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Oxrun Station #12
The Black Carousel
An eerie fairground amusement ride at midnight marks the setting of a sinister dark force that preys upon the innocent and terrorizes those who successfully grab its brass ring.
7 • Prologue
17 • Penny Tunes for a Gold Lion
65 • Will You Be Mine?
117 • Lost in Amber Light
169 • The Rain Is Filled with Ghosts Tonight
215 • Epilogue
7 • Prologue
17 • Penny Tunes for a Gold Lion
65 • Will You Be Mine?
117 • Lost in Amber Light
169 • The Rain Is Filled with Ghosts Tonight
215 • Epilogue
223 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1995
6 people are currently reading
299 people want to read
About the author
Charles L. Grant
309 books263 followersCharles Lewis Grant was a novelist and short story writer specializing in what he called "dark fantasy" and "quiet horror." He also wrote under the pseudonyms of Geoffrey Marsh, Lionel Fenn, Simon Lake, Felicia Andrews, and Deborah Lewis.
Grant won a World Fantasy Award for his novella collection Nightmare Seasons, a Nebula Award in 1976 for his short story "A Crowd of Shadows", and another Nebula Award in 1978 for his novella "A Glow of Candles, a Unicorn's Eye," the latter telling of an actor's dilemma in a post-literate future. Grant also edited the award winning Shadows anthology, running eleven volumes from 1978-1991. Contributors include Stephen King, Ramsey Campbell, R.A. Lafferty, Avram Davidson, and Steve Rasnic and Melanie Tem. Grant was a former Executive Secretary and Eastern Regional Director of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and president of the Horror Writers Association.
Grant won a World Fantasy Award for his novella collection Nightmare Seasons, a Nebula Award in 1976 for his short story "A Crowd of Shadows", and another Nebula Award in 1978 for his novella "A Glow of Candles, a Unicorn's Eye," the latter telling of an actor's dilemma in a post-literate future. Grant also edited the award winning Shadows anthology, running eleven volumes from 1978-1991. Contributors include Stephen King, Ramsey Campbell, R.A. Lafferty, Avram Davidson, and Steve Rasnic and Melanie Tem. Grant was a former Executive Secretary and Eastern Regional Director of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and president of the Horror Writers Association.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
June 29, 2019
Four connected tales of quiet horror done right: creepy, haunting, strange, and sad. Grant's prose is hypnotizing, and although nothing is spelled out clearly for the reader, the emotions conveyed bleed out from the pages perfectly.
September 13, 2015
I did not finish this book. What is going on?
July 3, 2019
As a whole I always found carnivals creepy, a good kind of creepy but still creepy. Maybe it's the screaming, the recorded barker's voices , or more then likely the gaudy painted side show banners,( why the hell did they ever stop doing those), but yeah they're creepy.. This book however isnt. As a matter of fact I was confused to what it's even about...I could be wrong but I think this might be part of a series and that could be why I was confused
May 15, 2017
3.5 stars
Author Charles Grant is well known for his stories about "strange, unnatural" happenings in his fictional town of Oxrun station. THE BLACK CAROUSEL takes place ten years after his previous foray into Oxrun. This novel begins when Deric Stockton is about to take over as sheriff for his brother Abe. At a town get-together, he turns to a writer to "fill him in" on the real Oxrun Station, and the differences between this and other towns. The subject of Pilgrim's Travelers comes up, and Grant weaves a series of stories into the main context.
Some of the stories really captured my imagination, whereas others just seemed to be lacking that special "something" that made them stay with me afterward. My personal favorite tale was "Will You Be Mine?"--something about the age of the characters made this one seem the most "real" to me.... The ending was one that actually surprised me, as well.
While this novel wasn't my favorite of Grant's books, it still brought some great atmosphere and surreal moments that reminded me of some of his other novels.
Author Charles Grant is well known for his stories about "strange, unnatural" happenings in his fictional town of Oxrun station. THE BLACK CAROUSEL takes place ten years after his previous foray into Oxrun. This novel begins when Deric Stockton is about to take over as sheriff for his brother Abe. At a town get-together, he turns to a writer to "fill him in" on the real Oxrun Station, and the differences between this and other towns. The subject of Pilgrim's Travelers comes up, and Grant weaves a series of stories into the main context.
