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Don't Turn on the Lights
Aren't you glad you didn't turn on the lights?
Time: 15 minutes
Time: 15 minutes
1 pages, Audiobook
First published September 30, 2017
About the author
Cassandra Khaw
130 books3,149 followersCassandra Khaw is an award-winning game writer.
Their recent novella Nothing but Blackened Teeth was a British
Fantasy, World Fantasy, Shirley Jackson, and Bram Stoker
Award finalist. Their debut collection Breakable Things is now
out.
Their recent novella Nothing but Blackened Teeth was a British
Fantasy, World Fantasy, Shirley Jackson, and Bram Stoker
Award finalist. Their debut collection Breakable Things is now
out.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
December 1, 2019
i read this back in 2017 for my december short story advent calendar, and it was AMAZING! and now, NOW, thanks to tor's new horror imprint nightfire, i was able to HEAR cassandra khaw read this amazing take on my second-favorite urban legend*. AND SO CAN YOU!!! it is FREE to listen to, here.
i am reposting my earlier review, with the additional fact i learned from listening to it this morning: cassandra khaw has a dead-sexy growl when she reads**, and even though i don't really 'do' audio, i would listen to that voice read anything. i'm going to make my way through all the other stories up for grabs, and you can, too, here.
OLD REVIEW:
this story makes me love cassandra khaw even more than i already learned to this year. holy moly - this takes my second-favorite urban legend/horror story and twists it again and again, just for fun. and this is just the kind of reworking i like, where you're given a variant
and then another
and another.
hmmmm, what does that remind me of???
oh, yeah, that.
but this story, good as it is, is not like Clue in any way other than being like a choose-your-own-adventure that does the legwork for you and lets you decide which version you want to retell at your next haunted hayride.
my love for her continues.
read it for yourself here:
http://www.nightmare-magazine.com/fic...
* in the comments section for that review, cassandra khaw actually turned up, vowing to write a version of my FAVORITE urban legend (I am definitely taking that urban legend and trying my twist on it. Just 'cause.). i'm not sure if she ever finished it, but if she has, IF YOU HAVE, DEAR CASSANDRA, i would love a link.
** while i'm still not ruling out that cassandra khaw has a dead-sexy reading growl, the growl narrating THIS story belongs to saskia maarleveld, which is properly credited above and on nightfire's 'come sit by the fire' page, but NOT on the individual story's page, and i made an ass outta me for sure.
come to my blog!
i am reposting my earlier review, with the additional fact i learned from listening to it this morning: cassandra khaw has a dead-sexy growl when she reads**, and even though i don't really 'do' audio, i would listen to that voice read anything. i'm going to make my way through all the other stories up for grabs, and you can, too, here.
OLD REVIEW:
Stories are defined by a beginning, a middle, and an end. In more literary circles, people talk about denouements and layers, textures, the way a word can transcend to a synesthetic experience. But at the end of day, it all comes back down to those three things. A beginning, a middle, an end.
You’d be amazed as to how much detail gets lost in between, how a good storyteller can make you forget the bits that don’t make sense.
this story makes me love cassandra khaw even more than i already learned to this year. holy moly - this takes my second-favorite urban legend/horror story and twists it again and again, just for fun. and this is just the kind of reworking i like, where you're given a variant
and then another
and another.
hmmmm, what does that remind me of???
oh, yeah, that.
but this story, good as it is, is not like Clue in any way other than being like a choose-your-own-adventure that does the legwork for you and lets you decide which version you want to retell at your next haunted hayride.
my love for her continues.
read it for yourself here:
http://www.nightmare-magazine.com/fic...
* in the comments section for that review, cassandra khaw actually turned up, vowing to write a version of my FAVORITE urban legend (I am definitely taking that urban legend and trying my twist on it. Just 'cause.). i'm not sure if she ever finished it, but if she has, IF YOU HAVE, DEAR CASSANDRA, i would love a link.
** while i'm still not ruling out that cassandra khaw has a dead-sexy reading growl, the growl narrating THIS story belongs to saskia maarleveld, which is properly credited above and on nightfire's 'come sit by the fire' page, but NOT on the individual story's page, and i made an ass outta me for sure.
come to my blog!
February 17, 2022
Oh my god, this was incredible. The story this retells is one of my absolute favorite urban legends of all time, but Khaw went and kicked it up a tremendous notch by throwing their own fresh spin on it, and I loved it.
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July 3, 2020
That was creepy. Gave me the chills.
June 26, 2026
urban legend retold in a way that’s possibly more viscous… loved it
December 15, 2023
This is super short audiobook of only 7 minutes. A horror story, a spinoff of an urban legend. I thought when is it going to get scary. Just wait. The payout is at the very end. Freaks!
April 18, 2020
Actually pretty scary for a short! The hairs on my legs, ha ha, stood up!
May 27, 2020
Read it here: http://www.nightmare-magazine.com/fic...
Listen to it here: https://play.google.com/books/listen?...
Listen to it here: https://play.google.com/books/listen?...
