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Interior Darkness
An American icon renowned for his bestselling novels, Peter Straub displays his full and stunning range in this crowning collection. He has consistently subverted the boundaries of genre for years, transcending horror and suspense to unlock the dark, unsettling, and troubling dissonances that exist on the edges of our perception. Straub’s fiction cracks the foundation of reality and opens our eyes to an unblinking experience of true horror, told in his inimitable and lush style with skill, wit, and impeccable craft.
With uncanny precision, Straub writes of the city and of the Midwest, of the depraved and of the righteous, of the working class and of the wealthy—nothing and no one is safe from the ever-present darkness that he understands so well. “Blue Rose” follows the cycles of violence and power through the most innocent among us, leading to a conclusion that is audacious and devastating. In the darkly satirical masterpiece “Mr. Clubb and Mr. Cuff,” a stern estate lawyer known as the Deacon hires a pair of “Private Detectives Extraordinaire” to investigate and seek revenge on his unfaithful wife. “The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine” follows a man and his much younger lover as they explore their decadent and increasingly sinister fantasies aboard a luxurious yacht on the remotest stretch of the Amazon River.
Interior Darkness brings together sixteen stories from twenty-five years of dazzling excellence. It is a thrilling, highly entertaining, and terrifying testament to the prodigious talent of Peter Straub.
From the Hardcover edition.
With uncanny precision, Straub writes of the city and of the Midwest, of the depraved and of the righteous, of the working class and of the wealthy—nothing and no one is safe from the ever-present darkness that he understands so well. “Blue Rose” follows the cycles of violence and power through the most innocent among us, leading to a conclusion that is audacious and devastating. In the darkly satirical masterpiece “Mr. Clubb and Mr. Cuff,” a stern estate lawyer known as the Deacon hires a pair of “Private Detectives Extraordinaire” to investigate and seek revenge on his unfaithful wife. “The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine” follows a man and his much younger lover as they explore their decadent and increasingly sinister fantasies aboard a luxurious yacht on the remotest stretch of the Amazon River.
Interior Darkness brings together sixteen stories from twenty-five years of dazzling excellence. It is a thrilling, highly entertaining, and terrifying testament to the prodigious talent of Peter Straub.
From the Hardcover edition.
475 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 16, 2016
175 people are currently reading
1002 people want to read
About the author
Peter Straub
259 books4,194 followersPeter Straub was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the son of Gordon Anthony Straub and Elvena (Nilsestuen) Straub.
Straub read voraciously from an early age, but his literary interests did not please his parents; his father hoped that he would grow up to be a professional athlete, while his mother wanted him to be a Lutheran minister. He attended Milwaukee Country Day School on a scholarship, and, during his time there, began writing.
Straub earned an honors BA in English at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1965, and an MA at Columbia University a year later. He briefly taught English at Milwaukee Country Day, then moved to Dublin, Ireland, in 1969 to work on a PhD, and to start writing professionally
After mixed success with two attempts at literary mainstream novels in the mid-1970s ("Marriages" and "Under Venus"), Straub dabbled in the supernatural for the first time with "Julia" (1975). He then wrote "If You Could See Me Now" (1977), and came to widespread public attention with his fifth novel, "Ghost Story" (1979), which was a critical success and was later adapted into a 1981 film. Several horror novels followed, with growing success, including "The Talisman" and "Black House", two fantasy-horror collaborations with Straub's long-time friend and fellow author Stephen King.
In addition to his many novels, he published several works of poetry during his lifetime.
In 1966, Straub married Susan Bitker.They had two children; their daughter, Emma Straub, is also a novelist. The family lived in Dublin from 1969 to 1972, in London from 1972 to 1979, and in the New York City area from 1979 onwards.
Straub died on September 4, 2022, aged 79, from complications of a broken hip. At the time of his death, he and his wife lived in Brooklyn (New York City).
Straub read voraciously from an early age, but his literary interests did not please his parents; his father hoped that he would grow up to be a professional athlete, while his mother wanted him to be a Lutheran minister. He attended Milwaukee Country Day School on a scholarship, and, during his time there, began writing.
Straub earned an honors BA in English at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1965, and an MA at Columbia University a year later. He briefly taught English at Milwaukee Country Day, then moved to Dublin, Ireland, in 1969 to work on a PhD, and to start writing professionally
After mixed success with two attempts at literary mainstream novels in the mid-1970s ("Marriages" and "Under Venus"), Straub dabbled in the supernatural for the first time with "Julia" (1975). He then wrote "If You Could See Me Now" (1977), and came to widespread public attention with his fifth novel, "Ghost Story" (1979), which was a critical success and was later adapted into a 1981 film. Several horror novels followed, with growing success, including "The Talisman" and "Black House", two fantasy-horror collaborations with Straub's long-time friend and fellow author Stephen King.
