I have learned a few things about myself as a reader over the course of last year. Anthologies, for me, are either a complete hit or a definite miss...and usually it's the latter. I got to page 129 of this book before I decided to give it a pass. I read the first 7 short stories and it wasn't the writing that was putting me off (that was quite good) it was more that I just wasn't in the mood to continue. This may have been due in part because I had inundated myself with way too many supernatural books (it was Halloween time if you recall) and the short story collection Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods blew me away SO hard. The common thread running through the stories in Haunted Nights was that they were all set on Halloween night which was a really cool idea.

 

I want to give a shout out to the story "The Seven Year Itch" because that one was SUPER creepy and was my favorite of the few that I read. I'll most likely check out some of the writers from this anthology in the future. :-)

Disclaimer: ARC via Netgalley

 

                Who doesn’t love Halloween?  Okay, it’s true that in some areas of the country, you will have near adults dressed in nothing more than a cheap mask ringing the doorbell and then being upset that they haven’t received a whole Snickers bar, but, hey, it’s Halloween, and look at those Princess Leias.  Brings a bit of hope about the future generation.

 

                But as most people can tell you, as the Princess Leias illustrate, there is also an attempt to make Halloween less scary.  Some schools have forbidden scary outfits, and most customers in my neighborhood recently have been superheroes and princesses.  (And that is another issue).  While it is understandable not to want to frighten young children, the sexualization of costumes and the move to cute, does tend to be a bit disturbing.  Look at the difference between male and female Iron Man costumes, for instance.

 

                Thankfully Morton and Datlow hew to the original concept of Halloween in this well edited collection.

 

                All the stories are set on Halloween (or on a related festival).  All the tales are spooky and focus on the darker aspect of the holiday.  Thought, it should be noted, that cute can still make an appearance in one or two tales.  But it is cute with a big bite, lots of sharp teeth, and you know, it is going to leave a scar.

 

                Seanan McGuire’s “With Graveyard Weeds and Wolfbane Seeds” starts the collection.  It is, on the surface, a haunted house tale (what better way to celebrate Halloween), as well as makes us of the idea of Mischief Night.  It is a good teen story too, at least in terms of the idea of needing and wanting to belong to a group.  It’s a rather quiet study of it, and while the subject matter and execution are completely different, in many ways it reminds me of Kij Johnson’s “Ponies” – the most chilling story about peer pressure ever.

 

                Which isn’t in this collection, but McGuire’s short story is just as good, so if you liked “Ponies”, read it.

 

                McGuire is followed by “Dirtmouth” by Stephen Graham Jones, a tale about fame, death, and afterlife.  To say much more would be giving a bit too much away, so I won’t.  Let’s just say, it makes a good companion piece to “The Monkey’s Paw”.

 

                Look, if you are over 12, and don’t know “The Monkey’s Paw,” I can’t know you.  Sorry.

 

                Perhaps Jonathan Maberry’s “A Small Taste of the Old Country”.  Considering the Trump’s administrations misstatements, false statements, or missteps (you can pick the word, I prefer lies) in terms of the Holocaust, Maberry’s somber story is a good rebuke to all those statements.  It also, like most good fiction, raises questions about justice, remembrance, and freedom.

 

                Joanna Parupinski’s tale “Wick’s End” makes good use of several folklore and tale motifs as does Kelley Armstrong’s “Nos Galen Gaeaf” (which is set in Cainsville).  Additionally, both stories make excellent use of the idea of storytelling.  Phillip Pullman’s “Seventeen Year Itch” also makes use of this idea and combines with the overuse trope of a madhouse.  Yet, he writes quite a spooky story.

 

                Jeffrey Ford gets bonus points for placing a tale in the New Jersey Pine Barrens but not including the Jersey Devil.  Paul Kane too plays with the sounds of footsteps, and John R. Little sets a Halloween on the moon.  Work by Pat Cadigan, Kate Jonez, S.P. Miskowski, and John Langan round out the collection.

 

                In all, the short stories are strong and contain a good deal of spook and spine tingles.  The emphasis is on fear rather than shock.  This isn’t to say that there is not blood, but the horror is more psychological than shock with blood spurting.  Not there isn’t the odd spurt or so.

GR Cleanup Originally Read in 2010

 

Spike is a 20 something violent paranoid schizophrenic who was locked away when she forgot to take her meds and went a little crazy with a knife on a homeless man. Her life consists of living in a medication muted haze surrounded by other various levels of disturbed folks. Recently her predictable world has been interrupted with an increased number of inmates and the place is getting terribly crowded. One day things are ominously quiet, her favorite nurse never arrives with her meals or meds and she ventures out to find blood smeared walls and to discover that the world has indeed gone crazy. She stockpiles her drugs to retain her sanity and fears she may be the only one immune to the “dream” epidemic.

This is a unique take on the apocalypse. People are dreaming when they’re awake and doing terrible things and you don’t have your typical cast of heroes. Spike is mentally unstable without her drugs, with them she’s a bit off kilter but not as dangerous. She hooks up with a hunk suffering from the dream sickness but she likes him because he has sweet dreams and he seems to like her too, even during his few moments of lucidity so she takes care of him. Danger looms, however, when Spike has a run-in with a band of baddies (and there’s always a group of baddies in a book like this) who are using people as slaves and/or breeders to continue on their quest to rule the new planet.

This was a well written little story that held my attention all the way through. It wasn’t overly gory, just purely entertaining mainly because of Spike’s observations. Sure, there were unanswered questions, and I’d love to read an expanded version of this story someday, but I enjoyed it for the tightly written little novella that it was.

About Dark Screams, Volume 4

 

Hydra | Aug 04, 2015 | 160 Pages

Clive Barker, Heather Graham, Lisa Morton, Ray Garton, and Ed Gorman lead readers down a twisted labyrinth of terror, horror, and suspense in Dark Screams: Volume Four, from Brian James Freeman and Richard Chizmar of the revered Cemetery Dance Publications.

THE DEPARTED by Clive Barker
On All Hallows’ Eve, a dead and disembodied mother yearns to touch her young son one last time. But will making contact destroy them both?

CREATURE FEATURE by Heather Graham
What could be better publicity for a horror convention than an honest-to-goodness curse? It’s only after lights out that the hype—and the Jack the Ripper mannequin—starts to feel a little too real.

THE NEW WAR by Lisa Morton
Mike Carson is a war hero and a decorated vet. He doesn’t deserve to be trapped in a hospital with some black thing sitting on his chest as patients die all around him. His only hope is to take out the nurse—before it’s his turn.

SAMMY COMES HOME by Ray Garton
It’s what every family prays for: a lost pet returning home. But when Sammy, the Hale family sheepdog, appears on their doorstep, he brings back something no parent would ever wish upon his or her child.

THE BRASHER GIRL by Ed Gorman
Cindy Marie Brasher is the prettiest girl in the Valley, and Spence just has to have her. Unfortunately, Cindy has a “friend” . . . a friend who tells her to do things . . . bad things.

Praise for the Dark Screams series
 
“A wicked treat [featuring] some of the genre’s best . . . Dark Screams: Volume One is a strong start to what looks to be an outstanding series.”—Hellnotes
 
“The editors have set themselves a high bar to meet in future volumes. . . . It’s going to be a solid series.”—Adventures Fantastic
 
“Dark Screams: Volume Two [is] a worthwhile read and a great entry to this series. If this upward trend in quality continues, we are sure to see amazing things in the volumes to come.”—LitReactor
 
“Five fun-to-read stories by top-notch horror scribes. How can you lose? The answer: you can’t.”—Atomic Fangirl

 

Review:

 

The Departed by Clive Barker

 

This is one of the least horrifying short story in this collection. Now I have actually not read anything by Clive Barker before, yes I'm just as chocked as you are, but I expected this story to be really dark and horrifying since this is the Clive Barker. I mean even though I haven't read anything by the man do I know how big his name is in horror. But this story felt actually kind of nice, a mother's longing to say goodbye to her son. (3 stars)

 

The New War by Lisa Morton

 

Like the Clive Baker story was this not that terrifying either, but I was curious to what the black creature  was it just the old man's fantasy or what? The ending was really good. But not a horrifying story, just a short story about death. (3 stars)

 

Sammy Comes Home by Ray Garton 

 

In my opinion the best story in this collection. Felt like reading a homage to Alien. I hate reading about animals suffering, but I think that made this story just a little bit better because I was really uncomfortable with Sammy and the other pets returning home with their...passengers... (4 stars)

 

The Brasher Girl by Ed Gorman

 

