shannny2k's review
2.0
The story "the rich are different" drew me in, and overall I enjoyed it. The other stories were pretty bad.
verkisto's review
3.0
Like the other two volumes of Dark Screams I've read (one and two), I bought this because it was only 99 cents. Also like the other two volumes, the stories are a mixed bag. To make things worse for this one, the bulk of the collection (nearly sixty percent!) is made up of one long novella, which had already been published by Cemetery Dance, at which both of the editors work. Even at 99 cents, I feel a bit gypped.
It starts out with "The Old Dude's Ticker", an unpublished story of Stephen King's from when he was publishing short stories in men's magazines. It's a retelling of "The Tell-tale Heart", and in the foreword, he notes he's "not sure what [the editor]'s problem with it might have been", but having read it, I feel like I have some insight. It's not original or interesting, nor does it have anything to say.
Lisa Morton's "The Rich Are Different" follows, and is about an author who visits a wealthy family which served as the inspiration for a scathing novel about the rich. It's well written and engaging, and it kept my interest, but the twist at the end was a bit stupid.
"The Manicure" by Nell Quinn-Gibney is the next story, and tells the story of a woman who has a neurosis about her nails. It's effectively squicky (Quinn-Gibney channels a feeling we've all felt and can respond to), and it has a suggestive ending I appreciate.
Norman Prentiss contributed a story, "The Comforting Voice", and it's the second story of his I've read. I like his style, and he has a way for honing in on the things that disturb, so I'll likely add him as an author to follow. This story is about family and children, and touches on darkness without delving into the supernatural. Like any good short story, it ends without resolution, and leaves the reader thinking about the future.
"The Situation" is Joyce Carol Oates' contribution, and she's an author who's often over my head. The story is a brief one, and is another of her examinations of cruelty, paired with some disturbing imagery. It opens with one scene of cruelty and ends with another; either one will be the more wrenching of the two, but which one bothers you the most depends on what you bring to the story. Highly recommended.
The last story in the collection is The Corpse King by Tim Curran, which is the novella I mentioned above. It's descriptive and atmospheric, and feels like a well-written story, but it doesn't do much for me beyond that. It's set in 19th-Century England, and concerns a pair of grave robbers. Curran paints about as bleak a portrait of the time as possible, spending several thousand words telling us how unpleasant life is at that time. That the main characters are desecrating graves and stealing bodies makes them about as sympathetic as lampreys, and Curran makes sure we know how disgusting it all is. The novella is mostly description, which gets somewhat old (seriously, how many times do we need to have the smell of putrefaction described to us?), and it suggests that Curran revels in being disgusting. The whole thing feels juvenile to me, especially when he has his characters talk to each other in crass banter. It got old fast, and I went through the whole thing waiting for it to get better. It never did.
So, out of six stories, three seem worthwhile, and they make up a small percentage of this collection. The three good stories are enough for me to rate the entire thing three stars, but by themselves, they would be at least four. The deadweight of the other stories drag them down, but for 99 cents, I'd recommend those three stories. Try to avoid the others, if you can resist them.
It starts out with "The Old Dude's Ticker", an unpublished story of Stephen King's from when he was publishing short stories in men's magazines. It's a retelling of "The Tell-tale Heart", and in the foreword, he notes he's "not sure what [the editor]'s problem with it might have been", but having read it, I feel like I have some insight. It's not original or interesting, nor does it have anything to say.
Lisa Morton's "The Rich Are Different" follows, and is about an author who visits a wealthy family which served as the inspiration for a scathing novel about the rich. It's well written and engaging, and it kept my interest, but the twist at the end was a bit stupid.
"The Manicure" by Nell Quinn-Gibney is the next story, and tells the story of a woman who has a neurosis about her nails. It's effectively squicky (Quinn-Gibney channels a feeling we've all felt and can respond to), and it has a suggestive ending I appreciate.
Norman Prentiss contributed a story, "The Comforting Voice", and it's the second story of his I've read. I like his style, and he has a way for honing in on the things that disturb, so I'll likely add him as an author to follow. This story is about family and children, and touches on darkness without delving into the supernatural. Like any good short story, it ends without resolution, and leaves the reader thinking about the future.
"The Situation" is Joyce Carol Oates' contribution, and she's an author who's often over my head. The story is a brief one, and is another of her examinations of cruelty, paired with some disturbing imagery. It opens with one scene of cruelty and ends with another; either one will be the more wrenching of the two, but which one bothers you the most depends on what you bring to the story. Highly recommended.