In addition to his many novels, he published several works of poetry during his lifetime.
In 1966, Straub married Susan Bitker.They had two children; their daughter, Emma Straub, is also a novelist. The family lived in Dublin from 1969 to 1972, in London from 1972 to 1979, and in the New York City area from 1979 onwards.
Straub died on September 4, 2022, aged 79, from complications of a broken hip. At the time of his death, he and his wife lived in Brooklyn (New York City).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews
March 12, 2023
Quick review as I'm strapped for time. May come back to this one in the future and expand upon it.
All you need to know is that this is a collection of Straub's shorter works. The majority of which appear in his other collections of short stories. Picked by the man himself it can be considered his greatest hits!
There's seven from Houses Without Doors, three from Magic Terror and another three from 5 Stories. There are two that I believe are new, but if you have read the three main collections then this will probably be a waste of your hard earned cash. For me personally I hadn't been able to track down a copy of 5 Stories so it was a worthwhile read.
Of the stories I hadn't encountered Little Red's Tango and Mr Aickman's Air Rifle stood out. Surreal, subtle and shocking in parts. Exactly what you expect from this author. They always leave me with questions at the end that keeps me pondering. A thinking man's horror author if ever there was.
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 If you're new to Straub's short fiction
🌟🌟 If you're a grizzled veteran
Thanks for reading and...cheers!
All you need to know is that this is a collection of Straub's shorter works. The majority of which appear in his other collections of short stories. Picked by the man himself it can be considered his greatest hits!
There's seven from Houses Without Doors, three from Magic Terror and another three from 5 Stories. There are two that I believe are new, but if you have read the three main collections then this will probably be a waste of your hard earned cash. For me personally I hadn't been able to track down a copy of 5 Stories so it was a worthwhile read.
Of the stories I hadn't encountered Little Red's Tango and Mr Aickman's Air Rifle stood out. Surreal, subtle and shocking in parts. Exactly what you expect from this author. They always leave me with questions at the end that keeps me pondering. A thinking man's horror author if ever there was.
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 If you're new to Straub's short fiction
🌟🌟 If you're a grizzled veteran
Thanks for reading and...cheers!
November 30, 2015
I received this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I was really disappointed with this anthology. Every short story included has been published in other anthologies by the author. If you already own the others, buying this would be a complete waste of money. Nothing new.
I'm also disappointed with the actual work, which was supposed to be his best-of-the-best of his short stories. Mr. Straub used to be a top-shelf horror author, but his more recent work has not only gone downhill, but gone over the cliff. Not sure why, but his writing no longer appeals to me whatsoever.
Not recommended.
I was really disappointed with this anthology. Every short story included has been published in other anthologies by the author. If you already own the others, buying this would be a complete waste of money. Nothing new.
I'm also disappointed with the actual work, which was supposed to be his best-of-the-best of his short stories. Mr. Straub used to be a top-shelf horror author, but his more recent work has not only gone downhill, but gone over the cliff. Not sure why, but his writing no longer appeals to me whatsoever.
Not recommended.
March 15, 2016
“Interior Darkness” is a book for those who think they dislike horror, as well as for those who love and respect the genre. Filled with terror, wit and unexpected grace notes, it’s a remarkable achievement that reflects the arc of a lengthy and celebrated career. Louis Armstrong, wherever he may be, would probably agree.
Read more about "Interior Darkness" at the Washington Post: http://wapo.st/22hJbmP
Read more about "Interior Darkness" at the Washington Post: http://wapo.st/22hJbmP
February 8, 2016
Peter Straub has spent over forty years at the cutting-edge forefront of literary horror, with a well-earned reputation as one of the genre’s masters. He’s written a good number of novels—Ghost Story, Koko, lost boy lost girl, and Shadowland, to name a handful—but also a good deal of short fiction, with five collections to his credit. Straub’s most recent collection, Interior Darkness, collects some of his best short fiction from across his forty-year career. What sets Straub apart from the pack is his writing, and a keen psychological insight into his strange and murderous characters. His prose is straightforward and accessible, carrying a strong literary weight without being ostentatious; he combines unsettling imagery and themes with dense and literate stories, brilliantly executed and powerful themes that cause the mundane to instill dread and revulsion. And several of his best tales deal with a very human horror—the, well, interior darkness within some people.
“Blue Rose” looks at the early years of a sociopath who’d go on to lead a My Lai-style massacre in Vietnam, as a preteen boy who unleashes secret violence on his younger brother and ends up tearing his already broken family apart. “The Juniper Tree” follows another boy who flees his bad home life for the silver screen, only to find a gentle, coaxing evil hiding in the darkness of the movie theater. “The Buffalo Hunter” is about a downtrodden man working a dead-end job, his mother fading out from Alzheimer’s and his domineering father pointing out his failings; he withdraws himself from reality, retreating into a fascination with baby bottles while being sucked in to the novels he reads, where their reality becomes more potent than anything in the real world. These three novellas are some of Straub’s best; they have well-defined characters from damaged families and broken homes that take a sharp turn down uneasy street, hitting hard enough to leave me feeling drained by the end. This isn’t the horror that gives you a mild shock, it’s the horror that cuts into your psyche.
