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A review by mochagirl
Whispers in the Night by Wrath James White, Tish Jackson, Michael Boatman, Terence Taylor, Lexi Davis, B. Gordon Doyle, Christopher Chambers, L.H. Moore, Rickey Windell George, Tananarive Due, L.R. Giles, Chesya Burke, Maurice Broaddus, Lawana Holland-Moore, Dameon Edwards, Tenea D. Johnson, Anthony Beal, Brandon Massey
4.0
Whispers In The Night is third in the Dark Dreams series featuring nineteen speculative short fiction stories from veteran and upcoming authors. Massey has done a credible job assembling a variety of stories that offer differing themes and varying degrees of horror which may also appeal to some suspense/mystery fans. He anchors the anthology with the traditional `old fashioned' ghost story opening with Tananarive Due transporting the reader to Florida just in time for the emergence of the swamp demons (Summer) and closes with his self-authored tale about visiting the cemetery to remedy writer's block (Ghostwriter) .
Massey fills the anthology with stories that have political or socially-conscious themes such as slave reparations (The Taken), drug use in the
inner-city (My Sister's Keeper), spousal (The Wasp) and child abuse (Hell Is For Children). Humor is sprinkled in the mix when a "special" boy looks for a father (Are You My Daddy?) and love is in the air when a zombie claims her soul mate (The Love of a Zombie Is Everlasting) . Spirituality is at the forefront when a man's faith in God is challenged by a demon (Nurse's Requiem), false and true prophets clash (Power and Purpose), and the aftereffects of internalized intra-race discrimination manifest themselves on an unsuspecting office worker (Scab).
Although I found most stories engaging, there were three tales that I thought were notable:
And Death Rode with Him by Anthony Beal - Paradise Pub, a gritty bar in the middle of a desert, has a television that only gets channel 66 and seemingly "permanent" patrons who routinely drown their sorrows in a powerful yet strange elixir.
WET PAIN by Terence Taylor - a very touching tale that reveals misery does indeed love company in a twist on how unconquered racism of yesteryear festers and destroys friendship, family, and community amid the atrocities of Hurricane Katrina.
Mr. Bones by Christopher Chambers - a timely tale that is appropriate in the wake of the Michael Richards/Don Imus controversies. It examines the tortured souls of minstrel show performers who "sold out" their own people with disastrous results only to find themselves reincarnated in a hellish cycle of torment as modern day rapper/hip hop artists.
While some stories appealed to me more than others, I found that this collection challenges the imagination and gets high marks for creativity. I think Massey was extremely successful in his attempt to showcase old and new talent in horror and speculative fiction. I will be on the look out for independent work from these writers as well as Dark Dreams IV.
Massey fills the anthology with stories that have political or socially-conscious themes such as slave reparations (The Taken), drug use in the
inner-city (My Sister's Keeper), spousal (The Wasp) and child abuse (Hell Is For Children). Humor is sprinkled in the mix when a "special" boy looks for a father (Are You My Daddy?) and love is in the air when a zombie claims her soul mate (The Love of a Zombie Is Everlasting) . Spirituality is at the forefront when a man's faith in God is challenged by a demon (Nurse's Requiem), false and true prophets clash (Power and Purpose), and the aftereffects of internalized intra-race discrimination manifest themselves on an unsuspecting office worker (Scab).
Although I found most stories engaging, there were three tales that I thought were notable:
And Death Rode with Him by Anthony Beal - Paradise Pub, a gritty bar in the middle of a desert, has a television that only gets channel 66 and seemingly "permanent" patrons who routinely drown their sorrows in a powerful yet strange elixir.
WET PAIN by Terence Taylor - a very touching tale that reveals misery does indeed love company in a twist on how unconquered racism of yesteryear festers and destroys friendship, family, and community amid the atrocities of Hurricane Katrina.
Mr. Bones by Christopher Chambers - a timely tale that is appropriate in the wake of the Michael Richards/Don Imus controversies. It examines the tortured souls of minstrel show performers who "sold out" their own people with disastrous results only to find themselves reincarnated in a hellish cycle of torment as modern day rapper/hip hop artists.
While some stories appealed to me more than others, I found that this collection challenges the imagination and gets high marks for creativity. I think Massey was extremely successful in his attempt to showcase old and new talent in horror and speculative fiction. I will be on the look out for independent work from these writers as well as Dark Dreams IV.