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DARKER
Zariah Smith never thought much of herself. With her loathsomely dark skin, unruly kinky hair, and naivete about herself and the world around her, she has become the subject of ire for many of her different-skinned peers, a punching bag for their own sorrows. Thinking she might escape the shame her mother thrust upon her for being so tar-baby black, she goes to college, a place where youths find themselves and futures are discovered. But when the disdain for her color continues, she finds comfort within a most unexpected place: the darkness. Blessed (or cursed) with an unenviable power, it is within the darkness that she finds strength, and others face their darkest fears.
An exploration of modern-day race relations, college hazing and coming-of-age when everyone around you is so unabashedly different, Michael Stephenson welcomes horror fans on a sometimes gruesome path to terror. A homage to Stephen King's first professionally published book Carrie, DARKER invites the reader to follow Zariah on her odyssey to assimilate in a world that seems only to fear what is different, fear what is misunderstood, fear the darkness.
An exploration of modern-day race relations, college hazing and coming-of-age when everyone around you is so unabashedly different, Michael Stephenson welcomes horror fans on a sometimes gruesome path to terror. A homage to Stephen King's first professionally published book Carrie, DARKER invites the reader to follow Zariah on her odyssey to assimilate in a world that seems only to fear what is different, fear what is misunderstood, fear the darkness.
217 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 26, 2015
1 person want to read
About the author
Michael Stephenson
19 books29 followersMichael Stephenson has been writing for over a decade. A lover of horror, his fiction stretches over a plethora of genres including: romance, erotica, thrillers, action/adventure, horror, urban, legal, and political. Sticking mainly to fiction, he does enjoy reading a great amount of non-fiction as well.
An avid lover of films, he also is a screenwriter. He believes that a good story engulfs the reader (or viewer) in the world of the characters. A well told story can be powerful in effecting a person's mood or life. For this reason, he seeks to tell a myriad of captivating stories about the things that interest him.
An avid lover of films, he also is a screenwriter. He believes that a good story engulfs the reader (or viewer) in the world of the characters. A well told story can be powerful in effecting a person's mood or life. For this reason, he seeks to tell a myriad of captivating stories about the things that interest him.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 23, 2015
I was gifted a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This book was written fairly well and it brought attention to issues such as modern-day race relations, bullying, and riots. As Michael Stephenson mentions, Darker is definitely very similar to Stephen King’s book Carrie; even down to the emphasis on the girls monthly as a point of the high school teasing. Zariah is picked on at school and has a crazy mother, just like in Carrie. There are so many other similarities and I won't mention them all, but overall, the story lines are the same. I can appreciate the desire to explore the issues the story hits on, but I wish it would have been done in a way that the story would have been more original.
Reviewed for Jo&IsaLoveBooks Blog
This book was written fairly well and it brought attention to issues such as modern-day race relations, bullying, and riots. As Michael Stephenson mentions, Darker is definitely very similar to Stephen King’s book Carrie; even down to the emphasis on the girls monthly as a point of the high school teasing. Zariah is picked on at school and has a crazy mother, just like in Carrie. There are so many other similarities and I won't mention them all, but overall, the story lines are the same. I can appreciate the desire to explore the issues the story hits on, but I wish it would have been done in a way that the story would have been more original.
Reviewed for Jo&IsaLoveBooks Blog
Displaying 1 of 1 review