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New Moon on the Water

4.55 of 5 stars 4.55 · rating details · 11 ratings · 3 reviews

In a smoky, after hours jazz joint where almost nobody ever dies, or the ranch house next door owned by a monster, or a high rise elevator in which raging terror awaits the next passenger, these brilliant stories discover a world you thought you knew--and a darker one you will never forget. With 13 stories never before collected, NEW MOON ON THE WATER is Mort Castle's firs...more

Hardcover, 300 pages

Published August 14th 2012 by Dark Regions Press (first published August 2012)

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Dec 04, 2012 Gef rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc, e-books, horror, first-reads, short-stories

Before I read this short story collection, my only familiarity of Mort Castle work came from his nonfiction, particularly On Writing Horror. That was one of the first books on writing that I bought when I started putting pen to paper. You'd think in all those years I'd have sought out his stories. Go figure. Well, New Moon on the Water helped remedy that.

Now, the way I understand it, this book from Dark Regions Press is a re-release of sorts of an earlier collection called Moon on the Water. The...more Before I read this short story collection, my only familiarity of Mort Castle work came from his nonfiction, particularly On Writing Horror. That was one of the first books on writing that I bought when I started putting pen to paper. You'd think in all those years I'd have sought out his stories. Go figure. Well, New Moon on the Water helped remedy that.

Now, the way I understand it, this book from Dark Regions Press is a re-release of sorts of an earlier collection called Moon on the Water. The key difference being there are over a dozen new stories added in this new version. It's all new to me, though.

Right off the bat, I realize this isn't the usual collection that I'm used to, as this one contains some pieces that explore style and form to degrees I find utterly uncommon in fiction. Literary, perhaps. Evocative, undoubtedly. "Defining Horror" is a fast little piece that feels like a staccato essay on the genre and what it is and what it can be. Then it gets into what I would call the red meat of the book, with a story called "If You Take My Hand, My Son," as Johnny confronts death, regret, bitterness, forgiveness, and the father he never thought he'd forgive. That one, so quick into the book was a real kick in the teeth. A similar story, as far as impact goes, was "Love, Hate, and the Beautiful Junkyard Sea" and an unrequited love story that was as unsettling as it was romantic.

A favorite from the collection was "The W.W. II Pistol." A bitter, anger man with a beautiful wife and no friends finally hits a tipping point with the less wholesome folks at the bar he frequents. I guess the daily threats of blowing everyone away with his W.W. II pistol got to be too much aggravation for them and now it's time for Joe to pay. There was this tea kettle vibe through the story, never sure if or when things would come to a head, and when they finally did it didn't play out anywhere near how I expected. Another one that really stuck out with me was "The Running Horse, The High, White Sound." That was a sad, angry revenge tale. Misspent youth and senseless violence, and even more senseless vengeance. It felt like a period piece set in late-20th century New York with all the grime and grit one could hope for.

The book runs the gamut with little bits of flash fiction like "14 Short Horror Stories," some humor twists like "Upstairs, Downstairs, and All About", Vampires", and combinations of the two like "Bonds." Not all of the stories reach the bleachers, with a couple feeling quite murky as I read through them, one or two feeling a bit too disjointed for my tastes, but the overall impression I had was the collection certainly deserved to be brought back onto store shelves. I don't think I can sum up Mort Castle's writing in this book any better than this blurb by Jack Ketchum: "Mort Castle is a writer who loves word play, but like every writer worth his salt remembers that even for kids, play is a serious business."

That about says all you need to know.(less)

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Aug 15, 2012 Chris Morey rated it 5 of 5 stars

For those on Goodreads looking for a place to order the book, it is currently available through the DarkRegions.com website: http://www.darkregions.com/books/new-...

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Aug 29, 2012 Kevin Lucia rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Excellent as always. Keen insight into human nature, takes literary tropes, turns them into horror...full review coming soon.

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Jun 16, 2013 Michael LeSueur marked it as to-read

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Jun 05, 2013 Anton Cancre rated it 5 of 5 stars

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Shelves: by-its-cover, horror

Mar 06, 2013 Debra marked it as to-read

Shelves: horror-supernatural, waiting-in-the-wings

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Shelves: horror, wish-list

Dec 15, 2012 Marly Quitorio rated it 4 of 5 stars

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Shelves: dark-fiction-2-read, short-stories-novellas

Dec 04, 2012 Evans Light marked it as to-read

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topics	posts	views	last activity
Chaos Reading: Giveaway for a Signed Copy of New Moon on the Water by Mort Castle, editor of Shadow Show and On Writing Horror	2	15	17 sept. 02:11
Supernatural Fict...: New Moon on the Water by Mort Castle Now Available Through DarkRegions.com	2	41	17 août 15:18
Horror Aficionados : New Moon on the Water by Mort Castle Now Available on DarkRegions.com	2	7	17 août 15:14
Building a SciFi/...: New Moon on the Water by Mort Castle Now Available Through DarkRegions.com	1	1	14 août 14:24
*~Can't Stop Read...: New Moon on the Water by Mort Castle Now Available Through DarkRegions.com	1	3	14 août 14:21
Apocalypse Whenever: New Moon on the Water by Mort Castle Now Available Through DarkRegions.com	1	5	14 août 14:18

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About Mort Castle

Mort Castle is a horror author, editor, and a writing teacher with more than 350 short stories and a dozen books to his credit.

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Books by Mort Castle

On Writing Horror: A Handbook by the Horror Writer's of America

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