Reviews

Dark Forces by Ramsey Campbell, Kirby McCauley, Lisa Tuttle, Russell Kirk, T.E.D. Klein, Edward Gorey, Ray Bradbury, Edward Bryant, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Theodore Sturgeon, Stephen King, Robert Aickman, Charles L. Grant, Gene Wolfe, Davis Grubb, Karl Edward Wagner, Robert Bloch, Manly Wade Wellman, Richard Christian Matheson, Clifford D. Simak, Joyce Carol Oates, Dennis Etchison, Gahan Wilson, Richard Matheson, Joe Haldeman

tastybourbon's review against another edition

4.0

"The Mist" by Stephen King stands out as the best contribution to the collection by far. I have to admit it surprised me as I had never really given his material much of a shot before reading this collection. I can't really say it was scary. However, it was tense, engrossing, and very realistic...well realistic at least in terms of the characters and how people would react in such a situation. If I were to just provide a rating for "The Mist," it would probably be either 4.5 or 5 stars. However, the remainder of the collection isn't as strong and some stories miss the mark altogether. The ones to absolutely avoid in my opinion are fortunately limited to the two titles of "The Bingo Master" and "Traps." The stories I would recommend taking the time to read include "The Customer's Tale," "Where the Summer Ends," "Children of the Kingdom," The Detective of Dreams," "The Brood," "Where the Stones Grow," "Lindsay and the Red City Blues," "A Touch of Petulance", and "Where There's a Will." The rest of the collection, which I believe totaled eleven tales by a really fast count, were okay, but I can't really say I would have been disappointed if I would have just skipped them. I think the book would have benefited from having less filler material and certainly if it had been published without the first two stories I mentioned which seem to be loathed by most reviewers. Overall though it was a fun collection to read, especially around the time of Halloween!