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A Dark Collection
A DARK COLLECTION of 12 horror stories, one for each month of the year.
CROW MANOR (January) - A young couple struggling with their finances gets an amazing opportunity to house-sit at a strange mansion where something horrible waits for them.
FEARS OF TORTURE (February) - A new twist on the hitman and an assassination.
SQUISH (March) - After a man stages a deadly accident, the dead come back to haunt him in a peculiar way.
PURGATORY (April) - After a car accident, a family and their injured daughter are chased by the truck that hit them to a seemingly deserted town.
A KNOCK IN THE NIGHT (May) - A young couple staying the night in a remote cabin is terrorized by a stranger.
THE CLOSET MONSTER (June) - A young boy tries to convince his parents that there really is a monster in his closet.
THE TANK (July) - A man wakes up trapped inside a metal tank. He's not sure who put him there or why, he just knows that he needs to escape.
WELCOME TO PARADISE (August) - A young woman with psychic powers and her three friends become stranded in a town where the people won't let them leave.
VOODOO ASSASSIN (September) - A woman seeking revenge for the death of her sister finds her answer in a strange assassin.
THE SPIRIT OF HALLOWEEN (October) - Three friends try to outdo each other with frights on Halloween night.
RATTRAP (November) - A young couple believes they have rats in the walls of their house - but their pest problem is much worse than they ever imagined.
THE VENDING MACHINE (December) - Nine year old Sammy discovers a broken vending machine that seems to grant his wishes, but he must be very careful what he wishes for.
CROW MANOR (January) - A young couple struggling with their finances gets an amazing opportunity to house-sit at a strange mansion where something horrible waits for them.
FEARS OF TORTURE (February) - A new twist on the hitman and an assassination.
SQUISH (March) - After a man stages a deadly accident, the dead come back to haunt him in a peculiar way.
PURGATORY (April) - After a car accident, a family and their injured daughter are chased by the truck that hit them to a seemingly deserted town.
A KNOCK IN THE NIGHT (May) - A young couple staying the night in a remote cabin is terrorized by a stranger.
THE CLOSET MONSTER (June) - A young boy tries to convince his parents that there really is a monster in his closet.
THE TANK (July) - A man wakes up trapped inside a metal tank. He's not sure who put him there or why, he just knows that he needs to escape.
WELCOME TO PARADISE (August) - A young woman with psychic powers and her three friends become stranded in a town where the people won't let them leave.
VOODOO ASSASSIN (September) - A woman seeking revenge for the death of her sister finds her answer in a strange assassin.
THE SPIRIT OF HALLOWEEN (October) - Three friends try to outdo each other with frights on Halloween night.
RATTRAP (November) - A young couple believes they have rats in the walls of their house - but their pest problem is much worse than they ever imagined.
THE VENDING MACHINE (December) - Nine year old Sammy discovers a broken vending machine that seems to grant his wishes, but he must be very careful what he wishes for.
253 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 31, 2014
154 people are currently reading
243 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
May 23, 2023
Twelve Nightmare Scenarios!
A series of psychological mysteries, one for each month of the year. This was the stuff of nightmares, a get rich quick scheme with a nasty bite, claustrophobic terror, childhood closet monsters and visions of the afterlife. All this and much more! These were intelligent and compelling stories that tugged at the reader's innermost fears and phobias - "monsters from the Id". A very enjoyable read and one that I can heartily recommend!
A series of psychological mysteries, one for each month of the year. This was the stuff of nightmares, a get rich quick scheme with a nasty bite, claustrophobic terror, childhood closet monsters and visions of the afterlife. All this and much more! These were intelligent and compelling stories that tugged at the reader's innermost fears and phobias - "monsters from the Id". A very enjoyable read and one that I can heartily recommend!
February 18, 2020
Here you get a fine collection of 12 short stories for every month of the year. The first story, 'Crow Manor' is the longest story here covering 34% of the book. It's one of my favourites. What a bizarre hunting game in that manor. Would you have taken the offer to stay there for two months? The other stories also are quite well done and come up with nice twists and good shots of supernatural elements, horror and violence. Every fear is taken care of and everything can turn into horror by the wink of an eye. Mark Lukens is extremely gifted in telling his stories and has a fluent, fast paced style. If you want to kickstart your year, here is the fuel for it! Recommended!