Many of Straub’s stories work well because they create an unsettling atmosphere in stories rich with ambiguity, the narrators unreliable, the terror present but not quite clear. “Ashputtle,” for example, is about a kindergarten teacher you don’t want anywhere near your kids; she’s somehow cast herself as both Cinderella and the Evil Queen in her own fairy tale, and as an unreliable narrator, may not even realize she’s probably the reason some of her charges disappear. “Pork Pie Hat” is framed as a story within a story: a college grad interviews his hero, a once-famed jazz saxophonist named Pork Pie Hat, shortly before Hat dies. The interview is sold to a major magazine for good money, though the grad admits to leaving part of it out—an eerie Southern ghost story Pork told, of trick or treating as a kid in the bad part of town—but since the grad also admitted to “massaging” part of the interview, he’s already painted himself as an unreliable source…
Other stories are more straightforward horror stories. “Mr. Aickman’s Air Rifle” is told in the style of Robert Aickman’s strange tales, where four men in a hospital ward—a writer, a publisher, a book critic, and a plagiarist—are haunted by shared dreams before confronting a strange darkness. Then there’s the biting black humor of “Mr. Clubb and Mr. Cuff,” narrated by an elitist investment banker from a small religious community; when his wife cheats on him with a business rival, he seeks out a pair of “problem solvers” to avenge his honor. As Straub’s homage to Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener,” the narrator has the misfortune of finding out just how sadistic these two “detectives” are, learning that what comes around does indeed go around as they take over his office and dominate his life.
As you move through Straub’s career, his stories become even more obfuscatory and ambitious, requiring analysis and re-reading for all the details to sink in. “The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine” skips across time and space as an aging cleaner take a hallucinogenic yacht trip down the Amazon with one of his client’s daughters, while the two engage in various sadomasochistic tortures. “Little Red’s Tango” follows a record collector’s strange trip through an ever-darkening world. “The Collected Stories of Freddie Prothero” are strange, chaotic tales left by a boy who died at an early age; the intentionally overblown introduction pegs him as a child prodigy, but the stories detail Freddie’s obsession with—or possession by?—a dark entity, leaving these as grim shadows of childhood terror. The ambiguity of these stories means most readers will love them or hate them—they are layered and confusing, but the implied terrors can make the tales truly eerie when the truth is never tangible—you can conjure up some terrifying answers of your own using the elements Straub provides.
Interior Darkness is something of a Peter Straub greatest hits collection, a career retrospective of a horror master’s short fiction. Hardcore fans may have already read these stories in the original collections, but it should serve as a decent entry point for new readers who want to see Straub’s range and diversity. There’s a number of chilling tales here, with the author’s trademark intelligence and black humor, and while I could quibble about the selections—where’s “Bunny is Good Bread?”—I think this volume covers most of Straub’s best short work—Straub’s best stories are top-shelf chillers. Straub fans should probably check the table of contents before buying, but it’s a solid collection of literary terror, and I’d recommend it to readers who enjoy short horror fiction that’s both creepy as hell and dangerously smart.
Contents List:
From Houses Without Doors
- Blue Rose
- In the Realm of Dreams
- The Juniper Tree
- Going Home
- The Buffalo Hunter
- Bar Talk
- A Short Guide to the City
From Magic Terror
- Ashputtle
- Pork Pie Hat
- Mr. Clubb and Mr. Cuff
From 5 Stories
- Little Red’s Tango
- Lapland, or Film Noir
- Mr. Aickman’s Air Rifle
Uncollected Stories
- Mallon the Guru
- The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine
- The Collected Short Stories of Freddy Prothero
“Blue Rose” looks at the early years of a sociopath who’d go on to lead a My Lai-style massacre in Vietnam, as a preteen boy who unleashes secret violence on his younger brother and ends up tearing his already broken family apart. “The Juniper Tree” follows another boy who flees his bad home life for the silver screen, only to find a gentle, coaxing evil hiding in the darkness of the movie theater. “The Buffalo Hunter” is about a downtrodden man working a dead-end job, his mother fading out from Alzheimer’s and his domineering father pointing out his failings; he withdraws himself from reality, retreating into a fascination with baby bottles while being sucked in to the novels he reads, where their reality becomes more potent than anything in the real world. These three novellas are some of Straub’s best; they have well-defined characters from damaged families and broken homes that take a sharp turn down uneasy street, hitting hard enough to leave me feeling drained by the end. This isn’t the horror that gives you a mild shock, it’s the horror that cuts into your psyche.
