I wonder whether, knowing that the authors were given token payments, it's unfair to judge Love Kills

as a professional anthology. As they are charging a professional price, I think it would be unfair not to. Very few of these stories are terrible. Many are competent, a few are successful. Pill Hill's anthologies are, arguably, performing an important service, giving an outlet to new writers. A lot of the time, however, I wished that the editorial hand had been firmer, had reined in some of the writers' excesses, had explained that 'differentiating' is not the same as 'different'... The opener, Cupid's Maze, by Mark Souza is strong, creepy, and raised my hopes for the book. After that, though, you are marooned in a swamp of terrible prose and juvenile misogyny for a while, before a better second half. Particularly good are: Swollen Tick by Adrian Ludens, All Your Pretty Things by Harper Hull, and Everlasting Love by David E. Greske, the high points of a really solid middle section. P.S. I Need You by Matthew S. Dent shows great promise. In short, then, it's patchy. Costing only one cent less than the Peter Straub's Poe's Children, however, it shouldn't be.