December 16, 2016
4 Scary Stars!!!!
One scary little story for each month of the year!! Very well written - there is no way you will go through this book without fear creeping into you heart.
That little dingle at the bottom of your spine.
When your breath becomes slower and heavier.
And your eyes dart around the room every couple of seconds.
I loved the most the first story, of January - where a couple gets hired for two months to "watch over" someone's house.
And yes, it's in the middle of nowhere.
With no phone or cable.
With no one else around to help.
I found the most disturbing July's story.
A man gets abducted and spend the next days, weeks, months, years locked up in a tank.
He has no contact with the world aside for the hand that feeds him.
After time passes and he has a small oportunity to run, he gets scared. What will he do out there? Is anything good waiting for him? Who is going to feed him and take care of him if he runs?
So there he goes right back..
I had fun reading these stories, even though i only read one-two per day!!!
Thank you dear husband for keeping me company while reading this!! :D
One scary little story for each month of the year!! Very well written - there is no way you will go through this book without fear creeping into you heart.
That little dingle at the bottom of your spine.
When your breath becomes slower and heavier.
And your eyes dart around the room every couple of seconds.
I loved the most the first story, of January - where a couple gets hired for two months to "watch over" someone's house.
And yes, it's in the middle of nowhere.
With no phone or cable.
With no one else around to help.
I found the most disturbing July's story.
A man gets abducted and spend the next days, weeks, months, years locked up in a tank.
He has no contact with the world aside for the hand that feeds him.
After time passes and he has a small oportunity to run, he gets scared. What will he do out there? Is anything good waiting for him? Who is going to feed him and take care of him if he runs?
So there he goes right back..
I had fun reading these stories, even though i only read one-two per day!!!
Thank you dear husband for keeping me company while reading this!! :D
January 19, 2024
This wasn’t a very well written collection of stories
December 3, 2023
Since I can’t find Four Dark Tales on Apple Books right now (I’ll grab the Kindle version later) I’m going to start with this Lukens collection first, reading a story each month as they are broken down into.
Crow Manor (January): Great start. Just two things. Too many mentions of Gina taking a bath, almost as if she were OCD. And the mention of Mr. Crow’s hobby totally telegraphed what was to come. Great ending, though. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Fears of Torture (February): Good short story about hiring a hit man. Just hope the mob doesn’t get any ideas from it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Squish (March): Thump. Squish. Disappearing accident victims. Trashy, TMZ-esque journalism. Could have been a bit better. ⭐️⭐️
Purgatory (April): A bit of a twist, not too bad. A few more pages to flesh out the story would have been nice. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
A Knock in the Night (May): Another you see it coming style ending but a great cabin in the woods story. Perfectly paced for its length. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Closet Monster (June): Typical monster in the closet story but told from the father’s point of view. Some of the wording felt added to pad the word count but it was good. Would have made a nice Tales from the Darkside. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Tank (July): Shades of Saw, maybe. Not quite sure of this one. ⭐️⭐️
Welcome to Paradise (August): ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Skinwalkers (September): ⭐️⭐️
The Spirit of Halloween (October): ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Interesting, short poem. Good entry.
Rattrap (November): ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2 Not the direction I was expecting. Nice monster story.
Crow Manor (January): Great start. Just two things. Too many mentions of Gina taking a bath, almost as if she were OCD. And the mention of Mr. Crow’s hobby totally telegraphed what was to come. Great ending, though. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Fears of Torture (February): Good short story about hiring a hit man. Just hope the mob doesn’t get any ideas from it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Squish (March): Thump. Squish. Disappearing accident victims. Trashy, TMZ-esque journalism. Could have been a bit better. ⭐️⭐️
Purgatory (April): A bit of a twist, not too bad. A few more pages to flesh out the story would have been nice. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
A Knock in the Night (May): Another you see it coming style ending but a great cabin in the woods story. Perfectly paced for its length. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Closet Monster (June): Typical monster in the closet story but told from the father’s point of view. Some of the wording felt added to pad the word count but it was good. Would have made a nice Tales from the Darkside. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Tank (July): Shades of Saw, maybe. Not quite sure of this one. ⭐️⭐️
Welcome to Paradise (August): ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Skinwalkers (September): ⭐️⭐️
The Spirit of Halloween (October): ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Interesting, short poem. Good entry.