Many of Straub’s stories work well because they create an unsettling atmosphere in stories rich with ambiguity, the narrators unreliable, the terror present but not quite clear. “Ashputtle,” for example, is about a kindergarten teacher you don’t want anywhere near your kids; she’s somehow cast herself as both Cinderella and the Evil Queen in her own fairy tale, and as an unreliable narrator, may not even realize she’s probably the reason some of her charges disappear. “Pork Pie Hat” is framed as a story within a story: a college grad interviews his hero, a once-famed jazz saxophonist named Pork Pie Hat, shortly before Hat dies. The interview is sold to a major magazine for good money, though the grad admits to leaving part of it out—an eerie Southern ghost story Pork told, of trick or treating as a kid in the bad part of town—but since the grad also admitted to “massaging” part of the interview, he’s already painted himself as an unreliable source…
Other stories are more straightforward horror stories. “Mr. Aickman’s Air Rifle” is told in the style of Robert Aickman’s strange tales, where four men in a hospital ward—a writer, a publisher, a book critic, and a plagiarist—are haunted by shared dreams before confronting a strange darkness. Then there’s the biting black humor of “Mr. Clubb and Mr. Cuff,” narrated by an elitist investment banker from a small religious community; when his wife cheats on him with a business rival, he seeks out a pair of “problem solvers” to avenge his honor. As Straub’s homage to Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener,” the narrator has the misfortune of finding out just how sadistic these two “detectives” are, learning that what comes around does indeed go around as they take over his office and dominate his life.
As you move through Straub’s career, his stories become even more obfuscatory and ambitious, requiring analysis and re-reading for all the details to sink in. “The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine” skips across time and space as an aging cleaner take a hallucinogenic yacht trip down the Amazon with one of his client’s daughters, while the two engage in various sadomasochistic tortures. “Little Red’s Tango” follows a record collector’s strange trip through an ever-darkening world. “The Collected Stories of Freddie Prothero” are strange, chaotic tales left by a boy who died at an early age; the intentionally overblown introduction pegs him as a child prodigy, but the stories detail Freddie’s obsession with—or possession by?—a dark entity, leaving these as grim shadows of childhood terror. The ambiguity of these stories means most readers will love them or hate them—they are layered and confusing, but the implied terrors can make the tales truly eerie when the truth is never tangible—you can conjure up some terrifying answers of your own using the elements Straub provides.
Interior Darkness is something of a Peter Straub greatest hits collection, a career retrospective of a horror master’s short fiction. Hardcore fans may have already read these stories in the original collections, but it should serve as a decent entry point for new readers who want to see Straub’s range and diversity. There’s a number of chilling tales here, with the author’s trademark intelligence and black humor, and while I could quibble about the selections—where’s “Bunny is Good Bread?”—I think this volume covers most of Straub’s best short work—Straub’s best stories are top-shelf chillers. Straub fans should probably check the table of contents before buying, but it’s a solid collection of literary terror, and I’d recommend it to readers who enjoy short horror fiction that’s both creepy as hell and dangerously smart.
Contents List:
From Houses Without Doors
- Blue Rose
- In the Realm of Dreams
- The Juniper Tree
- Going Home
- The Buffalo Hunter
- Bar Talk
- A Short Guide to the City
From Magic Terror
- Ashputtle
- Pork Pie Hat
- Mr. Clubb and Mr. Cuff
From 5 Stories
- Little Red’s Tango
- Lapland, or Film Noir
- Mr. Aickman’s Air Rifle
Uncollected Stories
- Mallon the Guru
- The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine
- The Collected Short Stories of Freddy Prothero
October 13, 2017
Did Not Finish at 15 percent.
Sorry, I own enough Stephen King to not have to put up with a bad collection of horror short stories. I started getting annoyed all over again yesterday when I tried to plow this. I think the main issue is that Straub doesn't draw me in at all. I felt like he was talking about made up people. We go from a fairly long short story to some kind of short essays and back again and I lost any interest in continuing this book.
I will just have to find another book to read for the Genre:Horror square for Halloween Bingo 2017. As I said, I have enough King books and I will just select one this weekend.
Sorry, I own enough Stephen King to not have to put up with a bad collection of horror short stories. I started getting annoyed all over again yesterday when I tried to plow this. I think the main issue is that Straub doesn't draw me in at all. I felt like he was talking about made up people. We go from a fairly long short story to some kind of short essays and back again and I lost any interest in continuing this book.
I will just have to find another book to read for the Genre:Horror square for Halloween Bingo 2017. As I said, I have enough King books and I will just select one this weekend.