Some of the stories really captured my imagination, whereas others just seemed to be lacking that special "something" that made them stay with me afterward. My personal favorite tale was "Will You Be Mine?"--something about the age of the characters made this one seem the most "real" to me.... The ending was one that actually surprised me, as well.
While this novel wasn't my favorite of Grant's books, it still brought some great atmosphere and surreal moments that reminded me of some of his other novels.
June 24, 2015
I've always been curious as to why Grant dropped the "L." out of his name later in his career. You can't see it on the cover for this edition of the book, but on the print edition you can see that he's just "Charles Grant" there. I noticed this on Robert R. McCammon's I Travel by Night, as well, and wonder what drives that sort of thing. Too much of a mouthful? Or are the authors trying to separate their careers using the slightly different names?
With The Black Carousel, Grant wasn't deviating from anything he had done previously; if anything, he returned to familiar ground. By the time this collection was originally published, Grant hadn't written anything about Oxrun Station for six years, and not only did he return to his familiar town, but he also wrote a book comprised of four novellas, like he did with Nightmare Seasons, The Orchard, and Dialing the Wind. And yet he still left out that "L.". Curious.
Anyway, this is another re-read for me, and I was looking forward to this one because I remembered liking this one a lot, even though I didn't recall many details about any of the stories. I remembered the feeling I had while reading it, and even recommended the book to some others folks I knew who were into horror. Plus, the theme of the dark carnival is reminiscent of Ray Bradbury and Something Wicked This Way Comes, so the collection had a lot to live up to just by association.
"Penny Tunes for a Gold Lion", the first story in the collection, was a little predictable, but effective nonetheless. The main character wasn't completely sympathetic due to his being a little pathetic, but still, he wasn't someone you wanted to see done wrong. Once things started going down a dark road, though, I could feel the mood of the story change. That's another one of Grant's skills, though -- how he can change how you feel about a story with a short turn of phrase.
The second story, "Will You Be Mine?", is the story I remember the best, because it's just so chilling. Grant was an expert at creating genuinely creepy moments, like the one from this story that actually made me shudder. He didn't use shock or graphic violence to convey that feeling; he just knew how to create the atmosphere and characters and set the scene to elicit the right response. And that ending . . . man, he sticks it like an Olympic gymnast.
"Lost in Amber Light", the third story, was odd in its imagery and its theme, but it used the idea of the carnival to full effect. It hit a little too close to home for me, for various reasons, which made it even more disturbing, which in turn made the story successful, but I'm not sure it would resonate with other readers with different life experiences. Regardless, it was an effective story for me.
"The Rain Is Filled with Ghosts Tonight", the last story, is a melancholy story of ghosts. Maybe. It's also a story about a man dealing with the onset of Alzheimer's, so it's hard to say whether the ghosts are real (in the sense of the story) or just old memories. That question alone makes this story unnerving, which is just the right mood for it, ghosts or otherwise.
I continue to get frustrated with these e-books, too, since little care was put into proofreading them. It's clear that these were created by scanning in a printed book, since there are a lot of OCR errors scattered about the book: "dose" instead of "close"; "mom" instead "morn"; and so on. Plus, paragraphs are created at the wrong place, or aren't indented properly. When I pay money for a file, I expect that file to be accurate, you know? The errors just take me out of the story.
Regardless, this is the best Grant book I've read thus far. I'm glad to see that my memories of this book hold up some twenty years later. I can see how Grant's skills developed over time, and how his style developed into something smoother and more accessible, and I'm happy to say that I would still recommend this book to someone looking for "good horror".
With The Black Carousel, Grant wasn't deviating from anything he had done previously; if anything, he returned to familiar ground. By the time this collection was originally published, Grant hadn't written anything about Oxrun Station for six years, and not only did he return to his familiar town, but he also wrote a book comprised of four novellas, like he did with Nightmare Seasons, The Orchard, and Dialing the Wind. And yet he still left out that "L.". Curious.
