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A review by mikekaz
Dark Screams: Volume Eight by Frank Darabont, Benjamin Percy, Brian James Freeman, Bentley Little, Glen Hirshberg, Richard Chizmar, Kealan Patrick Burke, Billie Sue Mosiman
4.0
DARK SCREAMS: VOLUME EIGHT would probably fall into the upper-middle ranking of the Dark Screams series. A good book with enjoyable stories but also a couple that fell short. On the plus side though, two of the stories worked away on my subconscious afterwards. I found myself thinking about them and pondering the events and characters and what happened. I've listed the stories below in my order of least favorite to most.
"Twisted and Gnarled" by Billie Sue Mosiman - Unfortunately this story did nothing for me. I didn't feel for any of the characters. The mystery / chase that made up the plot seemed forced. Much of the story is told by a serial killer who by definition could have been an unreliable narrator but his story was too straight-laced to be unreliable.
"Tumor" by Benjamin Percy - This story ended way too fast and was a quick tonal shift. Percy was describing most of the story in loving detail. The miscellaneous blood and guts. The events happening to the main character. And then suddenly on the last page of the story, the descriptions became vague. The gore was hidden. Plus the ending didn't seem to flow with the characters as we had seen them. I was basically thrown off and very disrupted by the ending. And not in a good scary type of way.
"The Palaver" by Kealan Patrick Burke - Burke weaves a tale within a tale with a moral in both stories that goes missed by the main characters. It was a very nice tale of how the monsters aren't always the true monsters of the story. I didn't find the scary parts with hair growth that scary but my wife would have freaked out, so I can definitely appreciate it from that angle.
"The Boy" by Bentley Little - Little is great at making parts of our every day life scary. He finds things in suburbia that are frightening. The normal rules of society that when streched can leave us powerless and afraid. I'm thinking here specifically of his novels THE ASSOCIATION and THE STORE and THE RESORT. This short story isn't as strong as those novels but I found it eating away at me a few days later. A sign to me of a good or great story.
"Walpuski's Typewriter" by Frank Darabont - When I started this story, I could have sworn I read it before. The title seemed so familiar. I quickly realized that I had not because I didn't remember anything about the story. And it's definitely a story that I would remember. It's fun, scary, and pretty creepy. The story has a feel back to the 80s and early 90s horror. Demons, hunger escalations, animal deaths, and finally a comeuppance.
"India Blue" by Glen Hirshberg - There is a lot squished into the final story of the book. The characters are richly developed; I heard all of their voices inside my head with their own accents and rhythm. The town and stadium are also flushed out and easily pictured. And probably best of all, I liked everyone even seeing and knowing their flaws. Who doesn't want to cheer the underdog as he tries to introduce Cricket to central California? An endeavor that we know will fail but not how badly it will fail. And just like Bentley Little's "The Boy", this story ate away at me afterwards.
"Twisted and Gnarled" by Billie Sue Mosiman - Unfortunately this story did nothing for me. I didn't feel for any of the characters. The mystery / chase that made up the plot seemed forced. Much of the story is told by a serial killer who by definition could have been an unreliable narrator but his story was too straight-laced to be unreliable.
"Tumor" by Benjamin Percy - This story ended way too fast and was a quick tonal shift. Percy was describing most of the story in loving detail. The miscellaneous blood and guts. The events happening to the main character. And then suddenly on the last page of the story, the descriptions became vague. The gore was hidden. Plus the ending didn't seem to flow with the characters as we had seen them. I was basically thrown off and very disrupted by the ending. And not in a good scary type of way.
"The Palaver" by Kealan Patrick Burke - Burke weaves a tale within a tale with a moral in both stories that goes missed by the main characters. It was a very nice tale of how the monsters aren't always the true monsters of the story. I didn't find the scary parts with hair growth that scary but my wife would have freaked out, so I can definitely appreciate it from that angle.
"The Boy" by Bentley Little - Little is great at making parts of our every day life scary. He finds things in suburbia that are frightening. The normal rules of society that when streched can leave us powerless and afraid. I'm thinking here specifically of his novels THE ASSOCIATION and THE STORE and THE RESORT. This short story isn't as strong as those novels but I found it eating away at me a few days later. A sign to me of a good or great story.
"Walpuski's Typewriter" by Frank Darabont - When I started this story, I could have sworn I read it before. The title seemed so familiar. I quickly realized that I had not because I didn't remember anything about the story. And it's definitely a story that I would remember. It's fun, scary, and pretty creepy. The story has a feel back to the 80s and early 90s horror. Demons, hunger escalations, animal deaths, and finally a comeuppance.
"India Blue" by Glen Hirshberg - There is a lot squished into the final story of the book. The characters are richly developed; I heard all of their voices inside my head with their own accents and rhythm. The town and stadium are also flushed out and easily pictured. And probably best of all, I liked everyone even seeing and knowing their flaws. Who doesn't want to cheer the underdog as he tries to introduce Cricket to central California? An endeavor that we know will fail but not how badly it will fail. And just like Bentley Little's "The Boy", this story ate away at me afterwards.