December 22, 2015
"The horror genre has a wide range—from gory to subtle, monsters to blood, horror plays on humanity’s most primal and deeply held fears in many different ways. As an absolute master of the genre, Peter Straub covers it all. This collection covers his most shining examples of provoking tales from the past twenty-five years. In INTERIOR DARKNESS you’ll find stories that don’t last as long as a page and novellas side by side. Peter Straub is a modern day Lovecraft in all the best ways. These stories, like all great horror stories, left me greedy for more and afraid to close my eyes."
- Sarah E. Doubleday Marketing Department
- Sarah E. Doubleday Marketing Department
January 8, 2016
This anthology was one of the worst struggles I've had in getting through a book. Not only has each of these stories been published in other anthologies (so you may have already read them), they are supposed to be the best of Straub. Frankly I found them to be boring & somewhat revolting. Reading about a child dealing with a molester is revolting or if you want, call it horrifying. A story about a guy obsessing over baby bottles & books. Interesting? Um, no! Stupid? Absolutely. Some stories are so short they are only a few paragraphs & fit on one page. I cannot even recall what they were about, as is the case for nearly all the stories unless something really stood out. In most situations I wanted him to get to the point. Sadly when he does finally get there all I could think was I slogged through mess for this?!? Onto the next disappointment. Rinse & repeat.
When I want horror I want something more along the line of Stephen King, Scott Sigler, McCammon, & the like. Not men transfixed by baby bottles or children suffering abuse by other children &/or adults, etc. Not that King for example hasn't written on these subjects, he just does it better. Yes it creates disgust but with the character rather than the author. King creates real worlds that the reader can fall into. Maybe it's not fair to compare Straub to King, but they did write books together, The Talisman & Black House pop to the top of my head. Not my all time favorite books but worth the read & on my bookshelf.
Interior Darkness has been billed as terrifying. Yes it is terrifying, it is terrifying to think this is considered Straubs best works. It is billed as being able to transport the reader. Transport you into literary boredom & disgust to be sure. Lastly it is billed to "hold a reader hostage" yes you would indeed have to put a gun to my head to get me to pick up this train wreck again. This is by far the worst .99 I've ever spent on a book & I've read some pretty bad books in my time.
When I want horror I want something more along the line of Stephen King, Scott Sigler, McCammon, & the like. Not men transfixed by baby bottles or children suffering abuse by other children &/or adults, etc. Not that King for example hasn't written on these subjects, he just does it better. Yes it creates disgust but with the character rather than the author. King creates real worlds that the reader can fall into. Maybe it's not fair to compare Straub to King, but they did write books together, The Talisman & Black House pop to the top of my head. Not my all time favorite books but worth the read & on my bookshelf.
Interior Darkness has been billed as terrifying. Yes it is terrifying, it is terrifying to think this is considered Straubs best works. It is billed as being able to transport the reader. Transport you into literary boredom & disgust to be sure. Lastly it is billed to "hold a reader hostage" yes you would indeed have to put a gun to my head to get me to pick up this train wreck again. This is by far the worst .99 I've ever spent on a book & I've read some pretty bad books in my time.
December 16, 2024
To sum up my review in one word - "NO". There was not one story out of this entire collection that I liked. My eyes would glaze over every time I started reading. This author is so well-accomplished that I was surprised at how disappointed I was in reading these works.
March 1, 2016
You know when your favourite band puts out a new greatest hits album filled with songs that you already own, except for a couple of unreleased tracks that end up being not very great at all? This is the short story version of that scenario. The stories I already owned in other collections are great. No questions. The new stories are not. So I'm left feeling a little empty because I haven't been treated to a new blast of Straub brilliance. But I simply still had to have it just in case the new stories were great. At the very least I am still the proud owner of Peter Straub's entire published works. Now to wait to 2023 in order to get the 50th anniversary edition of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon to go with the 20th, 30th and 40th edition I already have. Same songs, different packaging. What is wrong with me?
December 7, 2015
Interior Darkness by Peter Straub
Peter Straub returns to book shelves with his collection of short stories entitled Interior Darkness. Hidden behind a facade of contentment dwells a dark attic that is full of hidden deathly secrets, a movie theatre that strips the innocence of young ones, and additional features that are written with a truly gloomy hand. Straub sprinkles childhood innocents with an authentic hidden evil that bide among day to day living. These underlying macabre tones bridge each story, which proves why Straub has always been, and still remains a top notch author that is capable of controlling the gut wrenching emotions of the reader.
Peter Straub returns to book shelves with his collection of short stories entitled Interior Darkness. Hidden behind a facade of contentment dwells a dark attic that is full of hidden deathly secrets, a movie theatre that strips the innocence of young ones, and additional features that are written with a truly gloomy hand. Straub sprinkles childhood innocents with an authentic hidden evil that bide among day to day living. These underlying macabre tones bridge each story, which proves why Straub has always been, and still remains a top notch author that is capable of controlling the gut wrenching emotions of the reader.
