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The Dark Country
In the same creepy vein as Philip K. Dick and Thomas Harris, Etchinson's award-winning fiction is justly known for its creepy ambiance.
216 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1982
46 people are currently reading
1757 people want to read
About the author
Dennis Etchison
180 books114 followersaka Jack Martin.
Dennis William Etchison was an American writer and editor of fantasy and horror fiction. He is a multi-award winner, having won the British Fantasy Award three times for fiction, and the World Fantasy Award for anthologies he edited.
Dennis William Etchison was an American writer and editor of fantasy and horror fiction. He is a multi-award winner, having won the British Fantasy Award three times for fiction, and the World Fantasy Award for anthologies he edited.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 95 reviews
November 6, 2021
After reading a handful of The Dark Country stories, I began to think of the paintings of Edward Hopper. At first my reaction was a puzzle. I wondered why.
After all, Etchison writes vividly of Southern California in the late 70’s and early ‘80’s, of LA airports, highways and rest stops, of laundromats and convenience stores. Hopper, on the other hand, paints the East Coast in the ‘30’s and ‘40’s, depicting New York railway compartments, gas stations and chop suey joints, movie palaces, furnished rooms, and owl-wagons. But if Hopper is noir, then Etchison is neo-noir: in each, a severe scene and its human figures are circumscribed by a small patch of merciless light, a light which whispers of isolation and the lonely darkness beyond. Hopper’s light is incandescent, Etchison’s fluorescent, but both lights cut right through to the bone.
I think my favorite group of tales is the strongly noir-ish: “It Only Comes Out at Night” (set in a desert rest stop with lots of cars and no people), “Sitting in the Corner, Whimpering Quietly” (a bizarre laundromat confession), “The Walking Man” (Double Indemnity/Body Heat, with a twist), “We Have All Been Here Before” (a police psychic with an agenda), “The Pitch” (a “Mr. Popiel” type pitchman with an agenda), “The Late Shift” (something is very, very wrong with those creepy late-night quickie mart clerks), and “The Dark Country” (a random homicide disrupts an American resort in Mexico). Still, the more mysterious, open-ended stories may be even better: “The Nighthawk” (a were-hawk and his human sister), “It Will Be Here Soon” (an old man listens to strange voices on used cassette tapes), “Death Tracks” (a couple finds that TV laugh-tracks are a way of communicating with the dead), and—perhaps best of all—the haunting “You Can Go Now” (a cross-country airplane odyssey by a man who may—or may not—have committed a terrible crime).
I wasn’t a big fan of all these stories. A few (“The Daughter of the Golden West,” “Today’s Special”) were more gimmicky than ghastly, a few of the open-ended stories were more confusing than mysterious, and I didn’t much like “Transplant Trilogy,” even though Ramsay Campbell—who wrote the introduction and is a better judge than I am—disagrees.
These criticisms, however, are minor. The Dark Country is a book of well-crafted stories, touched with a beguiling ambiguity and capable of evoking genuine terror. I urge you to give Etchison a try.
November 29, 2020
Dennis Etchison had three excellent collections released in the 1980s, but this, his first, is the most consistently unnerving from beginning to end. His unique brand of horror is quiet, yet can shift to disturbingly visceral and violent all of a sudden. This isn't Charles L. Grant we're talking about here. Etchison knows how to suggest, but he is also not afraid to go for the throat.
Deserted highways and rest stops in the middle of nowhere, 7-11's and diners in the dead of night -- these are the haunts of Etchison's characters. Some of the stories here have a slight science-fictional element to them, and I'm sure that if these stories had been published during a sf-boom era as opposed to the horror boom, they would have been marketed as such (and indeed a few did originally appear in sf magazines). But there's also the ever-present feeling of wrongness, even when nothing particularly horrific or supernatural is yet occurring. That slow-creeping sense of dread and foreboding is always there.
Take for instance the chilling opener, "It Only Comes Out At Night," which takes place entirely either in a car or a rest-stop late at night, with nothing really to indicate what lies ahead for much of it, other than the fact that no one else is around. As with most of his stories, there's an uneasy atmosphere overlaying everything, and the reader knows that what's coming can't be good, but they're helpless to stop reading. Etchison is a master of slowly and subtly building suspense, so that before you know it you're nervous with anticipation, even if you can't pinpoint why, exactly.
His science fictional tendencies come into play in the so-called "Transplant Trilogy," which consists of "Calling All Monsters," "The Dead Line," and the oft-reprinted "The Late Shift," which made it's first appearance in Kirby McCauley's legendary 1980 anthology, Dark Forces. These tales, set in the not-too-distant future, show that death isn't always the end, and that it can always get worse. Far, far worse. Remind me to never check "yes" on the donor card the next time I'm renewing my driver's license.
These are all short little bursts of psychological terror, and Etchison is able to pack a lot into these 10-15 page stories. At times his writing can be slightly opaque or confusing, but not to the extent of someone like Aickman or Ligotti. In fact, I'd say that even the casual horror fan who only reads King or Koontz should have no trouble getting into these well-crafted tales.
But for the hardcore horror fan, this collection is as essential as just about any that came out of the 1980s, imo.
5 Stars
Deserted highways and rest stops in the middle of nowhere, 7-11's and diners in the dead of night -- these are the haunts of Etchison's characters. Some of the stories here have a slight science-fictional element to them, and I'm sure that if these stories had been published during a sf-boom era as opposed to the horror boom, they would have been marketed as such (and indeed a few did originally appear in sf magazines). But there's also the ever-present feeling of wrongness, even when nothing particularly horrific or supernatural is yet occurring. That slow-creeping sense of dread and foreboding is always there.
Take for instance the chilling opener, "It Only Comes Out At Night," which takes place entirely either in a car or a rest-stop late at night, with nothing really to indicate what lies ahead for much of it, other than the fact that no one else is around. As with most of his stories, there's an uneasy atmosphere overlaying everything, and the reader knows that what's coming can't be good, but they're helpless to stop reading. Etchison is a master of slowly and subtly building suspense, so that before you know it you're nervous with anticipation, even if you can't pinpoint why, exactly.
His science fictional tendencies come into play in the so-called "Transplant Trilogy," which consists of "Calling All Monsters," "The Dead Line," and the oft-reprinted "The Late Shift," which made it's first appearance in Kirby McCauley's legendary 1980 anthology, Dark Forces. These tales, set in the not-too-distant future, show that death isn't always the end, and that it can always get worse. Far, far worse. Remind me to never check "yes" on the donor card the next time I'm renewing my driver's license.
These are all short little bursts of psychological terror, and Etchison is able to pack a lot into these 10-15 page stories. At times his writing can be slightly opaque or confusing, but not to the extent of someone like Aickman or Ligotti. In fact, I'd say that even the casual horror fan who only reads King or Koontz should have no trouble getting into these well-crafted tales.
But for the hardcore horror fan, this collection is as essential as just about any that came out of the 1980s, imo.
5 Stars
December 7, 2018
What a read! The author really manages to draw you into his world of a dark country with all kinds of strange settings. Do you want to see the Walking Man? What about the Daughter of the Golden West? When you cross The Dead Line, take The Late Shift and watch The Nighthawk you will soon reach The Dark Country. I really liked those masterly told psychological stories. Reading this book is like being on a trip but one you never were on before. Recommended!
