Shadows 4

by Charles L. Grant (Editor/Introduction)

Imagine a collection of nightmarish tales as dark as a freshly opened grave. So terrifying that they scatter dreams like leaves before a midnight wind. So macabre that they give even the typesetter the chills.

So horrific that Evil itself turns away.

Imagine. Now open and read.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Anthologies, Science Fiction, Fiction, Cyberpunk

216 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

Charles Lewis Grant was a novelist and short story writer specializing in what he called "dark fantasy" and "quiet horror." He also wrote under the pseudonyms of Geoffrey Marsh, Lionel Fenn, Simon Lake, Felicia Andrews, and Deborah Lewis.

Grant won a World Fantasy Award for his novella collection Nightmare Seasons, a Nebula Award in 1976 for his short story "A Crowd of Shadows", and another Nebula Award in 1978 for his novella "A Glow of Candles, a Unicorn's Eye," the latter telling of an actor's dilemma in a post-literate future. Grant also edited the award winning Shadows anthology, running eleven volumes from 1978-1991. Contributors include Stephen King, Ramsey Campbell, R.A. Lafferty, Avram Davidson, and Steve Rasnic and Melanie Tem. Grant was a former Executive Secretary and Eastern Regional Director of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and president of the Horror Writers Association.

Reviews

[K. Anna Kraft · Rating 5 out of 5]

I arranged my thoughts on this short story into a haiku:

"Shed without notice,
Decaying in the gutter,
Humanity drifts."

[Tim Pendry · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is no cyberpunk in this story despite the authors. Published in 1981 and with a feel for the night life of the era, this story is in the American paranoid tradition of seeing things that are not quite human in the interstices of urban life.

This is dark fantasy far more than it is horror but is still an essay in alienation - and of degradation as the 'hero' becomes obsessed with connecting with what appears to be a new form of life lurking in his own natural eco-system, the singles bar. It is tale of evolutionary adaptation.

[Ben Fry · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Belonging Kind is a very special sort of science-fiction: one that traverses genres and yet remains firmly rooted in contemporary setting and concerns. Far more than just body horror and paranoia, The Belonging Kind is a comment on the alienation and isolation inherent to modern society. Gibson's protagonist seems somewhat of a homage to Kafka's Gregor Samsa in Die Verwandlung, but in reverse. Rather than being the everyman who suddenly realizes his alienation and is thus transformed, Gibson's Coretti begins outside the system and ends by merging with it. What we're left with is a horror at what that system is—a place where individuals carry no real meaning or life, they simply move from one room to the next, parroting the conversation of the moment, and killing time. These are unthinking, unfeeling, shape-shifting shells. The assimilated proletariat.

Needless to say, this is an expertly-crafted, thought-provoking piece that I can't recommend highly enough.

[Lew · Rating 3 out of 5]

A so so collection of macabre stories. Some good ones and some not so good. I would recommend it to anyone who likes reading short stories of the macabre and strange.

[Jonathan Oliver · Rating 3 out of 5]

A reasonably solid collection with some absolute gems.

[Pam K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collection of 17 short stories. Most are less than 20 pages, one is 45 pages. Most of them are so short there is no time to grasp the meat of the tale, it is all set up.

I liked The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands, Hearing is Believing, and Need. I did not care for Threshold, Echoes From a Darkened Stone, or Waiting For a Knight.

[My Little Forest · Rating 3 out of 5]

Words I enjoyed reading: "sartorial stutterer", "fringe sexuality"

[Bill Borre]

"A Visit To Brighton" by Alan Ryan - A man visits his brother bringing a doll as a gift for his daughter and the child ends up being smothered by it. The grieving brother asks the protagonist to take the doll away with him, and since the protagonist doesn't like children, he resolves to give it to the landlord's daughter for a birthday present.

"Yours,—Guy" by Robert F. Young - Squires has a sexual relationship with Guy when they were both young men and regrets it many years later when Guy shows up wanting to get reacquainted.

"The Hour of Silhouette" by Juleen Brantingham - wc

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good collection of horror stories, many by relatively unknown writers. This series really helped spark my interest in writing horror. It came out around the time I was getting into horror. Charles Grant was an excellent editor.

[Kevin Lucia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marvelous, of course. Some very nice pieces, in here...

[Tim]

Great Gibsonesque examination of isolation.