The last story in the collection is The Corpse King by Tim Curran, which is the novella I mentioned above. It's descriptive and atmospheric, and feels like a well-written story, but it doesn't do much for me beyond that. It's set in 19th-Century England, and concerns a pair of grave robbers. Curran paints about as bleak a portrait of the time as possible, spending several thousand words telling us how unpleasant life is at that time. That the main characters are desecrating graves and stealing bodies makes them about as sympathetic as lampreys, and Curran makes sure we know how disgusting it all is. The novella is mostly description, which gets somewhat old (seriously, how many times do we need to have the smell of putrefaction described to us?), and it suggests that Curran revels in being disgusting. The whole thing feels juvenile to me, especially when he has his characters talk to each other in crass banter. It got old fast, and I went through the whole thing waiting for it to get better. It never did.
So, out of six stories, three seem worthwhile, and they make up a small percentage of this collection. The three good stories are enough for me to rate the entire thing three stars, but by themselves, they would be at least four. The deadweight of the other stories drag them down, but for 99 cents, I'd recommend those three stories. Try to avoid the others, if you can resist them.
james7634's review
2.0
This anthology is ...alright.
The Corpse King is fun.
The Situations was really disturbing
The Comforting Voice was forgetful
The Manicure was ...not my cup of tea
The Rich Are Different is forgetful
The Old Dude's Ticker - blah.
The Corpse King is fun.
The Situations was really disturbing
The Comforting Voice was forgetful
The Manicure was ...not my cup of tea
The Rich Are Different is forgetful
The Old Dude's Ticker - blah.
howlinglibraries's review
1.0
This was one of the easiest, yet most unsatisfying 1-star ratings I've ever given a book. I love horror anthologies. I own a million (okay, more like thirty) of them in assorted formats and they're just such a fun way to spend an evening for me. When I really want to enjoy one, I do what I did with this book, and I wait to read it until it's late at night and everyone else is asleep and the house is quiet, just for maximum impact.
Didn't help.
I'm gonna break this one down by story, because... well, why not?
THE OLD DUDE'S TICKER by Stephen King ➳➳ ★★★★☆
A horror anthology starting with King? Should be a good sign, right? King prefaced the story by explaining this one was an old, unpublished short of his from the 70s. It's a slightly humorous retelling of The Telltale Heart, which is one of my favorite Poe pieces, so I had fun with this one.
THE RICH ARE DIFFERENT by Lisa Morton ➳➳ ★★★☆☆
This one was... okay? It tells the story of an author who meets this bizarre rich family she wrote a book about, and ends up falling in deep with one of the men of the house, and shit gets kind of weird. I wasn't wild about it, but I liked the writing.
THE MANICURE by Nell Quinn-Gibney ➳➳ ★★☆☆☆
I read this one twice because I was so freaking confused by the ending. It starts off with serious potential and this weird sense of dread that makes you simultaneously eager to learn the ending, and dreading what is to come... and then, what? Nothing happens. I'm not kidding. I literally read it again just to see if I had missed an important detail - I hadn't.
THE COMFORTING VOICE by Norman Prentiss ➳➳ ★★☆☆☆
Another one with a decent style, but subpar plot. A baby can only be soothed by her mean old grandpa, and after he dies, her dad has to mock his words to get her to stop crying. This one was honestly just a bit traumatic and sad, but I certainly didn't understand how it got into a horror anthology.
THE SITUATIONS by Joyce Carol Oates ➳➳ ★☆☆☆☆
To be fair, I knew going into this story that I wouldn't like it, because I am not much of a JCO fan. It was horribly sad, kittens were murdered, and none of it made any sense. It felt pointless and I, again, found myself wondering how it "belonged" in the collection.
THE CORPSE KING by Tim Curran ➳➳ ★☆☆☆☆
YOU GUYS. THIS. STORY. This story ruined any chance the book had of a 2-star rating. You know how, typically, every story in an anthology is of a similar length? That makes sense, right? RIGHT? Well, not to this editor, apparently. I felt like the other stories were only even included to give the editor an excuse to get this tale out to the world without it being in a book of its own. It literally takes up the last 55-60% of the book by itself and it was so incredibly slow and boring that I ended up skimming the majority of it. I would have just DNFd, but... you know... I kept expecting there to be more stories after it. Nah.