August 7, 2011
Etchison should be better known. He wrote some of the most harrowing horror tales of the 70s and 80s and I hear he is still going strong. He is sort of the god-father to splatter-punk and even if his story are sometimes psychologically introverted, he excels at the brutal ending. There is rarely any supernatural themes in his fiction but he is one of the best at psychological horror. His stories can be as straight forward as a sledgehammer yet still maintain the subtlety of a traitor's kiss.
The Dark Country was his first collection of short fiction and, for my money, still his best. The 16 stories are little rude awakenings custom made to keep you looking over your shoulder. My favorite is They Only Come Out at Night an unsettling tribute to those spooky roadside rests in the California desert. But all of the tales have that certain something that horror fans crave. Highly recommended
The Dark Country was his first collection of short fiction and, for my money, still his best. The 16 stories are little rude awakenings custom made to keep you looking over your shoulder. My favorite is They Only Come Out at Night an unsettling tribute to those spooky roadside rests in the California desert. But all of the tales have that certain something that horror fans crave. Highly recommended
November 3, 2017
Favorites (great titles, too):
"It Only Comes Out at Night"
"We Have All Been Here Before"
"You Can Go Now"
"The Dark Country"
and especially
"It Will Be Here Soon"
which is kinda like if Raymond Carver wrote a ghost story.
"It Only Comes Out at Night"
"We Have All Been Here Before"
"You Can Go Now"
"The Dark Country"
and especially
"It Will Be Here Soon"
which is kinda like if Raymond Carver wrote a ghost story.
August 19, 2011
"The Dark Country" was Dennis Etchison's first collection of short stories, and originally appeared back in 1982. This reader picked up an out-of-print copy recently, after seeing that it had been included in Jones and Newman's excellent overview volume, "Horror: 100 Best Books." Well, I don't know if I would place it on MY personal top 100 list, but this book certainly is a unique collection of shuddery, gruesome little tales. Readers looking for horror stories depicting monsters, ghosts, demons and other manifestations of the supernatural would be best advised to look elsewhere; the only monsters in this volume are of the human kind, and the only demons are those found in the minds of the assorted oddball characters. These are all very much (post)modernistic stories, and there are no crumbling castles or Carpathian villages to be found. Some of the tales even take place in the not-too-distant future, and have a decidedly sci-fi overtone. Without exception, every story herein is a distinct little gem, but like gems, some of them are flawed.
For me, these flaws take the form of either too much or not enough information. In some of these tales, such as "You Can Go Now," Etchison gives us loads of detail, and at the story's end, it all seemingly doesn't add up to very much. In others, such as "Today's Special," one feels that not enough has been supplied to fully "get" the story. Etchison is a very stylish writer--sometimes almost too stylish--and that flashy style often comes at the expense of clarity. Often, these stories must be reread in order to pick up on hints missed on the first go-round. Or perhaps one will feel compelled to reread lines, just to revel in the frequent beauty of the writing. Etchison certainly does have a handy way with a simile; for instance, when he writes "...the sky...was turning a soft, tropical orange of the kind one expects to see only on foreign postage stamps." Or when he writes "The river smelled like dead stars." Yes, the ol' boy certainly does know how to write descriptive and imaginative prose, and in MOST of the cases here, that prose is in the service of tales that do hit the reader squarely.
One of my favorite tales in the collection is one of the most straightforward: "Daughter of the Golden West." It concerns a bunch of gals who are decidedly, um, man hungry. There is a loosely linked trilogy of tales concerning organ transplants (these are the tales that tend to sci-fi) that are also very well done. Other tales in the book will make readers never look at butcher shops, or salesmen, or clairvoyants, or oral sex, or laugh tracks, or late-night convenience store clerks in quite the same way ever again. For every head scratcher of a story in the book, there are two killers. So yes, the book is a mixed bag of sorts, but even the problematic tales hold one's interest and invite reexamination. After finishing these 16 morbid little stories, I was sorry to see the book end. Etchison's is certainly a unique voice in the horror field, and if other readers have a similar reaction to mine, they will feel compelled to read more of him. This is, as I mentioned up top, an unusual collection, and I do recommend it.
For me, these flaws take the form of either too much or not enough information. In some of these tales, such as "You Can Go Now," Etchison gives us loads of detail, and at the story's end, it all seemingly doesn't add up to very much. In others, such as "Today's Special," one feels that not enough has been supplied to fully "get" the story. Etchison is a very stylish writer--sometimes almost too stylish--and that flashy style often comes at the expense of clarity. Often, these stories must be reread in order to pick up on hints missed on the first go-round. Or perhaps one will feel compelled to reread lines, just to revel in the frequent beauty of the writing. Etchison certainly does have a handy way with a simile; for instance, when he writes "...the sky...was turning a soft, tropical orange of the kind one expects to see only on foreign postage stamps." Or when he writes "The river smelled like dead stars." Yes, the ol' boy certainly does know how to write descriptive and imaginative prose, and in MOST of the cases here, that prose is in the service of tales that do hit the reader squarely.
One of my favorite tales in the collection is one of the most straightforward: "Daughter of the Golden West." It concerns a bunch of gals who are decidedly, um, man hungry. There is a loosely linked trilogy of tales concerning organ transplants (these are the tales that tend to sci-fi) that are also very well done. Other tales in the book will make readers never look at butcher shops, or salesmen, or clairvoyants, or oral sex, or laugh tracks, or late-night convenience store clerks in quite the same way ever again. For every head scratcher of a story in the book, there are two killers. So yes, the book is a mixed bag of sorts, but even the problematic tales hold one's interest and invite reexamination. After finishing these 16 morbid little stories, I was sorry to see the book end. Etchison's is certainly a unique voice in the horror field, and if other readers have a similar reaction to mine, they will feel compelled to read more of him. This is, as I mentioned up top, an unusual collection, and I do recommend it.
April 24, 2018
Most readers, no matter how widely we read, have our specialties. For me, that would be horror short story collections, specifically from the boom era (1974-1990, give or take). Don't get me wrong, I like a lot of modern collections, and novels from that vintage take up some serious space on my shelves, but Ford-to-Reagan era shorts and novellas are my jam.
One of the major genre movements of the time was quiet horror, of the kind practiced and celebrated by Charles L. Grant. Another practitioner was Dennis Etchison. Quiet horror relied more on atmosphere than explicit gore or sex. The opposite of splatterpunk, basically. Most gruesomeness is implied, you sometimes have to look a little harder for the scares, etc. That is this collection, for the most part.
This was the author's first collection, it's contents spanning 1972-82. Included are his informal "transplant trilogy" (so called because they deal with the horrific possibilities behind organ donation), the classic "The Late Shift", and a few short sharp shocks (a la Robert Bloch). The quality rarely dips, but some of the stories are oblique almost to the point of incomprehensibility (or, if you're feeling generous, Aickman-esque).
Either way, this is an artifact of the time, and chock full of good stuff to boot. The formal experiments and cosmic themes of modern horror are absent; instead, Vietnam-related traumas, the oil crisis and urban paranoia are the main concerns. If you're up for a stroll down memory lane, you could do a lot worse.