August 21, 2024
now this was actually kinda gaggy
Read
November 26, 2019This story, or varying story-set, is fantastic, just like everything else I've read by Khaw.
Free! Quick! Read!
http://www.nightmare-magazine.com/fic...
Free! Quick! Read!
http://www.nightmare-magazine.com/fic...
December 1, 2021
That was really clever and a lot of fun. The audio version added some texture to it too, I think, with the different voices the narrator performed for the different stories.
February 4, 2022
Short but also very long? I only enjoyed the last 5 minutes of the retelling.
March 24, 2022
2/5 estrellas.
¿Qué onda todas esas 5 estrellas? Se sintió como si hubiéramos escuchado/leído una historia completamente diferente.
Disfrute tan solo la última parte de este relato, pero no podría decir que todo lo demás sobró porque, de otra forma, no tendría mucho sentido la versión.
¿Qué onda todas esas 5 estrellas? Se sintió como si hubiéramos escuchado/leído una historia completamente diferente.
Disfrute tan solo la última parte de este relato, pero no podría decir que todo lo demás sobró porque, de otra forma, no tendría mucho sentido la versión.
March 24, 2022
La narración de este relato es todo 🔥
3,5
3,5
December 1, 2019
It was a quick read, took less than 10 minutes.
My grievance with it is that it was difficult to follow. I'm glad it was short, because if it had gone on for much longer I don't think I could have held on.
I do have to give it points for being moderately creepy, and the ending - as quickly as it came - wasn't anticipated so that's a plus.
I am a sucker for twist endings.
My grievance with it is that it was difficult to follow. I'm glad it was short, because if it had gone on for much longer I don't think I could have held on.
I do have to give it points for being moderately creepy, and the ending - as quickly as it came - wasn't anticipated so that's a plus.
I am a sucker for twist endings.
June 4, 2020
An effectively creepy short story that is based around an urban legend and the different versions that arise from the retelling of these tales.
November 29, 2019
I was turned onto this short story by another reviewer that I follow, who mentioned it as part of a group of short stories that can be listened to for free on Google Play. I don't know how to provide a link, but they are easily found on Google Play by searching for the Nightfire Anthology series.
This short story is essentially a retelling of a very popular urban legend. You know the one. A girl walks into her home, hears a weird sound (dripping, in the version I first heard), and chooses to ignore it. The next day, when she wakes up in the light she sees to her horror that the sound was coming from a brutal crime, and that someone has scrawled in blood the terrifying message, "Aren't you glad you didn't turn on the lights?"
Don't Turn on the Lights is an inspired retelling of this urban legend, twisting the story to reflect something darker and more sinister than the original story. What's more sinister or dark than brutal murder and messages scrawled in blood? Well, you'll have to spend the fifteen minutes it took to listen to this story to find out.
I liked the premise of this story. I enjoy urban legends, and to hear a new and exciting version of something that has been terrifying me since I was a child is awesome. This story, however, landed a little wide of the mark for me. The twist was not something that I found nearly as terrifying as the original resolution, though that is merely a matter of personal taste.
Regardless, there are worse ways to spend 15 minutes than listening to a free scary story, so I recommend it.
This short story is essentially a retelling of a very popular urban legend. You know the one. A girl walks into her home, hears a weird sound (dripping, in the version I first heard), and chooses to ignore it. The next day, when she wakes up in the light she sees to her horror that the sound was coming from a brutal crime, and that someone has scrawled in blood the terrifying message, "Aren't you glad you didn't turn on the lights?"
Don't Turn on the Lights is an inspired retelling of this urban legend, twisting the story to reflect something darker and more sinister than the original story. What's more sinister or dark than brutal murder and messages scrawled in blood? Well, you'll have to spend the fifteen minutes it took to listen to this story to find out.
I liked the premise of this story. I enjoy urban legends, and to hear a new and exciting version of something that has been terrifying me since I was a child is awesome. This story, however, landed a little wide of the mark for me. The twist was not something that I found nearly as terrifying as the original resolution, though that is merely a matter of personal taste.
Regardless, there are worse ways to spend 15 minutes than listening to a free scary story, so I recommend it.
October 7, 2021
This is one of those rare stories - so rare that this may actually be the first time I've said it - where I feel like the audio production was necessary to my enjoyment. I read the story here while listening to the audiobook here (both available for free), and I honestly don't think I'd I've managed to pace it right if reading along. But pacing is everything for this one. It needs time to breathe.
That said, even without my own pacing problems aside - I read short stories too quickly; it's an issue - this is a nice dose of guilty pleasure horror for me. It's campy, it's gorey for the sake of shock factor, the narrator is vaguely arrogant in an entertaining way. Actually, it kind of reminded me slightly of early seasons of Supernatural when the Winchesters would get conflicting stories from the varied witnesses and have to piece things together themselves. (Also, I'm pretty sure there was an episode about the very 'campfire story' this is based upon.) It's just... fun. It's creepy and it's fun and I might be slightly in love with the way the narration is written.
And as an added bonus, now I'm pondering my own spin on the tale. I love a story that inspires!
