INTRODUCTION
HOT … HOTTER … HOTTEST.
When the popularity of Hotter Blood proved that horror fans couldn’t get enough of stories mixing sex and terror, we couldn’t resist the challenge of topping our previous efforts.
Some of the stories in Hotter Blood suggested the direction Hottest Blood follows. As we began sifting through a mountain of submissions, we noticed that the best of them còntinued the tradition of innovation established in the first two volumes, pushing the envelope even farther to expand the boundaries of contemporary horror fiction. For every story included in Hottest Blood we read approximately twenty manuscripts, and those we selected map new territories in horror.
Our authors have stretched the limits of their imaginations to give you stories the likes of which you have never before experienced. We expect that, when you finish this volume, you will have been introduced to concepts, ideas, and images so wild, so creative, so unusual that they’ll haunt your thoughts and memories for a long, long time. That, of course, is certainly our goal!
There’s been a lot of talk about the changing face of horror fiction, and our selection of authors represents superstars of the future, the ones who will chart the course that horror fiction must follow to continue its growth. Of course, it’s always exciting to read a great story by anacknowledged master, but it’s especially rewarding to discover a fresh new voice, whose earliest efforts will remain etched in your memory for years to come as having first been enjoyed within these pages. In Hottest Blood we offer both: the established professionals and the voices of tomorrow.
It’s obvious from the stories in the Hot Blood series that sex and horror strike a responsive chord. The ongoing success of the Hot Blood books demonstrates that, while the combination may prove deadly, it’s also intriguing and delicious … the ultimate forbidden fruit.
Indulge!
Jeff Gelb
Michael Garrett
January 1993