Dark Things IV

Dark Things #4

by Shane McKenzie (Editor), Stacey Longo (Contributor)

Embrace your dark side with this eclectic collection of horror stories. The dead torment the living and vengeance clouds the mind; voodoo rituals, infernal fishing trips, portals to violent dimensions, reality-altering artists and cowboy-vampire stand-offs. Soaked in blood and bile, this volume contains the following short stories: Digging Too Deep by Gregory Miller, House of Paintings by Anthony Bell, The Iron Maiden by Eric Dimbleby, Cursed by E.J. Tett, Midnight Ghosts by S.W. Morse, A Temporary Place by Gregory L. Norris, The Dustman by Tim Reed, Peace by Lou Treleaven, Waves of Dread by Nick Medina, The Dollhouse by Douglas Hackle, Afterlove by Tomas Furby, People Person by Stacey Longo, The Dimensionator by Sean Graham and Ride into the Sunset by Marc Sorondo.

260 pages, Paperback

First published November 10, 2010

Reviews

[Douglas Ogurek · Rating 3 out of 5]

A hit and miss anthology. The best story was "The Iron Maiden" by Eric Dimbleby. It's about a device that "catches" would-be rapists.

[Bill Borre]

"The Dollhouse" by Douglas Hackle - Dylan and his closeted gay friend Ben make a couple of voodoo dolls in their fort. Since Dylan lost his mother to suicide he has become interested in the occult in an attempt to prove that other worldly events do exist. When a pin applied to the doll's arm produces no effect he begins to cry. Ben attempts to comfort Dylan but finds himself becoming aroused by their embrace. Ben kisses Dylan and Dylan reacts by shoving him off and then wrapping his hands around Ben's throat. The Ben doll saves his life by stabbing the Dylan doll through the eye with the pin, killing Dylan. Ben loves Dylan so he pleads with it to resurrect Dylan with magic. At first the doll shakes its head no but eventually relents to return a semblance of life to Dylan's body as a zombie. Ben hides the body in the fort and returns regularly in order to play with his dolls.

"Peace" by Lou Treleaven - The protagonist is a girl who joins a group hazing another girl that they beat and lock in a car trunk where she expires. There is no charge brought against the protagonist as the girls pass off the incident as a prank gone wrong. Three years later a friend of the victim holds the protagonist at knifepoint and forces her into a car trunk and leaves her. Even though the protagonist enjoyed killing the victim she is thankful to be forced to pay for her act since the guilt has been eating away at her.

"The Iron Maiden" by Eric Dimbleby - A Chinese finger trap is modified into an anti-rape device to be inserted into the vagina. When it closes upon a man's penis he angers the female doctor sent to remove it so much that she tears his cock off.