely. Mr. Hermanson has had stories in a few Lovecrafttian books and magazine over the years. In fact I could swear I had read Chum Bucket before in some other book, but no matter. It is not overtly Cthulhu mythos but I am happy to interpret it as such.

I think most horror fans will be happy with this book, particularly if you like aquatic themes. I know I was pleased as I idled away a few nights reading. For the amount of stories you get Dead Bait is a bit of a bargain. ( )