Rattrap (November): ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2 Not the direction I was expecting. Nice monster story.
October 2, 2014
A nice assortment of stories all fitting neatly in the monthly theme.
Fair warning - the intros to each story were somewhat spoilers for the tales themselves, which dampened my fun for a few until I stopped reading them altogether. Also, original twists were a little hit and miss for anyone who reads a lot of horror but the stories were always told well-enough.
Good stuff for people who like scary stories overall.
Fair warning - the intros to each story were somewhat spoilers for the tales themselves, which dampened my fun for a few until I stopped reading them altogether. Also, original twists were a little hit and miss for anyone who reads a lot of horror but the stories were always told well-enough.
Good stuff for people who like scary stories overall.
December 13, 2016
I was looking at one of Darcy Coates books, and spotted this one as being read by other readers. It sounded pretty awesome, and so I had to try it.
The book has 12 stories, 1 for each month. They each tie in with the month, or an event happening in that month (for instance October has a Halloween story/poem, and Christmas has a Christmas story). I quite like that this is done, I was thinking it would just be twelve stories, so imagine my delight to see one for each month.
I also liked that the author tells us a little bit about the story, and how he came upon the idea of writing it. It always makes the stories a bit more special. A bit more fun.
Like with the other short story books that I read lately, I will post my thoughts + rating for each story. The rating may have changed from when I posted the status update about the story. Sometimes I just felt it could use a bit higher, thinking back on the story and what it held.
January: Crow Manor: 4 stars. Definitely was a great story, didn't expect it to be so long though. As there are only 253 pages, and with 12 stories I expected each to be quite short, however this one took 31% of the book.
I could have told them that this was a bad idea, and I think Gina wanted to tell Matt, but Matt was too stubborn. I didn't like Matt that much. POV switched all over the place. The ending was o.0.
February: Fear of Torture: 4 stars. Ah, this one was a short one, and pretty good. I didn't like the woman that much, she could just have waited for a divorce, but eh. Poor guy. It was a pretty creepy story, and the ending was good.
March: Squish: 2.5 stars. Ewwwww, this was a bit too much for me. The ending, well it seems someone else is also getting a portion of Karma. I felt sorry for those motor people. :(
April: Purgatory: 3 stars. A decent story, though I was confused up until the ending, then every piece of puzzle clicked and I understood what happened. Still don't really get why the truck was following them/hurting them, but eh. Poor Cassie. :(
May: A Knock in the Night: 2 stars. What the hell? What the hell? WHAT THE HELL? The story was quite good, but a bit too much for me, especially that ending. o.0 No one deserves that. I thought they were friends. o.0
June: The Closet Monster: 4 stars. Oh my, this was a good story. Creepy, spooky, haunting, and definitely awesome! I would have just gone for the Terry Pratchett way though, bring a baseball bat or a fire poker and kick some butt. :P
July: The Tank: 1 star. Sorry, but what? This one was too weird and even the ending didn't make sense. It could have been good, but nothing was explained, and I just wanted to know more about why he got in that tank, why him, who is that masked person that feeds him, and so many other questions.
August: Welcome to Paradise: 2.5 stars. That was just a weird story. It also felt a bit too long, too stretched out. I just knew from the get-go it would be a bad idea to go to that town. The pastor guy was also insta-creepy. The ending was good, but I am worried for Hannah now.
September: Skinwalkers: 0.5 stars. Meh. That is all. Meh. Not really my kind of story. It had some good elements, but it just kept on going and going and didn't seem to go anywhere. My least favourite story, I mostly just skimmed through it hoping it would be over soon.
October: The Spirit of Halloween: 3 stars. Whut? Why suddenly a poem? I also didn't like the formatting, on my reader it was just one wall of text, not really making it easy to read it. Still it was a nice idea, and I did like what happened in there, it was quite creepy.
November: Rattrap: 3.5 stars. That was quite good, right up to the end. Then it started to go down the drain. :| It was still exciting, but sorry, the ending was just a bit too weird for me. How do you not notice THAT in your house.
