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A review by michael_benavidez
Stained & Starless Places by Jeremy Megargee
5.0
My constant criticism of short story collections is always the length of the story vs the feeling that there should be more to it.
There's the good way (in which the tale is so gripping that I want more) and the not so good way (in which I feel like there's more to this story that can be told in order to make it extra gripping).
Stained and Starless contains both. And it contains the third: just great perfect length stories.
Doll Eater, Sunfish, Under Moonbeams, Playful are such great vivid stories that navigate through some fantastic fun fucking ideas that I was blown away. His prose is lyrical, it's fast and easy, but sharp and detailed. And when combined with such amazing stories I was blown away.
Of course as I said there's a few that leave me wanting more in the way that I felt maybe could have taken time to explore. The Octopus may be the biggest one. I really really enjoyed the concept beginning and end, just the middle felt like trying to tie points A to C together with ad little B as possible.
Even then it's a minor complaint because I was enthralled by these stories and the turns they take (Doll Eater being my favorite along with The Octopus despite what I just said about it. Oh and Playful also knocked me on my ass).
What I loved though was his absolute delight in taking turns on genre. There's some weird concepts in here that I absolutely loved. Even the lesser weird were written with such style and demented elegance that they turned out weird. From space horror, to dystopian, to nature based horror, Lovecraftian, cosmic, and just a wide variety to keep you entertained and on the balls of your feet.
This is definitely more than a 4 star review, and I did knock it a point cuz of a few stories that felt like they needed more meat on their bones. So I'll give this a good
4 and a half out of 5
There's the good way (in which the tale is so gripping that I want more) and the not so good way (in which I feel like there's more to this story that can be told in order to make it extra gripping).
Stained and Starless contains both. And it contains the third: just great perfect length stories.
Doll Eater, Sunfish, Under Moonbeams, Playful are such great vivid stories that navigate through some fantastic fun fucking ideas that I was blown away. His prose is lyrical, it's fast and easy, but sharp and detailed. And when combined with such amazing stories I was blown away.
Of course as I said there's a few that leave me wanting more in the way that I felt maybe could have taken time to explore. The Octopus may be the biggest one. I really really enjoyed the concept beginning and end, just the middle felt like trying to tie points A to C together with ad little B as possible.
Even then it's a minor complaint because I was enthralled by these stories and the turns they take (Doll Eater being my favorite along with The Octopus despite what I just said about it. Oh and Playful also knocked me on my ass).
What I loved though was his absolute delight in taking turns on genre. There's some weird concepts in here that I absolutely loved. Even the lesser weird were written with such style and demented elegance that they turned out weird. From space horror, to dystopian, to nature based horror, Lovecraftian, cosmic, and just a wide variety to keep you entertained and on the balls of your feet.
This is definitely more than a 4 star review, and I did knock it a point cuz of a few stories that felt like they needed more meat on their bones. So I'll give this a good
4 and a half out of 5