Dark Thoughts

by Martin Reaves

Art can bring life…but it can also kill. When her voodoo runs dry, an ancient woman on the Louisiana bayou finds a new way to keep the dead close. A young boy is chased out of the woods by an unseen monster…at home he will learn who the real monsters are. A haunted hospital holds tight to its spirits. The world is about to end. How will you spend those last moments? Everyone has a dark thought now and then. But sometimes our dark thoughts have us. These thoughts are capable of great evil, but also redemption. Herein lie dark tales, dark nights of the soul, to be read with the lights low and the doors locked. "Take the simple complexity of Mondrian, fill it with the passion of Klimt, the psychology of Munch, then look at it all through stereo-blind Rembrandt eyes and convert it into words; that’s the best way I can think of to describe the darkly poetic writing of Martin Reaves." ~ Trent Zelazny, author of Too Late to Call Texas and Butterfly Potion.

164 pages, Paperback

First published September 20, 2012

About the author

Martin Reaves is the critically-acclaimed, award-winning author of Dark Thoughts, the Relative series, A Fractured Conjuring, and the Twilight Zone-inspired Rosebud Hill.

Reviews

[Trent · Rating 5 out of 5]

To say Martin Reaves is a great writer would be an understatement. I am not an art aficionado, but I do love art, and each story in this collection, in my opinion is a stand-alone work of art. Realism, Classical Realism, Magic Realism, Surrealism, Impressionism. Fitting that the story "Blue Kari", the opening piece and one of my favorites, would involve painting. "Harvest Moon", another short and disturbing but beautifully moving piece on the Louisiana bayou, like a very dark folk tale, has imagery I still can't shake from my head. That's one thing Reaves does with this collection. He won't let you soon forget. Or maybe he'll never let you forget. In each piece I see a human soul, sometimes just a sliver, but other times the humanity splashes through your mind and twists your heart into knots. His prose is the kind of poetry-prose I love, filled with beautiful imagery but never hindering a story's pace.

Humanity, beauty, fear, poetry, art. These are the things that make up Dark Thoughts. Pick it up. Whatever your taste, you'll find beauty on at least one level, if not several.

[Icy_Space_Cobwebs Join the Penguin Resistance! · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review of Dark Thoughts by Martin Reaves
5 stars

The hallmark of a good story, of whatever length, is the capacity of that story to linger in the reader’s mind. If you finish the final page and go away unfulfilled, and never consider the story again, its purpose has been unfulfilled. If, however, that story, or novel, or chapter, stays on and on and on (like an uninvited house guest who just won’t go home), then that story—and that author—have succeeded. Such is my response to Martin Reaves’ collection, “Dark Thoughts”-9 stories, a work-in-progress teaser, and a novel excerpt. These folks, I can tell, are going to be hanging around for quite a while; especially “The End of the World-and I Feel Fine,” and most especially “Linda Vista Hospital…in Memoriam.” THAT one walked right out of my e-book reader and curled itself up in my heart, speaking to my life the way the narrator sings about in “Killing Me Softly”: “as if he’d found my letters and read them each out loud.”

Discerning Readers: wait no longer! Hie yourselves to your favourite bookseller and grab this collection!

[Julianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written collection of creepy and disturbing short stories. Wish I hadn't read "Devil Weed" alone in a dark house right before trying to sleep!

[M.L. Roos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Martin tells some very odd and twisted stories in this collection. BLUE KARI is deeply touching and moving, albeit a horror story. Cerulean Blue permeates the story about a deep friendship between two young girls. LITTLE GIRL LOST is a father's worst nightmare come true. Your daughter is out, driving in a part of town meant for drug dealers and gang bangers, and all you have is a phone and her voice. HARVEST MOON explains the love between a mother and son...in a creepy way. LAST WISH is the dying wish of an ex-wife. DEVIL WEED was my favourite. What is out in those woods? DARK THOUGHTS tells the tale of a boy that can read the future and finally, manipulate it. LINDA VISTA HOSPITAL...IN MEMORIAM...a ghost story. IT"S THE END OF THE WORLD AND I FEEL FINE...the end of the world. What would you want to see as your last vision? CHAINING THE BEAST IN THE BASEMENT OF THE MUSE...the author. KIMBERLINA...my favourite of a much longer and darker piece I will hopefully be telling you about next year.

[Joshua Bacon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderfully written story! Each page kept me in suspense and wanting to read more. I admire the overall mystery and thrills this story had to offer. The main character especially kept me invested with his motives and, of course, his violent and exciting thoughts. Overall, a brilliant, exciting, and magnificent mystery.