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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Unfortunately, not as good as Datlow's other anthologies, March 23, 2004
This review is from: The Dark: New Ghost Stories (Paperback)
I so badly wanted to give this book five stars. I can only offer my apologies to the many Datlow fans out there. And I'm one of them. I've read all six of the fairly tale/fantasy anthologies that Ellen Datlow created with Terry Windling. Of those, I would give five stars to five out of the six volumes. They were all that good. Perhaps I simply have expecations carried over from those books which simply don't apply here. In those books the stories tended to have a point or a moral. That's the nature of many fairy tales. Obviously, this is much less so with ghost stories. The problem I have with "The Dark" is not only that many of the stories didn't seem to have a point to make, it's that the book misrepresents itself on the cover. The image you see is of a cloudy night with bats flying eerily through the sky. It denotes gothic, damp and foggy stories about being lost in the woods, visiting an eastern European country, or a ghost story from a hundred years ago. To give Datlow credit, she explains in her introduction that these are "new" ghost stories that sometimes tell about spirits appearing in mid-day to demand their revenge. But she also states that she hopes the stories will keep readers awake at night. And that, essentially, is what the problem is. Some of these stories are excellent literary character studies. For example, "The Trentino Kid," the first story in the book, is a good look at a clam digger having to confront the lack of direction in his life. It's a very good read. But it is not that scary. There are other stories that follow the same pattern - such as "The Silence of the Falling Stars" about a park ranger in Death Valley. Then there the stories that just shouldn't be in the book at all. I have no idea why "The Dead Ghost" is even in this anthology. It comes off as an exercise from a college writing course. It's not that the writing is bad - it's not - it's that it's a single scene with no emotional build-up. If you're looking for just good stories with an element of supernaturual, buy this book. If you're looking for something that keeps you awake at night, look elsewhere.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good outweigh the not-so-good, June 22, 2006
This review is from: The Dark: New Ghost Stories (Paperback)
Jeffrey Ford's "The Trentino Kid," starts things off on a slightly creepy note. It's about a guy who has frittered his youth away in what he thought was an easier route. He's regretting the choices he's made when he comes across a ghost that'll force his hand in a (hopefully) new direction. This is a story that'll resonate with anyone who wishes they had taken a different path years earlier. I know it certainly struck a nerve with me!
Tanith Lee's "The Ghost In The Clock" is atmospheric as is her usual style and features a tale of a clock with a horrific past, a ghost and a good dose of madness. Descriptive writing, a creeping sense of unease make this one a chill inducing read.
"The Thing About the Night" just wasn't to my taste. Too scientific, me thinks.
"The Silence of the Falling Stars about a park ranger whom I didn't care for at all didn't work very well for me either, I'm afraid. I can't pinpoint where it went wrong. I just found it dull overall.
Gahan Wilson's "The Dead Ghost" was a short and to the point recounting of an injured man's encounter with an overweight, naked ghost. I enjoyed this one, maybe because it was a nice breather after the previous two stories which I thought were both over long.
Oates "Subway" is a haunting but somewhat familiar story of tragedy and a woman's never-ending search for love.
"The Seven Sisters" is a story about 7 formerly grand homes now falling to ruin. This one didn't resonate with me in any way and I can't really remember much else about it.
"Doctor Hood" was more accessible the the previous story. It's about a woman returning to her childhood home because she's worried about her increasingly distant father. It's about loss, letting go and features a good dose of ghostbusting. I enjoyed the originality of the end of this one.
"An Amicable Divorce" is a story rooted in tragedy and is deeply emotional. It's about a man still deeply in love with his ex-wife. Sadly, she isn't at all in a good place to return his love but calls him often and begs for help with a creature that is inhabiting their home late at night. This one gets under your skin and lives up to the promises made by the editor and, despite it's very gloominess, was probably my favorite.
"Feeling Remains" is about a young boy whose feminist mom seems more interested in everyone but him. After forcing him to care for an aging neighbor who dies, he's haunted by the old lady's treasured book of photos. This story, the neglect of the child, and the over-the-top selfishness of the mother annoyed the heck out of me.
"The Gallow's Necklace by Sharyn McCrumb" was a "past coming back to haunt you" type of ghost story that was very enjoyable. The idea of the Gallow's Necklace was so utterly chilling it won't be something easily forgotten.
"Brownie, and M" Charles Grant has always been a difficult read for me. His quiet style of horror didn't work for me when I was younger and more into the likes of Clive Barker & Poppy Z. Brite but this story, about a group of elderly friends who are all experiencing strange haunting phenomena, is disquieting in a way that kept me turning the pages. Or, maybe I'm finally old enough to appreciate him ;)
"Velocity by Kathe Koja" Unlike Grant, I adored Kathe Koja's earlier work (Cipher and the lot) even though the style was extremely difficult to get into. She was always one of those love 'em or hate 'em type of writers who I happened to love. I worked my through her books of body modification and love affairs gone sour and always looked forward to more. Somewhere along the way I lost touch with her work and no longer have patience for the fractured writing style when I try to go back and re-read them. This story wasn't nearly as difficult as her longer novels but it didn't move me and isn't one I'll remember come tomorrow.
"Limbo by Lucius Shepard" is a novella length tale of a former criminal finding love. Or so he thinks. I loved the revenge theme of this one and how it all tied together so nasty-like at the end.
"The Hortlak by by Kelly Link" is the kind of weirdly quirky short story that I really enjoy. It's sort of a David Lynch-like version of "clerks". The world has been turned upside down, zombie's wander thru convenience stores, a strange clerk revels in bizarre pajamas, and a woman gives homeless dogs one last glimpse of fun and freedom. It's all very strange and doesn't always come together in a cohesive way but I couldn't turn the pages fast enough.
"Dancing Men by Glenn Hirshberg" is a coming of age/innocence lost type of story where one young boy has to face his grandfather's horrific memories of the Holocaust. This one is a gutwrencher because the horror here isn't of the invented variety.
Though the book contains a few small duds, the majority of the stories were genuinely creepy.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Collection of Contemporary, Original Ghost Stories, April 12, 2005
This anthology, featuring 16 stories taking place in modern settings, demonstrates that horror can be found almost anywhere, even in these enlightened times. Most feature a subtle, psychological type of horror that make them all the more unnerving. Personally, I did find a few of the stories disappointing, but most were well worth the read. Since, as of this date, the publisher has declined to let the reader search inside the book, or even view the table of contents, the titles and a very brief synopsis of each piece follow for any who might be interested:
1. The Trentino Kid - Fishermen haunted by local legends and the errant body of a drowned boy.
2. The Ghost of the Clock - A clock haunted by a vengeance-seeking dead remnant, or the offspring of projected hateful energy?
3. One Thing About the Night - A home with a missing owner and bricked up windows features a six-sided mirrored room with a single chair placed directly in the center ...
4. The Silence of the Falling Stars - A canyon or "dry lake" that swallows noise - and perhaps people - where the rocks are known to move by themselves. There is also a park ranger undergoing some sort of identity crisis.
5. The Dead Ghost - A hospital plagued by the apparently random appearance of a phantom cadaver.
6. Seven Sisters - A semi-circle of massive houses - in their prime masterpieces of Victorian architecture - now fallen to ruin. One of the structures houses an immense theatre filled with murmurs from luminous shadows.
7. Subway - A tragic accident (murder?) resulting in a needy ghost.
8. Doctor Hood - The daughter of a scientist returns to her childhood home and discovers her widowed father trying to make contact with her deceased mother, while carefully documenting the attempts. But is the dead haunting the living, or the living haunting the dead?
9. An Amicable Divorce - A very disturbing tale about a divorced man who harbours feelings for his ex-wife. She calls him when something starts getting into the marital home through the cat door, and it isn't the cat.
10. Feeling Remains - A young boy forced by his bleeding heart parents to care for an aging demented neighbor finds himself haunted by her photograph album after her death; also her strange phobias seem to be contagious. (I found the boy's mother to be far more frightening than the crazy neighbor.)
11. The Gallows Necklace - A long-ago tragedy, which originated with a family heirloom, seems destined to repeat itself.
12. Brownie, and Me - An elderly man begins seeing the image of an acquaintance that passed away 9 years earlier. Is it a ghost, an angel, or a harbinger of death?
13. Velocity - Explores the borderline between madness and art.
14. Limbo - A retired criminal, trying to stay one step ahead of his past, falls for a beautiful, but elusive, woman.
15. The Hortlak - "Hortlak" means "ghost" in Turkish. A weird story about an all-night convenience store, zombies, ghost dogs and many different kinds of pajamas. However, it is useful for picking up some conversational phrases in Turkish.
16. Dancing Men - A grandfather haunted by the very real horror of the Holocaust, and the effects of that horror as it washes down through the generations.
I also recommend "The Ghost Writer" by John Harwood. It features several short ghost stories contained within a lengthier horror novel.
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