One of the major genre movements of the time was quiet horror, of the kind practiced and celebrated by Charles L. Grant. Another practitioner was Dennis Etchison. Quiet horror relied more on atmosphere than explicit gore or sex. The opposite of splatterpunk, basically. Most gruesomeness is implied, you sometimes have to look a little harder for the scares, etc. That is this collection, for the most part.
This was the author's first collection, it's contents spanning 1972-82. Included are his informal "transplant trilogy" (so called because they deal with the horrific possibilities behind organ donation), the classic "The Late Shift", and a few short sharp shocks (a la Robert Bloch). The quality rarely dips, but some of the stories are oblique almost to the point of incomprehensibility (or, if you're feeling generous, Aickman-esque).
Either way, this is an artifact of the time, and chock full of good stuff to boot. The formal experiments and cosmic themes of modern horror are absent; instead, Vietnam-related traumas, the oil crisis and urban paranoia are the main concerns. If you're up for a stroll down memory lane, you could do a lot worse.
June 15, 2020
What’s better than discovering a new (to you) short story collection from the vintage horror era—especially one with a lengthy blurb from Stephen King and a generous introduction from Ramsey Campbell? I took this book in small sips, over the course of ten days, and I’m glad to say I quite enjoyed the experience! As with most collections, The Dark Country isn’t wholly consistent; I enjoyed some stories more than others. But that comes with reading a collection.
This was also my first experience with Dennis Etchison’s writing, and I’m ashamed to say I wasn’t even familiar with him until his death last year. I vowed to seek out his books and give them a chance, and here I am! I’ve finally read some of his fiction.
This collection is dedicated to Ray Bradbury, which is fitting because Etchison’s style reminds me of Bradbury’s at times: Etchison is excellent at misleading the reader, often by employing deceptively simple prose. Etchison certainly isn’t as sentimental as Bradbury though, and he seems more willing to draw blood. (Neither of these things are a knock on Bradbury—he is one of my all-time favorite writers.)
Etchison’s stories drip with atmosphere; as is befitting of the title, most of these tales take place at night, in the dark, and it’s in the dark the creepy doings are done. I’m thinking of “The Machine Demands a Sacrifice”, the first in what Ramsey Campbell called this collection’s “transplant trilogy” — a paranoid group of stories that will make you rethink being an organ donor! And how about “Sitting in the Corner, Whimpering Quietly”—maybe my favorite in the collection? A dingy, quiet ‘70s laundromat. A late night. A lonely man’s chance encounter with a stranger. Etchison pulls these things together to fry the nerve-endings.
Some stories such as “The Nighthawk” and “Deathtracks” don’t quite work for me, though they feature splendid writing the stories themselves don’t seem to come together. Same for “You Can Go Now”, an intriguingly ambivalent and vague stab at a bit of experimental fiction, I don’t think it ever gels and the end result is maddening.
I can’t wait to explore more of Etchison’s writings, especially his other story collections and the anthologies he edited. May he rest in peace.
Story ratings:
It Only Comes Out at Night - 5 ⭐️
Sitting in the Corner, Whimpering Quietly - 5 ⭐️
The Walking Man - 4 ⭐️
We Have All Been Here Before - 5 ⭐️
Daughter of the Golden West - 5 ⭐️
The Pitch - 5 ⭐️
You Can Go Now - 3 ⭐️
Today’s Special - 5 ⭐️
The Machine Demands a Sacrifice - 5 ⭐️
Calling All Monsters - 3 ⭐️
The Dead Line - 5 ⭐️
The Late Shift - 5 ⭐️
The Nighthawk - 3 ⭐️
It Will Be Here Soon - 5 ⭐️
Deathtracks - 5 ⭐️
The Dark Country - 5 ⭐️
= 4.37, rounded down to 4 ⭐️
This was also my first experience with Dennis Etchison’s writing, and I’m ashamed to say I wasn’t even familiar with him until his death last year. I vowed to seek out his books and give them a chance, and here I am! I’ve finally read some of his fiction.
This collection is dedicated to Ray Bradbury, which is fitting because Etchison’s style reminds me of Bradbury’s at times: Etchison is excellent at misleading the reader, often by employing deceptively simple prose. Etchison certainly isn’t as sentimental as Bradbury though, and he seems more willing to draw blood. (Neither of these things are a knock on Bradbury—he is one of my all-time favorite writers.)
Etchison’s stories drip with atmosphere; as is befitting of the title, most of these tales take place at night, in the dark, and it’s in the dark the creepy doings are done. I’m thinking of “The Machine Demands a Sacrifice”, the first in what Ramsey Campbell called this collection’s “transplant trilogy” — a paranoid group of stories that will make you rethink being an organ donor! And how about “Sitting in the Corner, Whimpering Quietly”—maybe my favorite in the collection? A dingy, quiet ‘70s laundromat. A late night. A lonely man’s chance encounter with a stranger. Etchison pulls these things together to fry the nerve-endings.
Some stories such as “The Nighthawk” and “Deathtracks” don’t quite work for me, though they feature splendid writing the stories themselves don’t seem to come together. Same for “You Can Go Now”, an intriguingly ambivalent and vague stab at a bit of experimental fiction, I don’t think it ever gels and the end result is maddening.
I can’t wait to explore more of Etchison’s writings, especially his other story collections and the anthologies he edited. May he rest in peace.
Story ratings:
It Only Comes Out at Night - 5 ⭐️
Sitting in the Corner, Whimpering Quietly - 5 ⭐️
The Walking Man - 4 ⭐️
We Have All Been Here Before - 5 ⭐️
Daughter of the Golden West - 5 ⭐️
The Pitch - 5 ⭐️
You Can Go Now - 3 ⭐️
Today’s Special - 5 ⭐️
The Machine Demands a Sacrifice - 5 ⭐️
Calling All Monsters - 3 ⭐️
The Dead Line - 5 ⭐️
The Late Shift - 5 ⭐️
The Nighthawk - 3 ⭐️
It Will Be Here Soon - 5 ⭐️
Deathtracks - 5 ⭐️
The Dark Country - 5 ⭐️
= 4.37, rounded down to 4 ⭐️
August 11, 2022
At last, we have an e-book edition of one of the major American horror collections, and the stories are as troubling and as powerful as they were when I bought my copy from Scream/Press in 1982.
Long before then, Dennis Etchison had been writing and making a name for himself. In the 1960s and '70s, his work had appeared in everything from the MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION and WHISPERS to NEW WRITINGS IN SF, and he was a regular in THE YEAR'S BEST HORROR STORIES from DAW. We all knew that he was one of the best, but this collection put his name in a whole new light. And now, here it is, for a new technology, for a new generation.
These are stories of medical nightmare, of lonely highways and vacant places, of isolation and ordinary pain transformed by extraordinary circumstances. Written with clarity, economy, and force, they move without warning from quiet introspection to ferocity, from everyday fears to the worst of all possible worlds.
Welcome to the Dark Country. Few people know it, inside and out, as well as Dennis Etchison.