Anyway, this is another re-read for me, and I was looking forward to this one because I remembered liking this one a lot, even though I didn't recall many details about any of the stories. I remembered the feeling I had while reading it, and even recommended the book to some others folks I knew who were into horror. Plus, the theme of the dark carnival is reminiscent of Ray Bradbury and Something Wicked This Way Comes, so the collection had a lot to live up to just by association.
"Penny Tunes for a Gold Lion", the first story in the collection, was a little predictable, but effective nonetheless. The main character wasn't completely sympathetic due to his being a little pathetic, but still, he wasn't someone you wanted to see done wrong. Once things started going down a dark road, though, I could feel the mood of the story change. That's another one of Grant's skills, though -- how he can change how you feel about a story with a short turn of phrase.
The second story, "Will You Be Mine?", is the story I remember the best, because it's just so chilling. Grant was an expert at creating genuinely creepy moments, like the one from this story that actually made me shudder. He didn't use shock or graphic violence to convey that feeling; he just knew how to create the atmosphere and characters and set the scene to elicit the right response. And that ending . . . man, he sticks it like an Olympic gymnast.
"Lost in Amber Light", the third story, was odd in its imagery and its theme, but it used the idea of the carnival to full effect. It hit a little too close to home for me, for various reasons, which made it even more disturbing, which in turn made the story successful, but I'm not sure it would resonate with other readers with different life experiences. Regardless, it was an effective story for me.
"The Rain Is Filled with Ghosts Tonight", the last story, is a melancholy story of ghosts. Maybe. It's also a story about a man dealing with the onset of Alzheimer's, so it's hard to say whether the ghosts are real (in the sense of the story) or just old memories. That question alone makes this story unnerving, which is just the right mood for it, ghosts or otherwise.
I continue to get frustrated with these e-books, too, since little care was put into proofreading them. It's clear that these were created by scanning in a printed book, since there are a lot of OCR errors scattered about the book: "dose" instead of "close"; "mom" instead "morn"; and so on. Plus, paragraphs are created at the wrong place, or aren't indented properly. When I pay money for a file, I expect that file to be accurate, you know? The errors just take me out of the story.
Regardless, this is the best Grant book I've read thus far. I'm glad to see that my memories of this book hold up some twenty years later. I can see how Grant's skills developed over time, and how his style developed into something smoother and more accessible, and I'm happy to say that I would still recommend this book to someone looking for "good horror".
April 20, 2020
Charles L. Grant, perhaps the grand master of what he termed "quiet horror".....returned to the small town of Oxrun Station, with this novel consisting of 4 interconnected short novels, centering around a black carousel that was more than a carny ride......
If your unfamiliar with Grant's work....this is a good place too start.....
If your unfamiliar with Grant's work....this is a good place too start.....
December 19, 2014
Wow. Beautiful melancholy, in the extreme...
August 28, 2015
A great book introducing a creepy little town that I will be glad to revisit time and time again through Grant's other books.
March 25, 2020
I was totally confused as to what was going on in this book. When I got to the end I was wondering if I was missing some of the book. What happened to the mailman? Such a waste of time!
April 16, 2023
If you enjoy reading, don’t ever become a teacher…as it will *zap* your will to read in your free time. As a matter of fact, just heed the advice of everyone in your life and just don’t become a teacher, period.
Charles Grant is great. Despite the 3/5 ratings I’ve given a few of his books, I love spending time in them. They are truly a pleasure. He was clearly inspired by Ray Bradbury, which is more evident in his Oxrun Station books, and even more evident in The Black Carousel—both the last of four novella collections that take place in the town, and the final book in the series overall.
I love the bookend chapters, where we are introduced to a couple of charming adult friends showing the new sheriff in town the ropes of the Station, spinning a few yarns to tell him what he’s in for. I don’t really know how well it works, since these 4 stories seem odd in that context (why would he care about some of these things, which we find out later, didn’t even have as dramatic of endings as their ambiguous final lines led us to believe? Why is a carnival so important to Oxrun Station all of a sudden? What even happens at this dang carnival?), but I digress. It’s pure Bradbury.
The stories inside are a little bit of a mixed bag, all well written, but some muddled and confusing thematic material. “Penny Tunes for a Gold Lion” is the first. It concerns a sad mailman who just feels stuck in a rut, hates his humdrum existence, doesn’t even notice the cute, timid teacher who’s got a crush on him, and who’s only solace in his miserable day-to-day are his flowers. That is, until he meets a hot, spunky redhead carny who whisks him away on airs begs him to come back to the carnival on its last night. Does this all sound like a lot? It kinda is. And I’m still not entirely sure what the point of the mysterious death of his garden has to do with anything.
The next is “Won’t You Be Mine?” From the looks of the few reviews I’ve scoured on GoodReads, this appears to be the favorite. I’m guessing that’s because the protagonist is a young kid, and everyone loves kid protagonists in horror stories. It probably is the best, too. It totally stands on its own, has a spooky twist, and overall feels like the best Goosebumps book never written. Kinda awesome. But the carnival is completely tangential to the story, and had me wondering if Grant did a little rejiggering to a story he already had just to include it and fill out the four-novella page count.
Thirdly is “Lost in Amber Light”. This one is really uneven to me, because it hit me the hardest as a man who struggled to feel independent throughout his young adulthood. But this is another one where the thematic dressing is just…odd. There’s a whole running thing with a cat that I just don’t get. I admit to getting a bit bored by the surreal, quasi-dream sequences throughout the latter half of the story, and I wanted to beat this kid senseless for not just marrying his friend. (Kids, just marry your best friend) for its faults, the ending hits hard, and I was left with a cold chill in my veins.
The final story, before the lovely final bookend, is “The Rain is Filled With Ghosts Tonight.” And I just want anyone who happens to read this review to pause, and just appreciate that title. Like, holy crap. Perhaps the “cellar door” of horror titles. Bravo, Charlie. The story it is attributed to is very sad, about an old man suffering from dementia, who cannot tell the different between what is real, what are memories, and what might perhaps be something else altogether. The major hurdle I had to cross for this one was that Grant’s writing usually makes you feel like you’re starting a few yards behind from the get-go. It takes a while for me to get my bearings when I start a story by him. That, on top of the surreality of the unreliable narrator we’re with throughout this story, I’ll admit I was completely lost for a lot of it and had to reread most of it. I felt real dumb, because in the end, it’s exactly what you think it will be.
I’ll always curse GoodReads for not allowing .5 stars on the rating. I can’t in all honestly go a full 4, but it is better than a 3, for sure.
Charles Grant is great. Despite the 3/5 ratings I’ve given a few of his books, I love spending time in them. They are truly a pleasure. He was clearly inspired by Ray Bradbury, which is more evident in his Oxrun Station books, and even more evident in The Black Carousel—both the last of four novella collections that take place in the town, and the final book in the series overall.
I love the bookend chapters, where we are introduced to a couple of charming adult friends showing the new sheriff in town the ropes of the Station, spinning a few yarns to tell him what he’s in for. I don’t really know how well it works, since these 4 stories seem odd in that context (why would he care about some of these things, which we find out later, didn’t even have as dramatic of endings as their ambiguous final lines led us to believe? Why is a carnival so important to Oxrun Station all of a sudden? What even happens at this dang carnival?), but I digress. It’s pure Bradbury.
The stories inside are a little bit of a mixed bag, all well written, but some muddled and confusing thematic material. “Penny Tunes for a Gold Lion” is the first. It concerns a sad mailman who just feels stuck in a rut, hates his humdrum existence, doesn’t even notice the cute, timid teacher who’s got a crush on him, and who’s only solace in his miserable day-to-day are his flowers. That is, until he meets a hot, spunky redhead carny who whisks him away on airs begs him to come back to the carnival on its last night. Does this all sound like a lot? It kinda is. And I’m still not entirely sure what the point of the mysterious death of his garden has to do with anything.
The next is “Won’t You Be Mine?” From the looks of the few reviews I’ve scoured on GoodReads, this appears to be the favorite. I’m guessing that’s because the protagonist is a young kid, and everyone loves kid protagonists in horror stories. It probably is the best, too. It totally stands on its own, has a spooky twist, and overall feels like the best Goosebumps book never written. Kinda awesome. But the carnival is completely tangential to the story, and had me wondering if Grant did a little rejiggering to a story he already had just to include it and fill out the four-novella page count.
