Customer Reviews

Black Evening: Tales of Dark Suspense

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This collection of short stories is a great chance to get into the mindset of a wonderful writer! I first met David Morrell's writing in "First Blood", moved on to "The Brotherhood of the Rose" and have been a fan ever since. The group of stories he has put together for this book leads the reader through his early years of writing to the present. Each story is prefaced with his recollection of the how and why the story came to be. This immensely enriches the stories themselves. I had to finish this book from cover to cover in one sitting. A very intense, very scary and truely revealing, must read book!

I just read a few of the stories in "Black Evening" and had a lot of scary delights. David Morrell is great when it comes to suspense and thrillers and now, horror. He mixes a sense of his thrillers in with his horror stories making them much more exciting. I could even go on to compare with Stephen Kings short stories in "Skeleton Crew" Well done Mr.Morrell!

"Black Evening" is sheer evidence of Morrell, a very talented storyteller at work. He keeps the prose going. I always said I don't entirely like the use of the first-person narrative, and going against me is the fact that most of the stories in this book are presented in that format. Well, I guess I had to agree with it. I read the whole book and enjoyed it. I managed to "ignore" the first-person narrative...to forget about it so I could simply enjoy myself with the book.

Although these stories are by and large very good...at least a head and shoulders above other anthologies of the like that I've had a chance to read, there's yet another point I want to make here, and I know, this point doesn't really encourage you, review reader to go out and get this book, I know, but I feel like I should tell you.

For those who weren't familiar, before reading this book, I should let you know now (even though Morrell will tell you this in the book himself) that in the late 80s, he suffered the tragic loss of his 15-year old son, Matthew, to bone cancer. (This story is told in David Morrell's book, Fireflies, available here.) The grief of this tragic loss is something that is present in virtually every story here. For people who don't like to be constantly hammered over the head with that theme, I guess this book isn't a good choice.

Now for why this book IS a good choice, I guess I could simply say it contains one of the best short stories I've ever read..."The Typewriter". "The Partnership", "But at my back I always hear", "The Storm", "For these and all my Sins", "Mumbo Jumbo", "Dead Image" and "Orange is for Anguish, Blue is for Insanity" It's quite a lot of stand-outs, but, yes, these are my personal picks. These are enough to make you want to buy the book, and buy the book, you should!

Although his novels often include horrific elements, David Morrell rarely deals with the supernatural and macabre in his longer works. Rather, he explores those topics in his shorter work, such as those gathered in his 1999 collection BLACK EVENING. These well-crafted tales, written between 1971 and 1992, are ample credentials for recognizing Morrell's status among the modern masters of horror.

The stories selected for inclusion are presented in order of composition. In Morrell's words, they "wear their age well." "Tales of dark suspense," he continues, "their approach is different from that of my international thrillers. You won't find spies and round-the-globe intrigue here. What you will find are the stark emotions behind that intrigue: fear and trembling."

Fear does indeed lurk at the heart of these stories, and in many
permutations. This may be fear for the safety of your loved ones ("The Dripping"), fear of being exposed as a fraud ("The Typewriter"), or the fear of being caught up in someone else's delusions ("But at My Back I Always Hear You"). Each successive story peers deeper into the dark, revealing just how close at hand it really is. Whether he is writing about an apocalyptic thunderstorm, a high school football team that owes its
success to an idol, or a town paralyzed with fear over the presence of a serial killer, Morrell writes with an edge of the seat immediacy, an urgency that communicates his characters' fears directly to his readers.

How good are these stories? Consider this: the majority found homes in the premier anthologies of the eighties and nineties, including WHISPERS, SHADOWS, NIGHT VISIONS, PRIME EVIL, and DARK AT HEART. If you question the judgment of experienced editors like Charles Grant and Douglas Winter, you can always find assurance in the fact that two of the stories "The Beautiful Uncut Hair of Graves" and "Orange is for Anguish, Blue is for
Insanity," won Stokers for Best Novella. Enhanced by Morrell's revealing Foreword, individual story notes, and Afterword, BLACK EVENING makes for rewarding reading, the kind that keeps you up late into the night. Just don't turn off the lights.

There have been several times that I have bought an anthology like "Prime Evil" so that I could read an otherwise unreleased Stephen King or Clive Barker story, and ended up being blown away by the stories of David Morrell. Finally, K-Tel-like, everyone can enjoy these powerful, imaginative stories without having to buy a dozen other books.

While this collection does not contain all of Morrell's short fiction, it does contain all that I had read in other anthologies, most notably the powerhouse novella "Orance is for Anguish, Blue for Insanity," one of my all-time pieces of fiction, short or otherwise. I am a fan of author notes in collections, and Morrell doesn't disappoint. While he doesn't expound the way that, say, Harlan Ellison does, there are short notes before each store in addition to a Foreword and Afterword, and these add a texture to the book that I think makes your first read more enjoyable and increases the re-readability. Plus if you've already read a couple of these in anthologies it is nice to see the author's perspective instead of the anthology editor's perspective before the stories.

