Three Dead Men

Dark Celebrations #5

by Calvin Demmer

When college student Maiko Hayashi goes to pick her uncle up for Christmas Eve dinner, she isn’t expecting a silent house with no lights on, and she definitely isn’t expecting the terrifying scenario she's about to walk into.

A short story.
(Collected in Dark Celebrations)

Genres: Horror, Short Stories

19 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 22, 2016

About the author

Calvin Demmer is a South African author of horror, dark fantasy, science fiction, and crime. His books include the flash fiction collection The Sea Was a Fair Master and the short story collections Dark Celebrations, Her Heart Beats for Ancient Beasts, Through the Ravenous Night We Ride, Duel the Darkness for Nightmare Rule, and The Town That Feared Dusk. When not writing, he is intrigued by that which goes bump in the night and the sciences of our universe.

You can find him online at calvindemmer.com or sign up for his newsletter to stay up to date with his latest projects.

Reviews

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐
Maiko picks up her uncle for Christmas Eve dinner, but the house was dark. Where could he be? Shocking holiday horror short story, but a bit mild. I would check out the rest in this series.🎄

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maiko is going to to her uncle Takumo's home to pick him up for Christmas Eve. Being in his house she can't find him. Until there are some faint noises. He is locked behind a closed door. Why did he lock himself in? Is he afraid of burglars or is there something else? What about the three mummies he mentions? A fine mummy on the rampage horror story, a bit cheesy, intriguing, old fashioned, in short, very readable. Recommended!

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short story was a bit different from some of Calvin Demmer’s others, but I loved it nonetheless! Less dark for sure— rather, it is positive, uplifting, and empowering! And I think even horror tales can use an optimistic tone once in a while, giving us a sense of hope, even against all odds! Don’t get me wrong— it’s still very creepy and suspenseful in classic Demmer style! Just a great and enjoyable read from Mr. Demmer yet again!!

[Dianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Her uncle’s normally bright and welcoming house was dark, silent and her uncle was nowhere to be found. Maiko soon discovered the reason even as her uncle begged her to run, fast and far from behind a closed door. A collector of ancient artifacts for both the stories they can tell and the beauty of the past, this time out, three of his artifacts came to life, deadly, feral and terrifying. For Maiko it is fight or die and with the honor and safety of her Oriental heritage on the line, she can do no less than to do battle with the walking undead, using her own family’s ancient and treasured artifact. Can she win against three monsters from hell?

This time out, Calvin Demmer brings us THREE DEAD MEN another short tale of darkness. Mr. Demmer is a master at packaging a brief, yet complete tale into just a few minutes’ read, but this time, I couldn’t sit back and feel that, “Okay, I’m satisfied,” feeling. For me, THREE DEAD MEN was like a cold dinner with NO dessert! I suppose I have been spoiled by this author, so I am probably overreacting with my underwhelmed feeling.

I received this copy from Calvin Demmer in exchange for my honest review.

Publication Date: December 22, 2016
Publisher: Calvin Demmer
Genre: Suspense | Paranormal
Print Length: 16 pages
Available from: Amazon
For Reviews & More: http://tometender.blogspot.com

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good Christmas horror short story. I was happy to see after I finished this that I actually picked up the book of short stories that this particular one is part of. Now I’m really looking forward to reading that one as well!

[Sarah Budd · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this latest instalment of Calvin Demmer's Dark Celebrations series, a young woman, Maiko Hayashi is left puzzled by the sudden disappearance of her beloved uncle, a highly respected professor who's dedicated his life to collecting strange and wonderful artefacts.

Despite it being Christmas Eve she is feeling alone and rather lost. She feels like she has no place in the world. Despite going off to college she is lonely finding it hard to make even friends, finding a boyfriend seems impossibly hard. Often she comes round to visit her uncle as a means to escape from her parents resentment and bitter disappointment in her. She wonders if she had been born a boy they might have felt differently towards her.

However when she arrives at her uncle's house on the very edge of town, all is dark and there is no sign of him. On closer inspection Maiko finds his car parked in the garage and inside someone has recently been bring lavender incense. She decides to go looking for him in his secret shed down at the bottom of the garden.

Unfortunately Maiko finds not just her uncle in terrible danger, but her too. Can Maiko, a mere girl, in her parents eyes rise to the challenge of saving herself and her uncle?

Despite the horror and gore this is a sweet uplifting story about female empowerment and how we all have the power to take control of our lives. If you love this tale and eager for more, this is the seventh short story to be released by him and the great news is that they're all available on Amazon for mere pennies! Brilliant for when your wallet needs a break after Christmas. He's previously published Hungry Ghosts, Labor Day Hunt, Thanks Sinning, Trick or Death and Happy Dark Year.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Taking place on Christmas Eve, “Three Dead Men” follows a girl, Maiko, as she arrives at her uncle’s house to pick him up for the holiday dinner.  Her beloved uncle is nowhere to be found.  Fearing the worst, she searches his house and then heads out to the building in his yard where he stores his precious collections.  Collecting cultural artifacts from all over history is his passion, and lately ancient Egypt has been Uncle’s focus.  Entering the building, she makes a chilling discovery.  I don’t want to give too much of the plot away, but I really enjoyed the “baddies” in this story. The villains are differnt from the usual villains I'm used to reading.

It's also a good story if you like reading about female empowerment, there is a nice message there.

Thanks to Calvin for sending me this story in exchange for an honest review :)

[Sydney’s Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Showing up to a house with no lights on and your uncle not answering when you call out to him. You know something is going to happen. Good short story.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, I thought the storyline was interesting...primarily because of the nature of the Japanese Historian laboring over his collection of international relics and for the twist surrounding the cultural tradition of familial swords, which I thought was rather clever for today's audiences.

However, I was not a fan of the author's writing style, which I find stands out more to me in some of his stories than in others.

To paraphrase what Stephen King says in his book On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, don't try so hard and use words you pulled from the thesaurus for the sake of using them - write how you feel the story needs to be written.

[Siobhan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three Dead Men was yet another gripping short story from Calvin Demmer. It pulls you in from the start, ensuring your attention does not slip.

Things happened quickly with this one, and I really enjoyed the way things came together. At the same time, I wanted more from the ending. It was a nice ending, but I had hoped things would be a bit more explosive.

Well worth the read, even though it’s not my favourite Demmer story.

[Reese · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd love to see this as a Creepshow vignette.

[Tania · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this one

[Zoë Damacela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another spooky fun one!

All of the stories in this collection have been really campy, silly, and spooky. Not sure that I can even rank them, they’re all solidly fun short stories.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun short story that happens on Christmas. The characters are alright since you don't get to know a lot about them and the setting is rather vague but that does not matter in the end. The story has some decent action which keeps you following along. Though it is not particularly scary it does have some atmosphere.

Maiko Hayashi is going to pick up her uncle for Christmas Eve dinner because he tends to have a little too much cheer at these things. What she does not expect is to find a dark and silent house. But what she really is not expecting is the terrifying scenario she is about to walk into without any warning.

I enjoyed it!

[Vicki Herbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stop! You're in Danger! Run!...

No spoilers. 4 stars. This short story told a tale of horror that would make SVENGOOLIE want to run it as a Saturday evening creature feature...

Uncle Takumo lives alone in a house on the outskirts of town. His niece Maiko stays with him on some nights to be close to university...

One night Maiko arrives at his house to find it completely dark. This is unusual because he is expecting her to take him to a family get together...

... She knocked and called to him then looked in the garage window and saw that his car was still there...

... trying the front doorknob she saw that it was unlocked. The hairs on her forearms stood at attention...

She assumed he must be in the out building at the back of his property. Walking back there she found the door standing open...

... being the place that her uncle stored his antiquities collection, she knew he would never leave the door open...

... she went through the building to the vault at the back and when she called to him he answered from inside the locked vault: Stop Maiko! You're in danger! Run!...

This was a short but tense story worthy of a read. Thanks to the individual who recommended it to me.

[Sheilah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recently, another set of short stories by Demmer graced my desk. What I find most interesting about Demmer is the variation in his little stories. Each time I receive a new one, I find they become more original and intriguing than the last.

Three Dead Men ventures back to a Japanese world, a place Demmer has an inclination to revisit. But aside from the people being Japanese, the threat itself is non-Japanese. Instead, Egyptian seems to be on the menu. This was less enjoyable for me, just because I didn’t really feel the fear. Nevertheless, it was still an original creation, just needed more emotion.

https://cellardoorbooks.wordpress.com...

[Alex | | findingmontauk1 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid horror and gore and a pretty empowering story! Re-read this one for the holidays after reading the collection it's in a couple years ago. Still good! Calvin Demmer knows how to tell a quick and engaging short story!

[Sunshine Somerville · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good mix of cultures and monsters. I've learned by now that this author takes these quick stories in directions I wouldn't expect, and the ending to this one was different from his usual.

[Elisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short, fun read.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting tale, but it is told instead of shown

This short story is an interesting take on the classic tale of mummies coming to life. It combines a classic horror with Japanese honor and a hint of a coming of age.

The issue with this short story is that it is full of telling the reader what is happening, rather than showing the reader. There are a lot of awkward phrases and overly descriptive words that could be replaced with simpler phrasing that gets the point across much better. The story lacks the adrenaline of a true horror tale, because it doesn't pull the reader in. All in all, an interesting tale, but it lacks the immersion of a good horror tale.

[Fifi’s Bookshelf · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars not because it was badly written, but because it was entirely not what I was expecting. I thought that this was horror? This wasn't even remotely horror. It read more like a middle grade action adventure short story. This wasn't a bad story but it was not marketed correctly; this is definitely not what I was expecting.

[Alyssa Theile · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the Mummy theme.. not many scary stories you read tend to touch on those enough. I felt like if we were going to dive into that category though, we need more back story. They just woke up? And he has no idea why? I mean yea its terrifying to think about but also who has ancient artifacts hanging around that might wake up and kill you?

[Teala · Rating 2 out of 5]

SO disappointed w/ this short story. Lots of action but somehow boring as hell? The writing was overly simplistic with so many short sentences. Also, I don't think something should be considered a holiday story if its only due to it taking place on Xmas Eve. 2 stars only because it was short, I won't bother with his other holiday themed reads.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maiko is bad ass! I love this short story collection. I liked that we didn’t really know the ‘why’ things happened just that they did.

Solid 4 stars this is a kindle unlimited read so free if you subscribe.

[DecayingPumpkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

95

[Aryanna Tunstall · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was wondering what monster would be featured next and the author did not disappoint in the slightest.

[Tasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

An intersection twist on Mummies. Everything went right until it didn't. Not a creepy story,but a story about a strong woman.