Customer Reviews

LIGHTING THE DARK SIDE: Six Modern Tales

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I'm so glad I decided to get Lighting the Dark Side. I love books that are compiled of short stories, so this one was right up my ally.

While I realize there are many people out there who truely deal with OCD, I also believe that everyone has their own...tendancies. This piece really shed some light on what people deal with on a day to day basis, as well as being told in a riviting, entertaining way.

The author has made it easy to really connect with the characters in this book through these detailed stories. In fact, you might not notice how time flies when you're reading this one; it really is hard to put it down!

The author has written an engaging book. The characters are so well-developed that you can "feel" them.

My favorite short story is the first one. It captured me as I see a lot of the main character's actions the same as my own. Thankfully, as I read on more and more I found out I am not as OCD as he is.

For the life of me, I could not put this book down until I finished it in one day! This is only the second book in my 43 years that that has happened to me.

Interestingly, I was able to relate to the characters in each of the stories that made up Lighting the Dark Side. I am not OCD or anything, but there are parts of people and parts of myself that you can see in each person, and that is what I liked the most about this set of short stories.

The thoughts and storyline keep you very involved and invested in what you are reading, so I wasn't bored with it at all as I sometimes get with short stories.

I appreciated the feelings and emotions, like those in Surviving the Fall and May 18th more than I thought I would. Overall, I really liked this book of short storeies because of the well laid out stories that didn't leave you confused, guessing, or bewildered. They are still intense without being a total wash. Nice job.

William Potter has done an excellent job of writing six short stories that draw you in from the beginning. Mr. potter makes you feel so connected to the characters. You feel like you are right there with them, going through the same things they are.

My favorite story was Bent Not Broken. I have dealt with OCD my whole life and I could relate so much to the way Dwayne felt each day. Dee Dee was such a special person for accepting Dwayne as he was.

I would recommend Lighting the Dark Side to everyone. They will be hooked from the start. It takes a great author to keep my attention when reading a book. Mr. Potter has done that wonderfully. I was not able to put the book done until I was done reading the last page.

Bent, Not Broken

He set his mug on the kitchen counter; and he knew that the mug was nineteen inches from the refrigerator, nineteen from the sink, eleven from the backsplash, and eleven more from falling to the floor. He washed his hands for exactly one hundred and nineteen seconds and ran a hand through his hair for the third time.

Dwayne Johnson has OCD. Can the "Black-Coat Girl" that he sees at the bus stop every morning save him from himself or will he destroy her?

In The Gray

I was "in the gray," that often-mystifying state, somewhere between sleep and consciousness where dreams blend with reality and voices on the television can be mistaken for a lost lover's whisper.

Michael Conner is torn between a mother in denial about life and caring for his son and precious Tia. What would you do if put into his position?

Prominent Couple Slain

Staal shook his head. Even after seventeen years on the job, he had never gotten used to humanity's capacity of violence and cruelty. The room reeked of burnt gunpowder and blood. It was the smell of murder.

What were a husband and wife doing in the apartment of one of their employees with a bullet in each of their heads. The wife held the gun so it's apparently a murder suicide, or is it?

May 18th

"Look!" Kelly-Anne said aloud. "Meteors." Trevor turned toward the city and watched the rocks streak across the sky and disappear on the horizon. Something was coming. The question on his mind was probably the same as for most people on the mountain. The sober ones, at least. Would this be it? A memorable night with a few shooting stars or was this the precursor of a much more serious event?

The commet, that has been named IVAN after the man who discovered it, is headed for earth. Can Trevor change the fate of the future by changing the events leading up to it? Maybe.

Blessed or Cursed?

`Cutler had no idea how life had changed since I won almost twelve million in the lottery five months ago. The charities, both bogus and legit, hounded us night and day. The phone calls from past colleagues, cousins I never knew, everyone with their hand out for a piece of my windfall.'

Would you consider yourself "Blessed" if you won the lottery? After reading Brad's story, I might agree that it's possibly a "Curse."