Read
February 15, 2020Not quite what I was lead to expect, but they were fine. The few I've read so far weren't quite as dark as I expected. But I love short fiction in all flavors, so I'll probably pick it up from time to time.
February 24, 2016
I'm enjoying this although the focus is around very disturbed psyches. Each story stands alone. They are extremely well written and absorbing. Excellent.
March 15, 2021
2.5 stars
I picked this up as an introduction to Peter Straub as I have a couple of other books of his on my shelf (including ones with King). Out of the 16 published here I can only remember 3 of them with any great detail – and even those didn't have great endings. I think in essence the short stories weren't short enough and more than a few times heard myself complaining about the length of them. Hopefully in a full length novel Straub expands on characters and plot.
I picked this up as an introduction to Peter Straub as I have a couple of other books of his on my shelf (including ones with King). Out of the 16 published here I can only remember 3 of them with any great detail – and even those didn't have great endings. I think in essence the short stories weren't short enough and more than a few times heard myself complaining about the length of them. Hopefully in a full length novel Straub expands on characters and plot.
May 22, 2019
I was bothered by the first two stories in this repackaging of three previously released collections of short stories. In the first a young boy kills his younger brother and gets away with it and in the second an alcoholic pedophile sexually abuses a young boy in the back of a theater during one summer...and gets away with it. I wondered what Straub is trying to tell us here. I hope that the second story was not autobiographical because that would just be sad. Otherwise, I see no point to the story. I suppose a sense of outrage hampered my ability to enjoy those stories, but there were some stories that, if not perfect, presented some consideration of literary skill and reader enjoyment. Little Red, for instance, deserves a second read.
As I put down the book for the last time, I felt that most of the stories seemed unfinished and others seemed to change their path toward their end. His expression of both Jazz (which I have no interest in) and NYC which is my hometown, however, are bright spots in the sense that the author comes alive in his presentation. As if he could talk for hours about what could only be seen as personal passions. It is an insight to an author's soul that I greatly appreciate. Honesty is never underappreciated here. All in all, they are not the best works I have read in my study of Straub's writings, but I forge forward due to the intellectual edge I have found enticing in some of his other works..
As I put down the book for the last time, I felt that most of the stories seemed unfinished and others seemed to change their path toward their end. His expression of both Jazz (which I have no interest in) and NYC which is my hometown, however, are bright spots in the sense that the author comes alive in his presentation. As if he could talk for hours about what could only be seen as personal passions. It is an insight to an author's soul that I greatly appreciate. Honesty is never underappreciated here. All in all, they are not the best works I have read in my study of Straub's writings, but I forge forward due to the intellectual edge I have found enticing in some of his other works..
February 21, 2018
Short stories continue to be the most brilliant forms of fiction writing today. Novellas like The Shawshank Redemption and The Body by Stephen King parachuted into Oscar material.The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker and various short stories from Stephen King have influenced horror movies for decades to come.
Peter Straub, most notable for co-writing The Talisman with Stephen King has combined all his short collection into one giant one. Interior Darkness also includes stories that were not published in any of his previous collections.
It starts with Houses Without Doors. My personal favorites include Blue Rose, The Juniper Tree, and the mildly disturbing The Buffalo Hunter. Once you get into Magic Terror Straub takes off the gloves in this set. Mr. Clubb and Mr. Cuff was an enjoyable read. If you are looking for some sick and twisted fun that you would find in a Stephen King collection.
The final collection titled 5 stories ( there are only 3 of them). This is where Straub takes a giant nosedive. Readers can skip right to Mr. Aickmans Air Rifle because it is another story that is from Stephen King's Twilight Zonesque collection Nightmares and Dreamscapes.
The " Uncollected stories can be skipped altogether. Peter Straub gets only 3 out of5 stars while the collection does have its moments. There are some stories that you can just skip over.
May 13, 2019
Previously to this book, I'd only read Peter Straub collaborations with Stephen King. I thought it was time to see what his writing was like on his own, so I thought I'd start with short stories. The first few were good, dark and twisted, even disgusting a bit. Afterwards the stories were all over the place. Some interesting, others dragging too long and going nowhere. Some felt experimental, and I can't see many people enjoying those ones at all, which felt like a waste of time to me. I can't say I really got a good idea of his writing from this very mixed collection. I'd like to try one of his novels too, but not having loved all of these stories, I'm a bit nervous about even trying, because I don't like to stop once I've started.
January 17, 2018
I love Peter Straub. It took me ages to read all the stories in INTERIOR DARKNESS partly because I don’t believe in reading story collections straight through, partly cause I’m a slow reader, and partly because Straub’s tales themselves are so disturbing. I’d read many of them before, but if so I reread them. But several were new to me. They are surreal, often with an aspect of fairy tale about them, though dark and challenging. That’s what I like in fiction — well written and complicated stories that are intense in their effects. Masterful retrospective collection.
