Dark Universe [Mass Market Paperback]

William F. Nolan (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 372 pages
• Publisher: Leisure Books (December 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0843951907
• ISBN-13: 978-0843951905
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,631,106 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #63 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Horror > Anthologies

More About the Author

With 85 books to his credit, plus hundreds of scripts, articles and short stories embracing a dozen genres, William F. Nolan is an official Living Legend (voted that honor by the International Horror Guild).
As a noted pulp historian, he is a recognized authority on Black Mask, Dashiell Hammett, and "Max Brand" (Frederick Faust). Nolan has edited six collections of Faust tales, has written Max Brand: Western Giant, and is the author of the forthcoming biography King of the Pulps: The Man Who Was Max Brand. Nolan's historical anthology, The Black Mask Boys, is the key work on the legendary magazine - and he's written three books on Dashiell Hammett, plus several pieces on the early pulp fiction of his longtime pal, Ray Bradbury.
Nolan states: "I began my fiction career [13 novels and 185 stories] too late for the pulps, but I did have letters printed in Planet Stories and Famous Fantastic Mysteries - and I grew up reading Argosy and Weird Tales."
Recently voted a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to Dark Fantasy, Nolan is currently at work on ten new books. His most famous creations, Logan's Run, is now out in comic-book format from Bluewater Productions - and a new mega-budget film version is due from Warner Bros. in 2012.
Nolan lives in Vancouver, Washington, with an apartment full of books, pulp magazines, and stuffed animals.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dark Universe, April 9, 2004

By 

D. Hensley (jamestown, nc United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dark Universe (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is like finding buried treasure. Where has this guy
been all my life? All the stories are good to very good. There may not be that "one excellent story", but this is one of the most solid short story collections you will find. The subjects are as diverse as a "dark universe". There is a ghost story, a serial killer story, a contract killer story, some sci-fi
etc....Great work!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A dark, terrifying collection of horror/sci-fi's best!, April 4, 2004

By 

DanD - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Dark Universe (Mass Market Paperback)

William F. Nolan has been declared a living legend. Okay, I can buy that. Truly, he has a unique grasp on the horror genre; and he's been strenghtening that grasp for half a century. Living legend? It fits.

"Dark Universe" is a thrilling collection. The stories in it aren't all unique ("And Miles to Go..." brings back memories of Bradbury's best, for example), but they're all good. "The Underdweller" is a sci-fi tale of survival in an appopolyptic world. "Lonely Train's A'Comin" tells of a brother's lust for revenge, and the macabre ride it takes him on. "The Cure" is the journal of a man who lives a perfect life, except for the fact that he strangles people. "The Giant Man," aside from an extremely weird and entertaining story, is a metaphor for the restraining life of big cities. "Stoner" is just plain weird, as is "Heart's Blood." "Ceremony" finds a hired killer in a small town, on Halloween, about to discover something that he really didn't want to know. "Boyfren," probably one of the strangest and most disturbing stories I've ever read, tells of how easily a young girl is led into a life of torture and cruelty...but doesn't know it.

Yep, William F. Nolan knows how to write. That's a given. This collection--complete with an interesting introduction about the author's influence on the horror genre--is a must have for horror fans. I doubt you can seriously consider yourself a protoge of the genre without taking a look at the writings of William F. Nolan. It's like learning to swim without ever jumping into the lake...especially if the lake is haunted...

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Horror and Creepiness, June 1, 2004

By 

Joshua Koppel (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dark Universe (Mass Market Paperback)

Dark Universe is a collection of stories selected by the author. Each of the stories is prefaced by a note explaining how the story came about and/or why it was included in the collection. Because the stories are all by one author and were selected by him, the overall quality of the book is very consistent.

Other reviewers have listed the individual tales so I will not. Most of the stories have a very dark element but not necessarily an element of the fantastic. Most are very good at assaulting the right emotions but I was a little disappointed by the contents. Having read other books by the author (i.e. Logan's Run and its two sequels as well as some short work), I was surprised at the almost cliched hack endings of some of the stories (the sort where the final paragraph reveals that the potman of the past twenty years is really a sentient radish from Vega). I felt these particular endings to be a little cheap.

Although I was disappointed in some of the endings I was not disappointed by the writing style. Mr. Nolan sets out to affect certain emotions and he succeeds ever time. So if you want to be creeped out, have your hackles rise, or any of the other typical effects of Mr. Nolan's writing then this book is for you.