I'm sorry, but I can safely say I will never pick up another Dark Screams collection. I honestly wouldn't recommend these to anyone.
Thank you to NetGalley and Hydra for granting me an ARC of this book! All opinions expressed here are my own.
Didn't help.
I'm gonna break this one down by story, because... well, why not?
THE OLD DUDE'S TICKER by Stephen King ➳➳ ★★★★☆
A horror anthology starting with King? Should be a good sign, right? King prefaced the story by explaining this one was an old, unpublished short of his from the 70s. It's a slightly humorous retelling of The Telltale Heart, which is one of my favorite Poe pieces, so I had fun with this one.
THE RICH ARE DIFFERENT by Lisa Morton ➳➳ ★★★☆☆
This one was... okay? It tells the story of an author who meets this bizarre rich family she wrote a book about, and ends up falling in deep with one of the men of the house, and shit gets kind of weird. I wasn't wild about it, but I liked the writing.
THE MANICURE by Nell Quinn-Gibney ➳➳ ★★☆☆☆
I read this one twice because I was so freaking confused by the ending. It starts off with serious potential and this weird sense of dread that makes you simultaneously eager to learn the ending, and dreading what is to come... and then, what? Nothing happens. I'm not kidding. I literally read it again just to see if I had missed an important detail - I hadn't.
THE COMFORTING VOICE by Norman Prentiss ➳➳ ★★☆☆☆
Another one with a decent style, but subpar plot. A baby can only be soothed by her mean old grandpa, and after he dies, her dad has to mock his words to get her to stop crying. This one was honestly just a bit traumatic and sad, but I certainly didn't understand how it got into a horror anthology.
THE SITUATIONS by Joyce Carol Oates ➳➳ ★☆☆☆☆
To be fair, I knew going into this story that I wouldn't like it, because I am not much of a JCO fan. It was horribly sad, kittens were murdered, and none of it made any sense. It felt pointless and I, again, found myself wondering how it "belonged" in the collection.
THE CORPSE KING by Tim Curran ➳➳ ★☆☆☆☆
YOU GUYS. THIS. STORY. This story ruined any chance the book had of a 2-star rating. You know how, typically, every story in an anthology is of a similar length? That makes sense, right? RIGHT? Well, not to this editor, apparently. I felt like the other stories were only even included to give the editor an excuse to get this tale out to the world without it being in a book of its own. It literally takes up the last 55-60% of the book by itself and it was so incredibly slow and boring that I ended up skimming the majority of it. I would have just DNFd, but... you know... I kept expecting there to be more stories after it. Nah.
I'm sorry, but I can safely say I will never pick up another Dark Screams collection. I honestly wouldn't recommend these to anyone.
Thank you to NetGalley and Hydra for granting me an ARC of this book! All opinions expressed here are my own.
wellwortharead's review
4.0
For me, the absolute stars of this compilation are "The Rich Are Different" by Lisa Morton in which a writer accepts an invitation to a birthday party from a very wealthy and very different sort of fan.
"The Comforting Voice" by Norman Prentiss offers no comfort at all. In fact it set my teeth on edge and made my skin crawl, in the most delightful ways. Josh and Cheryl are new parents, which under the best of circumstances would be an uncomfortable time to take in a sickly relative. When the new baby has constant fits of inconsolable crying, and the relative is your estranged and abusive father-in-law, it's about as comforting as nails on a chalkboard. This tale had my anxiety levels through the roof and I loved it. These two stories alone are worth more than the cost of admission. 5 stars to both.
"The Corpse King" by Tim Curran is the longest story in this collection. It's a creepy tale of best buddies and grave robbers Kierney and Clow who find that not everything under the ground is lifeless. 4 stars
"The Manicure" by Nell Quinn-Gibney Has me eyeing my nail scissors distrustfully while I consider buying one of those as seen on tv doodads that files them instead. Another solid 4 stars.
"The Situations" by Joyce Carol Oates is one I have read previously in another collection and though I like much of her work this one just didn't quite do it for me then or now. 3 stars
"The Old Dude's Ticker" by Stephen King is a 1970s version of the Tell Tale Heart by Poe. Sometimes the classics are best left alone. It was ok, but not one of King's best efforts. 3 stars.
All in all this is a good collection of sinister stories that are certain to jangle your nerves.
