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bunnieslikediamonds's review against another edition
4.0
In my childhood library the horror section was limited. A couple of Lovecraft, and a collection of modern horror called Prime Evil. The latter I would borrow regularly, and my favorite story was David Morrell's Orange Is For Anguish, Blue For Insanity. It had everything: art, madness, migraines, Provence. (Why a ten-year old me found these particular things appealing is anybody's guess). When I recalled this story a while ago, and found that the anthology was out of print (and my childhood library long gone), I bought Black Evening. The story wasn't quite as frightening as I remembered it,but still very evocative. There's not a lot of subtlety to any of these stories, which, these days, feels very retro. Some are rather melancholy, some humorous, others straight up horror. I enjoyed all of them, except the rain dance one which was just too silly. I feel like digging up more 70's/80's horror stories.
monicamjw's review against another edition
2.0
Doesn't quite live up to the adjectives used to describe it: terror, dark suspense, thriller - but that might be a good thing.
balthazarlawson's review against another edition
3.0
This is a collection of short stories, which I enjoy reading. However, between each story is a bit of an autobiography about how and why the story came into being. I don't like autobiographies and never read them. This is one draw back about this collection.
But like most collections of short stories there are some I enjoyed enormously while there are others I couldn't believe ever got into print.
But like most collections of short stories there are some I enjoyed enormously while there are others I couldn't believe ever got into print.
tbr_the_unconquered's review against another edition
4.0
The more I think of it, the more I find that fear is an emotional manifestation that will take us to uncharted territories of our psyche. It is a fear of failure that motivates a lot of people to pass examinations and sports matches, a fear for life itself drives a soldier in a battle and so on. David Morrell's book has a foreword in which he recounts a conversation with author Philip Klass who gave Morrell the inspiration to dig deeper into himself and understand his fears which could then help him in his writing process. Klass defines fear quite well when he says Your true fear is like a ferret darting within the tunnels of your psyche, despearate not to be discovered. Morrell explores a great many aspects of fear in this collection of 15 short stories.
The book is also the evolution of the writer in Morrell. The first story in the collection is dated from 1972 and the last one from 1992 and with each story, I could sense a maturing of the author's craft and method. The first three stories are very short and feel more like tentative footfalls before the author stands up straight and claims his place in the world. My acquaintance with Morrell has been through First Blood and Testament, both of which were action thrillers but here his exploration is into the genre of horror and he is quite adept at it. My favorites from this collection are :
1. The Beautiful Uncut Hair Of Graves
2. The Shrine
3. Orange Is for Anguish, Blue for Insanity
These three also hold some personal meaning for the author for he wrote these at a time when his 15-year old son was diagnosed with a terminal cancer. He lost his son in that battle and these stories were written during and after that period of intense mental agony. Grief to the point of insanity stands out in these tales and it is written rather poignantly.
Other than the first three or four weak tales, the others in this collection are all solid. A good collection and an author who I have come to enjoy much of late.
The book is also the evolution of the writer in Morrell. The first story in the collection is dated from 1972 and the last one from 1992 and with each story, I could sense a maturing of the author's craft and method. The first three stories are very short and feel more like tentative footfalls before the author stands up straight and claims his place in the world. My acquaintance with Morrell has been through First Blood and Testament, both of which were action thrillers but here his exploration is into the genre of horror and he is quite adept at it. My favorites from this collection are :
1. The Beautiful Uncut Hair Of Graves
2. The Shrine
3. Orange Is for Anguish, Blue for Insanity
These three also hold some personal meaning for the author for he wrote these at a time when his 15-year old son was diagnosed with a terminal cancer. He lost his son in that battle and these stories were written during and after that period of intense mental agony. Grief to the point of insanity stands out in these tales and it is written rather poignantly.
Other than the first three or four weak tales, the others in this collection are all solid. A good collection and an author who I have come to enjoy much of late.
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