Tales From the Nightside


by Charles Grant

So maybe horror fiction doesn't do much for me anymore. Maybe this guy just doesn't hit me the right way. In any case, I found the majority of these short stories interesting and well executed but ultimately ineffective. Yes, Grant is an excellent writer and perhaps that is his problem. His style is too detailed to capture to sheer horror of which he writes. True, his stories are quite inventive and do not contain a lot of visceral gore but it is a letdown to have some unexplained darkness overcome the protagonist and that is the end of the story. Perhaps he was trying to be like Lovecraft but even Lovecraft revealed some slime and ooze in his darkness enshrined creatures! One other interesting facet was that almost all of the stories involved children between the age of six and twenty somehow involved in the plot. I'm not sure about his fascination is with children, if he finds the juxtoposition of youth/naitivity and horror a good match but it personally did little for me. One good thing is that I "discovered" that short stories are just the right length to read at work and that I am one quarter squid.

Two Gristleenos!