Redefining Darkness

by Alaric P. Cabiling

From the author of critically-acclaimed collection of short stories, Insanity By Increments, comes a new collection of scintillating new literary short fiction entitled, Redefining Darkness. Author Alaric Cabiling will forever change your perception of dark fiction, adding a heavy dose of literary aesthetics that will shock and scar readers for years to come. This is dark fiction redefined. This is Redefining Darkness.

A scandal besets a parish community. A forensic pathologist desperately aims to dissect a troubled past. An incorrigible womanizer confronts his own staggering self-image. A successful businessman thwarts the plans of a scheming half-brother. Nevermore has the chess match short story been as adequately represented than in these stories and more.

Genres: Short Stories

158 pages, Paperback

Published March 4, 2016

About the author

Author Alaric Cabiling's influences as a writer range from Gothic fiction writers, Edgar Allan Poe, and Mary Shelley, to modern-day dark fantasy writers, Ray Bradbury, and Harlan Ellison. Cabiling’s work in fiction includes the critically-acclaimed short story collections, Insanity By Increments, Redefining Darkness, and The Claws of Perdition. Cabiling uses effusive language and Latin Magic Realism to render your perception of reality askew, and has been compared to authors such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Alfred Hitchcock. Cabiling plans to publish more fiction in the future, including contemporary horror and contemporary literary fiction for fans of mainstream literature. In his spare time, Cabiling enjoys music, arts, and culture. He is also a big electronics buff and tech geek. He lives and writes in Manila, Philippines.

For more information on Alaric Cabiling's work, please visit his website/blog:
http://www.alariccabiling.wordpress.com/

Reviews

[Marjorie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of very dark short stories. The stories are not black and white with neat endings but are rather mood pieces that create a sinister atmosphere. The stories encompass humanity’s fragilities – greed, lust, envy – resulting in despair and sometimes murder.

I very much admired the author’s first collection of short stories, “Insanity by Increments”. However, his new collection didn’t make quite as much of an impact on me. I had trouble connecting with some of the stories. The men in those stories were so despicable that I didn’t really want to read more about them.

That being said, there are some gems in this book. The first in the series, “Day of Darkness”, had a shocking scene that I hadn’t anticipated and was quite a good study of a parish faced with scandal. “Suicide Amidst Catharsis” is an engrossing character study of a young man contemplating suicide and the duty owed by authorities to those facing troubled times. There are many twists and turns in “Failure’s Burden” about scheming businessmen.

I have read so many, many dark stories the past few years. Quite possibly I’m at a point where I need something a bit lighter and more uplifting. These stories are very dark indeed.

This book was given to me by the author in return for an honest review.

[Rachel · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

My god, was this painful. I started reading this short story collection in October. I can't remember the last time it took me this long to finish a book, and this is probably the shortest one I read all year. It actually occurred to me a few days ago that I could give up, but then I realized I haven't DNF'd a single thing this year, and I wasn't about to start on December 30. So at long last I sat down and forced myself to finish.

I was really intrigued by this short story collection. As those who know me well know, I like my fiction as dark as possible. So when your summary promises to "shock and scar readers for years to come," my interest is automatically piqued. This sort of thing is right up my alley, and I had high hopes from the outset.

To say that Redefining Darkness didn't deliver would be an understatement. An alternate title for this anthology might have been "Men Being Terrible." We've got a pedophile priest, an unhappy rich adulterer, a couple of murderers; every character in these pages stepped straight out of some sort of book on villain clichés. Every story goes exactly like this: "Dr. So-And-So was rich and handsome. He was also very athletic. He went to the gym twice a week. In addition to being an esteemed and respected professional, women loved him. But he had a Dark Secret." Okay, not every story, but it starts to feel like it.

And this is how just about every single male protagonist is described:

"His hair was graying at the temples; he walked four miles every morning to get some exercise, and although he hadn't dated in years, women found him attractive. He had blue eyes that sparkled, a smile capable of holding hearts captive, along with a charm and articulacy that disarmed even the most contentious feminists."

... Are you serious?

For being such prevalent themes, wealth and masculinity are never fully examined for the role they play in the characters' misfortunes. Basically, the author wants us to surmise that the 'darkness' inherent to the wealthy straight white male existence is somehow universal. I'm not buying it. The only thing that scared me about this short story collection was the extent to which misogyny unwittingly framed these narratives.

