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kmt75's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Solid 60s/70s horror stories.
guarinous's review against another edition
3.0
The Shapes of Midnight is a horror collection by Joseph Payne Brennan originally released in 1980, to be re-released this year by Dover Publications. The Dover version collects ten of his best tales, which range from explorations of madness ("Diary of a Werewolf", "The Impulse to Kill"), to the shifting nature of time ("House of Memory", "The House on Hazel Street").
Easily readable in a single sitting, this collection is sufficiently disturbing, albeit leaning a bit towards prose and structure somewhat more geared to the younger horror reader. The influences are right up front as well for horror fans (the Lovecraftian nature of "The Willow Platform" and "The Horror at Chilton Castle", Poe style unreliable narrators in "Diary of a Werewolf" and "The Impulse to Kill", even an appearance of an Algernon Blackwood-esque Wendigo). Regardless, this is a fun way to spend a couple of hours and get a quick fix of horror.
As a postscript, it would appear the reprint leaves out two stories from the original collection, "Slime" and "Canavan's Back Yard", which are included in Dover's reprint of Nine Horrors and a Dream.
**I was given a copy of this book by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Dover Publications.**
Easily readable in a single sitting, this collection is sufficiently disturbing, albeit leaning a bit towards prose and structure somewhat more geared to the younger horror reader. The influences are right up front as well for horror fans (the Lovecraftian nature of "The Willow Platform" and "The Horror at Chilton Castle", Poe style unreliable narrators in "Diary of a Werewolf" and "The Impulse to Kill", even an appearance of an Algernon Blackwood-esque Wendigo). Regardless, this is a fun way to spend a couple of hours and get a quick fix of horror.
As a postscript, it would appear the reprint leaves out two stories from the original collection, "Slime" and "Canavan's Back Yard", which are included in Dover's reprint of Nine Horrors and a Dream.
**I was given a copy of this book by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Dover Publications.**
menfrommarrs's review against another edition
4.0
Is that a rendition of Uncle Stevie on the cover?
Another Short Story collection, with an introduction and praises by Stephen King. I did enjoy it, although I found some more Horror-able than others!
Another Short Story collection, with an introduction and praises by Stephen King. I did enjoy it, although I found some more Horror-able than others!
donaldanthonyhicks's review against another edition
3.0
Joseph Payne Brennan wrote uncomplicated tales of terror, and although some of them could only charitably be described as “stories” — more like ghoulish anecdotes — I’d be fibbing if I said I didn’t crack a smile while whipping through these. Brennan is by no means an amazing stylist or anything like that, but his writing is far more competent than almost any of the story concepts in this book deserve, and he occasionally manages to elevate the material with impressive descriptions, a striking turn of phrase, or even just an unnerving detail, here and there, to give the stories some color.
I think I might have tired of these much more quickly if I hadn’t been craving exactly this type of junk, but it actually hit the spot nicely; as always, your mileage may vary.
I think I might have tired of these much more quickly if I hadn’t been craving exactly this type of junk, but it actually hit the spot nicely; as always, your mileage may vary.
wellwortharead's review against another edition
3.0
This was a short but fun anthology featuring stories of madness, sorrowful memories, and murder.
My favorites were Diary of a Werewolf in which a recovering drug addict begins to feel a strong compulsion to run wild in the woods, and Pavilion in which a murderer returns to the scene of his crime. The rest were just ok reads for me, though others may enjoy them more than I did. If you are into short horror stories give this one a read.
I received a complimentary copy for review.
My favorites were Diary of a Werewolf in which a recovering drug addict begins to feel a strong compulsion to run wild in the woods, and Pavilion in which a murderer returns to the scene of his crime. The rest were just ok reads for me, though others may enjoy them more than I did. If you are into short horror stories give this one a read.
I received a complimentary copy for review.
jillmlong's review against another edition
4.0
If you like short horror stories then this book is for you! This book was originally published in the 1980's. The stories still resonate today as pure horror. Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for this ARC.
whateveryoneelseisreading's review against another edition
4.0
I received an ARC of this book thanks to Net Galley and publisher Dover Publications in exchange for an honest review.
Horror anthologies can be so hit or miss for me. I tend to avoid collections published by one author unless I know their work because I have specific tastes for horror and I dislike the ambiguous short stories the genre often results in. I made an exception for The Shapes of Midnight and I am so glad I did!
This is a VERY short collection (~100 pages) of horror stories which are mostly basic in concept but are executed really well. The first two were my least favourite and the most straightforward of the bunch but it was all uphill from there. If you could plot my ratings of these on a graph, it would almost be a perfect bell curve because I felt the middle stories were definitely the strongest. My Kindle ARC was sadly missing two stories (Canavan’s Back Yard and Slime) which might also be why it felt so short to me.
No of stories: 10 (12 in actual collection)
Diary of a Werewolf-What it says on the tin. This was definitely one the weaker ones. It wasn't bad but it was very straightforward and there were no surprises or depth to it.
The Corpse of Charlie Rull-A man dies in a radioactive river and comes back to life. Slightly better than the one above because I couldn't tell where it was going and it was less of a standard plot. I also loved the way this opened, it had a fantastic style to it.
