Mardi Gras Madness: Stories of Murder and Mayhem in New Orleans

by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, Charles de Lint, Jane Lindskold, et al.

Book Overview

What sort of creatures may have haunted the Mardi Gras festival and who may have said farewell to the flesh in a horribly unique way (and why and how) are the subjects of this collection of murder... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1581820771
• ISBN13: 9781581820775
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Cumberland House Publishing
• Length: 243 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

11 tales of Carnival in the Big Easy

Mardi Gras [French 'Fat Tuesday'] - Shrove Tuesday, celebrated as a holiday with carnivals, masquerade balls, and parades of costumed merrymakers - a carnival period coming to a climax on this day - THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY "The festival of Mardi Gras is a tradition dating back more than 200 years. Its roots can be traced back to the Latin 'carnivale', which means - roughly - 'farewell to flesh'. The premise was simple: a time of great feasting prior to the time of fasting that traditionally begins with Ash Wednesday." - Davis' introduction Many of the contributors have taken the 'farewell to flesh' theme and run with undead characters of one sort and another: vampires, ghosts (even the Haunted New Orleans tour), zombies (of course, in the land of voodoo), and wierder entities. Others (sometimes in the same story) have taken the theme of sacrifice, when the king/queen of a festival feted in high style shouldn't make long range-plans. And, of course, there are the krewes - the societies (ranging from brand-new to very old) that run various Mardi Gras masked balls as well as the parades punctuating the festival. In a city with over fifty such organizations, surely a few may be more than they seem. While the most ancient krewes are traditionally closed organizations - if you have to ask about joining, don't expect to - the younger krewes may be freer with invitations to strangers... Bischoff, David: "May Oysters Have Legs" Tony Viti considers himself a sophisticated hitman - he's been all over the country, even to New Orleans. Unfortunately, he's unfamiliar with the more creative uses of Dixieland jazz funerals, and didn't know that his target's into voodoo... Braunbeck, Gary A.: "Down in Darkest Dixie Where the Dead Don't Dance" Pete Russell's calling as a homicide cop broke his heart, bringing him to a suicide's deathbed this Mardi Gras. But death brings him one final case, as a fellow ghost's killers hunt yet again. Russell's hideous flashbacks will haunt readers even as they enjoy his exchanges with the Goth chick whose murder he seeks to avenge ("I'm tired of being hassled by the Man!"). Crowther, Peter: "Songs of Leaving" New Orleans' last festival, as Earth awaits the asteroid 'Fat Tuesday'. But the city has taken to heart the old Cajun adage, "Come the end of the world, we *better* be dancin'...", facing the end with both style and dignity. [The F/SF elements weren't necessary to make this a good story.] Davis, R.: "Fat Tuesday" Narrator Martin Grant, a freelance writer, enjoys covering the underside of public events; hearing of the 'Vampire John' serial killings this Mardi Gras, how can the man who uncovered the 'werewolf' Times Square Murders resist? But catching the perpetrator seems unlikely: a scant physical description - tall and strong, judging by some of the victims, no hair or fibers left at the scene... de Lint, Charles: "Masking Indian" (collected in de Lint's TAPPING THE DREAM TREE) Braided for

Pretty good book, but I have a few problems with it

This book is great for those of us who like stories with a twist, stories about Mardi Gras, or just plain good reading. Overall, I think it is a great collection of short stories that, for the most part, are entertaining to read.Here's one of the main problems that I have with the book. If it's a collection of stories about New Orleans Mardi Gras, why do most of the stories appear to be written by British authors? If you look, you'll see some traits of UK vocabulary and spelling, such as using "realise" when a US author would have spelled it "realize". That doesn't give these authors as much credibility to me, but, who really cares?I think the last story of the book was DEFINITELY the best. If you've ever been to New Orleans and done one of the Haunted History tours, you'll surely recognize the characters in this story. Wonderful!!

Not for the faint of heart!

Mardi Gras Madness is a collection of eleven stories by as many authors, the topics ranging from the light-hearted to the macabre. All of the stories are set primarily in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. Definitely recommended for those who enjoy dark tales of murder and the supernatural. The stories will send delightful chills of terror down your spine, and make you want to sleep with the lights on. This book would make a good purchase for those with a-- twisted-- sense of humor. All eleven are short stories, but there are elements in many of them that will have you going back to read it again.One of my personal favorites out of this book was "The Invisible Woman's Clever Disguise", one of the more light-hearted pieces about a middle-aged woman from Portland who discovers she's become invisible, and decides to have a bit of fun. She goes to New Orleans for her first Mardi Gras, where she gets an surprise invitation from a new and rather unorthodox krewe.Two more of my favorites are "Farewell to the Flesh", a decidely darker tale about a vampire who gets involved with a group of cultists; and "Down in Darkest Dixie Where the Dead Don't Dance", another dark story about the spirits of New Orleans and the ones that return to do their evil work, year after year.I highly recommend this book, all of the stories are absolutely wonderful!