March 18, 2021
I had not read any of P.Straub's short stories before these, so I did not mind that other collections contained most of these already, in years past. What I did mind was that the stories were terrible. I kept on reading, hoping the next story would be better. It was not to be. A depressing read.
P.Straub's Word-A-Day calendar must have introduced him to the word CHIAROSCURO. I had to look it up. Why was it in two different stories, three separate times? Who knows.
Also, Uniondale (or even the next town over) is in the heart of Nassau County, not Suffolk County.
P.Straub's Word-A-Day calendar must have introduced him to the word CHIAROSCURO. I had to look it up. Why was it in two different stories, three separate times? Who knows.
Also, Uniondale (or even the next town over) is in the heart of Nassau County, not Suffolk County.
July 9, 2017
This is a hard one to rate. On the one hand, I didn't particularly enjoy any of the stories and it took me a few months to finish this book. On the other hand, all of the stories stuck with me. Even if I didn't like them, I remember them all and that's not something I can usual say about a collection of short stories. So I have to give some credit to an author that creates such unique characters and situations that they reverberate, even if they didn't necessarily resonate.
September 23, 2019
The short stories within this compilation differ so much in style and overall feel that I found only two or three that I genuinely enjoyed. It’s a risk when you’ve made something with no continuity of flavour that it can’t work for every reader.
September 30, 2020
Well, here I am again at the tail end of the reading experience for a book that has left me absolutely stymied. Sometimes it surprises me just how different my opinion can be from other readers, not just around the world, but from those in my own backyard as well.
February 19, 2016
Read my review on bookreporter.com .
May 7, 2018
Well written, but definitely not my type of horror.
July 2, 2018
Well written creepy, unnerving little vignettes. He is a master of words...
July 2, 2018
Some great stories with a couple of clunkers.
February 6, 2025
In keeping this short, I have only dabbled in Peter Straub's short fiction from time to time over a good many years. Having recently finished a similar, more recent collection of Stephen King's short fiction ("You Like it Darker"), I find it difficult not to compare that two in both style, format and, most especially, impact. The two have collaborated many times in the past, as everyone reading this would know, but for me, having just finished these selected stories of Straub, it feels clear to me that he is by far the stronger and the more creative writer.
I will not say all these stories land well. Indeed, many of them can be easily dismissed as experimental or incomplete. For myself, a lot of the staying power in these tales is that they DO feel incomplete; so much is alluded to with no neat and tidy answers given. You feel as if you have been plucked from a story before it can properly end, or at a point where more tangential stories are hinted at. And while a lack of overarching exposition is something I usually need to feel satisfied by a story, in this case it is the truncated methodology that causes much of what could be easily forgotten to linger long after the ending.
Also, contained within are some of the most disturbing literature I have encountered, and stories which chill my core, or affect a visceral change within me through reading it, is one I have delved for and divined for most my reading life. Cases in point: "The Juniper Tree", "The Buffalo Hunter", "Mr Clubb and Mr Cuff" and especially "The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine". The first two I had stumbled across previously in life and could still recall the unsettling effect they still had on me after all that two. The second two were new, and some of the most deliciously evil tales to leave a stain upon the brain for many moons, and many more moons to come.
Suffice to say, as a compendium of selected pieces from Straub's vast back catalogue of short fiction (not as prolific as Mr King, of course, but infinitely more unsettling) it cleverly shows the writer's evolution of evoking horror across the years, and the rather excellent literature he was creating towards the latter part of his life.
Vale, Mr Straub, and thank you for your time.
I will not say all these stories land well. Indeed, many of them can be easily dismissed as experimental or incomplete. For myself, a lot of the staying power in these tales is that they DO feel incomplete; so much is alluded to with no neat and tidy answers given. You feel as if you have been plucked from a story before it can properly end, or at a point where more tangential stories are hinted at. And while a lack of overarching exposition is something I usually need to feel satisfied by a story, in this case it is the truncated methodology that causes much of what could be easily forgotten to linger long after the ending.
Also, contained within are some of the most disturbing literature I have encountered, and stories which chill my core, or affect a visceral change within me through reading it, is one I have delved for and divined for most my reading life. Cases in point: "The Juniper Tree", "The Buffalo Hunter", "Mr Clubb and Mr Cuff" and especially "The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine". The first two I had stumbled across previously in life and could still recall the unsettling effect they still had on me after all that two. The second two were new, and some of the most deliciously evil tales to leave a stain upon the brain for many moons, and many more moons to come.
Suffice to say, as a compendium of selected pieces from Straub's vast back catalogue of short fiction (not as prolific as Mr King, of course, but infinitely more unsettling) it cleverly shows the writer's evolution of evoking horror across the years, and the rather excellent literature he was creating towards the latter part of his life.
Vale, Mr Straub, and thank you for your time.
