Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.48 AVERAGE
3.48 AVERAGE
You can tell how well I enjoyed a book by how long it took me to read. This one, clock in at 20 days. Now given your own opinion & reading speed that could be either fast or slow, for me, it's slow. Very slow. I've read books several inches thicker than this one in far less time. A book of short stories like this should have taken me no more than 2-3 days, through the week. But here we are. Nearly three weeks after my beginning it. I'm finally finished.
Given how much the editors talked this up at the beginning, I had prepared myself for something spectacular. Instead I found a largely cliche book of short stories with a few gems hidden here and there. Stories like "A Thing" and "The Food Processor" stick in my head as being particularly horrible. (Maybe I just lack a certain understanding, but....I doubt it.)
Father Bob & Bobby was particularly...well, it was one of those stories where certain scenes of it embed themselves into your brain.
I don't know. I wanted to love this collection. It just seemed like for all the blathering in the introduction regarding the quality of the stories, I went forward expecting a whole lot more.
Given how much the editors talked this up at the beginning, I had prepared myself for something spectacular. Instead I found a largely cliche book of short stories with a few gems hidden here and there. Stories like "A Thing" and "The Food Processor" stick in my head as being particularly horrible. (Maybe I just lack a certain understanding, but....I doubt it.)
Father Bob & Bobby was particularly...well, it was one of those stories where certain scenes of it embed themselves into your brain.
I don't know. I wanted to love this collection. It just seemed like for all the blathering in the introduction regarding the quality of the stories, I went forward expecting a whole lot more.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Eh. Some stories were great, but so many left me cool or just unhappy with the time spent reading them. And it certainly took me quite a while to plow thru this. I kept putting it down, lacking any driving motivation to finish other than to get it off my "currently reading" list.
I think it's because many of the stories have a brand of "horror" that isn't something I like - somewhat real-world pervy "human horror" as opposed to the supernatural. The stories that stood out as exceptional, aside from King's, had high concepts and/or an element beyond human understanding.
Again, eh. Largely forgettable. Not stories of terror and madness, except a few. No, these are tales of creeps and disturbing portraits of humanity.
I think it's because many of the stories have a brand of "horror" that isn't something I like - somewhat real-world pervy "human horror" as opposed to the supernatural. The stories that stood out as exceptional, aside from King's, had high concepts and/or an element beyond human understanding.
Again, eh. Largely forgettable. Not stories of terror and madness, except a few. No, these are tales of creeps and disturbing portraits of humanity.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Faves:
Gary A. Braunbeck: "Rami Temporalis"
Holly Newstein: "Faith Will Make You Free"
Adam Corbin Fusco: "N0072-JK1"
Brian Freeman: "Answering the Call"
Dominick Cancilla: "Smooth Operator"
Bentley Little: "The Planting"
John McIlveen: "Infliction"
Gene O'Neill: "Magic Numbers"
Tom Piccirilli: "Around it Still the Sumac Grows"
Bev Vincent: "One of Those Weeks"
Gary A. Braunbeck: "Rami Temporalis"
Holly Newstein: "Faith Will Make You Free"
Adam Corbin Fusco: "N0072-JK1"
Brian Freeman: "Answering the Call"
Dominick Cancilla: "Smooth Operator"
Bentley Little: "The Planting"
John McIlveen: "Infliction"
Gene O'Neill: "Magic Numbers"
Tom Piccirilli: "Around it Still the Sumac Grows"
Bev Vincent: "One of Those Weeks"
Picked this up at a paperback store and enjoyed its grab-bag of spooky stories. Some are humerous, others dark, but all tend towards the bizarre and supernatural. While I enjoyed most of the stories, several of the tales contained graphic sexual violence or disturbing content so I would recommend reading in bursts. Several times I had to put the book down because I was reviled by the content within. Regardless, they are well written and certainly scary so I would recommend! The Stephen King story at the end is a fun concept, but not the best one of the bunch.
Finally finished reading this. Obviously there was a reason it took so long. Many of the stories are just not to my liking.
I did like The Food Processor because it was sick and wrong...
and I LOVED Stationary Bike which is Stephen King's addition to this anthology.
So many of the stories were just WEIRD. and would mean more thought than I want to put into stories at this point in my life
I did like The Food Processor because it was sick and wrong...
and I LOVED Stationary Bike which is Stephen King's addition to this anthology.
So many of the stories were just WEIRD. and would mean more thought than I want to put into stories at this point in my life
My story "The Growth of Alan Ashley" is in this book. It pretty much gave me a career.
Pretty good collection of stories. There were the usual losers that you find in a collection such as this but there were some real gems as well. The Goat, Prisoner 392 and Story Time with the Bluefield Strangler all come to mind as good reads.