The Pavilion-A very creepy story about a man who murders his friend and returns to check if the body has been dislodged by the sea. This grabbed my attention and kept me excited to see what was going to happen next.
House of Memory-A different type of horror story to most and a refreshing addition to the collection. A woman is forced out of her childhood home and refuses to accept it has been demolished, much to the confusion of her family. Another very decent and enjoyable one.
The Willow Platform-A man in a small town finds an evil demon book. The writing style of this was very entertaining but I wasn't a fan of the story topic itself, which is probably just personal preference.
Who Was He?-A man in hospital keeps getting visits from a hospital barber. This was hands down my favourite of the whole bunch. I read it late at night and was genuinely very scared by it.
Disappearance-Another very strong story about a man whose brother has gone missing and the narrator suspects he killed him. The 'twist' of this was very easy to guess but it was still entertaining and possibly my second favourite.
The Horror at Chilton Castle-A man lives near a castle which has a secret sealed room, the contents of which are only shown to the heirs of Earls. This started off strong but the actual contents of the room turned it into not my type of horror story. It was still one of the best and definitely had some good horror moments.
The Impulse to Kill-A man who has the urge to kill devises a way to do so without being arrested for it. This is a neat enough idea for a story and it was well-written but it suffers from being very linear and not having a lot beyond the basic concept.
The House on Hazel Street-Upon entering a house, a man realises he has no memory of why he is there. The occupant of the house has a specific request of him. This story has one of the more unique concepts in the anthology and it was good but not one of my absolute favourites.
I debated between 3.5 and 4 stars for a while but I felt 4 stars was right since I enjoyed almost every story in here and the writing style was consistently strong throughout. At points Brennan has almost a Lemony Snicket-esque narration style and this was very enjoyable when it cropped up. This collection is very short in the form I received but that was minus two stories so I decided to not lower the rating due to that. Overall, this was a wonderful horror anthology and I would definitely want to read more by this author.
Overall Rating: 4/5 stars
Horror anthologies can be so hit or miss for me. I tend to avoid collections published by one author unless I know their work because I have specific tastes for horror and I dislike the ambiguous short stories the genre often results in. I made an exception for The Shapes of Midnight and I am so glad I did!
This is a VERY short collection (~100 pages) of horror stories which are mostly basic in concept but are executed really well. The first two were my least favourite and the most straightforward of the bunch but it was all uphill from there. If you could plot my ratings of these on a graph, it would almost be a perfect bell curve because I felt the middle stories were definitely the strongest. My Kindle ARC was sadly missing two stories (Canavan’s Back Yard and Slime) which might also be why it felt so short to me.
No of stories: 10 (12 in actual collection)
Diary of a Werewolf-What it says on the tin. This was definitely one the weaker ones. It wasn't bad but it was very straightforward and there were no surprises or depth to it.
The Corpse of Charlie Rull-A man dies in a radioactive river and comes back to life. Slightly better than the one above because I couldn't tell where it was going and it was less of a standard plot. I also loved the way this opened, it had a fantastic style to it.
The Pavilion-A very creepy story about a man who murders his friend and returns to check if the body has been dislodged by the sea. This grabbed my attention and kept me excited to see what was going to happen next.
House of Memory-A different type of horror story to most and a refreshing addition to the collection. A woman is forced out of her childhood home and refuses to accept it has been demolished, much to the confusion of her family. Another very decent and enjoyable one.
The Willow Platform-A man in a small town finds an evil demon book. The writing style of this was very entertaining but I wasn't a fan of the story topic itself, which is probably just personal preference.
Who Was He?-A man in hospital keeps getting visits from a hospital barber. This was hands down my favourite of the whole bunch. I read it late at night and was genuinely very scared by it.
Disappearance-Another very strong story about a man whose brother has gone missing and the narrator suspects he killed him. The 'twist' of this was very easy to guess but it was still entertaining and possibly my second favourite.
The Horror at Chilton Castle-A man lives near a castle which has a secret sealed room, the contents of which are only shown to the heirs of Earls. This started off strong but the actual contents of the room turned it into not my type of horror story. It was still one of the best and definitely had some good horror moments.
The Impulse to Kill-A man who has the urge to kill devises a way to do so without being arrested for it. This is a neat enough idea for a story and it was well-written but it suffers from being very linear and not having a lot beyond the basic concept.
The House on Hazel Street-Upon entering a house, a man realises he has no memory of why he is there. The occupant of the house has a specific request of him. This story has one of the more unique concepts in the anthology and it was good but not one of my absolute favourites.
I debated between 3.5 and 4 stars for a while but I felt 4 stars was right since I enjoyed almost every story in here and the writing style was consistently strong throughout. At points Brennan has almost a Lemony Snicket-esque narration style and this was very enjoyable when it cropped up. This collection is very short in the form I received but that was minus two stories so I decided to not lower the rating due to that. Overall, this was a wonderful horror anthology and I would definitely want to read more by this author.
Overall Rating: 4/5 stars
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