Hot Blood is an anthology series I picked up in High School over 20 years ago and forgot at my parents’ house when I moved to college. Fast forward 20 years later, while visiting my parents, I stumbled upon some old boxes of mine, and that’s when I saw this book again.
Hot Blood has stories by Ramsey Cambell, Graham Masterton, Robert R. McCammon, F. Paul Wilson, and many others. So, I added it to my collection of books and recently read it. So here is the review of it, in case you’re wondering if you should read it as well.
Hot Blood Review
Back in my High School years, I picked up a book by Poppy Z. Brite, an author who wrote numerous erotic horror fiction works, and I was hooked. So, when I discovered Hot Blood, I got it in hopes that it would have similar stories.
There’s also something exciting about an anthology. If the story sucks, it will be over soon. On the other hand, if the story is great, you wish it were a longer novel.
In this case, it gave me the option to discover new authors. But I have to say upfront, I didn’t love it.
Let’s not confuse that for hating it, though. It was decent.
Is There a Central Plot?
Hot Blood’s only requirements were to have stories that involved sex and horror in any sense, whether that’s purely fictional, fantastical, or borderline realistic, and in many aspects, this book delivers.
The Changeling and other stories that stuck with me
Hot Blood starts with a bang! They placed the best story up front. And in my case, it worked to keep me hooked.
The Changeling is a story about a beautiful woman and a man who wants her. It turns out she’s some type of shapeshifter who turns any man who sleeps with her into a beautiful woman.
There’s a lot more to the story than that, but I don’t want to give too much away.
The sex is written in graphic detail, but not pornographic. It helps the story along. In fact in each of the stories, there is sex, but it never gets pornographic, although there is a lot of peen and vag and even scenes of masturbation with objects.
The imagery is great. I actually felt like a fly on the wall as the story unfolded before my eyes, and I love it when a story can do that, especially a short story that has less time to evolve and hook a reader.
Other stories
The Likeness of Julie is about an emotional vampire. It’s so gruesome that I thought I wouldn’t be able to finish it. I’ve never heard of an emotional vampire in this evil sense.
It really changed my opinion of what an emotional vampire can do, especially when they’re all-eternal and need the most vile of emotions from you.
The Thang was silly in a High School type of way. It was about a man who NEEDS a big dick. So he goes to a voodoo priest in New Orleans, and he gets, well, he gets a nine-foot cock with a brain of its own. I thought it was silly.
One of my favorite stories involves a man getting a vasectomy while the doctor is shooting the shit with him and slicing into him while he’s awake. I felt like I was the patient, not just reading about it.
Menage a Trois was one I could see becoming a movie. It has fleshed-out characters, a good plotline, and a fun villain you would never suspect.
And there is one story where the main character dies before the story begins and they strongly suspect it’s because they stuck a sword in her vagina, but it wasn’t murder, in fact, it might be self inflicted. You’ll just have to read to find out how it happens.
A Few Bits of Criticism
Although there are memorable stories within the pages of Hot Blood, I have to say the rest of them weren’t so great. And I’m only saying this because I can’t remember them.
There are a couple more I can recall, but they were just okay.
I think it’s tough to create a fantastic anthology where each story is equally good. You’ll have to take each story for what it is and perhaps adjust expectations accordingly.
I should mention I found a few typos in it. I know some readers hate that. But, I actually love finding them. It makes me feel like I found an easter egg. But just so know, in case you want to pick it up.
I might not mention typos in the future because, as a writer myself, I don’t think that’s a metric we should be focusing on.
Writing a book on its own is harder than you can imagine, and if it’s an independent author who doesn’t have the resources to hire an editor, chances are there will be typos.
My Final Opinions
Some instances in Hot Blood made me question what I was reading. At other moments, I felt like perhaps I shouldn’t be reading it in public. I think that’s what makes a book good. If the book makes you feel a certain way while you’re reading it, then perhaps it’s done its job. After all, we want to be transported to a magical place, a distant planet and be scared of the monsters within its pages. Otherwise, it’s just meaningless markings on a page.
However, there were certain stories I forced myself to get through.
In any case, if you’re wondering if I recommend it, here’s how I would rate it.
I give 3 out of 5 bloody hatchets.
Have you read it? What did you think of it? Let’s discuss.