That said, even without my own pacing problems aside - I read short stories too quickly; it's an issue - this is a nice dose of guilty pleasure horror for me. It's campy, it's gorey for the sake of shock factor, the narrator is vaguely arrogant in an entertaining way. Actually, it kind of reminded me slightly of early seasons of Supernatural when the Winchesters would get conflicting stories from the varied witnesses and have to piece things together themselves. (Also, I'm pretty sure there was an episode about the very 'campfire story' this is based upon.) It's just... fun. It's creepy and it's fun and I might be slightly in love with the way the narration is written.
And as an added bonus, now I'm pondering my own spin on the tale. I love a story that inspires!
October 7, 2021
For my review of the story itself, go here. To read the story, go here. To listen to the audiobook, go here (both are free). I recommend pairing them together, but that's probably just a me-thing at this point.
This audiobook was so good I gave it an extra star compared to my rating of the written version. The pacing is perfect for the tale and the speaker has a wonderful hint of an accent. I also enjoyed the sound effects and the way the creature's voice was handled. I'm not sure if there was post-processing on the narrator's voice or they hired an uncredited extra to do it, but it was an amazing way to make sure there weren't any silly-voice moments to detract from the spookiness of the story.
This audiobook was so good I gave it an extra star compared to my rating of the written version. The pacing is perfect for the tale and the speaker has a wonderful hint of an accent. I also enjoyed the sound effects and the way the creature's voice was handled. I'm not sure if there was post-processing on the narrator's voice or they hired an uncredited extra to do it, but it was an amazing way to make sure there weren't any silly-voice moments to detract from the spookiness of the story.
April 14, 2021
Final rating: 3/5
I stumbled upon this when I was trying to decide how to first get into audiobooks. I like podcasts like Welcome To Nightvale and figured this short story will be a great way to ease into the audiobook world. First off, I absolutely loved the narrator's voice, it felt both intimate and calming, some of which I think was helped by the casual tone of the writing. It was multiple retellings of the same story, each with a bit more of the truth. The last one really did send that spooky shudder throughout my skin.
I stumbled upon this when I was trying to decide how to first get into audiobooks. I like podcasts like Welcome To Nightvale and figured this short story will be a great way to ease into the audiobook world. First off, I absolutely loved the narrator's voice, it felt both intimate and calming, some of which I think was helped by the casual tone of the writing. It was multiple retellings of the same story, each with a bit more of the truth. The last one really did send that spooky shudder throughout my skin.
June 16, 2023
This was a short 15 minute audiobook that I finished this morning. It goes into this one story but tells it in different versions. It’s along the lines of when someone starts the story at the real beginning, but then the more people that it’s told to, the more messed up the story becomes. It is a short horror fiction book and the story was told very well.
My official rating is a 4.5 star and it was thought out and read pretty well. The narrator was one of the few narrators that I thought was actually good at portraying the story.
My official rating is a 4.5 star and it was thought out and read pretty well. The narrator was one of the few narrators that I thought was actually good at portraying the story.
November 2, 2021
I thought this was a pretty spooky story and it elaborates on and retells a horror story about a girl discovering her roommate’s grisly-murdered body in their room. I thought the original story was spooky, but the longer retelling of it was disturbing and 10x spookier. The added sound effects of the chewing made the story creepier which was nice.
4.5/5 Stars
4.5/5 Stars
September 11, 2022
3.5
The way the story is told is kind of interesting 🧐 kinda spooky.. the background noises totally amplified this one
*listening to a bunch of free short horror audiobooks from the “Come Join Us By The Fire” anthology while on the road. Surprised by the production of these with pretty good narrators and background noises
The way the story is told is kind of interesting 🧐 kinda spooky.. the background noises totally amplified this one
*listening to a bunch of free short horror audiobooks from the “Come Join Us By The Fire” anthology while on the road. Surprised by the production of these with pretty good narrators and background noises
November 7, 2019
Some of the ways strange events can be interpreted, with an unreliable narrator, so we are left wondering what is the truth behind the many tales? Will it ever be possible to know what really happened?
May 19, 2020
I appreciate the storyline of this short story, but I wish it was longer and more descriptive than it truly was.
This story is about a girl who may or may not be named Sally, and her roommate (unnamed). Things happen in the dark. What you think happened is decided on your own.
This story is about a girl who may or may not be named Sally, and her roommate (unnamed). Things happen in the dark. What you think happened is decided on your own.
October 30, 2020
I LOVED Don't Turn on the Lights. Everything from the story itself to the variants and the overall storytelling style. It was brilliant and intense, while also being so clever. It was just the right length, yet part of me still would have enjoyed reading more.
May 27, 2021
I rather enjoyed this creepy telling of a popular urban legend! It gave me creepy pasta sort of vibes, and that's my jam! The audiobook production made it all the more chilling which is why I rated 4.5, rounded up to 5 stars. Well worth the listen/read!
December 2, 2019
A story I’ve definitely heard before but with a twist.
December 26, 2019
Very short audio book. I really liked hearing the different versions of this urban legend. Creepy and grotesque.
September 21, 2020
an interesting take on a classic horror story we’ve all heard.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews