DIAGNOSIS: TERMINAL.

Edited by F. Paul Wilson.

Endpaper SIGNED by F. Paul Wilson!

OVERVIEW: A collection of fourteen original tales of horror with a medical theme. The reviews below give this collection a major thumbs up!

REVIEW: "Only two of the 14 authors tapped for this entertaining anthology of medical horror stories are celebrated in that subgenre: Stephen Spruill (Painkiller) and editor Wilson (Implant). The others are newer writers, those renowned in other regions of horror (Chet Williamson; Thomas F. Monteleone; Ed Gorman) or visitors from altogether different genres (Bill Pronzini; Ridley Pearson). So if theres less experimental writing here than in many contemporary horror anthologies, theres plenty of spark, with each author adapting his or her own specialty to medical horror, and only a whiff or two of the patterns established by the king of stethoscope shock, Robin Cook. Pronzini kicks off the collection with a moody evocation of a moralistic madwoman in the last century ("Angel of Mercy"). Williamson contributes a sardonic yarn ("Dr. Joe") about a venal physician who gets involved in an insurance scam, while Pearson digs into his bag of crime-novelist tricks to create a gripping thriller novella about medical vengeance ("All Over But the Dying"). In the clever "Petit Mal," high-tech SF writer Jack Nimersheim imagines programmable biological devices attacking their creator. Elsewhere, Bruce Holland Rogerss "Wind Over Heaven" tells the pleasantly macabre story of a restaurant owner who gets caught up in the world of alternative medicine. With all due respect to the diagnostic abilities of Wilson, who is a physician, the title of this book should be: Diagnosis: Robust. " -- Publishers Weekly.

Fourteen gripping stories on medical themes edited by horror-novelist Wilson (The Select, 1994, etc.), himself a practicing physician in New Jersey. Though the opening tale, Bill Pronzinis ``Angel of Mercy, about a postCivil War lady herbalist who travels about by wagon and dispenses fatal mixes for girls needing abortions, is quite weak, the collection overall has many strong tales and is not the mixed bag one might fear. Chet Williamsons ``Doctor Joe, about a general practitioner (now 90) who apparently hangs himself out of remorse for the life-insurance frauds hes been carrying out with a cousin in the insurance business, works neatly toward a surprise ending. Matthew Costellos ``Friendly Wager tells of the psychotic Dr. Newlove, who decides to imitate the plot of a grisly Roald Dahl story while on a cruise and sets about killing people with undetectable poisons. The tightest, toughest piece of storytelling here is Tina L. Jenss ``The Cuban Solution, about a female American doctor sent to Guantanamo Bay Naval Station to help fight an epidemic among Cuban refugees being detained at the base and finds herself in the middle of an episode of biological warfare. Wilsons own ``Offshore is a knockout suspense tale whose background deserves novelization: The federal government has taken over the US hospitals, and the rich are now going to hospital ships beyond the hundred-mile limit off the Florida Keys--floating wards with smuggled medical supplies the government has declared illegal. The late Karl Edward Wagners ``Final Cut tells of an alcoholic who pre-enacts his own death, while Ridley Pearsons ``All Over But the Dying deals with the AIDS epidemic in Africa; its the most serious story of the 14, though it descends into melodrama. Top genre tales. -- Kirkus.

1996 First Forge hardcover, Signed by F. Paul Wilson. Fine / Fine.