I read this during a particularly hot summer week and found it to be perfect for this setting...the stories are engrossing enough that I forgot about the heat, and a few times I caught a genuine bit of a chill! Anyone who enjoys dark stories or speculative fiction should give this great book a read.

never in my life have i been so captivated by a short story then when i read "Orange is for anguish, Blue is for insanity", the other stories included are tremendous as well, but this one is the spellbinding one that grabs ahold of you and never let's go. i praise Morrell for letting out all of his frustration and his own insanity within this collection of masterpiece writing..."Black Evening" is a must own, no one should go through life without reading these stories...they have the power to keep you reading all through the night, and the power to change your life...now that's an author.

Since I really like most of Morrell's books I also had to buy "black evening". Only when I had it in my hands I realized that it is a book of short stories. I got to admit that I am not a great fan of short stories so the book rested in my shelf for years until I recently decided to give it a try.

Each story has an introduction by the author. Here you learn about the background of each story - the motivation for writing it, the circumstances under which the story was written and today's thoughts about it. Furthermore you learn a great deal about the author himself - especially about his grief for the loss of his son at the age of 15 due to cancer.

Since the 15 stories in the book are chronological (1971 - 1992) the reader can also follow the development of Morrell's writing skills. Here I noticed that his earlier stories were neither really good nor fascinating. Especially the ending/conclusion was often kind of incomprehensible so that some parts had to be read again. The later stories in this book are longer and also quite good and I really enjoyed reading them.

In contrast to his normal subject the featured short stories are about fear and mystery. Some of the later stories in the book strongly (!!!) reminded me of Roald Dahl! And I really liked those a lot.

Those of you who happen to like Morrell regardless of the subject he writes about this book can be recommended.
If you are more a fan of stories about spies or killers you might consider if this is what you are looking for.

David Morrell's "Black Evening" is a collection of horror short stories. This is a change of pace from Morrell's normal fare of action/suspense/thriller novels, but this is a strong collection that is a great read and will be especially rewarding for Morrell's fans.

There are 7 short stories in this collection. The weakest by far is the first one, "The Dripping". I'd rate it 3 stars. But the rest are 4 or 5 star short stories which is high praise from me since I am not normally a fan of the short story format. Of especially high quality are "But At My Back I Always Hear" and "Orange Is For Anguish, Blue For Insanity." Those stand up with the best short format horror stories that you can put againt them, from Poe to King.

Each story is introduced by the author who includes plenty of details about how he started writing, what was going on in his life when he wrote the stories. These introductory pieces are, in some ways, the most enjoyable parts of the book. I very much enjoyed his tales of what inspired him and of the authors who pointed him along the way to being one of just a handful of authors in the country that completely make a living by writing.

Audiobook details:

approximately 6 hours. Each story is read by a different narrator. The introductory pieces are read by David Morrell himself and are quite good.

Highly recommended.

Ordinarily I am not a huge fan of horror stories, but I can honestly say that Black Evening is frightfully fantastic. This spine-tingling collection of sixteen tales explores the dark side of greed, power, and madness. Morrell is able to pack a lot of punches and twists into his short (but not so sweet) stories. Moreover, his writing expresses his compassion and intelligence like that of an accomplished literary great.

An added bonus to this book is the foreward at the beginning of each story. Morrell discusses his development as a writer and shares with the reader his personal tales of triumph and tragedy: from his meeting with his idol, writer Stirling Silliphant, to the death of his teenage son to bone cancer. Each story seems to be weaved around an event that touched Morrell's life. This authenticity makes for a more eerie read. For example, "But at My Back I always Hear," is about a professor who is stalked by a female student infatuated with him. Morrell himself faced this dilemma while teaching at the University of Iowa. Other scary topics covered include an art historian who follows his subjects' break with reality and ultimate demise; an amateur writer who becomes a best-selling novelist with the help of a ghostly typewriter; and a high school football team that is victorious because the coach is dabbling in witchcraft and produces an evil good luck mascot.

Two of the stories in Black Evening won Best Novella, Horror Writers of America Award. One story was a nominee for this same award and one other story was a finalist for the World Fantasy Award. Morrell stated that the first piece of advice he received as a young writer was to write about what he feared most. Obviously he took that advice to heart and left us with some chilling entertainment.

the seductive part of his talent is that he makes writing seem easy...when anyone who has tried to write, knows it is not! I met him several years ago in Cincinnati Ohio, and he is class all the way! Personally I prefer this to his espionage stuff, but I guarantee you'll burn through this tight emotional collection...buy it..cocoon for a day or two..mmmmm