I also didn't like the characters that much, but their petty arguments did add to the story and the excitement. I was also kind of thinking it might be just one of them doing all this.
December: The Vending Machine: 4.5 stars. Ohhh I liked this one. A vending machine that doesn't only give you cola, but also fulfils wishes! I was worried about the ending, but in the end it turned out to be a very nice ending. It wasn't as creepy as the others were. OK, sure, there was some excitement, but in the end it was just a cute Xmas story.
All in all, a pretty good story collection. There were some that I quite liked, and some I just couldn't like at all. Would I recommend this book? Yes. It may be a bit mixed bag, but the stories I did like were good and I want others to read them as well. :)
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
The book has 12 stories, 1 for each month. They each tie in with the month, or an event happening in that month (for instance October has a Halloween story/poem, and Christmas has a Christmas story). I quite like that this is done, I was thinking it would just be twelve stories, so imagine my delight to see one for each month.
I also liked that the author tells us a little bit about the story, and how he came upon the idea of writing it. It always makes the stories a bit more special. A bit more fun.
Like with the other short story books that I read lately, I will post my thoughts + rating for each story. The rating may have changed from when I posted the status update about the story. Sometimes I just felt it could use a bit higher, thinking back on the story and what it held.
January: Crow Manor: 4 stars. Definitely was a great story, didn't expect it to be so long though. As there are only 253 pages, and with 12 stories I expected each to be quite short, however this one took 31% of the book.
I could have told them that this was a bad idea, and I think Gina wanted to tell Matt, but Matt was too stubborn. I didn't like Matt that much. POV switched all over the place. The ending was o.0.
February: Fear of Torture: 4 stars. Ah, this one was a short one, and pretty good. I didn't like the woman that much, she could just have waited for a divorce, but eh. Poor guy. It was a pretty creepy story, and the ending was good.
March: Squish: 2.5 stars. Ewwwww, this was a bit too much for me. The ending, well it seems someone else is also getting a portion of Karma. I felt sorry for those motor people. :(
April: Purgatory: 3 stars. A decent story, though I was confused up until the ending, then every piece of puzzle clicked and I understood what happened. Still don't really get why the truck was following them/hurting them, but eh. Poor Cassie. :(
May: A Knock in the Night: 2 stars. What the hell? What the hell? WHAT THE HELL? The story was quite good, but a bit too much for me, especially that ending. o.0 No one deserves that. I thought they were friends. o.0
June: The Closet Monster: 4 stars. Oh my, this was a good story. Creepy, spooky, haunting, and definitely awesome! I would have just gone for the Terry Pratchett way though, bring a baseball bat or a fire poker and kick some butt. :P
July: The Tank: 1 star. Sorry, but what? This one was too weird and even the ending didn't make sense. It could have been good, but nothing was explained, and I just wanted to know more about why he got in that tank, why him, who is that masked person that feeds him, and so many other questions.
August: Welcome to Paradise: 2.5 stars. That was just a weird story. It also felt a bit too long, too stretched out. I just knew from the get-go it would be a bad idea to go to that town. The pastor guy was also insta-creepy. The ending was good, but I am worried for Hannah now.
September: Skinwalkers: 0.5 stars. Meh. That is all. Meh. Not really my kind of story. It had some good elements, but it just kept on going and going and didn't seem to go anywhere. My least favourite story, I mostly just skimmed through it hoping it would be over soon.
October: The Spirit of Halloween: 3 stars. Whut? Why suddenly a poem? I also didn't like the formatting, on my reader it was just one wall of text, not really making it easy to read it. Still it was a nice idea, and I did like what happened in there, it was quite creepy.
November: Rattrap: 3.5 stars. That was quite good, right up to the end. Then it started to go down the drain. :| It was still exciting, but sorry, the ending was just a bit too weird for me. How do you not notice THAT in your house.
I also didn't like the characters that much, but their petty arguments did add to the story and the excitement. I was also kind of thinking it might be just one of them doing all this.
