Northern Frights 3 (1995): edited by Don Hutchison

Northern Frights 3 (1995): edited by Don Hutchison; contains the following stories:

Wild Things Live There by Michael Rowe

Silver Rings by Rick Hautala

A Debt Unpaid by Tanya Huff 

Imposter by Peter Sellers 

Exodus 22:18 by Nancy Baker 

The Suction Method by Rudy Kremberg 

Sasquatch by Mel D. Ames 

Grist for the Mills of Christmas by James Powell 

Tamar's Leather Pouch by David Shtogryn 

Snow Angel by Nancy Kilpatrick 

The Perseids by Robert Charles Wilson 

Widow's Walk by Carolyn Clink 

If You Know Where to Look by Chris Wiggins 

The Bleeding Tree by Sean Doolittle 

The Dead Go Shopping by Stephanie Bedwell-Grime 

Family Ties by Edo van Belkom 

The Pines by Tia V. Travis

The Summer Worms by David Nickle 

Solid third volume in Canada's Northern Frights series of mostly original anthologies has one moment of editorial fright early on -- not only is the Table of Contents regrettably centre-justified, but it lacks page numbers for the stories. What the H?

The stand-outs include "Wild Things Live There" by Michael Rowe, a dandy bit of horror that anticipates some of the horrors of Laird Barron's terrific series of stories about the Children of Old Leech while remaining steadfastly Canadian -- the story even involves a migration from Ontario to British Columbia by, well, some things. Oh, Canada!

Another fine story is "The Perseids" by Robert Charles Wilson. Wilson is known as a highly regarded Canadian writer of fairly 'hard' science fiction. Here, some of that scientific and astronomical 'hardness' is present in what is otherwise a subtle, unnerving piece of cosmic horror. Or at least cosmic weirdness.

"If You Know Where to Look" by Chris Wiggins is also a nice piece of dread set in the Maritimes and involving a Scottish legend that seems to have migrated to Nova Scotia along with the Scots. And yes, he's that Chris Wiggins, Canadian actor. And he really shows an ear for believable dialogue and dialect in this story.

None of the stories are duds, though there are a few bits of whimsy that don't work as horror, weird, or whimsy. Editor Don Hutchison does his normal good work, even without page numbers on that Table of Contents. Recommended.