Long before then, Dennis Etchison had been writing and making a name for himself. In the 1960s and '70s, his work had appeared in everything from the MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION and WHISPERS to NEW WRITINGS IN SF, and he was a regular in THE YEAR'S BEST HORROR STORIES from DAW. We all knew that he was one of the best, but this collection put his name in a whole new light. And now, here it is, for a new technology, for a new generation.
These are stories of medical nightmare, of lonely highways and vacant places, of isolation and ordinary pain transformed by extraordinary circumstances. Written with clarity, economy, and force, they move without warning from quiet introspection to ferocity, from everyday fears to the worst of all possible worlds.
Welcome to the Dark Country. Few people know it, inside and out, as well as Dennis Etchison.
October 11, 2020
Hm... some creepy stuff here, but not entirely my cup of tea 🤔
July 10, 2018
This is the first book by Dennis Etchison that I've read and I was really impressed, I liked all the stories and found Dennis to be a terrific and inventive writer. This collection felt like the perfect place to start as someone new to Dennis's work and I'll definitely be picking up more of his books in the future.
July 2, 2015
Etchison’s writing has intrigued me whenever I’ve the odd Etchison story from various anthologies I’ve stumbled upon. Considered psychological, quiet, subtle, and introverted, Etchison writes his own unique brand of horror. His debut short story collection features sixteen stories.
“It Only Comes Out at Night”
A husband and wife travel at night to a roadside rest stop in the middle of a desert. I loved the creepy atmosphere, and the buildup to the chilling climax. 4/5
“Sitting in the Corner, Whimpering Quietly”
A trip to the laundromat to be alone has a man encounter a woman who won’t leave him alone. This was short, but packed in an ugliness of the situation. 4/5
“The Walking Man”
A man meets a woman at a bar who talks about killing people—this was a strange story, but unsettling. 3/5
“We Have All Been Here Before”
A psychic helps the police catch a killer, but she has her own agenda. It seemed to end abruptly. 3/5
“Daughter of the Golden West”
Two high school friends investigate the disappearance of a friend, and stumble upon a strange girl and her sisters. This was a page turner, and the buildup led to a brutal ending. 5/5
“The Pitch”
A salesman pitching kitchen appliances has motives past making a commission. The mundane first half led to the sharp reveal. 4/5
“You Can Go Now”
This wasn’t a straightforward story. A man leaves, and accidents seem to happen, and it might be a dream because in the end, it’s hinted what happened/what he did to his wife. Upon another read through, it became a bit clearer. 4/5
“Today’s Special”
A butcher struggling with business decides to bring back a popular employee. A horror story with a butcher?—it’s easy to tell where this one was going. 3/5
“The Machine Demands a Sacrifice”
Interesting story about organ harvesting going on in the city—it was alright. 3/5
“Calling All Monsters”
A guy doesn’t know what’s happening to his body, interesting and vivid, but felt more experimental and not too notable. 2/5
“The Dead Line”
Donating loved ones bodies to science becomes an issue for a man who wants his wife to be set free and put to rest. The opening line grabs the reader, and has one think about what loved ones would want after death. 4/5
“The Late Shift”
Two friends recognize a guy working a late shift at a convenience store, but after one ends up in the hospital, things turn odd. This was a strange story dealing possible zombie-like happenings. 2/5
“The Nighthawk”
A girl loses a friend after telling a story about the Nighthawk, a creature she discovers is closer to home than she thought. I enjoyed the atmosphere, and the classic scary stories one tells children. 4/5
“It Will Be Here Soon”
Before moving, a father shares voices he has caught on tape with his son. There was some real emotion in this story and how we need to hold onto something to believe in. 4/5
“Deathtracks”
When interviewing a couple about their TV viewing habits, they reveal the grief-stricken reason why they’ve accumulated so many tapes. Again, this tapped into how we feel when we lose a loved one. 4/5
“The Dark Country”
The title story concerns American tourists in Mexico who try to figure out who’s stealing from their cabins at night. The mystery element works well with the atmosphere, in which being on a vacation isn’t any different from returning home. 4/5
Etchison’s well-acclaimed short stories lived up to their hype, though still suffered from some unevenness. He’s definitely a unique voice in the horror genre, and a skilled writer, though his work may take multiple re-reads from ambiguity bordering on lack of clarity, he makes you work. Still, for those looking master-crafted short stories, as well as psychological horror with no supernatural elements, Etchison is worth checking out.
“It Only Comes Out at Night”
A husband and wife travel at night to a roadside rest stop in the middle of a desert. I loved the creepy atmosphere, and the buildup to the chilling climax. 4/5
“Sitting in the Corner, Whimpering Quietly”
A trip to the laundromat to be alone has a man encounter a woman who won’t leave him alone. This was short, but packed in an ugliness of the situation. 4/5
“The Walking Man”
A man meets a woman at a bar who talks about killing people—this was a strange story, but unsettling. 3/5
“We Have All Been Here Before”
A psychic helps the police catch a killer, but she has her own agenda. It seemed to end abruptly. 3/5
“Daughter of the Golden West”
Two high school friends investigate the disappearance of a friend, and stumble upon a strange girl and her sisters. This was a page turner, and the buildup led to a brutal ending. 5/5
“The Pitch”
A salesman pitching kitchen appliances has motives past making a commission. The mundane first half led to the sharp reveal. 4/5
“You Can Go Now”
This wasn’t a straightforward story. A man leaves, and accidents seem to happen, and it might be a dream because in the end, it’s hinted what happened/what he did to his wife. Upon another read through, it became a bit clearer. 4/5
“Today’s Special”
A butcher struggling with business decides to bring back a popular employee. A horror story with a butcher?—it’s easy to tell where this one was going. 3/5
“The Machine Demands a Sacrifice”
Interesting story about organ harvesting going on in the city—it was alright. 3/5
“Calling All Monsters”
A guy doesn’t know what’s happening to his body, interesting and vivid, but felt more experimental and not too notable. 2/5
“The Dead Line”
Donating loved ones bodies to science becomes an issue for a man who wants his wife to be set free and put to rest. The opening line grabs the reader, and has one think about what loved ones would want after death. 4/5
“The Late Shift”
Two friends recognize a guy working a late shift at a convenience store, but after one ends up in the hospital, things turn odd. This was a strange story dealing possible zombie-like happenings. 2/5
“The Nighthawk”
A girl loses a friend after telling a story about the Nighthawk, a creature she discovers is closer to home than she thought. I enjoyed the atmosphere, and the classic scary stories one tells children. 4/5
“It Will Be Here Soon”
Before moving, a father shares voices he has caught on tape with his son. There was some real emotion in this story and how we need to hold onto something to believe in. 4/5
“Deathtracks”
When interviewing a couple about their TV viewing habits, they reveal the grief-stricken reason why they’ve accumulated so many tapes. Again, this tapped into how we feel when we lose a loved one. 4/5
“The Dark Country”
The title story concerns American tourists in Mexico who try to figure out who’s stealing from their cabins at night. The mystery element works well with the atmosphere, in which being on a vacation isn’t any different from returning home. 4/5
Etchison’s well-acclaimed short stories lived up to their hype, though still suffered from some unevenness. He’s definitely a unique voice in the horror genre, and a skilled writer, though his work may take multiple re-reads from ambiguity bordering on lack of clarity, he makes you work. Still, for those looking master-crafted short stories, as well as psychological horror with no supernatural elements, Etchison is worth checking out.
