From the untamed wilderness of ancient times to the concrete jungles of today, these sixteen excursions into nightmares will keep you awake long past the midnight hour--and praying for daylight. . .Beyond The Shadows. . .. . .they linger, showing themselves only to those brave enough to perceive them. . .willing to see beyond human existence and into the heart of darkness. Feel the racing pulse in the primal desire of werewolves. Embrace the aura of two gifted women as they unleash power beyond imagining. Savor the aroma of otherworldly flora planted in a unique patch of earth. They Walk The Night. . .. . .prepared to face terrors humans were never meant to confront. Chant with an African mystic as he protects his people from an entity of unbridled malice. Ride the dusty trails of the Old West in pursuit of monstrous legends. Sail on a ship of damned souls as it languishes in the depths of forbidden waters. Linda Addison L.A. Banks Anthony Beal Michael Boatman Maurice Broaddus Chesya BurkePatricia E. Canterbury Christopher Chambers Eric Jerome Dickey B. Gordon Doyle Tananarive Due Brian Egeston Rickey Windell GeorgeL.R. Giles Brandon Massey Lawana Holland-Moore Terence Taylor
Here’s a little about me, Brandon Massey. (“Massey” is not pronounced “macy,” by the way. Think of “mass” instead.)
I was born June 9, 1973, in Waukegan, Illinois. I grew up in Zion, a suburb north of Chicago.
I originally self-published Thunderland, my first novel, in 1999. After managing to sell a few thousand copies on my own, Kensington Publishing Corp. in New York offered me a two-book contract, and published a new, revised edition of Thunderland in December 2002.
Since then, I’ve published up to three books a year, ranging from thriller novels such as The Other Brother, to short story collections such as Twisted Tales, and anthologies such as Dark Dreams.
My newest suspense thriller, Covenant, was published in November 2010.
I’ve got plenty more stories in the works that I’ll publish in the coming years.
As expected with compilations, the writing was inconsistent. I loved a couple of the stories - picked up a couple of new authors I want to investigate. There were several I abandoned even though they were short stories! Yes, they really were that bad.
I wasn't expecting the amount of what I would consider science fiction in this book, but that makes me glad. I'm not the biggest fan of horror, and while I didn't find all of the stories great, it was a solid collection.
I didn’t find this as strong as the first dark Dreams anthology, but there’s a number of stories here still worth your time. “Upstairs” by Tananarive Due is a tense and powerful closer to the anthology. Probably my favorite of the whole set.
“The Share” by Terence Taylor was an interesting bit of magical realism that explored the relationship between two fascinating characters whose apartments relatively overlap in time and space. “Smoked Butt” by Brian Egeston is an odd and grotesque bit of southern gothic. “Black Frontiers” by Maurice Broaddus is a nice bit of Weird West monster revenge. “The Arrangements” by Patricia E. Canterbury guideposts the situation a bit too obviously for my tastes, but the setting was excellent – I have a soft spot for small towns that harbor secrets.
I first heard “Wilson's Pawn & Loan” by L. R. Giles on the Nightlight podcast, and anyone who enjoys these anthologies should add Nightlight to their podcatcher. “Milez to Go” by Linda D. Addison follows the characters of “The Power” (which appeared in the first Dark Dreams and is also available to listen to at Nightlight) but in an interesting cyberpunk future. This one reminded me a lot of Shadowrun, in all the best ways.
I was so caught up in the euphoria of Christmas and Other Horrors that for a few months I lived in a world where multi-author anthologies aren't generally kind of mediocre. Welcome back to reality, me!