Poisoned Graves is a collection of thirteen stories written or co-written by a combination of three authors: Gail Davis, Eric S. Brown and John Grover. You will probably have heard of these authors before: Gail Davis co-ran the now defunct Night Shopping e-zine with Eric S. Brown, who has stories absolutely everywhere. John Grover is also widely published. The stories within Poisoned Graves are all concerned with creatures of the night, with a preponderance of zombies and viruses in the mix. The first story, Exposing the Underbelly, is a classic zombie tale, with cops and the mafia thrown in for good measure. This is followed by Gail Davis' only sole contribution to the book, a well-written tale of stalking and bodysnatching called The Essential. I'm afraid Night Sounds wasn't quite my cup of tea. It follows a goth girl at Halloween, and I suspect that goths might find this stereotyped portrayal offensive. I also felt a little let down by the ending of the next story, The Five Thieves, which started well, with four superheroes worried about being forced to surrender their powers.

The Denaba Incident works a classic set up that readers will no dount recognise from Aliens: a colony has apparently vanished, and a team has been sent to investigate. Next, Seeing Double tells a tale of doppelgangers, and what they might really be. Clean Ups is the first story with the recurring theme of war on zombies. It's an uplifting tale of the benefits of attack versus defence, of sacrifice for the greater good. Bite Me is a little overdone for my tastes. The love is obsession, the characters are wooden, the lecture on vampire myths is irritating, and the way someone can speak with both their brain crushed and their throat ripped out--amazing. Immortal reads like an epic. It contains love, death, ambition, failure, hope, despair and the end of the world as we know it. A virus runs rampant, and with only a little anti-toxin available, the people left sane are going to have a lonely time...

Release Me tells of a man with a special gift--to open portals to other dimensions and universes--and the trouble he causes by proving he can do what he claims. All Along the Watchtower finds an army troop barricading themselves into a grand house against the zombie-beasts. How many will be strong enough to survive till morning? A Woman Scorned is my least favourite of the collection. The cliched story champions greed, and has a plot that will surprise no one. Finally, Heading Home is also rather predictable, with a hellish bus stopping for a stranded motorist.

Overall, I enjoyed Poisoned Graves. I'm partial to a good zombie story, and it had that and much more. As an editor, I found a worryingly large number of typos that surely should have been picked up at some stage during publication, and this concerns me. There is no reason that e-book publishers should take any less care producing the final product than hard copy publishers, and yet I've seen very few e-books which look like they've been proof-read. But back to Poisoned Graves... As an avid consumer of horror fiction, I thought this was a good read. It's packed with high action plots, vivid descriptions and characters that were so well drawn, they could have walked in off the street (but didn't, thankfully enough!). So if you like the idea of out of control viruses, the living dead, alien invaders, or just a good horror romp, you'll love this book.

Poisoned Graves (ISBN: 1-55404-038-8) is available to buy now from Double Dragon Publishing here, and Fictionwise here.