Nightscape

by David Morrell

Acclaimed author David Morrell (First Blood, Creepers) is praised for his riveting short fiction as much as he is for his best-selling thrillers. His stories appeared in many Year’s Best anthologies and received prestigious awards. In his second collection, Morrell leads you through an adrenaline-charged NightScape of serial killers, third world revolutionaries, a policeman stalking a murderous cult, a son obsessed by his cryogenically frozen father, a psychology professor forced to suffer intense confinement, and a doctor combating an epidemic that he fears will destroy the world. Complete with autobiographical introductions in which Morrell links the stories to painful incidents in his life, NightScape includes a mini-novel, “Rio Grande Gothic,” set in Morrell’s home of picturesque Santa Fe, New Mexico, where mysterious shoes appear day-after-day in the middle of a road. Soon it becomes shockingly evident that the shoes are the aftermath of ritual murders.Morrell received the 2009 ThrillerMaster Award from the International Thriller Writers organization.“Morrell, an absolute master of the thriller, plays by his own rules and leaves you dazzled.” —Dean Koontz, New York Times bestselling author of Odd Thomas.“David Morrell is, to me, the finest thriller writer living today, bar none.”—Steve Berry, New York Times bestselling author of The Jefferson Key

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Short Stories, Thriller, Anthologies, Collections

356 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 4, 2004

About the author

David Morrell is a Canadian novelist from Kitchener, Ontario, who has been living in the United States for a number of years. He is best known for his debut 1972 novel First Blood, which would later become a successful film franchise starring Sylvester Stallone. More recently, he has been writing the Captain America comic books limited-series The Chosen.

Reviews

[itchy · Rating 3 out of 5]

remains to be seen

brief synopsis:
a guy swore on his life to deliver an unknown cargo for his leader.

setting:
initial setting unknown, but could possibly be argentina
marseilles, france
rome, italy
madrid, spain
lisbon, portugal
brussels, europe
geneva, switzerland

named personalities:
carlos - the swearer
maria - carlos' pregnant wife
lenin - a secular god of the soviets

*

nothing will hurt you

brief synopsis:
a man goes to lengths to fulfill his promise to his daughter.

setting:
manhattan, new york
new haven, connecticut

named personalities:
chad dolan - a literary agent
sweeney todd - the demon barber of fleet street
stephen sondheim - an american composer
linda dolan - chad's wife; a piano teacher
mrs lovett - a fictional character in the stage musical sweeney todd
angela lansbury - an actress who played mrs lovett
raymond mackenzie - a new haven police force lieutenant
stephanie - chad and linda's daughter
jesus - presumably jesus christ
shakespeare - presumably william shakespeare
winnie-the-pooh - a fictional anthropomorphic teddy bear
richard 'the biter' putman - a sociopath

*

elvis .45

brief synopsis:
an english professor takes his love of the king (and rock and roll) to the extreme

setting:
an unnamed american university

named personalities:
elvis aron 'the pelvis' presley - the king
fred hopkins - a university professor
edna - fred's estranged wife, who kept interrupting him
peter robinson - someone who was awfully chummy with edna
ed sullivan - an american television personality
jackie gleason - an american comedian
mrs robinson - peter's wife
bryant - an interviewer for the today show
sam philips - an american record producer
martin luther king, jr - an important figure in the civil rights movement

*

habitat

brief synopsis:
explores the hypocrisy of keeping pets.

setting:
a habitat somewhere

named personalities:
jamie neal - an assistant professor of deep space psychology
laurel - one half of a comedy duo
hardy - the other half of the comedy duo above
alice - a fictional character in alice in wonderland

*

front man

brief synopsis:
a has-been writer finds a way to market his product to young viewers.

setting:
los angeles, california
mexico

named personalities:
mort davidson - a screenwriter
seinfeld - a nostalgic actor
steve - steve's agent
rod serling - a practical inventor of tv drama
paddy chayefsky - another practical inventor of tv drama
jesus christ - a jewish religious leader
doris - mort's late wife who died of leukemia
ed mcmahon - an american announcer with a resonating voice
arthur lewis - an executive
judith krantz - an author
sid - an actor
eric 'ric' potter - a young would-be-writer waiter
ed ballard - a warners executive
linda carpenter - an agent
joe eszterhas - the screenwriter of basic instinct
robert towne - an american screenwriter
william goldman - another american screenwriter
horace - a latin poet
mary - presumably a lamb owner

*

resurrection

brief synopsis:
a son takes care of his father despite overwhelwing odds.

setting:
somewhere in the usa, maybe

named personalities:
anthony - a son devoted to his father
jesus - presumably jesus christ
marian - anthony's mother
paul - anthony's son
sally - anthony's daughter
jane - anthony's second daughter
peter - jane's son

*

if i should die before i wake

brief synopsis:
a physician tries to survive a pandemic.

setting:
elmdale
larrabee

personalities:
jonas bingaman - elmdale hospital's physician and amateur radio operator
joey carter - a boy with freckles and red hair
rebecca carter - joey's mother
edward carter - joey's father; elmdale's best carpenter
bill kendrick - a local
pete williams - one of the boys who went swimming with joey
ben slocum - ditto
mrs williams - pete's mother
mrs slocum - ben's mother
harry webster - the bingamans' neighbor across the street
marion - jonas' wife
brian powell - elmdale hospital's chief of staff
charlie chaplin - a silent film actor
mrs wade - the carters' next door neighbor
peter talbot - elmdale hospital's surgeon and medical examiner
robert wilson - a carpenter who worked with edward
marconi - transmitter of the first transatlantic wireless message
jesus - presumably jesus christ
douglas bennett - elmdale hospital's other physician
mrs brady - an untrained volunteer nurse
virginia keel - elmdale hospital's head nurse
halloway - elmdale's mayor and head of the board of education
ballard - an elmdale mortician
standish - another elmdale mortician
elizabeth - the head of the nursing staff
enza - a little bird
charles darwin - an english biologist

*

rio grande gothic

brief synopsis:
a policeman stumbles upon an inexplicable phenomenon and subsequently uncovers a horrific practice.

setting:
santa fe, new mexico
dillon, new mexico

named personalities:
gabe romero - a santa fe policeman
tony ortega - another santa fe policeman
luke parsons - a polite, sandy-haired, blue-eyed, young man who sells moss rocks
harry - a steak house proprietor
ray becker - a state policeman
maria - gabe's sergeant's wife
jesus christ - a jewish religious leader
mark - luke's icon-selling brother
rosa - gabe's sergeant's neighbor down the street who's interested in herbal remedies
john parsons - luke's not-so-friendly, vegetable-selling brother
matthew - luke's third and silent brother
susan crowell - a woman who had gone missing with her fiance
mr daly - john's attorney
dh lawrence - the author of the woman who rode away

ocr:
there is a few ocr errors: 1's or /'s (or in one case a 7) for uppercase i's and lowercase l's, missing spaces.
a funny one at p147: he was trying to eat better, too, munching on a burrito grande con polio from felipe's, the best mexican take-out in town.

punctuation:
p167: "...is that a fact."

one man's fear is another man's security, i guess.
this might induce a few nightmares, at the least.

[Tom A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

March Review #2: Nightscape by David Morrell

1. Remains to be Seen

Carlos is on the run. After a rebellion forces the "Great Man" (a stand-in for Juan Peron) to flee, he is entrusted by the King to a mysterious crate, with the task of guarding it with his life. Carlos takes this order to heart and proceeds to transport it by sea amidst all violent strife. The "Great Man" promises to return, but Carlos has to guard the crate indefinitely. After a scuffle at sea, Carlos wonders why the rebel forces chose to attack the package rather than the fleeing leader; what does it contain that is so important? As he transports it from place to place, Carlos wants to look inside the source of all their troubles. What is its true worth?

Morrell starts the collection with this dark fable about the consequences of blind devotion. The lengths Carlos goes through to protect the crate are farcical; Morrell piles them until the logical conclusion happens. I found the last pages to be poignantly tragic; a sad mix of personal fulfillment and gruesome obsession.

Appears in: Psycho-Paths, edited by Robert Bloch

2. Nothing Will Hurt You

Literary agent Chad and his wife had just seen a theatrical performance of Sweeney Todd; unfortunately, that very night, they receive news grimmer than fictional murder and cannibalism: the death and murder of their daughter. Chad is visibly devastated and heads into a downward spiral, one that even his supposed daughter's ghost (?) cannot stop.

Morrell wrote this story to deal with the real-life death of his 15-year old son. As expected, the tale is harrowing, horrific, emotional, and extremely disturbing. I can honestly say that it is one of the few horror tales that made me tear up. The serial killer in this is inspired by Theodore "Ted" Bundy, with his penchant for sexual violence and using his charm to trick his victims.

Appears in: MetaHorror, edited by Dennis Etchison

3. Elvis .45

A professor wants to teach a course on the cultural and societal contribution of Elvis Presley. But what began as a curious oddity soon descends into obsession, madness, and unspeakable tragedy.

This tale uses dialogue only and better because of it; this gives us a direct view of the progression of madness and frustration of the main character trying to live out the ideals Presley championed during his lifetime. And how does it end? If Presley died a pitiful death, expect the fate of the main character to be much worse.

Appears in: The King is Dead: Tales of Elvis Postmortem, edited by Paul M. Sammon

4. Habitat

Jamie Neal is going mad. After she signs up for a mysterious experiment, she realizes the living hell she would have to endure was not laid out in the contract. Although she is not assaulted or tortured, it won't be long until she commits the unthinkable to escape. But who are her captors, and what are their goals?

This entry is a script commissioned by Laurel Entertainment (the late George Romero's producers) for their Monsters TV show. Morrell manages to make Jamie Neal's ordeal vivid that we can't help but feel the stark isolation and the resulting madness of the main character. The twist, in the end, is neatly done, and that's enough for me.

5. Front Man

Aging Hollywood scriptwriter (inspired by Stirling Silliphant) Mort Davidson has a great career. Unfortunately, he can no longer rely on his talent, as Hollywood producers think he is too old to cater to the tastes of the youth of today. Enter Eric "Ric" Potter, a young, good-looking but unfortunately not talented enough struggling scriptwriter that Mort meets in a diner. Potter has the youth, and Mort has the talent. Together they hatch out a scheme to avail a win-win situation: Mort gets his work out, and Ric gets the spotlight and the big break. But how long will such an engagement last, and what will happen when one decides he's had enough?

This entry is another crackling short from Morrell. (who must have channeled into the story the life experiences of his friend and mentor Silliphant) What begins as a fun scheme turns into a downward spiral of jealousy, mistrust, and eventual violence. Again, the writing is clear, and there are no obstructions to the storytelling. In retrospect, the whole set-up is reflective of true-to-life Hollywood horror stories, the place where dreams can be a ticket to hell.

Appears in: Crucified Dreams, edited by Joe R. Lansdale

6. Resurrection

Nine-year-old Anthony thought his father getting cancer was the worst thing to happen in their lives. But a procedure designed to give hope to their father would probably be far more debilitating: Cryonics. As their father remains "frozen," Anthony's life, as well as his family's, spins horribly out of control. But there is one silver lining: The Cryonics process being successful. What will Anthony do when his father comes back to life now that it's worse than before?

This story is a human drama centered on the bizarre idea of Cryonics. Morrell uses the story again to work out his feelings concerning the death of his son. At times, the whole tale can feel too harrowing and depressing, but if you manage to read until the end, you will encounter maybe a smidgen of hope. I recommend a "double-bill" read with Dan Simmons' The River Styx Runs Upstream .

Appears in: Redshift: Extreme Visions of Speculative Fiction, edited by Al Sarrantonio

7. If I Should Die Before I Wake

It's a perfectly normal day until Dr. Jonas Bingaman receives a child suffering from a high fever. First suspecting it to be pneumonia, Bingaman gives medical advice and thinks nothing of it. He soon takes it very seriously when everybody around the boy grows seriously sick and dies before any meaningful help can be offered. Soon, the entire world will feel the woes of Bingaman's city.

Can a horror tale be more timely?

Consider these lines:

1. "But as for why the authorities in Albany didn't warn communities like Elmdale about the epidemic, well, the wireless operators I spoke to have a theory that the authorities didn't want to warn anyone about the disease."

2. "Forty thousand patients with influenza in Pennsylvania?"

3. "But the restaurants and the stores? All the uproar from the owners because of the business they would lose."

To add, Morrell depicts what happens when the universal struggle against the epidemic reaches too close to home. The results are heartbreaking, harrowing, and depressing. If you read history, you probably know what happens next, but seeing it happen to fictional characters is the closest we can get to experience the horror of those times.

Appears in: Revelations edited by Douglas E. Winter

8. Rio Grande Gothic

Santa Fe policeman Gabe Romero has been a policeman for fifteen years, and yet he has seen nothing as weird as finding an empty pair of shoes in the same stretch of road every night. Curious about the phenomenon, he decides to devote a considerable time investigating. Little does he know of the nature of the crime he is to uncover and the personal cost he has to pay for such an innocent inquiry.

This story is the only one that disappointed me. The set-up is interesting, but the mystery at the heart of the story feels underwritten and underdeveloped. This mistake, in turn, makes the evil conspiracy feel hackneyed. But the piece is redeemed by Morrell's usual gripping pace and clear-as-day prose. And the main character is very relatable.

Appears in: 999: Twenty-Nine Original Tales of Horror and Suspense, edited by Al Sarrantonio

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this collection of stories. They are pretty simple weird tales, when it comes down to it. They feel like Twilight Zone episodes, which I think says something about Morrell's influences. The scenarios and characterizations feel pretty realistic. A lot of the stories feature the death of a family member, which might be Morrell's way of dealing with the death of his son, but I'll let psychoanlytical critics deal with that. Overall, it is a good little collection, that by went pretty quickly.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favourite short story collection is Black Evening, so I couldn't wait to read this! I wasn't disappointed. Each story is like an episode of The Outer Limits, usually with a gruesome ending. The prose are accessible and get you invested in a story before you realise you've been drawn in. However, this collection consisted of stories mostly based in reality, which was a departure from the more eerily supernatural stories of Black Evening. Highly recommend.

[Alison McMahan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I savored one story from this book each night and was sad when I'd read them all. All of the stories are wonderful, but a few really got to me: "Resurrection," "If I Should Die Before I wake," (a searing story!) and "Rio Grande Gothic," (they need to make a movie out of that one!
Not to be missed!

[koty.bibliofaga · Rating 3 out of 5]

Opowiadania grozy, z którymi mam jeden zasadniczy problem: są tak krótkie i skondensowane, że rozwiązania podane są wprost na tacy na ostatniej stronie. Pomysły super, wykonanie średnie.

[Dave mcloughlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hands down the best writer of short stories, his collections are hard to find but totally worth the effort. Fantastic stuff

[Redrighthand]

Placeholder…
Rio Grande Gothic. *****

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Felt very dated which sometimes is good and sometimes not. I enjoyed this book but didn’t feel there was a great deal of subtlety - not my favourite of this genre.

[Tanvir Muntasim · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good collection of short stories, with the central themes of obsession and dedication to that obsession. Found the story titled ' Resurrection' to be especially poignant take on father son relationship. Morrell talks about his own life in the introduction and it gives us an insider's look about his motivations and inspirations to become a writer.

[Kat (Katlovesbooks) Dietrich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nightscape by David Morrell is a collection of his short stories.

This is the first collection I've read, and really enjoyed it. The stories are fast-paced and for the most part, surprising.

And, he's from Kitchener !!!!

Will read more!

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another collection of his stories, but I didn't think it was as strong as Black Evening.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good collection of short stories by Morrell, notably a clever script he'd written for the TV series "Monsters".

[Jeff · Rating 1 out of 5]

did this guy write "first blood", as in rambo's first blood?!? fast-paced and exciting, so far. we'll see.

[Saeeda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved Rio Grande Gothic.

This collection of short stories completely caught me off guard. At times the book was great but mainly annoying. But Rio Grande Gothic was simply too good.

[ArkNyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Remains to be seen 3.25 of 5.00 stars