I received an advance copy for review
"The Comforting Voice" by Norman Prentiss offers no comfort at all. In fact it set my teeth on edge and made my skin crawl, in the most delightful ways. Josh and Cheryl are new parents, which under the best of circumstances would be an uncomfortable time to take in a sickly relative. When the new baby has constant fits of inconsolable crying, and the relative is your estranged and abusive father-in-law, it's about as comforting as nails on a chalkboard. This tale had my anxiety levels through the roof and I loved it. These two stories alone are worth more than the cost of admission. 5 stars to both.
"The Corpse King" by Tim Curran is the longest story in this collection. It's a creepy tale of best buddies and grave robbers Kierney and Clow who find that not everything under the ground is lifeless. 4 stars
"The Manicure" by Nell Quinn-Gibney Has me eyeing my nail scissors distrustfully while I consider buying one of those as seen on tv doodads that files them instead. Another solid 4 stars.
"The Situations" by Joyce Carol Oates is one I have read previously in another collection and though I like much of her work this one just didn't quite do it for me then or now. 3 stars
"The Old Dude's Ticker" by Stephen King is a 1970s version of the Tell Tale Heart by Poe. Sometimes the classics are best left alone. It was ok, but not one of King's best efforts. 3 stars.
All in all this is a good collection of sinister stories that are certain to jangle your nerves.
I received an advance copy for review
ntrlycrly's review
2.0
Stephen Kings' take on Poe's Tell Tale heart was well done but the other stories were rather tedious. I would recommend going for the Ellen Datlow edited collections when it comes to horror short stories.
charshorrorcorner's review
4.0
4.5 stars!
Dark Screams: Volume Six was the best installment of this series so far! My favorites this time around were from the lesser known authors, most especially Tim Curran, who deserves to be as famous as Stephen King.
Tim Curran's The Corpse King was easily the best story, in my book. Being novella length, Mr. Curran got to do what he does best, which is putting his imagination to work, side by side with his knowledge of history. The result is this nasty, disgusting, and fun story about grave-robbers and what things, (other than corpses), might be waiting for them down below. A resounding 5 stars with applause!
Norman Prentiss' The Comforting Voice was a beautifully told story about baby Lydia and how she loves the sound of her grampa's voice. But what happens when grampa passes away? You'll have to read this to find out. 5 FAT stars!
The Rich Are Different by Lisa Morton was a nice story, but for me, lacked a good punch. Plus, the insta-love, (a term I learned from my romance-loving friends), didn't really work for me. It was still a cool premise though. 3.5 stars!
I liked King's story, The Old Dude's Ticker. It had that feel of a classic SK story, and that's always a good thing. 3 stars!
Overall, this anthology was above average, and I highly recommend it, especially if these stories sound interesting to you. There's something here for every type of horror lover, and it's rare that a collection have such a wide range of appeal.
*Thanks to NetGalley and to Hydra for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. This is it!*
Dark Screams: Volume Six was the best installment of this series so far! My favorites this time around were from the lesser known authors, most especially Tim Curran, who deserves to be as famous as Stephen King.
Tim Curran's The Corpse King was easily the best story, in my book. Being novella length, Mr. Curran got to do what he does best, which is putting his imagination to work, side by side with his knowledge of history. The result is this nasty, disgusting, and fun story about grave-robbers and what things, (other than corpses), might be waiting for them down below. A resounding 5 stars with applause!
Norman Prentiss' The Comforting Voice was a beautifully told story about baby Lydia and how she loves the sound of her grampa's voice. But what happens when grampa passes away? You'll have to read this to find out. 5 FAT stars!
The Rich Are Different by Lisa Morton was a nice story, but for me, lacked a good punch. Plus, the insta-love, (a term I learned from my romance-loving friends), didn't really work for me. It was still a cool premise though. 3.5 stars!
I liked King's story, The Old Dude's Ticker. It had that feel of a classic SK story, and that's always a good thing. 3 stars!
Overall, this anthology was above average, and I highly recommend it, especially if these stories sound interesting to you. There's something here for every type of horror lover, and it's rare that a collection have such a wide range of appeal.
