Nightscape [Hardcover]

David Morrell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2004

By and large the kind of tales an author writes are metaphors for the scars in the nooks and crannies of his/her psyche. In David Morrell's youth, thrillers and horror stories provided an escape from his nightmarish reality. Is it any wonder that, as an adult obsessed with being a writer, he has compulsively turned to the types of stories that provided escape when he was a child? In his own words, perhaps he is eager to provide an escape for others. Or perhaps he is still trying to escape from his past. In each of the stories in this collection there is a theme: obsession and determination. A character gets and idea in his head, a hook on his emotions, a need that has to be fulfilled, and he does everything possible to carry through, no matter how difficult. Written with the haunting emotional intensity and lightning pace that has made David Morrell the master of high-action suspense writing, this collection of stories will leave you dazzled.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Best known as the author of numerous thrillers, Morrell (The Protector) also has a reputation for crafting sophisticated short horror and science fiction. This solid collection presents a sampling of his work in both genres. The two standouts are "If I Should Die Before I Wake," a harrowing account of a smalltown doctor facing the influenza epidemic of 1918, and "Rio Grande Gothic," a novella about a Santa Fe police officer, Romero, who becomes obsessed with the shoes someone is repeatedly leaving on the highway. His fellow officers consider him eccentric until one pair turns up with feet still in them. Morrell, a former English professor, loves literary references, as shown by Romero's surviving because he reads D.H. Lawrence. Also strong are "Remains to Be Seen," in which the loyalty of a South American military officer knows no bounds, and "Nothing Will Hurt You," in which the father of a girl murdered by a serial killer becomes obsessed with bringing the monster to justice. Morrell's stories tend to combine clean, understated prose and a relatively low-key story line with a shocking surprise at the end. Of particular interest are the general introduction and introductory notes to each story, in which the author ties his fiction to sometimes painful events in his own life.
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From Booklist

Morrell writes compelling psychological suspense and manages to cover lots of ground in this relatively slim volume of stories. In the opening story, "Remains to Be Seen," inspired by historical research on Juan Peron, a fanatical underling is trusted with a mysterious but vital cargo as rebels overthrow the "Great Man." The book closes with "Rio Grande Gothic," written for Al Sarrantonio's anthology 999 (1999), in which a cop becomes obsessed with the shoes--a different one each day--abandoned at the side of a road: at first, the shoes seem someone's idea of a practical joke, but eventually they lead to bizarre ritual sacrifices on a secluded farm. The stories in between range from the historically inspired "If I Should Die before I Wake," a terrifying extrapolation from the Spanish flu of the early twentieth century, to the future shock of "Resurrection," in which a boy's terminally ill father is cryogenically frozen and, after a cure is found, brought back to life younger than his son then is; role reversals, anyone? Regina Schroeder
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 238 pages
• Publisher: Subterranean Press; Limited edition (June 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159606000X
• ISBN-13: 978-1596060005
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,553,506 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A welcome companion volume to 1992's Black Evening., July 14, 2004

By 

Henry W. Wagner (Rockaway, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nightscape (Hardcover)

Except for the novels The Totem, Testament, and Long Lost, David Morrell has chosen the short story as his primary vehicle when exploring the horrific. Many of these outstanding shorter works were collected in 1992's Black Evening. Now, that volume has a welcome companion, Nightscape.

Although the stories in each display Morrell's trademark "you are there" immediacy, each book has its own unique qualities. Black Evening is a collection of stories that initially saw print between 1972 and 1992, while most of the stories in Nightscape were published during the past decade. The stories in Black Evening tend toward the supernatural, whereas those in Nightscape are more realistic. Finally, whereas the stories in the former vary in length, running the gamut from short stories to novellas, the pieces in the latter are mostly very long. In fact, "If I Should Die Before I Wake" and "Rio Grande Gothic" are almost mini-novels.