I appreciate what the author was going for: brief stories without neat endings which are meant to be chilling and thought-provoking. They weren't. At best, this collection was entirely forgettable, at worst, memorable for all the wrong reasons.

[Richard · Rating 2 out of 5]

A range of stories told both in the first person and third person voices. Dark in the subjects covered and the outcome of the protagonists.
Redefining Darkness was my favourite in this 10 story series and suitably captures what the author is trying to convey in this collection.
However, I found the writing jumpy and it didn't always sustain my interest or build any sense of commitment to the characters portrayed.
Indeed it was just that they were brief tales that I finished them; for the most part they were immediately forgettable and whatever feelings they were seeking to produce faded and diappeared from my consciousness.
At times though the writing is sharp and intimate, often with an element of wit and contrast to the darker deeds that follow. Unfortunately it is the lack of a story and the randomness of some of the direct the writing takes you that leaves me disappointed accept for the final story which is a clever piece of writing and shows what potential this author has in redefining his art and taking dark fiction to a new level.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.


This is a really interesting collection of short stories written by an author with a pretty unique voice. He manages to capture the darker aspects of human nature without resorting to gratuitous details for shock value. His open-ended endings will leave you thinking about the stories long after you've finished reading.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Redefining Darkness is a short story collection pairing protagonist choices and experiences with solid plots representing vignettes of time and place, and demonstrates just how much can be accomplished within the short story format.

Ten circumstances of 'redefining' one's world are illustrated in stories that run the gamut in presenting characters of different ages, sexes, and approaches to life.

Take the opener, 'Day of Darkness', for one example. Seven-year-old Francis is confessing his little crimes, but a bigger one takes place instead. Instantly the scene changes to a police report on television, then to the reactions of the Church, both internally and externally.

Readers receive only four pages to this short story, which create the precise and concise staccato impact of a verbal photo shoot, the camera clicking along from scene to scene while viewers receive a dose of just one definition of a growing darkness.

'Cause of Death', the next story, takes longer to build and describe its particular brand of darkness: here the anniversary of a wife's murder thirteen years earlier brings with it the nightmare of a life lived in grief, among bodies and murders, fueled with the fiery results of vodka and horror.

Again, experience the staccato paragraphs of description that click from scene to scene with the clarity of a camera shutter capturing images and vignettes. Readers have no idea where the journey is heading: all they know is that it's going straight into the darkness of death - with a peculiar twist.

Suicide. Abandonment. Death. The pursuit of fortune and sex. Each short story expertly hones the knife of angst and moves between vastly different character perspectives; and each adds a piece to the evolving jigsaw puzzle theme.

The result is a powerful, gripping gathering that grabs readers and doesn't let go. How does darkness evolve and grow? Read these stories and find out.

That which doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.

[J Earl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Redefining Darkness by Alaric Cabiling is a collection of dark yet thought-provoking stories. These stories, and the characters in them, seem designed to both make the reader shudder as well as consider what darkness may well reside within.

The darkness here is largely that of humanity's inherent weaknesses carried to dark excess. In reading these I questioned what responsibilities I might have as simply a human among humans, whether I really wanted those responsibilities and whether the way some of the characters handled their own was understandable even if I would not have acted the same way.

I would recommend this to readers who enjoy short stories that stay with you and might even help you come to a better understanding of yourself, or at least of humanity in general. If you also relish stories that envelop you in a pervasive atmosphere of dread or uncertainty you will find much here to enjoy.

[Helen Marquis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having really loved "Insanity by Increments" I was really looking forward to reading "Redefining Darkness", billed as dark fiction set to shock and scar me... Unfortunately on this occasion the hype wasn't justified.
The collection just didn't pack as much of a punch as the previous compendium. Focusing more on the evil that men do, some of the tales felt too anecdotal and nondescript to merit inclusion, whilst others were a little too overblown for my tastes (the one set in some edgy goth club made an impression on me for all the wrong reasons). There's nothing more frustrating than when an author you like doesn't quite deliver on their promise. I hope this is a blip - I'll certainly be interested in reading what Cabiling writes next.