*Thanks to NetGalley and to Hydra for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. This is it!*
shotsky's review
4.0
Review for Monster Librarian forthcoming. This is a short but great collection.
mikekaz's review
4.0
DARK SCREAMS: VOLUME SIX won't take away the "Best of the Series" award from Volume Four but it is still a solid player. I would say that two of the stories were slightly disappointing but then the volume also included six stories instead of the usual five. Plus since one of the disappointing stories was an early unsold story by Stephen King, which kind of negates the negative aspect. Once again I like the smaller size of the volume; it allows me to finish it relatively fast though real life interruptions still made it too long. I've been reading some longer collections that are taking me forever to finish; I'm looking at you Stephen Jones and your MAMMOTH BOOK OF BEST NEW HORROR. Longer novels build that excitement and tension which helps to accelerate the reading during the second half of the book. Short stories, by definition, aren't going to get the length to build that acceleration. By the same token though, I can sample more flavors of authors with short stories than I can with a book by a single author. Anyway, I've digressed. Here are the stories of this volume in order of least favorite to most.
"The Manicure" by Nell Quinn-Gibney - While the story is pretty straight forward (woman with finger issues goes in for a manicure), there are many cringe-worthy moments during the telling. Times where you have been in a similar situation and either the pain happened for real or you feared that it would happen. Unfortunately it felt more like a collection of memories and not an engaging story.
"The Old Dude's Ticker" by Stephen King - The story itself didn't really pull me in. Maybe it was the seventies slang. Maybe it was not being able to identify with the main character. I don't know. However, what I did like was that Chizmar and Freeman allowed Stephen King to provide a Forward to the story. He talked briefly about what led to him writing the story which was pretty cool. I've always liked when authors tell a little about the inspiration behind the story.
"The Rich Are Different" by Lisa Morton - This was a good story but not a standout one. The mood and style were good but the story was a little too convenient at points. The different events happened a little too easily.p>
"The Situations" by Joyce Carol Oates - This was one of those stories where the topic is dark and the character reprehensible but at the same time you can't look away. Like the daughters in the story, you hope for something happier and better to happen. Unfortunately this is what the father in the story wants too.
"The Comforting Voice" by Norman Prentiss - This was another dark story. This time though it was disguised as something much happier. As I was reading it, I was wondering where the story was going and where the horror was going to come in. Then after I was fully engaged in the character's life, I got to a part where I thought "Oh no, that's not a smart decision." Then almost immediately afterwards I went "Oh crap!" And then the other shoe dropped and the story ended. At first, I was left wanting a bit more. But then five minutes later, the story and the horror still hung with me. And then a few days later, it still hung with me. Prentiss ended it exactly right.
"The Corpse King" by Tim Curran - Curran benefited by having his story be novella length instead of just a short story. This let him really build out the world in his story and it shows. The amount of details he included in the story shows the research that he must have done. The world is disgusting and gross but realistic for grave-robbers in that time period.
"The Manicure" by Nell Quinn-Gibney - While the story is pretty straight forward (woman with finger issues goes in for a manicure), there are many cringe-worthy moments during the telling. Times where you have been in a similar situation and either the pain happened for real or you feared that it would happen. Unfortunately it felt more like a collection of memories and not an engaging story.
"The Old Dude's Ticker" by Stephen King - The story itself didn't really pull me in. Maybe it was the seventies slang. Maybe it was not being able to identify with the main character. I don't know. However, what I did like was that Chizmar and Freeman allowed Stephen King to provide a Forward to the story. He talked briefly about what led to him writing the story which was pretty cool. I've always liked when authors tell a little about the inspiration behind the story.
"The Rich Are Different" by Lisa Morton - This was a good story but not a standout one. The mood and style were good but the story was a little too convenient at points. The different events happened a little too easily.p>
"The Situations" by Joyce Carol Oates - This was one of those stories where the topic is dark and the character reprehensible but at the same time you can't look away. Like the daughters in the story, you hope for something happier and better to happen. Unfortunately this is what the father in the story wants too.
"The Comforting Voice" by Norman Prentiss - This was another dark story. This time though it was disguised as something much happier. As I was reading it, I was wondering where the story was going and where the horror was going to come in. Then after I was fully engaged in the character's life, I got to a part where I thought "Oh no, that's not a smart decision." Then almost immediately afterwards I went "Oh crap!" And then the other shoe dropped and the story ended. At first, I was left wanting a bit more. But then five minutes later, the story and the horror still hung with me. And then a few days later, it still hung with me. Prentiss ended it exactly right.
"The Corpse King" by Tim Curran - Curran benefited by having his story be novella length instead of just a short story. This let him really build out the world in his story and it shows. The amount of details he included in the story shows the research that he must have done. The world is disgusting and gross but realistic for grave-robbers in that time period.
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