December: The Vending Machine: 4.5 stars. Ohhh I liked this one. A vending machine that doesn't only give you cola, but also fulfils wishes! I was worried about the ending, but in the end it turned out to be a very nice ending. It wasn't as creepy as the others were. OK, sure, there was some excitement, but in the end it was just a cute Xmas story.
All in all, a pretty good story collection. There were some that I quite liked, and some I just couldn't like at all. Would I recommend this book? Yes. It may be a bit mixed bag, but the stories I did like were good and I want others to read them as well. :)
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
July 17, 2014
Great!
Great!
I really enjoyed your book of stories for each month. The first one was a bit too long for my taste, but then you did say it was closer to a novella . I loved the skin walker story, I've always been a wendigo fan. There aren't enough of those, stories or novels, and the christma Coke/Santa story; though mom was a b':[¢#. makes it.
This is the first of your books I've read, being ADD, I tend to go for short collections. This was good, keep it up. :)
Great!
I really enjoyed your book of stories for each month. The first one was a bit too long for my taste, but then you did say it was closer to a novella . I loved the skin walker story, I've always been a wendigo fan. There aren't enough of those, stories or novels, and the christma Coke/Santa story; though mom was a b':[¢#. makes it.
This is the first of your books I've read, being ADD, I tend to go for short collections. This was good, keep it up. :)
June 5, 2015
CROW MANOR was the best.
PURGATORY was also very good.
WELCOME TO PARADISE very good.
SKINWALKERS HUGE connection to ancient enemy, very good.
These all get 5 stars.
I did not like these stories;
RATTRAP
THE SPIRIT OF HALLOWEEN
THE TANK
THE CLOSET MONSTER
The rest was ok.
That's why the 4 stars.
PURGATORY was also very good.
WELCOME TO PARADISE very good.
SKINWALKERS HUGE connection to ancient enemy, very good.
These all get 5 stars.
I did not like these stories;
RATTRAP
THE SPIRIT OF HALLOWEEN
THE TANK
THE CLOSET MONSTER
The rest was ok.
That's why the 4 stars.
September 27, 2015
DNF at 53%. Stories just weren't scary like horror is SUPPOSED TO BE. I mean, what's up with THAT?! :(
February 1, 2016
Very enjoyable group of macabre stories.
October 28, 2016
The problem with scary movies or books is that nothing is really scary once you know what it is. As soon as the creature is revealed, the tone changes too drastically to keep me in the spirit of being afraid. This is a really creepy collection of short stories. I bought it last year before Halloween and read a few of the stories, but decided to read the rest of them this year to get back in the Halloween spirit. Very well-written and unnerving. Mark Lukens is really good at tapping into the creepiness in the quiet moments in the dark. He does more with the unknown, which is really the only thing that's really scary.
Most of the stories have that perfect level of twisted irony that is required to make the short story pop. I particularly enjoyed A Knock in the Night, The Tank, Skinwalkers, and Crow Manor. I enjoyed them all, but if there is a weaker entry, perhaps it is The Vending Machine, which ended awkwardly. In all, this collection left me unnerved numerous times as I read in the dark after the house had retired for the evening.
Most of the stories have that perfect level of twisted irony that is required to make the short story pop. I particularly enjoyed A Knock in the Night, The Tank, Skinwalkers, and Crow Manor. I enjoyed them all, but if there is a weaker entry, perhaps it is The Vending Machine, which ended awkwardly. In all, this collection left me unnerved numerous times as I read in the dark after the house had retired for the evening.
July 22, 2021
A collection of short stories loosely, very loosely in some instances as the author freely admits, based on each month of the year. Mark Lukens is definitely one of my favourite horror authors and as someone eager to increase his short story reading I was happy to pick this up. It's an enjoyable collection which includes one novella length tale that for me was the strongest story in the collection, together with eleven other stories of differing lengths mostly taking me around ten to fifteen minutes to get through. As with most short story collections there were some I loved, some I liked and one or two I felt were a bit weaker but still worthwhile. It's the nature of the beast, I guess, but coming to the end I felt that overall this was a pretty strong showing.
June 14, 2018
It was a very good book, has 12 short stories. Some of the stories were very weird, others had a lot of gore , and others were just weird. I only gave ut 4 stars because I felt that some of the stories were too short and I wanted to know more of what had happened but other than that they were all very good some better then others.
January 14, 2019
A woman hires a hitman to complete a deadly task and ends up regretting it. A father recalls an old monster from his childhood. These are just a few of the stories you’ll find in this collection of dark tales.
Some of the stories were ok, but I found myself skipping most of them. They were really not as good as the summaries made them out to be.
Some of the stories were ok, but I found myself skipping most of them. They were really not as good as the summaries made them out to be.
January 3, 2023
Fantastic!
Thoroughly enjoyed these tales from Mark. Was sad when I finished the book. I love the concept of scary stories. I've read lots of collections of horror, ghosts etc but these type of stories are much more imaginative and enjoyable. I am glad I've discovered Mark Lukens. I am going to read more of his books now 👍
Thoroughly enjoyed these tales from Mark. Was sad when I finished the book. I love the concept of scary stories. I've read lots of collections of horror, ghosts etc but these type of stories are much more imaginative and enjoyable. I am glad I've discovered Mark Lukens. I am going to read more of his books now 👍
January 10, 2020
Another great Lukens collection.
I’ve read nearly all his books and am working on the last few. It’s hard for me to pick a favorite as they are all good reading with diverse subjects and settings.
I’ve read nearly all his books and am working on the last few. It’s hard for me to pick a favorite as they are all good reading with diverse subjects and settings.
January 20, 2023
always nice to...
Always nice to discover a new author and enjoy the stories you come across! That was certainly the case with this collection of shorts will defiantly be reading more from this author
Always nice to discover a new author and enjoy the stories you come across! That was certainly the case with this collection of shorts will defiantly be reading more from this author
February 10, 2023
One of the best short stories collection I have read for a long time.
All different and unique.
Liked how you ended up liking the characters, which you don’t usually get in short stories.
Also loved how the book was set out and the front cover.
Excellent.
All different and unique.
Liked how you ended up liking the characters, which you don’t usually get in short stories.
Also loved how the book was set out and the front cover.
Excellent.
June 17, 2018
Really enjoyable! Each story was thrilling and unnerving. I enjoyed each one!
July 26, 2018
Great read
I throughly enjoyed this book from start to finish. I can’t wait to read more from this author and I hope it’s more stories like these
I throughly enjoyed this book from start to finish. I can’t wait to read more from this author and I hope it’s more stories like these
November 16, 2018
Great Stories
This book was a great short stories book. Especially each story taking place a different month. I recommend this book to anyone who loves short spooky stories
This book was a great short stories book. Especially each story taking place a different month. I recommend this book to anyone who loves short spooky stories
August 10, 2019
It was good
Very good read.I enjoyed the book. There needs to be a part two. Great stories. Loved it. Need more! Wow!
Very good read.I enjoyed the book. There needs to be a part two. Great stories. Loved it. Need more! Wow!
March 16, 2022
Good short stories.
I enjoyed this book, the stories were good, I pretty much I enjoyed them all. All in all the book was definitely worth reading!
I enjoyed this book, the stories were good, I pretty much I enjoyed them all. All in all the book was definitely worth reading!
April 26, 2022
Absolutely Loved it! Couldn't put the book down.
October 13, 2025
I really like books By Mark Lukens and this was a good read but not my Favorite.
October 19, 2014
Reviewed by Lee Ashford for Readers' Favorite.
"A Dark Collection:12 Scary Stories" by Mark Lukens provides a year's supply of unique and eclectic stories for the discriminating reader of short fiction.
Perhaps best known for his entertaining novels "Ancient Enemy" and "The Summoning", with this collection Lukens proves he also is no slouch at penning short stories. The 12 tales herein run the gamut from merely creepy to horrifyingly realistic, but with one common thread: each is very well written, and will not let you go until you've reached the end.
Beginning with January, which is a novella called Crow Manor, Lukens puts his proverbial best foot forward, and has you hooked before you have a chance to settle in to your seat. Each successive tale has a tie to its corresponding month, taking you from Valentine's Day through Christmas, with the hard-won realization that you should be careful what you wish for.
If you've not yet read any of Lukens' work, "A Dark Collection:12 Scary Stories" will have you searching for more fiction by this talented author. Even the Introduction will hold you captive, as he regales you with his backstory.
Many writers rely on a twist at the end to provide readers with the anticipated adrenaline jolt, but Mark can jolt you even without a twist. He manages to accomplish this without resorting to the gory, gross or crude. His vivid imagination is sufficient to fully engage you in the story, without using puerile sophistry along the way.
If you have been seeking a new author to follow - one well worth following - this may be your lucky day. Read "A Dark Collection:12 Scary Stories", and join the unofficial Mark Lukens fan club.
"A Dark Collection:12 Scary Stories" by Mark Lukens provides a year's supply of unique and eclectic stories for the discriminating reader of short fiction.
Perhaps best known for his entertaining novels "Ancient Enemy" and "The Summoning", with this collection Lukens proves he also is no slouch at penning short stories. The 12 tales herein run the gamut from merely creepy to horrifyingly realistic, but with one common thread: each is very well written, and will not let you go until you've reached the end.
Beginning with January, which is a novella called Crow Manor, Lukens puts his proverbial best foot forward, and has you hooked before you have a chance to settle in to your seat. Each successive tale has a tie to its corresponding month, taking you from Valentine's Day through Christmas, with the hard-won realization that you should be careful what you wish for.
If you've not yet read any of Lukens' work, "A Dark Collection:12 Scary Stories" will have you searching for more fiction by this talented author. Even the Introduction will hold you captive, as he regales you with his backstory.
Many writers rely on a twist at the end to provide readers with the anticipated adrenaline jolt, but Mark can jolt you even without a twist. He manages to accomplish this without resorting to the gory, gross or crude. His vivid imagination is sufficient to fully engage you in the story, without using puerile sophistry along the way.
If you have been seeking a new author to follow - one well worth following - this may be your lucky day. Read "A Dark Collection:12 Scary Stories", and join the unofficial Mark Lukens fan club.
September 1, 2014
Will blow your mind!!!
Although the title of this book promises a dark collection of scary stories, I believe it only delivers on half the promise. It certainly is full of dark, twisted, eclectic ideas & warped paths that take you through each story and dump you at the finale, making you wonder if you screamed, would anyone actually hear? As for scary, I don't think these are frightening in the classic literary sense. I didn't read anything that made me want to jump into bed and pull the covers up over my head. However, each story was entertaining, it was a fast paced read, and not for one moment did I regret purchasing this read! I definitely will look to find more of Mr. Lukens collections, as I'm sure this isn't a one-off. He's sure to have spread his talent over more than one book.
Although the title of this book promises a dark collection of scary stories, I believe it only delivers on half the promise. It certainly is full of dark, twisted, eclectic ideas & warped paths that take you through each story and dump you at the finale, making you wonder if you screamed, would anyone actually hear? As for scary, I don't think these are frightening in the classic literary sense. I didn't read anything that made me want to jump into bed and pull the covers up over my head. However, each story was entertaining, it was a fast paced read, and not for one moment did I regret purchasing this read! I definitely will look to find more of Mr. Lukens collections, as I'm sure this isn't a one-off. He's sure to have spread his talent over more than one book.
April 12, 2015
Not such a great read. Some of the stories are like combinations of stories I've read, mixed into tv shows I've seen. Not much originality. I usually love short stories. This book left me disappointed. The stories were very well written....... just lacking originality. I mean, if I can figure out what is gonna happen next in a short story......... that is pretty bad :-( Sorry I can't give this a better review. Maybe for a pre teen who likes edge of the seat thrillers this would be a good book.
July 2, 2014
Had my heart pumping into the night!
Wow! It's been a long time since a book or story has made my adrenaline flow and my heart thud as much as several of these short stories did! Mark Lukens has a way of putting you right in the middle of the action, feeling the terror the characters feel. I jumped a couple times when my cats or kids made a noise while I was reading this book. I like that!! Good stuff! Keep it comin!!
Wow! It's been a long time since a book or story has made my adrenaline flow and my heart thud as much as several of these short stories did! Mark Lukens has a way of putting you right in the middle of the action, feeling the terror the characters feel. I jumped a couple times when my cats or kids made a noise while I was reading this book. I like that!! Good stuff! Keep it comin!!
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