Under Cover of Night [Paperback]

Mary Sangiovanni (Author)

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mary SanGiovanni is the author of the Bram Stoker nominated THE HOLLOWER, its sequel, FOUND YOU, THRALL, and FOR EMMY. She has been writing fiction for over a decade, has a Masters in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University, and is a member of The Authors Guild and Penn Writers.

Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: Flesh & Blood Press (October 20, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1894815998
• ISBN-13: 978-1894815994
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,309,508 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mary SanGiovanni is the author of the novels THE HOLLOWER (nominated for the Bram Stoker Award), FOUND YOU, THE TRIUMVIRATE (forthcoming 2012) and THRALL, and the novellas FOR EMMY and POSSESSING AMY. Her fiction has appeared in periodicals and anthologies for the last decade. She has a Masters degree in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University, Pittsburgh. She is currently a member of The Authors Guild, The International Thriller Writers, and Penn Writers, and was previously an Active member in the Horror Writers Association.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars sexy terror, September 6, 2006

By 

Heidi "always reading" (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Under Cover of Night (Paperback)

MARY SANGIOVANNI combines shadowy places with sexy themes in UNDER COVER OF NIGHT. Each story is a little view into another world, whether it be physical or metaphysical. Some of these had me thinking about them way after I finished the book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Genre Short Fiction at its Best, June 28, 2006

By 

Jonathan Maberry "Multiple Bram Stoker Award-... (Bucks County, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Under Cover of Night (Paperback)

Mary SanGiovanni has a rare talent for writing in a variety of different genres -fantasy, SF, horror-- with the kind of smooth, accessible style you see more often in writers who have been at it a lot longer. She sets up each story quickly, draws you in, and then tells a great tale without wasting words or wasting the readers time with useless fluff. She's a true storyteller and this is a marvelous collection.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A sharp eye for horror..., November 1, 2005

By 

Michael B. Mullig "Mike Brendan" (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Under Cover of Night (Paperback)

Short horror fiction is truly a "hit-or-miss" venture, in my opinion. Think about it for a second: the key point in horror is to trigger a specific emotional response in the reader, generally centered around fear or revulsion. One might argue that romance fiction does this as well, but I disagree. Love is not instinctual -- fear is. Revulsion is (and it can make us laugh as well as cringe). These are much more base an emotion in the human psyche. That's what horror hits on, and it can hit with blinding speed and great intensity.

Short fiction -- and I'm talking 10,000 words or less -- can be very difficult to pull off, even more so in the realm of speculative fiction. A writer has to establish plot, setting, and character quickly, so he doesn't have the luxury of pages on which to be elaborate. Add that emotional punch for horror, and you've got quite a task.

This collection of shorts has a good hit-ratio: 6 out of seven -- but that's my opinion. What's more important is what one can learn about horror by reading this book.

Of the seven stories only three could be considered contemporary: "The Amazing Morpheus," "Dust Shadows of the Dead" and "Who Wants to Be a Survivor?" Both are well written, with the latter having a bit of a "Blair Witch" element to it. "Morpheus" is more a modern Lovecraft archetype without descending into lengthy and elaborate prose -- it's clear, it's concise, and the film adaptation should have Cristopher Lee in the titular role. No one else would suffice. "Shadows" has all the elements of a classic nightmare/haunting scenario, with much more gruesome (and fearsome) results.

The remaining four stories are blends of horror with other genres. Two are science-fiction, one is fantasy, and the last "Skincatchers" is more a mystery/noir with Lovecraftian elements to it. "Skincatchers" is, in my mind, the only miss here, and that's because the ending seems a little too neat for me. "Three Days" -- the fantasy story -- has some epic elements and a decent sense of dread from the baleful army marching down on this one castle. What little we see of the actual battle is from a distant point of view and not detailed, but that's not the focus of the story, so it's understandable. "Ossibus" and "Mist of Wynth" are good SF blends that draw the basic elements into a horror tale. It also qualifies as SF because if you take the science out, the story doesn't work.

These stories serve as good examples of blending elements of one genre outside the one you primarily write in. The trick is to use the right pieces so the secondary genre doesn't become interchangable, and Mary's skills here make this book worth reading.