Dark Destiny is an anthology of horror fiction that was edited by Edward E. Kramer and published by White Wolf in 1994, with cover art by John Cobb.
Overview
Dark Destiny is noteworthy in that it was White Wolf's first book to reach out from their traditional market of roleplaying fans to the wider mainstream horror fiction audience. Thus, it includes stories and even poems from well-established writers in the genre such as Harlan Ellison and Robert Bloch. Bloch's included story, "The Scent of Vinegar", was his final published work, as he died shortly before the book went to press; the story went on to win the 1995 Bram Stoker Award for Best Novelette. White Wolf used the momentum provided by Dark Destiny's generally positive reception to publish further mainstream horror and fantasy fiction, establishing the Borealis imprint to publish new and reprinted works from influential writers in the genre, including a series of reprinted books by Harlan Ellison.
Several of the included stories are explicitly set in the World of Darkness, and some directly tie in with other contemporary Vampire: The Masquerade fiction; additionally, the book's cover text references the Gothic-Punk milieu of the World of Darkness setting. However, the book is not directly branded with the World of Darkness name, and while most stories are agnostic regarding their setting, a few contradict the established World of Darkness canon. (Nancy Holder's story "Leaders of the Pack" takes place in the distant future - the future of a setting that is, in the end, confirmed to be the World of Darkness.)
The characters introduced with the "In the Forests of the Night" short story later appear in the Masquerade of the Red Death Trilogy, also by Robert Weinberg.
Dark Destiny was followed by two additional volumes, Dark Destiny: Progenitors of Fate (1995) and Dark Destiny III: Children of Dracula (1996), both of which were also edited by Edward Kramer.
Contents
- Forward by Edward E. Kramer
- "That Evil Stuff Again": Introduction by John Mason Skipp
- "Sensible City" by Harlan Ellison
- "Dreaming Saturn" by James S. Dorr
- "The Scent of Vinegar" by Robert Bloch
- "In the Garden" by Esther M. Freisner
- "But I Feel the Bright Eyes..." by Bill Crider
- "Vampire Lovers" by Lisa Lepovetsky
- "In the Forests of the Night" by Robert Weinberg
- "Leaders of the Pack" by Nancy Holder
- "Tools of Enslavement" by Rick R. Reed
- "To Dance" by Alexandra Elizabeth Honigsberg
- "Small Brown Bags of Blood" by C. Dean Andersson
- "The Love of Monsters" by Nancy A. Collins
- "Go Hungry" by Wayne Allen Sallee
- "Winter Queen" by Rick Hautala
- "Lone Wolf" by Edo van Belkom
- "Night Games" by Richard Lee Byers
- "Touch the Flame" by K. Ken Johnston
- "One of the Secret Masters" by Darrell Schweitzer
- "The Bone Woman" by Brian Herbert and Marie Landis
- "Escobar Falls" by Stewart von Allmen
- "Poisoned Dreams" by Brad Linaweaver
- "Blood Magic" by Scott Ciencin