Dead Reckoning: and Other Stories

by Dino Parenti

An emotional sampler of life on Earth as it once was.

In this collection of sixteen dark, literary tales, disparate characters and their descendants twine and interconnect throughout America from the rural seventies to the post-apocalyptic, stitching together a nefarious mosaic of experiences.

Whether delving into the exploits of a murderous police officer and a lapsing priest engaged in a battle of wills in the sun-blasted dunes of Death Valley, or an anthropologist couple sorting their infertility issues after inadvertently unleashing an Ice Age killer plague, or a mysterious ferry in the Pacific Northwest holding the darkest secrets of a private eye’s final case, or a man so obsessed with touching the infinite that he eagerly volunteers for a one-way mission to preserve the final remnants of mankind, Dead Reckoning and Other Stories ultimately yields a kind of found almanac for human posterity.

Genres: Horror

226 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 5, 2018

About the author

Dino Parenti is a writer of dark literary and speculative fiction. He is the winner of the first annual Lascaux Review flash fiction contest and is featured in the Anthony Award winning anthology Blood on the Bayou. His short-fiction collection, Dead Reckoning and Other Stories, is now out with Crystal Lake Publishing. He lives in Los Angeles.

Reviews

[Richard Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fantastic blend of speculative stories. Dino has a fantastic imagination. He taps into the myth and lore of those fables we recognize, and then makes them his own. An excellent collection.

[Icy-Cobwebs-Crossing-SpaceTime · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review: DEAD RECKONING: AND OTHER STORIES by Dino Parenti

DEAD RECKONING: AND OTHER STORIES
collects 16 of the author's short stories penned over four decades, beginning in the 1970's, and subdivided by decade. These are in the vein of thought-provoking speculative fiction such as that by Darren Speegle and J. R. Hamantaschen. In other words, don't expect ordinary consensus reality, and don't be disappointed when you don't find it. Expect "Something Else" instead.

[Nicholas Diak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dead Reckoning and Other Stories is the debut collection of author Dino Parenti, published by Crystal Lake Publishing in 2018. The collection contains sixteen stories, divided into five sections, with each section corresponding to a decade, starting with the 1970s and ending with the far future.

Parenti’s collection can be best equated with the film Requiem for a Dream: it’s dark, depressing, it makes you feel awful, and yet it’s undeniably well crafted and beautifully executed. These are not fun stories, yet they are fulfilling stories, stories that dig deep into what makes us human and hold a mirror of truth back up the to reader.

Half of the stories in Dead Reckoning straddle a neo-noir vibe, focusing on criminals and the undesirables of societies. The titular story has a strong Cormac McCarthy vibe as it details a priest who is having a crisis of faith, leading a murderous police officer into the Mojave. “Two Boys in a Diner” has a strong Tarantino vibe to it, witty dialogue with a violent reveal. “Entropy”, with its brutal vigilante violence, feels like a cross between Denzel Washington’s The Equalizer and the big reveal in Roman Polanski’s China Town.

On the other hand, some of the stories deal with the more affluent, higher up the social and education ladder, thought they are not immune to the same outlandish, fantastical, yet at the same time, everyday scenarios inflicted upon protagonists in other stories. “Tooth” is told through the perspective of a once beautiful woman who has been infected with sepsis caused from an infection from a malfunctioning toilet and is being amputated into nothingness. “On the Fickle Nature of Germination” talks about a scientist couple who are having relationship/conception issues who thaw an iceman/icewoman and accidentally instigate a global pandemic.

There’s many reoccurring themes and motifs in Dead Reckoning. Many of the stories follow a non-linear narrative, usually there is a main narrative and a flashback narrative that eventually catches up. Love-at-first-sight is a theme that is brought up many times, usually leading to disastrous results. Despite the bleak nature of some of the stories, Parenti inserts quite a few moments of humour, or at least, extremely clever prose with some nice word play.

The sheer number of stories end on a bleak note, yet the book itself ends on a moment of hope. The final story in Dead Reckoning, “The Mother-of-pearl Way” is a post-apocalyptic tale of future humans living in the remnants of humans civilization of centuries past. The protagonist of this story is a young girl, Luna, as she grows into adulthood and learns more about the world. In a way, she is like a young Imperator Furiosa from Mad Max: Fury Road. The short story (and by extension, the collection proper) ends with a literal positive and radiant note. There are hard times we all face, but there is the capacity to rise up and conquer. Dead Reckoning is a cumulation to this final short story – it’s a rough one – but a reader is better off having experienced it.

Dead Reckoning is a good book. A good, but harsh book that demands fortitude from its readers. But unlike McCarthy, Parenti makes his prose accessible and witty, providing guidance into our dark recesses. In this regard, the collection certainly lives up to its title of “Dead Reckoning” – it’s a bumpy road/read, but we persist and find our way.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dead Reckoning and Other Stories by Dino Parenti is a fascinating short story collection of “dark literary tales” (from the back cover). The book is divided into five sections, each containing stories taking place in a different time period (70s, 80s, 90, 000s, and what comes after). The stories range in content, but many are tangentially interconnected as a character from one story is revealed to be a relative of another. Throughout the book themes of generational trauma and the impact of violence, crime, and disease are witnessed through both life and the passage of time. Parenti structures many of his stories with past and present weaving back and forth creating a feeling of memory in both an individual life, a family, and ultimately the entire human species. Recurring elements appear across decades (and more) as humans grapple with the experience of living on this place in the context of what has come before, charging toward what may eventually come. In many of Parenti’s stories the events almost seem to possess a certain inevitably, with a few tales seeming to radiate with the energy of an ancient Greek tragedy. Some of my favorite stories in this collection included the title story, as well as Puffer Fish, Tooth, Surge, and The Mother-of-pearl Way. Ultimately there were a few stories I didn’t like as well as some of the others, in some cases I thought elements of the plot weren’t totally clear or just didn’t add up. Additionally Parenti writes in a beautiful and “literary” prose far more sophisticated than what I am accustomed to reading. While often poetic, sometimes this style of writing challenged my suspension of disbelief as I found myself thinking “no one talks that way” or otherwise noting that the language seemed overwritten, which pulled me out of the story. Despite these criticisms I enjoyed this collection and found I couldn’t get parts of it out if my head (hypochondriacs, consider this your content warning). Probably more so than with any other collection I’ve read, these stories seem to belong together and form something greater than the sum of their parts. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Debbie Christiana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m a fan of anthologies and love to read them. Dead Reckoning by Dino Parenti is a strong collection of twisted and unsettling stories. The author is a talented wordsmith who writes in deep point of view, which transports the reader into the middle of the action led by the cast of ominous characters. His settings are atmospheric and descriptive.

With sixteen stories, it’s not usual to find one or two that a reader may not connect to as easily as the rest. There was a couple that I found a little bogged down in narrative that could have used more dialogue. That is not a reflection on the author, just the preference of this reader.

The author starts off with a bang. Entropy is a somber, twisted tale that keeps us guessing until the very end. I loved that. Some of the other standouts (without giving too much away) for me were, Incarnate and Petrichor. Mojito weaves a dark, deviant path to a conclusion that I never saw coming. Those are the best endings. Although on a second a reading (it was that good), I recognized a clue or two. But I have to say, the book’s namesake, Dead Reckoning was my favorite. The encounters between a priest and a homicidal cop (no spoilers, it’s mentioned in the blurb) are edgy, gritty and downright creepy. I couldn’t wait to see what happened; yet I didn’t want it to end.

I’ve highlighted five stories, but I thoroughly enjoyed all of them, even the two that I mention above, because Mr. Parenti’s characters are well written and dangerous with nothing to lose. Desperation always ratchets up the tension/suspense and soon we are drawn in, emerged in the stories, quickly turning the pages to see if they are pushed to the point of no return. No matter the outcome, we are never disappointed.

‘Tis the season for disturbing tales that sends chills and thrills up your spine. You’ll find all that and more in between the pages Dead Reckoning.

I was given an ARC in exchange for a honest review

[GracieKat · Rating 3 out of 5]

First off, I love the cover of Dead Reckoning. I love the colors and the scorpion. The illustrations inside are done very well, also. They're presented as though they're illustrations in a guide or reference book. The Table of Contents is set up in an interesting way. Each segment is a decade (Seventies, Eighties, etc) all the way up to After. Each segment/decade includes three stories (except for After, which includes four).

The writing in Dead Reckoning is very good. Although I would put it under Dark Fiction rather than outright horror. Most of the stories were very close to reality (sometimes uncomfortably so) but none of them screamed horror to me. That's not to say that I didn't like the stories. They were interesting and I'd say their biggest flaw was being a bit on the wordy side. The characters were realistic and the stories, for the most part, were very engaging.

As with any collection there were stories that I liked and others I didn't. Some of my favorites were Incarnate, Tooth, Savior, On the Fickle Nature of Germination, and The Mother-of-Pearl Way. I also liked the way the stories touched lightly here and there. Never too heavily, just enough to touch on a previous story.

I have to admit that there were quite a few that I didn't care for. There were some that just didn't interest me but others might like them better. They were still pretty well-written but either the subject matter didn't interest me or didn't click with me and, I have to admit, some grossed me out (such as Muir Wood). I would recommend it but only if certain subject matter doesn't bother you.

Received from the publisher for review consideration

[Paul Sheldon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the those collections of stories where, although each story is very good and stands on its own merits, when read together the whole is more than the sum of the parts.

The threads of place that hold the stories together help to make this a very cohesive collection. There are some very dark, thought provoking stories here, from scenes that wouldn't be amiss in a Tarantino film to others that take a deeper look at the human condition in a very grim light.

Parenti takes a look at our recent past, and has us believing all his ideas really happened, and projects them into a bleak future he has already convinced us will happen. Very well written and very well thought out, highly recommended.

[Debbi Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very thought provoking scary book. These stories will amaze you.

[Molly Moreau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic—could hardly put it down. Unlike any other horror short story collection I’ve read