November 10, 2017
Let me begin by stating that I am big fan of Peter Straub. He's an underrated gem in the horror genre and an all-round brilliant writer. The best part is that there's loads of stories and novels for readers to discover (just take a look at his impressive bibliography). Interior Darkness is a massive short story collection. It's really more of an omnibus for Straub, considering that it collects both previously published story collections as well as unpublished works.
Within the dark, twisted confines of Interior Darkness readers will find some supremely engaging and horrifying stories. These include "Blue Rose," "The Juniper Tree," "Aschputtle," "Pork Pie Hat," "Mr. Clubb & Mr. Cuff" and "The Ballad of Ballard & Sandrine." The others leave much to be desired. And therein lies my struggle with this collection. In my opinion, Interior Darkness is a mixed bag of quality. Some stories will knock your socks off while others are like trekking through mud. For example, "The Collected Stories of Freddie Prothero" is a painstaking head-scratcher; more a writer's experiment than an actual story.
My final thought: Prior to reading Interior Darkness, I read a few reviews that recommended this book as a good starting point for someone new to Peter Straub. After finishing this book, I'm not so sure I agree with that statement.
Within the dark, twisted confines of Interior Darkness readers will find some supremely engaging and horrifying stories. These include "Blue Rose," "The Juniper Tree," "Aschputtle," "Pork Pie Hat," "Mr. Clubb & Mr. Cuff" and "The Ballad of Ballard & Sandrine." The others leave much to be desired. And therein lies my struggle with this collection. In my opinion, Interior Darkness is a mixed bag of quality. Some stories will knock your socks off while others are like trekking through mud. For example, "The Collected Stories of Freddie Prothero" is a painstaking head-scratcher; more a writer's experiment than an actual story.
My final thought: Prior to reading Interior Darkness, I read a few reviews that recommended this book as a good starting point for someone new to Peter Straub. After finishing this book, I'm not so sure I agree with that statement.
January 7, 2022
This review only covers two stories in this collection, as I have read all the other ones in their previous publications. I will admit I am a big Straub fan, and even his awful stuff has tiny kernels of amazingness that I am sure he could easily develop into full-fledged awesome if he so desired. So while the two stories I read here - Mallon the Guru and The Collected Short Stories of Freddie Prothero - are frighteningly short I still found some elements that were typical Straub. 'Mallon the Guru' has the feel of Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness' for me. There is not much to go on, but I get the crreping suspicion Stephen Mallon will come to an unseemly and all-too-fitting demise. 'The Collected Stories of Freddie Prothero' might be Straub at his most evasive, obtuse, and annoying. Who else but Straub would do this and do it seriously? There is a childlike reverence for the stories by Freddie's adult curators that is both ridiculous and endearing, sacred almost.
As to the rest of these stories, I can tell you I loved them all excepting 'The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine', which I found to be full of intriguing ideas but rather meandering, and ultimately I had a hard time finding any meaning to the narrative. Regardless of that one misstep, Straub is a genius and I hope he starts writing something soon, I miss his unique brand of unsettling and unseemly.
As to the rest of these stories, I can tell you I loved them all excepting 'The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine', which I found to be full of intriguing ideas but rather meandering, and ultimately I had a hard time finding any meaning to the narrative. Regardless of that one misstep, Straub is a genius and I hope he starts writing something soon, I miss his unique brand of unsettling and unseemly.
April 25, 2021
Straub is a master.
He knows exactly what he's doing, but he very often demands much from the reader. He is not a writer you read in a breezy, stuck-at-the-airport way. You must pay attention. You must give yourself fully to his words. When you do, his stories can rise above mere words on the page into the stuff of epiphanies and revelations.
This collection features examples of that brilliance which, if you let it, will reward you more than most stories ever do.
These are the best:
"Blue Rose"*
"The Juniper Tree"
"Pork Pie Hat"
"Mr. Aickman's Air Rifle"
"The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine"*
*These are particularly unnerving.
He knows exactly what he's doing, but he very often demands much from the reader. He is not a writer you read in a breezy, stuck-at-the-airport way. You must pay attention. You must give yourself fully to his words. When you do, his stories can rise above mere words on the page into the stuff of epiphanies and revelations.
This collection features examples of that brilliance which, if you let it, will reward you more than most stories ever do.
These are the best:
"Blue Rose"*
"The Juniper Tree"
"Pork Pie Hat"
"Mr. Aickman's Air Rifle"
"The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine"*
*These are particularly unnerving.
Read
April 6, 2021Because you’re a fan of Stephen King, I think you’ll appreciate Interior Darkness: Selected Stories by Peter Straub, another masterful horror writer and a recurrent collaborator with King. This anthology of short stories covers 25 years of Straub’s writing and serves as a great introduction to his talents. Author of the classic horror novel Ghost Story, he is a master of psychological horror, fantasy, and suspense.
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