What do you think?
Rate this book
These Darkened Streets
The eleven stories in These Darkened Streets play on the foggy boundary between horror and magical realism . You'll find shivers here, dear reader, and other, more thought-provoking flights of imagination all set in small towns with dark, quiet streets...
This collection
"A Game of Lost Boys" - a childhood friend is more than he appears
"The Thing about a Haunting" - an exploration of the nature of ghosts
"When Megan Could Fly" - a high flying high school crush lands hard
"Soul Marbles" - Zane's dad said the marbles carried dead men's souls
"Billy Boy" - Billy told the best monster stories
"Different Strings" - two siblings explore a secret world
"The Scavengers Lying in Wait" - more than catfish sleep in Potter's Pond
"What Julie’s Dad Doesn’t Know" - the .38 isn't loaded, yet...
"The Logic of Monsters" - a walk home slips into a flight of fantasy
"Empty" - something waits in the old house down the street...
"The World in Rubber, Soft and Malleable" - the townsfolk vanish, one by one, through magic doors in their basements
These stories, all wandering through fictional small towns, are some of the author's favorites.
This collection
"A Game of Lost Boys" - a childhood friend is more than he appears
"The Thing about a Haunting" - an exploration of the nature of ghosts
"When Megan Could Fly" - a high flying high school crush lands hard
"Soul Marbles" - Zane's dad said the marbles carried dead men's souls
"Billy Boy" - Billy told the best monster stories
"Different Strings" - two siblings explore a secret world
"The Scavengers Lying in Wait" - more than catfish sleep in Potter's Pond
"What Julie’s Dad Doesn’t Know" - the .38 isn't loaded, yet...
"The Logic of Monsters" - a walk home slips into a flight of fantasy
"Empty" - something waits in the old house down the street...
"The World in Rubber, Soft and Malleable" - the townsfolk vanish, one by one, through magic doors in their basements
These stories, all wandering through fictional small towns, are some of the author's favorites.
Kindle Edition
First published August 5, 2011
8 people want to read
About the author
Aaron Polson
82 books77 followersAaron Polson currently lives in Lawrence, Kansas with his wife, two sons, and a tattooed rabbit. His stories have featured magic goldfish, monstrous beetles, and a book of lullabies for baby vampires. His work has seen print in Shock Totem, Blood Lite II, and Monstrous with several new stories forthcoming in Shimmer, Space and Time, and other publications. The Saints are Dead, a collection of weird fiction, magical realism, and the kitchen sink, is due from Aqueous Press in 2011. "
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 31, 2011
This is a really strong collection of short stories; he kind of 'horror' stories that are about ambiguity and strangeness rather than shock and gore. In many, how much of what has happened is supernatural and how much is just in the narrator's mind is in doubt (particularly as so many of the protagonists are kids). Polson does a great job of collecting together stories with a similar tone and themes, without being repetitious.
Favourite stories in this book for me were: "The World in Rubber, Soft and Malleable" (great, odd, and unique); "The Thing about a Haunting" (nice piece of flash fiction with a killer last line) and "When Megan Could Fly" (with which its surrealism and quiet teenage heartbreak seems influenced by the likes of Haruki Murakami rather than a horror author).
There was the odd weaker story in my opinion, and the occasional place where the prose seemed to drift into cliche; but these are minor quibbles and certainly shouldn't detract anyone who is interested from checking out These Darkened Streets.
Favourite stories in this book for me were: "The World in Rubber, Soft and Malleable" (great, odd, and unique); "The Thing about a Haunting" (nice piece of flash fiction with a killer last line) and "When Megan Could Fly" (with which its surrealism and quiet teenage heartbreak seems influenced by the likes of Haruki Murakami rather than a horror author).
There was the odd weaker story in my opinion, and the occasional place where the prose seemed to drift into cliche; but these are minor quibbles and certainly shouldn't detract anyone who is interested from checking out These Darkened Streets.
Displaying 1 of 1 review