This one was interesting, but also a bit frustrating to read because I had so many questions toward the end. What was her friend after? Did the friend just wanted the people he connected to kill and for what? Did he get off on it? Did he live on other people killing? Too many questions, not enough answers. But a good ending by the way. (3 stars)

 

Creature Feature by Heather Graham

 

Interesting story, but it seems that the characters in this short story are from one of her book series and personally I just don't like that much reading short stories when the characters are from a series without having read the series first. I could just feel that Aidan Mahoney and Maureen Deauville had a lot of history together and here in this short story we got some glimpse of that. But the short story was not bad and I would like to read more about the Krewe of Hunters. But it also felt a little bit like the odd story out since the rest as far as I know did not base their stories on old characters. (3 stars)

 

Purchase Links

Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble

 

About the editors

Born in Liverpool in 1952, Clive Barker has written and produced a number of Grand Guignol plays, including The History of the Devil and Frankenstein in Love. His volumes of short fiction, Books of Blood, earned him immediate praise from horror fans and literary critics alike. He won both the British and World Fantasy Awards, and was nominated for the coveted Booker Prize, Britain’s highest literary award. His bestselling novels include The Damnation Game, Imajica, The Thief of Always, The Great and Secret Show, and Everville. He also created the now-classic Hellraiser films, as well as Nightbreed, and Lord of Illusions.

 

Ed Gorman, winner of numerous awards, including the Shamus, the Spur, and the International Fiction Writer’s Award, is the author of many novels, including Cold Blue Midnight and the first two Sam McCain mysteries, The Day the Music Died and Wake Up Little Susie. He has also been nominated for the Edgar, the Anthony, the Golden Dagger, and the Bram Stoker Awards. He lives in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

 

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Heather Graham has written over one hundred novels and novellas including category, romantic suspense, historical romance, and paranormal. Married since high school graduation and the mother of five, her greatest love in life remains her family, but she also believes her career has been an incredible gift. Romance Writers of America presented Heather with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003.

 

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TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS for Dark Screams, Vol. 4:

 

Tuesday, August 4th: It’s a Mad Mad World

Wednesday, August 5th: Wag the Fox

Thursday, August 6th: From the TBR Pile

Friday, August 7th: Kahakai Kitchen

Tuesday, August 11th: No More Grumpy Bookseller

Wednesday, August 12th: Sara’s Organized Chaos

Thursday, August 13th: Bibliophilia, Please

Monday, August 17th: Mallory Heart Reviews

Tuesday, August 18th: The Reader’s Hollow

Wednesday, August 19th: W.A.R.G. – The Writers, Artists & Readers Guild

Thursday, August 20th: The Scary Reviews

Thursday, August 27th: Bewitched Bookworms

Friday, August 28th: Read Love Blog

Date TBD: A Chick Who Reads

Date TBD: Bell, Book & Candle

Date TBD: Kari J. Wolfe

 

The book is set in the 19th century with a huge dose of the paranormal. Diana is a young woman who has been encouraged to have ideals unlike her peers in terms of religion, but yet is staunchly critical of anything that smacks of the paranormal. She meets her husband, William who, prior to engaging her, shows her a gateway to hell which quickly changes her mind. William is called away to a trap which spins Diana on a new quest. Closing all the gates to hell.

The book is filled with worldly descriptions which is both interesting but slows the book down considerably. There were times when the description seemed to go on, but I was ready for what would happen next. It did help at times when you really wanted to get a feel of things, but when it was more of the mundane parts of the book, I just wanted to move a bit quicker.

The other parts I did have trouble with was the mix of 19th century with present times. At times Diana behaved much more boldly that would have been allowed in that time. She seemed to be able to behave with men in a way that I don't believe would be acceptable then but would be chaste now. There were also parts where Yi-Kin, her side-kick, would experience a lot of prejudice. While this made sense, but he still seemed to have found a freedom I'm not sure would exist with Diana being seen as a recent widow. He is also a bit stereotypical of what you might think of as a asian sidekick.

Still with the problems I had it was an interesting ride with Diana figuring out how to close the portals. I especially enjoyed Mina, her cat, who seemed to be a bit wiser than your average feline. I give this book 3 stars. You will have to ignore some of the inconsistencies in the era and her behavior, but if you just want to have fun with a paranormal mash up of religion, faeries, and mythology you might enjoy your time here.