Midnight Tableau is a tightly-crafted collection of twelve tales of dark fiction that is something noteworthy within the genre. The stories are thematic portraits of the human essence, a shadowy montage of our dark, individual souls.
Michael McCrann purposely avoids the label "horror" when defining his work because, unfortunately, the term is associated with writing that is juvenile in content and style. There are no vampires, werewolves or gratuitous gore in the stories. These select tales are sophisticated pieces that aim to be more creepy than scary, more chilling than shocking. The collection contains developed characters, original plots, dark humor, and lively, active prose. The author's writing has been influenced by the great works of Richard Matheson, Stephen King, Ed Gorman, Christopher Fowler, Ramsey Campbell, Shirley Jackson from within the genre and others, such as John Irving, Wally Lamb, and Tom Robbins from the mainstream.
Midnight Tableau has realistic, fleshed-out characters placed in precarious situations and explores themes including: isolation, social displacement, interpersonal control, fortune and misfortune as birthrights, and more. Taken as a whole, the collection depicts the dark facet, the black core within the heart of the human animal. But more importantly, Midnight Tableau is entertaining. It will appeal to a broad-based readership. The collection was particularly written for all the discerning adults who don't much care for the current conventions within the horror genre--and for those who don't become unsettled easily.
