The Shapes of Midnight [Paperback]

Joseph Payne Brennan (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Berkley (October 1, 1980)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425045676
• ISBN-13: 978-0425045671
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,178,488 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A box full of blood filled chocolates., April 2, 2002

By 

Jim Lay (Knoxville, TN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Shapes of Midnight (Paperback)

Everybody who appreciates horror fiction should have a Joseph Payne Brennan collection on their nightstand. His short fiction is expertly designed for late night reading when the dark is peering in through the cracks in the blinds and something is scratching at the window that might or might not be a tree branch. Widely published in the late fifties up until the 70's, Brennan perfected the pulp horror tale with unmatched skill. In the introduction to this particular anthology, Stephen King describes Brennan as one of the masters of pulp horror fiction and he is right on the money. (And when I use the word "pulp", I use it with all the respect and reverence the classification deserves. Forget about the literary snobs who use the word as an insult.) THE SHAPES OF MIDNIGHT contains two of his classics "Slime" and "Canavan's Backyard" which King praises as the literary equal to Faulkner's "A Rose For Emily". Brennan's work is full of ancient Egyptian curses, things that crawl from the swamp, eyes under the bed, and the collision of reality and nightmare in the mundaness of every day life. Brennan is an author to seek out if you care about horror fiction and enjoy reading under the covers with a flashlight. His work is also great for reading out loud to your significant other late at night, shivering under the covers.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Some great tales in here,, June 7, 2006

By 

Julie B. Thompson (Pembroke, MA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Shapes of Midnight (Paperback)

Brennan is a sadly little-known writer, as he has written some fine horror fiction. Though this anthology isn't as good as his earlier one, "Nine Horrors and a Dream", it does contain a couple of great stories. The best--and longest--work is the novellette (sp?) "Slime", which is also his best-known story, about a deep-sea jelly-fish-thing on the loose in a small rural town. This particular story has been featured in at least six other anthologies that I own.
"Canavan's Backyard" is a fastenating and original tale, about an elderly bookkeeper whose backyard seems to be able to play with its own dimensions once hapless victims enter it, making it appear to go on forever and ever...
"The Pavilion" is a great murder tale with a haunting and ironic ending, and "The Horror at Chilton Castle", about a nasty something living in a small dungenous tomb in a forgotten Castle, is bound to give you nightmares. "The Corpse of Charlie Rull", though written in the exact same mold as "Slime" (substituting a blob monster with a zombie), is a fun, goofy, violent-as-hell radioactive zombie romp, while "The Willow Platform" is a Lovecraftian tale of why you shouldn't play with ancient, extra-dimensional forces.
A couple of stories here, as with almost any anthology, feel a bit like filler ("House of Memory" was utterly pointless and non-horror to the max), but this anthology is worth tracking down. Great introduction by Stephen King.
By the way--many of these stories would have made AWESOME Twilight Zone episodes!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Short and scary., May 16, 2007

By 

Joseph Madden - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Shapes of Midnight (Paperback)

These are the two words that sum up Brennan's work. Highly recommended, even if the price is steep. If you love the short fiction of Matheson, King, Lovecraft and others, you won't be disappointed with this choice.