Customer Reviews

Nightscape

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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.

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.

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.

David Morrell is probably one of the few authors that can pull off this type of collection - each story is introduced by the author citing his inspiration and how the story came about. Other authors have tried this in the past but Morrell's insight and personal touch makes the reader feel as if they're in an intimate conversation with the author.

Some standouts from this collection are:

Rio Grande Gothic, based on a true story of shoes left in the middle of the road - Morrell imagines that one of the shoes has a foot in it.

Front Man - what happens when an aging playwright partners with a young protege to sell his stories.

If I Should Die Before I Wake looks at the consequences of cryogenics.

Highly recommended and well worth the price of admission.

This is a wonderfully scary group of short stories. Morrell is better known for his novels but his roots were always with horror,You wont want to put the book down.