BOOK REVIEW: Get a Head Start on Halloween with 'Dark Tales of Terror'
Reviewed By David M. Kinchen
The end of August and the beginning of September is a great time for a reviewer to finish reading a new collection of horror stories -- and for a reader to consider what's on the market. Halloween merchandise fights for shelf space in stores with back-to-school supplies in August, but has the field clear by the week before Labor Day, so now is a good time for a reader to buy a book of horror stories with Mountain State settings.
One of my favorite editors, Michael Knost, returns with "Dark Tales of Terror" (Woodland Press, Chapmanville, WV, 170 pages, $18.95, available at a discount on www.amazon.com), featuring sixteen short stories by West Virginia writers. This past March Knost (rhymes with "Ghost") won the 2010 Bram Stoker Award in the Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction category for his "Writers Workshop of Horror" which I reviewed on this site. (Link to David M. Kinchen's review of "Writers Workshop of Horror": http://www.huntingtonnews.net/columns/090811-kinchen-columnsbookreview.html ) He accepted the award at a gala Fish-and-Chips Banquet in the seaside city of Brighton, England.
"Dark Tales of Terror" contributors include G. Cameron Fuller, Karen L. Newman, Brian J. Hatcher, Michael Fitzgerald, Michael Knost, Lesley Conner, Karin Fuller, Ellen Thompson McCloud, Jude-Marie Green, S. Clayton Rhodes, Robert W. Walker, Eric Fritzius, Ellen Bolt, Jessie Grayson, Miranda Phillips Walker and Jason L. Keene.
The collection includes stories by the husband and wife team of Robert W. Walker ("Shy One Pearl") and Miranda Phillips Walker ("It's Falling Time"). Robert Walker is also the author of the Inspector Alastair Ransom series ("City for Ransom," "Shadows in the White City") set in 1890s Chicago. (For my review of "City for Ransom" on this site: http://www.huntingtonnews.net/columns/060705-kinchen-review.html). The Ransom novels are excellent examples of historical fiction. Miranda Walker's hospital story -- she's a registered nurse -- is horrifying, too. Having recently spent a few days in a hospital, for only the second time in my life, I found the experience more than a little scary! I'm fine now, thank you very much.
As one would expect in any anthology, not all of the stories are at the top of the heap in the view of the present reviewer, but even the weaker ones have charm and more than enough terror. I particularly liked the opening tale, "Threnody," by G. Cameron Fuller, featuring a professional mourner looking for a successor.
I hope "Fleshman Cabin #6" by Ellen Thompson McCloud doesn't scare people away from a vacation in West Virginia's wonderful state parks and forests. This scary tale is set in Wayne County's Cabwaylingo State Forest (the name comes from Cabell, Wayne, Lincoln and Mingo counties) and reminds me of George Romero's classic "Night of the Living Dead."
Brian J. Hatcher contributes a fine science fiction tale with "A Sepulcher of New Suns" and Karin Fuller's "Here Be Demons" ends with a pun that will make most people laugh out loud. All in all, "Dark Tales of Terror" is a wonderful collection.
About the editor:
A Mountain State native, Michael Knost is best known for his popular Legends of the Mountain State series, published by Woodland Press (Chapmanville, WV.) The anthologies include stories of legends and ghosts of West Virginia, and many notable writers, storytellers and dignitaries, including Gov. Joe Manchin and author Homer Hickam, have made contributions to them.
The Stoker Award-winning title, "Writers Workshop of Horror," also won the national Black Quill Award earlier this month, taking the Editor’s Choice in the Nonfiction category. Dark Scribe Magazine, a trade publication for horror writers and industry professionals, facilitates the Black Quill Award.
Publisher's website: www.woodlandpress.com