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A review by ronweston
Dark Screams: Volume Two by Robert R. McCammon, Richard Chizmar
4.0
Disclosure: I received an uncorrected proof of this e-book from NetGallery for an honest review.
This second volume of Dark Screams is as impressive as the first. All of the stories are well-written and each has its own take on horror.
Robert McCammon's leadoff tale, "The Deep End" is an old fashioned, satisfying horror story of grief and revenge. The chills mount as the murkiness of pool waters close in on the hunter and when the climax occurs it is quick and pulse pounding. Like the King story in the first volume, there is just enough sf to remind older readers of Saturday afternoon matinees of 57 to 68 minute chillers. This reprint from Night Visions IV (1987) was well-worth resurrecting.
Norman Prentiss is a really fine writer. "Interval" is a tale in which the horror seems to be unfolding in a specific direction and then takes a sharp turn from real, mundane horror into the supernatural. Well done and creepy.
With the atmospheric depictions of the Foster farmhouse, I was expecting Shawntelle Madison's "If These Walls Could Talk" to be a haunted house story, even though she deftly dropped little clues that there was something else going on. When Eleanor finally realizes that the oddness is really deadly the tale suddenly moves from hauntings to a human based horror that is quite Poesque.
Graham Masterton's "The Night Hider" is a story of the dark origins of a children's fantastic masterwork. This tale has revenge at its heart but there is pathos in the revelation. And there is real horror in the final scene.
"Whatever" by Richard Christian Masterson is a reprint from Douglas Winter's 1997 themed anthology Revelations. This longish story is told piecemeal, using interviews, magazine excerpts, song lyrics, journal entries, and a non-sequential timeline to describe the slow death of a 70s rock group. While some might scratch their heads trying to find the horror element in this tale it essentially is a depiction of the horror that is human in nature. Of all the stories in this volume this is the one I want to reread.
The quality of the stories in this volume bodes well for future releases in the series. (less)
This second volume of Dark Screams is as impressive as the first. All of the stories are well-written and each has its own take on horror.
Robert McCammon's leadoff tale, "The Deep End" is an old fashioned, satisfying horror story of grief and revenge. The chills mount as the murkiness of pool waters close in on the hunter and when the climax occurs it is quick and pulse pounding. Like the King story in the first volume, there is just enough sf to remind older readers of Saturday afternoon matinees of 57 to 68 minute chillers. This reprint from Night Visions IV (1987) was well-worth resurrecting.
Norman Prentiss is a really fine writer. "Interval" is a tale in which the horror seems to be unfolding in a specific direction and then takes a sharp turn from real, mundane horror into the supernatural. Well done and creepy.
With the atmospheric depictions of the Foster farmhouse, I was expecting Shawntelle Madison's "If These Walls Could Talk" to be a haunted house story, even though she deftly dropped little clues that there was something else going on. When Eleanor finally realizes that the oddness is really deadly the tale suddenly moves from hauntings to a human based horror that is quite Poesque.
Graham Masterton's "The Night Hider" is a story of the dark origins of a children's fantastic masterwork. This tale has revenge at its heart but there is pathos in the revelation. And there is real horror in the final scene.
"Whatever" by Richard Christian Masterson is a reprint from Douglas Winter's 1997 themed anthology Revelations. This longish story is told piecemeal, using interviews, magazine excerpts, song lyrics, journal entries, and a non-sequential timeline to describe the slow death of a 70s rock group. While some might scratch their heads trying to find the horror element in this tale it essentially is a depiction of the horror that is human in nature. Of all the stories in this volume this is the one I want to reread.
The quality of the stories in this volume bodes well for future releases in the series. (less)