In his intimate introduction, Morrell explains that the stories in Nightscape consider the themes of obsession and determination. While those elements play varying roles in each tale, an even deeper theme, that of individual identity, ties these stories together. It's a prominent theme of "Remains To Be Seen," where the protagonist sees himself as a loyal servant, willing to do whatever it takes to fulfill his promise, "Nothing Will Hurt You," which focuses on a father who feels he has not met his responsibilities to his murdered daughter, and "Elvis .45," in which a rabid fan of "The King" loses himself in idol worship.

This motif presents itself repeatedly in the remaining stories. In "Habitat" and "Front Man," the protagonists struggle merely to maintain their identities. In "Resurrection," the main characters redefine themselves to cope with radically changed circumstances. Finally, in "If I Die Before I Wake" and "Rio Grande Gothic," the characters' professions, physician and lawman, respectively, dictate their responses to extraordinary circumstances.

Writing with clarity and intensity, Morrell uses these tales to explore a wide variety of emotions and behaviors, including devotion, betrayal, grief, joy, and, yes, obsession and determination. Unsettling but also moving, the stories in Nightscape are yet another reminder of Morrell's ability to peer deeply into his characters' psyches, a rare talent that makes his work essential reading for horror fans and general audiences alike.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Short Stories Not Up to Masterpiece Standard of His Novels, March 12, 2005

By 

James N Simpson (Gold Coast, QLD Australia) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Nightscape (Hardcover)

David Morrell is a sensational author of many almost masterpiece quality novels such as The Protector, Long Lost and Burnt Sienna. Nightscape however is not a novel but a collection of short stories and Morrell is not in the same top of the writing ladder league for short stories as he is for novel writing.

I found quite a few of the stories in Nightscape a bit of an effort to maintain interest in and keep reading as they just weren't that good. Resurrection was by the far the best story in here tackling the issues of cryogenics and being frozen until they find a cure and what impact this has on the frozen one's family and ultimately the frozen one once they awaken. If I Should Die Before I Wake was also fairly enjoyable but being that it was set during World War I you knew it was pure fiction therefore losing its believability factor. The final and longest story Rio Grande Gothic about a policeman who is obsessed with finding the perpetrator who keeps leaving a pair of new shoes in the one spot on the highway is also fairly good but the other stories were nothing special. Spend your money on Morrell's masterpiece novels instead of Nightscape and wait for Nightscape to become available at your local library.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A master of short works, too, November 11, 2011

By 

Mark Graham (Rocky Mountains) - See all my reviews

This review is from: NightScape (Kindle Edition)

David Morrell doesn't write many short stories. For the past three decades, since FIRST BLOOD introduced Rambo to the world consciousness in 1972, the Santa Fe author has devoted approximately two years to each of his distinctive thriller novels, leaving little time for short works. Yet the eight stories in NIGHTSCAPE, his second collection (Black Evening, 1999) demonstrate that his talent in shorter forms is at least equal to his ability in book-length fiction.
"If I Should Die Before I Wake" is almost guaranteed to give readers nightmares as it details the influenza epidemic of 1918, among the great horrors of the 20th century, one which many thought signaled the end of the world.
Morrell was inspired to write "Rio Grande Gothic" by the plethora of abandoned shoes he saw on the highways near his home. How did they get there, and what terrors happened to the people who wore them?
"Resurrection" is a rare experiment in science fiction as an aged son deals with his much younger cryogenically preserved father.
In "Elvis .45" a story told entirely in dialogue, a professor with a strange obsession, turns a college class into the setting for serial murder.
Morrell has often acknowledged his debt during his career to his frequent muse, screenwriter Sterling Silliphant. "Front Man," in obvious homage to Silliphant, explores what today's youth-oriented culture has done to the best writers of the past.
"Remains to be Seen" takes a macabre look at a dictator's devotion to his dead wife, and the duties a young revolutionary is required to perform.
Morrell's own son died when he was a teenager. In the cathartic "Nothing Will Hurt You," a father obsessed by his daughter's murder, experiences the helplessness that comes with a parent's greatest fears.
In addition to the seven stories, NIGHTSCAPE includes the script of "Habitat" a chilling one-person, one-room story the author created for the Monsters television series. Readers will not be surprised as the protagonist descends into madness.
This is a collection not to be missed.