Shadows

by Charles L. Grant (Editor), Avram Davidson (Contributor), John Crowley (Contributor)

Winner of the World Fantasy Award. An anthology including the short story Nona by Stephen King.

CONTENTS
"Naples" Avram Davidson (Winner of the World Fantasy Award for Best Short Fiction)
"The Little Voice" Ramsey Campbell
"Butcher's Thumb" William Jon Watkins
"Where All the Songs Are Sad" Thomas F. Monteleone
"Splinters" R. A. Lafferty
"Picture" Robert Bloch
"The Nighthawk" Dennis Etchison
"Dead Letters" Ramsey Campbell
"A Certain Slant of Light" Raylyn Moore
"Deathlove" Bill Pronzini
"Mory" Michael Bishop
"Where Spirits Gat Them Home" John Crowley
"Nona" Stephen King

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Anthologies, Fiction, Literature

223 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Charles Lewis Grant was a novelist and short story writer specializing in what he called "dark fantasy" and "quiet horror." He also wrote under the pseudonyms of Geoffrey Marsh, Lionel Fenn, Simon Lake, Felicia Andrews, and Deborah Lewis.

Grant won a World Fantasy Award for his novella collection Nightmare Seasons, a Nebula Award in 1976 for his short story "A Crowd of Shadows", and another Nebula Award in 1978 for his novella "A Glow of Candles, a Unicorn's Eye," the latter telling of an actor's dilemma in a post-literate future. Grant also edited the award winning Shadows anthology, running eleven volumes from 1978-1991. Contributors include Stephen King, Ramsey Campbell, R.A. Lafferty, Avram Davidson, and Steve Rasnic and Melanie Tem. Grant was a former Executive Secretary and Eastern Regional Director of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and president of the Horror Writers Association.

Reviews

[Justin Tate · Rating 1 out of 5]

Reading out-of-print horror books from the '70s and '80s requires patience. For every standout there's ten others that are absolute garbage. Given the popularity of Shadows anthologies, however, I came in with higher expectations than typical. This collection won the World Fantasy Award (notably beating SK's collection Night Shift) and features heavy weights like Ramsey Campbell, Robert Bloch, and a story by Stephen King. Editor Charles L. Grant (1942 - 2006) himself was a prolific and notable novelist, though now he seems to be mostly forgotten.

Grant advocated for "quiet horror" which, if I'm interpreting it right, has more to do with subtle uneasiness than actual scares. Others might call 'quiet horror' stories in which nothing happens. That's not exactly true, but even if it were, I'd be okay with that. My negative reaction to this collection has nothing to do with the lack of drama in the stories. The issue is simply that the writing is, overall, extremely poor. Many entries vaguely introduce entire families of characters, then confuse with pages and pages of unattributed dialogue. Others might devote great energy in describing a house, only to forsake that setting for another. None of the characters leap off the page and their journeys rarely end with satisfaction. Most often the stories slowly drift away until finally there are no more words.

Exceptions to this include "Picture" by Robert Block, which is a delightful frolic with the devil, and "NONA" by Stephen King which is written so beautifully it brings tears. Grant introduces King as a newcomer who is "not very visible to the community of fantasy authors," but also someone that he can "vouch for." Indeed so. Among these other writers, the breadth of King's talent illuminates the page. No need to hunt this down for King's incredible story, though. It was later collected in Skeleton Crew.

OVERALL: Maybe my expectations were too high, but if you're making your way through out-of-print horror, don't feel bad about putting this one at the bottom of the stack.

[Matthew Bielawa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of stories were quite good. Some did not resonate with me as much. The ones I enjoyed most were ”Butcher’s Thumb” by William Jon Watkins, “Picture” by Robert Bloch, and “The Nighthawk” by Dennis Etchison. And my favorite was “Where All The Songs Are Sad” by Thomas F. Monteleone.

[Graham P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uneven but occasionally brilliant collection from 1977, several years before the 'horror boom' took hold of the publishing world. Michael Bishop's 'Mory' is a standout, a disconcerting farce about bad luck personified, and the unusual embodiment of 'evil' comes across equally haunting and surreal. Also, I'm a sucker for stories taking place in an amusement park, so 'Mory' hit the right nerve. 'Where Spirits Gat Them Home' is John Crowley at his usually subversive, enchanted best. This one is a ghost story that transcends the haunted house - it's a neverending road-map journey back and forth from the current day to the past, all ominous as a dark storm approaches. Melancholy and metaphysical, Crowley's tale is a unique take on how heaven betrays those who hunger it. 'Splinters' by R.A. Flaherty is a wild ghost story. Here each person has fragments of themselves, ghostly apparitions that are conscious and aware, and at times, uncontrollable. Of course, Flaherty, the mad genius that he is, toys with this theme like a crazy backwoods mad scientist. What is more interesting is how he plays with the soundtrack of a ghost - an aural moment in time the mortal world will have to endure. Far out shit. 'Naples' by Avram Davidson is another gem - yes, laundry has rarely been so foreboding and so quietly dangerous. 'The Little Voice' is another Ramsey Campbell knockout - especially the image of a blind man standing at a window with no curtains - why is he smiling? what does he see? what does he hear? Brilliant stuff. And all is topped off with Stephen King's 'Nona', his succubus road tale told in the fashion of James Cain ('The Postman Always Rings Twice). With a few skips, SHADOWS is necessary reading for the horror fan. There's not a true stinker in the bunch.

[Stoney Setzer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just sort of stumbled upon this volume, and it turned out to be a gem. The overarching theme of this short story anthology (save for one story) is that of "subtle" horror...violence and gore are downplayed, and the suspense and dread are born of the author's craftsmanship rather than overt, beat-you-over-the-head content. The best stories are Raylyn Moore's "A Certain Slant of Light," Ramsey Campbell's "The Little Voice," Robert Bloch's "Picture," and Dennis Etchison's "The Nighthawk."

Ironically, the only entry I didn't like came from the anthology's most well-known author--"Nona" by Stephen King. You won't find a bigger "non-fan" of King than me, and I can't understand why the editor included his work here. While the concept is good, it totally goes against the grain of subtle chills established throughout the rest of the book, opting instead for the overt violence and gore that in my opinion is far less effective. The effect ends up being like it being a negative example. The previous stories all say, "This is how you do subtle suspense," and King's entry says, "This is how NOT to do it." Sort of like your old teacher showing you several A+ projects and then throwing in a D-minus to show you what to avoid.

Despite the unfortunate inclusion of Stephen King, the rest of the anthology is a great read that I would highly recommend.

[DeAnna Knippling · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories here seem to have been selected with an eye to style, but not really to the overall story. Not the strongest stories by the writers I recognized, and a lot of stories that come down with a two-by-four of theme like, "WOMEN WHO DON'T LIKE CHILDREN ARE MONSTERS" or "MEN ARE VIOLENT KILLERS WHO CAN'T CONTROL THEMSELVES" or "BLACK DUDE IS THE DEVIL WHO IS REALLY GOD HURRR HURRR HURRR IT'S A TWIST ON JOB, GET IT?" Not the most subtle stories in the world. Early literary horror? That hadn't quite got its feet under it yet? No individual story was awful, but together I was left nonplussed.

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's not much horror here, by my estimation. This seemed to be mostly a collection of tales of the supernatural and occurrences of a strange nature.
It's a mixed bag (as with any short story collection) and a little something for everyone.
My favorites were "Dead Letters" by Ramsey Campbell, "The Nighthawk" by Dennis Etchison, and "Picture" by Robert Bloch (which was my favorite).
And it was great to revisit "Nona" by Stephen King. I haven't read that one since it was collected in "Skeleton Crew".
"Naples" by Avram Davidson is the winner of the World Fantasy Award for Best Short Fiction, but I just didn't get it. It's pretty short, so maybe I should give it another try.

[Shannon Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good collection of horror shorts. My favorites were by Ramsey Campbell. Both of his stories were good. Also, The Butcher's Thumb, by William Jon Watkins was good, old fashioned horror. Picture, by Robert Bloch was short and simple, but entertaining. A couple of the stories left me scratching my head.

[Sherry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I Love Charles Grant! The best at subtle horror. I love every word he ever wrote, and wish he was still with us. If you haven't had the pleasure, grab anything he wrote and be enlightened into what is means to be a master.

[Lisa Chaney · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was super excited for this book, some of the greats telling their best little horror stories. Unfortunately the book was underwhelming. None were very scary, most were totally boring. Three stars because there are one or two that are mildly interesting.

[Will Errickson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good first volume in the long-running "quiet horror" anthology series.

[Kenneth McKinley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shadows

Naples - Avram Davidson

- Naples won the World Fantasy Award in 1979 for short fiction. But this is one I had to read and then re-read to appreciate the story of a foreign visitor winding his way through the seedier side of Naples.

3 stars out of 5


The Little Voice - Ramsey Campbell

- Crotchety Miss Locketty goes a little mad while on summer break. Ramsey Campbell is always hit and miss with me. This one was more of a miss.

2 stars out of 5


Butcher’s Thumb - William Jon Watkins

- Peter, an immigrant butcher, suffers from a left-hand that has a mind of its own after his brain surgery. This one was much better and renewed my interest in this anthology.

3.5 stars out of 5


Where All The Songs Are Sad - Thomas F. Monteleone

- Vincent travel to Sicily to get some answers about his ancestors. Be careful what you wish for. Now this is what I was hoping for in this long running collection. Absolute perfection.

5 stars out of 5


Splinters - R.A. Lafferty

Apparently, Splinters are a smaller fragment of yourself. Think of your own shadowy mini-me. Why they exist or what their purpose is, well that beats me.

2 stars out of 5


Picture - Robert Bloch

Ahh, the devil is a crafty one. His bargains never seem to work out the way you wanted. Bloch rarely disappoints.

4.5 stars out of 5


The Nighthawk - Dennis Etchison

A story with an ambiguous premise that I didn’t get the first time I read it. After a little Google investigating to find out what I was missing, I went back and re-read the story. Much better the 2nd time.

4 stars out of 5


Dead Letters - Ramsey Campbell

Let’s all have a seance. When Campbell is on, he’s ON!

5 stars out of 5


A Certain Slant of Light - Raylyn Moore

Lace and her family move into an old house whose previous inhabitants were the oddballs in the community. Upon learning about the house’s history from the neighbors, Lace soon finds that history has a way of repeating itself.

3.5 stars out of 5


Deathlove - Bill Pronzini

A man’s obsession with another man’s wife consumes all his living thoughts…and all his dead ones.

4 stars out of 5


Mory - Michael Bishop

Daniel Gholston is a successful, self-made man. But he soon learns that he needs to appreciate those around him while he still can.

3.5 stars out of 5


Where Spirits Gat Them Home - John Crowley

A woman tries to rekindle the love of her youth with her now grown nephew. A confusing mess that didn’t get clearer with repeated readings.

1.5 stars out of 5


Nona - Stephen King

A college drop out meets Nona at a truck stop while hitchhiking in the winter. An unusually strong attraction for her propels them both on a Natural Born Killers-like spree. Where is Nona taking him? Just wait and see.

5.0 stars out of 5


Quiet horror isn’t for everyone. Many times there isn’t a clear payoff or a neat and tidy ending. Ambiguity is the name of the game. I found that I often didn’t grasp the story the first time through and had to re-read. For a couple, that bumped up the ratings a star or two. A few gems that stand out even more when you compare them to the flotsam and jetsam you have to wade through to get there. Bloch, Monteleone, Campbell’s second story and especially King’s Nona exemplify the best in what quiet horror has to offer, that feeling of dread and unease that continually builds until you can feel a dark shadow on your palate, a twitch on your nerve endings letting you know something is amiss. Short attention spans aren’t typically a good fit for quiet horror. Sometimes it takes more than one time through to get a full encompassing grasp on the story. If this sounds like your cup of tea, this collection has the few that I mention that’s worth your time.


3.57 stars out of 5

[Bob Box · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in 1985. The first in a series of horror anthologies.

[Joshua Hair · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I did not enjoy this one quite as much as its companion collection, Nightmares, I still found it absolutely delightful. As I said previously, I love these old collections because they still manage to hold such power even now. I was even introduced to a few old-timers I'd never heard of, which is always a pleasure. Nothing more needs to be said; I loved it and suggest it to anyone who can find a copy.

[Kevin Lucia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome, of course. The best stories were:

The Little Voice, by Ramsey Campbell
Butcher's Thumb, by William Jon Watkins
Where All the Songs Are Sad, by Thomas F. Monteleone
Splinters, by R. A. Lafferty
Picture, by Robert Bloch
The Nighthawk, by Dennis Etchison
Dead Letters, by Ramsey Campbell
Mory, by Michael Bishop
Where Spirits Gat Them Home, by John Crowley

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first in a long running series of short horror story anthologies. Grant was a wonderful editor. This series probably had a lot to do with me starting to submit my stories.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great selection of writers, working at the top of their game, results in a brilliant collection. Highly recommended.