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Fearful Symmetries
From Publishers Weekly
The 27 reprints in Monteleone's story collection span the last 22 years and are as much a chronicle of the course horror fiction has taken in that time as they are of the author's career. Several are solid dark fantasies that strive for a subtle sense of unease rooted in the troubled emotions of their characters. In the best of them, "Rehearsals," a Twilight Zone–type memory tale, a man watches his childhood replay itself as a painful stage drama he's desperate to rewrite. "Love Letters" is a skillfully underplayed blend of supernatural horror and psychological suspense, written as an exchange of letters in which one correspondent reveals an increasingly inhuman sensibility. Monteleone (Eyes of the Virgin, etc.) has used virtually every classic horror trope, from vampires in "Triptych di Amore," in which a seductive lamia destroys celebrity artists over the centuries, to Lovecraftian monsters in the tongue-in-cheek "Yog Sothoth, Superstar." Some stories that originally appeared in narrowly defined theme anthologies don't hold up well on their own, while others add little to overly familiar themes. Nevertheless, these solidly crafted tales consistently evoke an enjoyably unsettling mood of horror. FYI:Monteleone's nonfiction collection, The Mothers and Fathers Italian Association (2003), won a Stoker Award.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
The 27 reprints in Monteleone's story collection span the last 22 years and are as much a chronicle of the course horror fiction has taken in that time as they are of the author's career. Several are solid dark fantasies that strive for a subtle sense of unease rooted in the troubled emotions of their characters. In the best of them, "Rehearsals," a Twilight Zone–type memory tale, a man watches his childhood replay itself as a painful stage drama he's desperate to rewrite. "Love Letters" is a skillfully underplayed blend of supernatural horror and psychological suspense, written as an exchange of letters in which one correspondent reveals an increasingly inhuman sensibility. Monteleone (Eyes of the Virgin, etc.) has used virtually every classic horror trope, from vampires in "Triptych di Amore," in which a seductive lamia destroys celebrity artists over the centuries, to Lovecraftian monsters in the tongue-in-cheek "Yog Sothoth, Superstar." Some stories that originally appeared in narrowly defined theme anthologies don't hold up well on their own, while others add little to overly familiar themes. Nevertheless, these solidly crafted tales consistently evoke an enjoyably unsettling mood of horror. FYI:Monteleone's nonfiction collection, The Mothers and Fathers Italian Association (2003), won a Stoker Award.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
488 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 13, 2010
For those of you horror geeks out there you probably know this Monteleone character is, Cemetery Dance columnist and long time contributer. He and his wife Elizabeth are also co-founders of borderlands press and runs the borderlands boot camp for writers that I am attending next month. I wanted to be as prepared as possible so I thought it would be a good idea to read some of his work. I got this wonderful short story collection from the library. I expected it to be good, but to be honest I was blown away by the quality of many of the stories.
Aspiring writers have more to find than just good yarns. TFM gives each story an introduction and there is a lot to learn from in the introductions alone. Just as important it can be inspiring to young writers to follow in order an authors progression as a short storyteller.
Like all great short story collections FS has stories that range from Dark to funny. Brutal to sentimental and best of all sometimes in the same story. My favorites were two very Twilight zone-ish tales “The Rehearsal” (Which is hands down my favorite in the book) and “The Night is Freezing Fast.” another highlight for me is Prodigal Son, which is an inventive take on a post vampire takeover of the world.
I think this was limited edition and is out of print but if you can find a copy it is one of the best you can read. Can't praise it enough.
Aspiring writers have more to find than just good yarns. TFM gives each story an introduction and there is a lot to learn from in the introductions alone. Just as important it can be inspiring to young writers to follow in order an authors progression as a short storyteller.
Like all great short story collections FS has stories that range from Dark to funny. Brutal to sentimental and best of all sometimes in the same story. My favorites were two very Twilight zone-ish tales “The Rehearsal” (Which is hands down my favorite in the book) and “The Night is Freezing Fast.” another highlight for me is Prodigal Son, which is an inventive take on a post vampire takeover of the world.
I think this was limited edition and is out of print but if you can find a copy it is one of the best you can read. Can't praise it enough.
January 27, 2017
This is a large collection of Monteleone short stories. This is basically a career spanning collection of his stories, while disregarding his early sci-fi material. The first few stories were a little slow starting in this collection, but then they just kept getting better, and better. It took me about a month to get through the first third of the book, and a week for the rest. Monteleone's short fiction is just great, and I just kept reading and reading these wonderful stories, and I couldn't put it down. After completion, with reflection, I have to say that this was arguably one of the better short story collections that I've read. I was very pleased with the work. It had variety in prose and themes, and they were all entertaining. This was a great collection!
July 30, 2011
The first time I read anything by Monteleone was a shared effort of his (Night of the Dragonstar) which was an okay book. On a random search of my library's OPAC, I came across this magnificent anthology.
Shivery stories, unnerving and thought-provoking. Most of the stories have a grim ending, as most stories in this vein will, and I was grateful for the few happy stopovers to lighten the mood. A good book to take breaks from, which I did. But you may think differently.
Shivery stories, unnerving and thought-provoking. Most of the stories have a grim ending, as most stories in this vein will, and I was grateful for the few happy stopovers to lighten the mood. A good book to take breaks from, which I did. But you may think differently.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews