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cmasterson's review against another edition
5.0
First thing is first: There is a dog on the front. 10/10, no notes, bravo.
But seriously. I'm a lover of the collection. I always have been: from The Twilight Zone, to Skeleton Crew, to my own upcoming book. It just displays so many different facets of the author's mind and gives talent room to show its versatility. Michael Wehunt does this, and more.
I first need to say that the prose is immaculate. I hate the phrase "literary fiction," but this reads like something an English professor would shove at you to celebrate the cultivation of language. Bravo. All of the stories have a sort of folk-horror feel to them, utilizing body horror, cosmic horror, and even the every day horror of loss to a startlingly chilling effect.
My personal favorites are "Greener Pastures" and "October Film Haunt: Under the House." The former reads like a Twilight Zone episode, and I have a weak spot for that. The latter is epistolary AND found footage with an analog horror vibe to it. There are so many things and subgenres that I enjoy in one piece.
In short, this is a fantastic read. I had a wonderful, twisted time reading it, and I'm sure you will as well.
But seriously. I'm a lover of the collection. I always have been: from The Twilight Zone, to Skeleton Crew, to my own upcoming book. It just displays so many different facets of the author's mind and gives talent room to show its versatility. Michael Wehunt does this, and more.
I first need to say that the prose is immaculate. I hate the phrase "literary fiction," but this reads like something an English professor would shove at you to celebrate the cultivation of language. Bravo. All of the stories have a sort of folk-horror feel to them, utilizing body horror, cosmic horror, and even the every day horror of loss to a startlingly chilling effect.
My personal favorites are "Greener Pastures" and "October Film Haunt: Under the House." The former reads like a Twilight Zone episode, and I have a weak spot for that. The latter is epistolary AND found footage with an analog horror vibe to it. There are so many things and subgenres that I enjoy in one piece.
In short, this is a fantastic read. I had a wonderful, twisted time reading it, and I'm sure you will as well.
nerdalicious9's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
marypickfords's review against another edition
4.0
onanon / greener pastures / a discreet music / october film haunt / deducted from your share of paradise / a thousand hundred years. stellar.
renicula's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-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? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Child abuse and Incest
decaying's review
listen, it's WELL-WRITTEN but i don't think it's for me. i do really love some of the stories! but it was kind of a slog to go through some of the stories.
voxlunae's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
ameliareadsstuff's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
4.0
Michael Wehunt's debut anthology, Greener Pastures is a collection that uses horror and the weird to examine human themes such as loss and grief. A talented writer, Wehunt summons a powerful sense of place and Americana throughout his stories. This isn't the kind of weird fiction that ever fully reveals its secrets; these are stories where the important part is the feelings they evoke and the thoughts they leave you with.
bernt's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
A debut collection with a voice of someone who has been writing for decades. The pull of the primordial forest and the abject pain of human loss are threaded together throughout Wehunt's work, resonating all the more. I will be keeping my eye out for this author.
woweewhoa's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, and Pedophilia
Moderate: Body horror, Violence, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, and Gore
Minor: Racism
orlion's review against another edition
4.0
In fiction, there's a technique called magic realism. It seeks to reflect the world we live in, but with the addition of the fantastic into this reflection. The result fascinates me, since the fantastic have to serve the real, make it more authentic. If it does not, if the focus becomes the fantastic, we end up with a fantasy. The other fate destined for this type of fiction if it loses its balance is that the reader is left wondering why that fantastic element is present in the story.
I would say a good portion of Greener Pastures is horror realism. There is some mere horror and one mere fiction story in this collection. However, there are some stories which are about mundane conflicts where some horrific entity happens to wander through on his journey from the abysses of hell to the void of the stars.
This combination of story types and conceit make for an enjoyable collection. The variety and relative shortness help avoid the tedium that lingers in other collections.
One last note: Mr Wehunt's horror is of the "incomprehensible threat of an unseen world that coexists with our own" kind. As a result, though the stories themselves have resolutions, there is plenty of unsolved mysteries left behind. That's how I prefer my horror, and I believe it is shines best in the short story format.
I would say a good portion of Greener Pastures is horror realism. There is some mere horror and one mere fiction story in this collection. However, there are some stories which are about mundane conflicts where some horrific entity happens to wander through on his journey from the abysses of hell to the void of the stars.
This combination of story types and conceit make for an enjoyable collection. The variety and relative shortness help avoid the tedium that lingers in other collections.
One last note: Mr Wehunt's horror is of the "incomprehensible threat of an unseen world that coexists with our own" kind. As a result, though the stories themselves have resolutions, there is plenty of unsolved mysteries left behind. That's how I prefer my horror, and I believe it is shines best in the short story format.