Thirdly is “Lost in Amber Light”. This one is really uneven to me, because it hit me the hardest as a man who struggled to feel independent throughout his young adulthood. But this is another one where the thematic dressing is just…odd. There’s a whole running thing with a cat that I just don’t get. I admit to getting a bit bored by the surreal, quasi-dream sequences throughout the latter half of the story, and I wanted to beat this kid senseless for not just marrying his friend. (Kids, just marry your best friend) for its faults, the ending hits hard, and I was left with a cold chill in my veins.
The final story, before the lovely final bookend, is “The Rain is Filled With Ghosts Tonight.” And I just want anyone who happens to read this review to pause, and just appreciate that title. Like, holy crap. Perhaps the “cellar door” of horror titles. Bravo, Charlie. The story it is attributed to is very sad, about an old man suffering from dementia, who cannot tell the different between what is real, what are memories, and what might perhaps be something else altogether. The major hurdle I had to cross for this one was that Grant’s writing usually makes you feel like you’re starting a few yards behind from the get-go. It takes a while for me to get my bearings when I start a story by him. That, on top of the surreality of the unreliable narrator we’re with throughout this story, I’ll admit I was completely lost for a lot of it and had to reread most of it. I felt real dumb, because in the end, it’s exactly what you think it will be.
I’ll always curse GoodReads for not allowing .5 stars on the rating. I can’t in all honestly go a full 4, but it is better than a 3, for sure.
March 12, 2023
This reminded me some of something wicked this way comes. It features four interconnected stories set in a town where strange and unusual things happen. I enjoyed some stories more than others allthough all of them were pretty open ended.
May 4, 2024
A great final volume of collected Oxrun stories. Thrilling predicaments: shadows, fog, and negation.
October 7, 2019
I had very little idea what was going on. It was four short stories whose characters all showed up in each of the stories which tied it together in that it all took place in a small town. First of all, carnivals don't stay all summer, which is what I think this one did. And half the time, I had to reread parts, because I couldn't tell what was real and what was imagined. And when I got to the end, I still wasn't sure what happened to each of the characters. Plus, he used way too many "goddamns" and "Jesus Christs" for my taste. Since those were the main cuss words he used, I think he has a problem with Christianity. Would definitely not recommend.
November 29, 2024
This, I believe is the final trip to that charming little town known as Oxrun Station
This trip gives us four little stories, and like usual tenuously connected characters running through all four.
Let’s ke all the Oxrun novels they do vere from one thing to another quite abruptly and can be a bit confusing
This trip gives us four little stories, and like usual tenuously connected characters running through all four.
Let’s ke all the Oxrun novels they do vere from one thing to another quite abruptly and can be a bit confusing
February 11, 2025
Makes perfect sense that this is book 12 in a 12 book series because it felt like I walked into a show during the very last act. While the four character's stories were interesting and sufficiently creepy, there wasn't really anything that tied them all together. The Pilgrim's Travellers and the carousel didn't seem as central to the story as I thought they'd be or maybe I'm just missing something. What does riding the carousel do to you? What did Casey do to deserve his fate? What happened to Fran? What was up with Drake's mom? So many questions and an ending without answers. Maybe if I read the rest of the series it'll all make sense but if this is the series finale, I don't think I care enough to go back and find out.
April 5, 2012
I picked this up in the library based on a whim and the cover. I never do that, and I'm not sure I can make a habit of it. I didn't know that it's apparently part of a series. I hate starting anywhere but the beginning of a series. Beyond that though, it was a really disjointed read. I'm not even sure what I did just read. I didn't dislike it, but I didn't understand it and I kind of finished it out of obligation.
December 22, 2016
The cover of the book draws in the mind. The description of the contents on the tab paint an amusing picture with possibilities but the book did not manage to grip me or hold my attention. I tried, I honestly did. Just not the book for me.
February 18, 2014
A new favorite. Subtle and terrifying. Quiet horror at its finest. Grant never disappoints!
September 13, 2016
Not really a good story, and after awhile had no relation to the black carousel. Made no sense.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews