Four Dark Nights by Little, Clegg, Golden, Piccirilli
Leisure's popular and acclaimed horror line continues its foray into
hardcover publishing with FOUR DARK NIGHTS, an admirable demonstration of
how effective the novella format can be. Many have argued that, by
definition, short stories and novella length works are perfectly suited to
the horror genre because of the short, sharp shock of their format, whereas
full-length novels are often unable to sustain the appropriate chills and
thrills throughout their longer, more complicated storylines. Whether this
is accurate is surely subject to debate; however, FOUR DARK NIGHTS makes for
a compelling -- if a bit uneven -- argument for the novella's legitimacy and
worth.
Bentley Little begins the four-novella collection with a bang, offering up a
very high-throttle narrative that starts fast and never lets up, very brutal
and violent and weird...very Laymon'esque, one might even say. Particularly
hardcore and vivid for him in its pared down depiction, it's a winner. The
only complaint is that the ending seemed a bit rushed and anti-climatic, as
if the novella's furious pace didn't allow enough subplot to develop as to
allow the novella's finish to be equal with the story itself. Christopher
Golden followed up Little's with a sometimes poignant, horror-and-fantasy
hybrid that involved a daughter's mourning of her deceased father...and
Vikings. Mostly entertaining if at times a bit overwrought, ultimately it
came off as dismissive and a bit lightweight, especially compared to the
Little novella that preceeded it. Tom Piccirilli came in third with an
interesting work that put a modern spin on the oft-used sideshow theme, but
the story seemed to quickly become lost and muddled in a fog of obfucscation
and lyrical writing without point. A disappointing and confusing effort,
particularly from such a talented author whose previous works have always
set such a high standard. Douglas Clegg closes the collection with a work
of outstanding imagination and horrific imagery -- very vivid and chilling.
While arguably it could have been pared down a bit tighter, it was certainly
an engrossing and impressive work...the second best of the lot.
While this collection will not yet put to rest the aforementioned debate of
novels versus shorter works, it still remains a collection worth seeking
out...and Leisure is to be commended for bucking mainstream trends and
publishing the rarely-seen novella form in this literary landscape of
bloated Stephen King bestsellers.
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