July 28, 2008
Etchison is one of our finest short story writers. This is a very strong collection of his work. Etchison often was able to open his stories with dynamite lines that dragged you intensely into the story.
The title, The Dark Country," comes from Etchison's respect for Bradbury, but Etchison's horror stories are much more brutal and graphic.
The title, The Dark Country," comes from Etchison's respect for Bradbury, but Etchison's horror stories are much more brutal and graphic.
November 27, 2014
Simply put, collected here are some of the very best horror short stories ever written. Etchison is a master, and sadly underappreciated. His imagination is amazing, his style beautiful. If you want to study the craft of writing excellent horror short stories, this one should definitely be on your reading list.
June 2, 2009
These stories are just so close, just so tantalizingly close to being truly horrifying but in each one, there's something missing, something that makes it not-scary. I haven't finished all of them yet & I'm not sure I will. His writing style is kind of irritating & the payoff is just not worth it.
November 5, 2019
До някъде ще повторя думите на Рамзи Кембъл от разкошния предговор към книгата, но смятам, той е уцелил десетката там.
Ечисън е писател на учуждението и самотата, стилът му на писане е невероятно добър, дори когато си позволява авторова претенциозност (което е доволно рядко). Сюжетите му са обикновени, битови и ужасът който извлича от тях не успява да те изненада по онзо ебасимамата начин, но за сметка на това те гложди и настига по малките часове дни след като си прочел разказите му.
Вътре има три фантастични произведения - "The Machine Demands a Sacrifice", "Calling All Monsters" и "The Dead Line", свързани с донорството на органи, които рисуват едно не толкова далечно бъдеще (макар да не знам 80-те, когато са писани, как са стояли нещата в Британия) в което гореописаните качества на авторовата проза разцъфтяват в разкошни хищни цветове. И да, първото изречение от "The Dead Line" наистина е едно от най-смразяващите.
"You Can Go Now" и "The Nighthowk" са две мрачни фентазита, които се движат на ръба на импресията. При тях въпросната "претенциозност" е експлоатирана до край и са се получили едни късчета красив мрак, които ми напомнят адски многфо на прозата на другарчето ми Симеон Трифонов.
"It Will Be Here Soon", "Deathtracks" и самият "The Dark Country" имат чисто конвенционални сюжети, но точно за това най-много доминира онази плашеща самота висяща като лайтмотив във всички останали разкази. Смятам ще се харесат дори на любителите на скучните жанрове в литературата.
Много ми хареса, но усетих една идея Охенринизъм в повече от необходимото, която свали една звездичка, макар да ми е малко гузно за това.
Ечисън е писател на учуждението и самотата, стилът му на писане е невероятно добър, дори когато си позволява авторова претенциозност (което е доволно рядко). Сюжетите му са обикновени, битови и ужасът който извлича от тях не успява да те изненада по онзо ебасимамата начин, но за сметка на това те гложди и настига по малките часове дни след като си прочел разказите му.
Вътре има три фантастични произведения - "The Machine Demands a Sacrifice", "Calling All Monsters" и "The Dead Line", свързани с донорството на органи, които рисуват едно не толкова далечно бъдеще (макар да не знам 80-те, когато са писани, как са стояли нещата в Британия) в което гореописаните качества на авторовата проза разцъфтяват в разкошни хищни цветове. И да, първото изречение от "The Dead Line" наистина е едно от най-смразяващите.
"You Can Go Now" и "The Nighthowk" са две мрачни фентазита, които се движат на ръба на импресията. При тях въпросната "претенциозност" е експлоатирана до край и са се получили едни късчета красив мрак, които ми напомнят адски многфо на прозата на другарчето ми Симеон Трифонов.
"It Will Be Here Soon", "Deathtracks" и самият "The Dark Country" имат чисто конвенционални сюжети, но точно за това най-много доминира онази плашеща самота висяща като лайтмотив във всички останали разкази. Смятам ще се харесат дори на любителите на скучните жанрове в литературата.
Много ми хареса, но усетих една идея Охенринизъм в повече от необходимото, която свали една звездичка, макар да ми е малко гузно за това.
April 10, 2015
This collection was a weird experience, I either loved or hated the stories, with little in-between. These stories can be simultaneously brilliantly and frustratingly disorientating. In a few cases Etchison has very round-about ways of telling what I thought were rather run-of-the-mill stories when you get down to it. In the final equation though, there's more good than bad here.
There's some very good stories here. "It Only Comes Out At Night" and "Daughter Of The Golden West" are both full-fledged scary, memorable and worthy re-reads. And stories like "The Dead Line," "The Late Shift," "The Nighthawk" and "The Machine Demands A Sacrifice" are competent horror tales. "It Will Be Here Soon" and "Deathtracks" are good, emotional stories and add some contrast. The rest I mostly didn't care for, and of these I mention, I only really enjoyed a handful.
Many of these stories center around the horror of life being unnaturally extended; medical horror. Corporate horror is also...incorporated, with particular focus on hospitals and doctors. A backdrop of a vaguely menacing, dystopic semi-police-state that's not entirely explained adds to the unsettling feel of several stories. A few of these have a decent 70's serial killer feel, back when serial killers were "in vogue."
It Only Comes Out At Night - Very scary story, a mood of unease settles in quickly, and I could kinda tell where it was going, but I was hoping I was wrong. A man and wife traveling across a desert out west stop in at a very strange rest area.
Sitting In The Corner, Whimpering Quietly - A decent little suggestive horror tale, eerie, brief. A young man pops into a laundromat late at night where a woman is talking to herself, revealing something very sinister indeed.
The Walking Man - A story connected with the previous one, dreamlike, vague, really not much happening here. A man meets a woman in a bar and goes back to her house where she wants to pay him to murder someone.
We Have All Been Here Before - Another noir type tale with a horror bent to it. Decent little grisly feel to it. Somehow these stories feel very "70s." A psychic hired by police helps them catch a serial killer, but she's got an agenda of her own.
Daughter Of The Golden West - This was an unsettling story which took a wild turn I totally didn't expect and the end is truly scary, I loved it. Two college guys investigate the brutal murder of their friend, trying to track down the last person who saw him.
The Pitch - We're following up the previous masterpiece...with this? A minor dark humor story, a poke at consumerism, almost feels a bit "Tales From the Crypt"-ish in it's twist ending. A very different setting for this type of story -- the bright, shiny shopping mall. A salesman makes his way into a mall to show off some slicing kitchen products to the women gathered round.
You Can Go Now - A surreal, strange story, I just didn't like this one at all, it doesn't entirely make sense, it's frustrating to read something to disjointed, but more than that -- it's just boring. A man leaves for the airport to go out on his houseboat for a while -- he dies several times along the way.
Today's Special - Another "Tales From the Crypt"-ish tale with a morbid twist ending. Not bad, as predictable as you expect a horror story with a butcher in it to be. A butcher finds his business suffers after an employee leaves to work elsewhere.
The Machine Demands A Sacrifice - Wow, this is a brutal story with a post-apocalyptic, dystopian feel, good stuff. In a future America two organ harvesters look out for accidents to make a score.