Surviving the Fall

"Is the shooter still in the house, Mr. Goodal?" "Yes, I think he's dead." "Dead, sir?" "Yes, I killed him." James set the phone aside and took Ashley's hand in his. "It's ok, Ashley. They're coming. Just hold on, sweetie. Hold on. "I love - you - James," Ashley said almost silently, and then her body wilted and her eyes rolled back and closed. "ASHLEY, No!"

His whole life, James Goodal has been a rescuer of stray animals. Today, just days before Christmas, he rescues 14 year old Ashley form her life on the streets. Can he help her?

Lighting the Dark Side is a collection of short stories filled with compassion, fear, anger, and even a little happiness. Each has it's own story and hidden lesson, making each enjoyable in its own way.

This collection of three novellas and three short stories varies greatly in genre, settings and tone, but one consistent feature that really stands out is very strong character development. Though I enjoyed all the works (not always the case in many collections) my favorites are the novellas "Bent, Not Broken" and "May 18, 2010," and focusing on those also reveals the great variety of this collection.
"Bent, Not Broken" brings to life a very complex character, Dwayne Johnson. He has some qualities of OCD, but Potter avoids the clichés that would harm his story if he just stuck to 100% textbook OCD traits, say like Nicholson's character in "As Good as it Gets". Potter knows real people are far more complex and brings layers of nuance to Dwayne's character as well as that of Dee-Dee, a woman who is transformed from one of his obsessions to a full-fledged love interest. The interactions of these two characters are constantly intriguing and surprising--again, just like in real life. This is the opening novella and the source of the collection's title and definitely draws the reader in wanting to read more.
Being a genre of horror and sci-fi, I enjoyed "May 18, 2010" a lot, due to its speculative fiction nature. Again, however, even though working in a genre, it is Potter's dead-on characters and realistic dialogue that keeps things moving. I am not exaggerating to say this novella is every bit as skillful and satisfying as some of Stephen King's best novellas, "The Mist" or "The Gingerbread Girl." Just like King, Potter knows a solid speculative conceit is important, but what really engages the reader is how the characters react to the conceit.
I also enjoyed the short story "Prominent Couple Slain" quite a bit and would love to read more stories and novels featuring Jack Staal, the detective introduced there.
The other two short stories, "In the Gray" and "Blessing or Curse" are both well paced moments of crisis in their protagonists' lives and along with "Prominent Couple Slain" showcase Potter's gift for dialogue that is true to each individual character.
The collection closes with "Surviving the Fall," another fine novella about a lonely divorced man's complex relationship with a teenage girl he saves from the streets. As in the opening novella, Potter creates a vivid palette of emotions and contradictions in these characters' psychologies.
When you read Potter's fiction, you are in good hands. You will never feel cheated, as when authors resort to cliché to rush to the conclusion they have forced upon their characters. In Potter's universe, characters come first and the reader gets to know them as well as a relative or friend. You follow his plots because they make sense for the characters, a refreshing change from a lot of poorly written popular fiction.
This is a first-rate collection and I look forward to reading more from William Potter.

Highly Recommended/Must Read

Lighting the Dark Side: Six Modern Tales is an excellent collection of three novellas and three short stories. This book by William Potter has something for every reader. There is mystery, romance, action, and wonderfully written stories. The readers are able to identify with the characters and find themselves drawn into the stories.

I have never really been a big fan of short stories. They always seem underdeveloped, however, these stories were engaging from beginning to end. I would definitely recommend this book to everyone. I look forward to seeing more works from William Potter.

I would recommend this book for almost everyone, the one exception might be Dwayne Johnson. You see Dwayne is the main character in the first short story that you will encounter in this excellent book. The reason that Dwayne would probably not read it is not because he can't read, but because it contains the number six. If he does try to read it, the tables, chairs and even the floor tile will have to be of the correct numerical order to offset the six in Six Modern Tales.

All of the tales have excellent character buildup and are fun to read. They run the gamut from a love sick office worker, bigoted parents, murder, kidnapping, to child slavery. The diamond amongst this sea of gems is a story called May 18th . This is a near perfect short story and well worth the price of the book all by itself. I have read a lot of short stories and this one ranks at or near the top.

William R. Potter is a gifted storyteller able to enthrall his audience so they never want the story to end. His Lighting The Dark Side is a collection of six stories designed to give the reader an insight into the human condition.

In the first story, Bent, Not Broken, we meet Dwayne Johnson. Dwayne suffers from OCD. Potter shows his readers not only how Dwayne deals with his OCD but how the society around Dwayne reacts to someone with OCD. By the end of the tale, you are rooting for Dwayne and Dee Dee.

As much as I enjoyed Bent, Not Broken, I was not impressed with In The Gray. I found it to be rather pointless and out of place compared to the other stories in the collection. I find myself wishing Potter had developed the story more.

Prominent Couple Slain has the markings of a really good mystery. Unfortunately, I feel as though the story was under-developed and rushed. It was good but could have been so much better.

May 18, 2010 had a bit of sci-fi/suspense flavor to it. It was one of my favorite stories in the collection. We meet Trevor Woodward who has recurring prophetic dreams of May 18. His actions based on his sense of deja vu continually change the outcome of that fateful day. I didn't want the story to end.

Blessing or Curse also felt hurried to me. I feel it could have been so much more than what it was.

Surviving The Fall, in my opinion, was more about the human condition than any other in the collection. It gives eye opening insight into how people use others for their own gain, how some selflessly try to help those being used and how society views that help with a skeptical eye.

In some ways I believe it is more difficult to write a collection of short stories than a novel. The author has so little time to draw the reader in. Mr. Potter took the challenge and succeeded. He left us wanting more but gave us enough to be satisfied. I would recommend you treat yourself to this collection, you won't be disappointed.

In Lighting the Dark Side - Six Modern Tales, author William Potter has written three novellas and three short stories that, as he says, "features leading characters that live their lives as normally as possible and then suddenly find themselves in extraordinary situations."

The first story, Bent, Not Broken introduces us to Dwayne Johnson, a character who suffers from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, a disorder which obviously makes him very socially backward. As Dwayne drives by a certain bus stop every morning on his way to work he looks for someone very special. Someone he has named "Black-Coat Girl". The unexpected happens and Dwayne's life takes a dramatic turn when he finally gets to meet her face to face.

The next story, In the Gray is a very short tale where the reader gets to peek into the life of Michael Conner. Most of the story is a phone conversation with his mother, but from that one phone call we are able to learn everything we need to know about Michael, his family and his past. It is amazing how much information the author can squeeze into less than a dozen pages.

Prominent Couple Slain is a great old-fashioned detective/murder mystery. In this story, we are introduced to Detective Jack Staal, a burnt-out homicide detective who has just transferred from the stress of the big city only to be faced with a horrendous murder of his new small town's most prominent couple.

The premise of the next story is that May 18 will be the very last day of civilization. The comet, Ivan is on a collision course to destroy everything and it will be here soon, but all Trevor wants to do is get home to be with his girl, Kelly-Anne. For some reason it isn't the comet, Ivan that worries Trevor, but something else. He feels that he's already lived through this disaster many times before. Can he change the future?

Who hasn't dreamed of winning a multi-million dollar lottery? Lighting the Dark Side's fifth story, Blessing or Curse? deals with that exact topic. The main character, Brad Stewart has won 11 million dollars? Imagine all of the things that he can do with that money. Imagine what he'll buy. Imagine how much his life will change. Brad imagined all of this, but what he didn't plan for was that as a lottery winner he would become the target of an extortionist who has kidnapped his son!

The last story, Surviving the Fall is an exciting thriller that takes place a week or so before Christmas. In it, James Goodal witnesses a young woman being thrown out of a moving vehicle and takes her home to care for her. Unfortunately, Ashley has a very dangerous past that catches up to her and James. This story is fast-paced and keeps you on the edge of your seat.
These six stories cover almost every genre from thriller and suspense to mystery, detective and even romance. The character development in each story is amazing. All of the main characters are written superbly. The dialog never comes off as stilted or phoney. Mr. Potter may well find himself in some extraordinary company with some of the best authors sooner than he ever expected.

978-1436312530

Won the 2009 Allbooks Reviews Critics Choice Award for Short Story Collections

Highly Recommended by Erin Hynd for Reader's Choice Reviews.