I like to joke that since my last name is Graves, if I am unable to publish my utopian, sf, or fantasy novels I will eventually switch over to horror and achieve success. The first step: Read horror.

I have a long way to go, however. This anthology quickly reminded me why I haven't read much horror since my Stephen King phase in high school, which ended abruptly with The Tommyknockers (1987) (in his excellent book On Writing, perhaps not coincidently, King says Tommyknockers was written at the height of his drug addiction). I found it too disturbing.

I am a horror lightweight. I was disturbed by the first story in Darkness, Clive Barker's "Jacqueline Ess: Her Will and Testament," took a long break before returning to the anthology, made it as far as George R.R. Martin's "The Pear-Shaped Man," was deeply disturbed again, and am on hiatus from the book.

Reading horror, empathy becomes a serious flaw (this could be me!!). I can't turn out the lights at night. These psychological horror stories sink deep and do their job — horrify!

Pairs well with: Joyce Carol Oates' Zombie. Oates' masterful prose whipped me through this novel slice 'n dice in one night, and I am now working to push it to the dark recesses of my mind to be "forgotten" along with "The Pear-Shaped Man". Wish me luck!

Alas, I'll have to keep on with fantasy for now and return to "Darkness" at a later date. Wuss!