Calling All Monsters - Creepy story, interesting perspective, hyper-hallucinogenic. A man cannot figure out what is being done to his body following a car accident.
The Dead Line - This is a similar story to the previous two, themes of medical/corporate horror, organ harvesting, etc. Pretty good stuff. A husband tries to sabotage the comatose body of his wife who is being kept alive in a hospital for organ harvesting.
The Late Shift - A great, horrific, pulpy story, also a sort of medical, corporate horror story. The premise here is a bit harder to accept, but it certainly is effective. Two friends run into someone working the night shift in a gas station they use to know who now acts zombie-like. After one of them goes to see the guy alone, he ends up in the hospital.
The Nighthawk - This story is a bit different -- slower, muted, dream-like and full of fog. I feel I ought to like this story more than I do, and I usually like this kind of story, it wasn't a bad story but was only so-so to me. On a foggy beach where a young girl lives, she starts to suspect that a creature called the Nighthawk is real and has been terrorizing her family for years.
It Will Be Here Soon - This is a rather sad, nostalgic story, not so much a horror story, but perhaps a reflecting on the human need to believe, in something beyond. A young man returns to his parents' house as they prepare to move, taking in the changing town. His father confesses he has become interested in recording tapes where one can hear very slight, alien voices on them.
Deathtracks - I really liked this one, it's eerie certainly, but isn't a horror story, instead it's quite emotional, haunting and has an original idea and perspective. A young man attempting to interview an older couple about their TV viewing habits discovers they're trying to recapture the past, for a tragic reason.
The Dark Country - Lots of unsettling little details in this one, we aren't sure what's going to happen, especially after reading the previous stories. It feels a bit like a mystery, but then it feels a little like an 80's horror movie with partying teenagers getting terrorized too. A group of American tourists on a Mexico beach find themselves menaced by an unseen thief in the night.
There's some very good stories here. "It Only Comes Out At Night" and "Daughter Of The Golden West" are both full-fledged scary, memorable and worthy re-reads. And stories like "The Dead Line," "The Late Shift," "The Nighthawk" and "The Machine Demands A Sacrifice" are competent horror tales. "It Will Be Here Soon" and "Deathtracks" are good, emotional stories and add some contrast. The rest I mostly didn't care for, and of these I mention, I only really enjoyed a handful.
Many of these stories center around the horror of life being unnaturally extended; medical horror. Corporate horror is also...incorporated, with particular focus on hospitals and doctors. A backdrop of a vaguely menacing, dystopic semi-police-state that's not entirely explained adds to the unsettling feel of several stories. A few of these have a decent 70's serial killer feel, back when serial killers were "in vogue."
It Only Comes Out At Night - Very scary story, a mood of unease settles in quickly, and I could kinda tell where it was going, but I was hoping I was wrong. A man and wife traveling across a desert out west stop in at a very strange rest area.
Sitting In The Corner, Whimpering Quietly - A decent little suggestive horror tale, eerie, brief. A young man pops into a laundromat late at night where a woman is talking to herself, revealing something very sinister indeed.
The Walking Man - A story connected with the previous one, dreamlike, vague, really not much happening here. A man meets a woman in a bar and goes back to her house where she wants to pay him to murder someone.
We Have All Been Here Before - Another noir type tale with a horror bent to it. Decent little grisly feel to it. Somehow these stories feel very "70s." A psychic hired by police helps them catch a serial killer, but she's got an agenda of her own.
Daughter Of The Golden West - This was an unsettling story which took a wild turn I totally didn't expect and the end is truly scary, I loved it. Two college guys investigate the brutal murder of their friend, trying to track down the last person who saw him.
The Pitch - We're following up the previous masterpiece...with this? A minor dark humor story, a poke at consumerism, almost feels a bit "Tales From the Crypt"-ish in it's twist ending. A very different setting for this type of story -- the bright, shiny shopping mall. A salesman makes his way into a mall to show off some slicing kitchen products to the women gathered round.
You Can Go Now - A surreal, strange story, I just didn't like this one at all, it doesn't entirely make sense, it's frustrating to read something to disjointed, but more than that -- it's just boring. A man leaves for the airport to go out on his houseboat for a while -- he dies several times along the way.
Today's Special - Another "Tales From the Crypt"-ish tale with a morbid twist ending. Not bad, as predictable as you expect a horror story with a butcher in it to be. A butcher finds his business suffers after an employee leaves to work elsewhere.
The Machine Demands A Sacrifice - Wow, this is a brutal story with a post-apocalyptic, dystopian feel, good stuff. In a future America two organ harvesters look out for accidents to make a score.
Calling All Monsters - Creepy story, interesting perspective, hyper-hallucinogenic. A man cannot figure out what is being done to his body following a car accident.
The Dead Line - This is a similar story to the previous two, themes of medical/corporate horror, organ harvesting, etc. Pretty good stuff. A husband tries to sabotage the comatose body of his wife who is being kept alive in a hospital for organ harvesting.
The Late Shift - A great, horrific, pulpy story, also a sort of medical, corporate horror story. The premise here is a bit harder to accept, but it certainly is effective. Two friends run into someone working the night shift in a gas station they use to know who now acts zombie-like. After one of them goes to see the guy alone, he ends up in the hospital.
The Nighthawk - This story is a bit different -- slower, muted, dream-like and full of fog. I feel I ought to like this story more than I do, and I usually like this kind of story, it wasn't a bad story but was only so-so to me. On a foggy beach where a young girl lives, she starts to suspect that a creature called the Nighthawk is real and has been terrorizing her family for years.
It Will Be Here Soon - This is a rather sad, nostalgic story, not so much a horror story, but perhaps a reflecting on the human need to believe, in something beyond. A young man returns to his parents' house as they prepare to move, taking in the changing town. His father confesses he has become interested in recording tapes where one can hear very slight, alien voices on them.
Deathtracks - I really liked this one, it's eerie certainly, but isn't a horror story, instead it's quite emotional, haunting and has an original idea and perspective. A young man attempting to interview an older couple about their TV viewing habits discovers they're trying to recapture the past, for a tragic reason.
The Dark Country - Lots of unsettling little details in this one, we aren't sure what's going to happen, especially after reading the previous stories. It feels a bit like a mystery, but then it feels a little like an 80's horror movie with partying teenagers getting terrorized too. A group of American tourists on a Mexico beach find themselves menaced by an unseen thief in the night.
February 11, 2019
My favorites were It Only Comes Out at Night, The Pitch, and Today's Special. It Only Comes Out at Night had a sense of Twilight Zone about it. The Pitch and Today's Special were very similar in topic, but both really good in letting the reader fill in the awful details of the plot.
After It Only Comes Out at Night, several of the stories were very reminiscent of hard-boiled detective stories or film noir (Sitting in the Corner, Whimpering Quietly, The Walking Man, We Have All Been Here Before, and Daughter of the West); not my thing, but other readers may enjoy them.
You Can Go Now is probably my least favorite story of the collection. This story is broken into multiple parts, but the ending of each part is disregarded when the next part begins.
Overall, the collection was just ok. Given that there were gems in this collection, I will probably read some of his other short story collections.
After It Only Comes Out at Night, several of the stories were very reminiscent of hard-boiled detective stories or film noir (Sitting in the Corner, Whimpering Quietly, The Walking Man, We Have All Been Here Before, and Daughter of the West); not my thing, but other readers may enjoy them.
You Can Go Now is probably my least favorite story of the collection. This story is broken into multiple parts, but the ending of each part is disregarded when the next part begins.
Overall, the collection was just ok. Given that there were gems in this collection, I will probably read some of his other short story collections.
Want to read
May 30, 2019"I didn't find any of the stories particularly horrifying, but they were interesting and well-written."
-Stephen King
https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/295...
October 1, 2019
2.84 combined which rounds to a 3 star rating. This is an older set of short stories from a different era. Some were great and some I really just didn't like.
December 21, 2009
Most of these stories were published in the late seventies, very early eighties, when there was still a burgeoning fiction market in "men's magazines." (Instead of listing the actual magazine titles in which the stories first appeared, the book cites the names of the publishing houses ("Dungent Publishing Corporation," etc., which published Gallery Magazine, Gent--porn, basically.) I'm lucky enough to own a first edition, which features J.K. Potter's genuinely creepy photo art; these are photographic illustrations created in a pre-Photoshop world, in situ in the dark room. Pretty amazing when you think about it.
But, about the fiction: Etchison is a writer whose output is not as "prodigious" as his best-selling colleagues, but his stories are of extraordinary craftsmanship and depth. Intensely psychological, they all elliptically orbit the horror of dehumanization--disassociation, alienation, and an inability to find meaning in man-made nightmares. The introduction is by Ramsey Campbell, the dedication, to Ray Bradbury, who, like Etchison, is a Californian (yes, I know Bradbury was born in Wisconsin).
The title story, according to Etchison himself, was pared down from a novel-length manuscript, and it is gripping. There are one or two weak stories in the bunch, but, over all, each story, in some way, showcases a voice and vision that is unique to no one but Etchison. (By the way, the main character, Jack Martin, of "The Dark Country" reappears in his Shadowman, an equally superb work of psychological horror.)
I apologize for the rambling, fawning comment, but I love this man's work and think he's seriously underrated. "The Dark Country" is my favorite story out of the lot, but I was particularly moved by "It Will Be Here Soon," a story with real pathos. Which brings me to my next point. These are more than just "horror stories." The world is becoming increasingly dehumanizing, and this is what Etchison is really writing about, and what makes a lot of these stories so special (to me). I highly recommend "The Dark Country"; but, if you've read thus far, you've already guessed as much.
But, about the fiction: Etchison is a writer whose output is not as "prodigious" as his best-selling colleagues, but his stories are of extraordinary craftsmanship and depth. Intensely psychological, they all elliptically orbit the horror of dehumanization--disassociation, alienation, and an inability to find meaning in man-made nightmares. The introduction is by Ramsey Campbell, the dedication, to Ray Bradbury, who, like Etchison, is a Californian (yes, I know Bradbury was born in Wisconsin).
The title story, according to Etchison himself, was pared down from a novel-length manuscript, and it is gripping. There are one or two weak stories in the bunch, but, over all, each story, in some way, showcases a voice and vision that is unique to no one but Etchison. (By the way, the main character, Jack Martin, of "The Dark Country" reappears in his Shadowman, an equally superb work of psychological horror.)
I apologize for the rambling, fawning comment, but I love this man's work and think he's seriously underrated. "The Dark Country" is my favorite story out of the lot, but I was particularly moved by "It Will Be Here Soon," a story with real pathos. Which brings me to my next point. These are more than just "horror stories." The world is becoming increasingly dehumanizing, and this is what Etchison is really writing about, and what makes a lot of these stories so special (to me). I highly recommend "The Dark Country"; but, if you've read thus far, you've already guessed as much.
November 13, 2011
Stephen King recommended book and author per "Forenote to the Paperback Edition" of King's Berkley 1983 paperback edition of Danse Macabre.
I didn't find any of the stories particularly horrifying, but they were interesting and well-written.
I didn't find any of the stories particularly horrifying, but they were interesting and well-written.
January 5, 2020
5 stars for the craft alone.
And the content? I was expecting supernatural and creature horror, so I had to set aside my expectations right away. There is some of that, but most of these short stories delve into real-life horror more than fantasy. I guess many of these short stories might be considered noir, but I feel like noir is where these stories begin, but they end up full-on horror by their ambiguous or shocking or terrifyingly punctuated endings. Those punctuated endings are fascinating to me, because they made me feel like the story had ended too soon, but right at the height of the horror, which is a shocking but especially resonate place for the reader to be left by the writer. That's also great craft.
I love lists in a story, so I really enjoyed the fitting parataxis Dennis Etchison included in many of these stories. For example, when describing bugs on a windshield: "essence of honeybee, wasp, dragonfly, mayfly, June bug, lady bug and the like." This is all part of Etchison's constant attention to detail in these stories, and exactly the right details. His stories are dripping with mood and specific details, even when I don't quite understand what is going on (there are a few stories that were a little opaque to me.) I also paid attention to the metaphors and similes, because they always seemed perfect for that very moment in the story: "The river smelled like dead stars."
I loved every story (even those I didn't quite get.) The first two stories—"It Only Comes Out at Night" and "Sitting in the Corner, Whimpering Quietly"—taught me how to read Etchison's work and prepared me in some ways for what was to come later in the collection. These stories had great, I-need-to-set-this-book-down-right-now-to-freak-out endings. I didn't quite get "The Walking Man" and "We Have All Been Here Before," but, wow, did those stories get under my skin. There's a strange trilogy of organ donor stories with science fiction elements that work really well together but left me curious if Etchison had something against organ donations. "The Nighthawk" with its child protagonist and weirdly astute persona narrator is almost fairy-tale-esque. And the final story, "The Dark Country," comments in uncomfortably apt ways about privilege and racism that feel absolutely timely.
I only heard of Etchison and his work recently, in the context of how overlooked this master of short stories and horror was throughout his career. I'm glad to be a fan now and sorry that it happened only after his recent death. I look forward to reading all of his work, including rereading this collection someday soon.
And the content? I was expecting supernatural and creature horror, so I had to set aside my expectations right away. There is some of that, but most of these short stories delve into real-life horror more than fantasy. I guess many of these short stories might be considered noir, but I feel like noir is where these stories begin, but they end up full-on horror by their ambiguous or shocking or terrifyingly punctuated endings. Those punctuated endings are fascinating to me, because they made me feel like the story had ended too soon, but right at the height of the horror, which is a shocking but especially resonate place for the reader to be left by the writer. That's also great craft.
I love lists in a story, so I really enjoyed the fitting parataxis Dennis Etchison included in many of these stories. For example, when describing bugs on a windshield: "essence of honeybee, wasp, dragonfly, mayfly, June bug, lady bug and the like." This is all part of Etchison's constant attention to detail in these stories, and exactly the right details. His stories are dripping with mood and specific details, even when I don't quite understand what is going on (there are a few stories that were a little opaque to me.) I also paid attention to the metaphors and similes, because they always seemed perfect for that very moment in the story: "The river smelled like dead stars."
I loved every story (even those I didn't quite get.) The first two stories—"It Only Comes Out at Night" and "Sitting in the Corner, Whimpering Quietly"—taught me how to read Etchison's work and prepared me in some ways for what was to come later in the collection. These stories had great, I-need-to-set-this-book-down-right-now-to-freak-out endings. I didn't quite get "The Walking Man" and "We Have All Been Here Before," but, wow, did those stories get under my skin. There's a strange trilogy of organ donor stories with science fiction elements that work really well together but left me curious if Etchison had something against organ donations. "The Nighthawk" with its child protagonist and weirdly astute persona narrator is almost fairy-tale-esque. And the final story, "The Dark Country," comments in uncomfortably apt ways about privilege and racism that feel absolutely timely.
I only heard of Etchison and his work recently, in the context of how overlooked this master of short stories and horror was throughout his career. I'm glad to be a fan now and sorry that it happened only after his recent death. I look forward to reading all of his work, including rereading this collection someday soon.
May 14, 2024
I found this a frustrating read.
Etchison is clearly very good at writing character pieces. These stories are full of well observed detail regarding the quirks of behaviour that come out during conversation, or the kinds of thoughts a character has when they are alone. But Etchison often indulges in this while neglecting storytelling.
Tedium set in several times. I would notice that I was halfway through the page count of a story and had no idea what the story was about. I had a well written picture of the central character but what was the plot they were in? Are they in danger? Is something going to happen or are we just passing time with a character?
I learned from looking him up that he wrote, under the pseudonym Jack Martin, the novelisation of Halloween III: Season of the Witch, which I remember reading when it came out in the 80s. Funnily enough, for all these years my standout memory of that book was a scene in which the protagonist chats with a cashier and another customer while buying toys. This scene is not in the film and I guess unlikely to have been in the screenplay as it is entirely redundant to the film's plot. This makes sense now I have read this other work of his.
I don't doubt that it would be rewarding to look more deeply into Etchison's writing, to get on his wavelength and get what he is setting out to do, but on this occasion this book left me frustrated.
Etchison is clearly very good at writing character pieces. These stories are full of well observed detail regarding the quirks of behaviour that come out during conversation, or the kinds of thoughts a character has when they are alone. But Etchison often indulges in this while neglecting storytelling.
Tedium set in several times. I would notice that I was halfway through the page count of a story and had no idea what the story was about. I had a well written picture of the central character but what was the plot they were in? Are they in danger? Is something going to happen or are we just passing time with a character?
I learned from looking him up that he wrote, under the pseudonym Jack Martin, the novelisation of Halloween III: Season of the Witch, which I remember reading when it came out in the 80s. Funnily enough, for all these years my standout memory of that book was a scene in which the protagonist chats with a cashier and another customer while buying toys. This scene is not in the film and I guess unlikely to have been in the screenplay as it is entirely redundant to the film's plot. This makes sense now I have read this other work of his.
I don't doubt that it would be rewarding to look more deeply into Etchison's writing, to get on his wavelength and get what he is setting out to do, but on this occasion this book left me frustrated.
August 15, 2019
This collection feels very Punk in its attitude and in-your-face aggression. “The Machine Demands a Sacrifice” is a nasty little story that is a precursor to the milieu of Fight Club. “Calling All Monsters” is a citing condemnation of our corporate health system. “The Late Shift” resonated nicely with Kelly Link’s “The Hortlak” – while Link’s is more a nihilistic and cosmic uncaring view of retail, Etchison’s focuses on the exploitation and the active boot of the corporate retail establishment on your neck. Setting these two stories side-by-side offers a fascinating window into the shift in the perception of our all-night convenience store – while it has always been soul-crushing, the mechanism of the clamp (or the perspective from which that clamp is viewed) has changed.
While “It Will Be Here Soon” could just have just been a weird conspiracy rambling, it is a surprisingly touching story about facing mortality, change, and the downward slide of elders.
While “It Will Be Here Soon” could just have just been a weird conspiracy rambling, it is a surprisingly touching story about facing mortality, change, and the downward slide of elders.
November 10, 2024
This slow-burn short story missed the mark for me, unfortunately. It's well written, darkly atmospheric, with brilliant lines of dialogue, but the stories themselves fell short. There were only two short stories in this collection that I truly enjoyed and would read again, and I love Etchison's preoccupation with what happens to the human body after death, but many of the stories in the collection felt like they were missing something (whether an explanation, more darkness, or something else entirely).
2.5
2.5
February 12, 2022
3.5 stars. I enjoyed several of the stories in this collection, but others I just could not get into. I will say though the stories I got into really sucked me in and I was sad when they were over. Etchison really makes you feel what his characters are feeling and left me breathless several times.
May 12, 2020
Creepy little ambient, often minimalist macabre stories of the sort Ray Bradbury and Shirley Jackson would write.
Contains three stories in a row about organ transplants, oddly.
Contains three stories in a row about organ transplants, oddly.
June 5, 2014
Take a walk on the dark side…An unbelievably pithy and traumatic collection of dark, stark tales, The Dark Country travels on byways the reader might not otherwise ever want to explore – into the deepest recesses of the most obscure corners of the human psyche and experience. This being the second Etchison book in which I have indulged, I thought I knew somewhat what to expect, but he caught me shockingly off-guard again and again. This man’s work is a revelation; every word, every sentence, every paragraph crafted with the precision of a machinist, every piece of each story building upon one another with an almost unbearable intensity, leading the reader down the garden path to an always unpredictable conclusion. The author describes his own work best in the opening line of “The Walking Man:”
“It was one of those long, blue evenings that come to the Malibu late in the year, the water undulating up to the beach like some smooth, sleepy girl moving slowly under a satin sheet.”
Each of Etchison’s tales “undulate up to the beach” innocently enough, only to draw back swiftly, powerfully to the ocean depths – in with a whisper, out with a BANG! This is particularly true in the disturbing stories “Sitting in the Corner, Whimpering Quietly” and “Today’s Special.”
I will continue to read Mr. Etchison’s work; it is at once terrifying yet intellectually stimulating, irresistible and mysteriously satisfying – a must-discover for any serious lover of the written word.
“It was one of those long, blue evenings that come to the Malibu late in the year, the water undulating up to the beach like some smooth, sleepy girl moving slowly under a satin sheet.”
Each of Etchison’s tales “undulate up to the beach” innocently enough, only to draw back swiftly, powerfully to the ocean depths – in with a whisper, out with a BANG! This is particularly true in the disturbing stories “Sitting in the Corner, Whimpering Quietly” and “Today’s Special.”
I will continue to read Mr. Etchison’s work; it is at once terrifying yet intellectually stimulating, irresistible and mysteriously satisfying – a must-discover for any serious lover of the written word.
May 9, 2022
Apparently in the 70's, when Stephen King was rocketing upwards as a writer, other horror writers were bitching and complaining that his success was eclipsing other "equally talented" writers. This was one such author who's obscurity was attributed to King's fame (at least this was the opinion of a few other novelists).
Probably the worst thing for this particular author is to be compared with Stephen King, especially in the arena of short story writing.
Probably the worst thing for this particular author is to be compared with Stephen King, especially in the arena of short story writing.
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