Dark Tales from Elder Regions: New York

by Anthony S. Burdge (Editor), Jessica J. Burke (Editor), Leanna Renee Hieber

There is a reason New York City is called "The City that Never Sleeps," and it is not for reasons we have all become accustomed to.


This anthology of 19 urban horror stories explores the dark corners, shadowy alleys and mysterious underworld of all five boroughs of New York City providing the true reason why The City Never Sleeps.


Trade Paperback Edition
Color Cover with 19 Black & White Internal Illustrations (each story is illustrated)


Illustrated by Luke Spooner
http://www.carrionhouse.com/


Introduction by
Peter Rawlik
Author of ReAnimators & The Weird Company


Afterword by
Brian J. Cano
SCARED! TV & Haunted Collector


Dark Tales From Elder Regions: New York will be the first in an annual anthology by Myth Ink Books.

“If you love New York City in all its shapes and guises (and who doesn’t?) and are a fan of well-crafted horror fiction of every variety, you’ll relish the new Myth Ink Books collection of 20 vividly weird stories all set in The Big Apple, Dark Tales from Elder Regions: New York. These highly inventive tales tap into the city’s luridly storied past as well as the gritty opulence of its present and are rich in historical detail and cultural nuance. It’s almost like a trip to NYC and far cheaper than an airline ticket. So grab your reading glasses, pack your carry on bag, and get ready for some delicious shudders, cheap thrills, and heady visions in the city that puts the Gothic into Gotham, with this fine selection of stories that bring chilling nightmares to the city that never sleeps.”
—David Barker, author (with W. H. Pugmire) of
The Revenant of Rebecca Pascal

“Dark Tales From the Elder Regions: New York is an anthology book that will give you goosebumps and make your inner child go in the fetal position more than once when you’re reading it. ... Dark Tales is not the kind of ‘in your face’ horror that tells details of blood letting and gore. It permeates your mind little by little and you find yourself thinking of that creature in the tunnels out of the blue long after you’ve read the story. The words will capture your attention, but the stories themselves will sneak up behind you and slit your throat. And these authors are seriously, creepily great at building a scene and delivering in unexpected ways.”
—Dave Royce, Horror Cabin

398 pages, Paperback

First published November 23, 2014

About the author

Anthony S. Burdge, an independent scholar, was first introduced to the existence of Secondary Worlds via the work of J.R.R Tolkien at an early age. Since taking that first journey out of Bag End with Bilbo, he has traveled with the Doctor, hitchhiked with Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect, been a crew member aboard the USS Enterprise, walked under an eldritch moon toward R’yleh and entered the realms of the Sandman many times.

In addition to his academic articles on various topics ranging from Mythopoeic fiction to local lore and legend, Anthony is grateful to be a part of collections such as The J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia, Translating Tolkien, Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature, You and WHO 2, plus working with authors across the planet for the Mythological Dimensions series, The Mythological Dimensions of Doctor Who and The Mythological Dimensions of Neil Gaiman.

Anthony co-wrote his first collection of fiction, The Friendly Horror & Other Weird Tales. Anthony is a Hoopy Frood blogging on this and that on Comfy Chair at comfychairzine.blogspot.com.

Reviews

[David Barker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent anthology of horror fiction featuring well-written stories based on original concepts and all having a strong sense of place. When that place happens to be New York City, the result is a very enjoyable reading experience. Highly recommended. Here's a cover blurb I wrote for the book:

“If you love New York City in all its shapes and guises (and who doesn’t?) and are a fan of well-crafted horror fiction of every variety, you’ll relish the new Myth Ink Books collection of 20 vividly weird stories all set in The Big Apple, Dark Tales from Elder Regions: New York. These highly inventive tales tap into the city’s luridly storied past as well as the gritty opulence of its present and are rich in historical detail and cultural nuance. It’s almost like a trip to NYC and far cheaper than an airline ticket. So grab your reading glasses, pack your carry on bag, and get ready for some delicious shudders, cheap thrills, and heady visions in the city that puts the Gothic into Gotham, with this fine selection of stories that bring chilling nightmares to the city that never sleeps.” —David Barker, author (with W. H. Pugmire) of The Revenant of Rebecca Pascal

[Kris Lugosi · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much imagery and haunting storytelling in such a small package. These tales are very short in content but the quality of storytelling exceeds its length. In here you’ll find that the kiss of death can be quite exotic, where the subways and tunnels hold nightmarish secrets and beasts beyond the human minds comprehension. Where books hold maddening secrets and the raving lights of the nightlife can consume your very soul. The urban settings of New York's streets and dark alleys are so well visualized you can almost smell the pollution. All stories were not reviewed here, but here is a delicious taste of the content within:

ROEBLING’S MONSTER: I wasn’t terribly intrigued by this one. It’s very poetic in nature I liked the ignorance of the narrator and it’s affect on humans and the visual parts of the story were quite vivid but again very poetically told which isn’t really my cup of tea kind of storytelling.
HAND OF BONE: This tale goes to show that you should never take home things that don’t belong to you. When a young woman falls ill, she calls upon her friend Sam to return a hand bone relic she took from a cemetery that she believes is making her ill. If he could only return said relic, she believes the illness will be lifted. Will it be too late?
BEAUTIFUL DREAMS: What I loved most about this story is the author’s ability to transport me to 1864 New York. I could smell the streets, hear the prostitutes hollers, and feel the dinginess of The Tombs. All very well conveyed. Here we follow Chambers on a mission for his “clients” to retrieve a book that has been stolen from them. The book itself proves to hold more madness than leisure reading as Chambers soon finds out.
THE PROFESSOR’S NEW YORK ADVENTURE: Professor V, is plagued by the responsibility of ridding the planet of the undead creatures that threaten the human race. One miscalculated act on his part, leaves him with blood of innocence on his hand and makes our professor question whether or not he has done the right thing. Is it better to have the blood of hundreds on your hands in order save the blood of millions? This would seem sound logic that is if Professor V can accomplish his assassination. This was a great vampire tale of old. The guilt that Professor V feels is so heavy and understandable and his defeated attitude is heartbreaking.
NOW DEPARTING: When your times up, you time is up. Well for Melissa, she is determined to stall as long as she can in order to escape her enevitable journey with death. Death, is quite the handsome man, or sexy woman, or terrifying creature… you pick. That’s the beauty about Death, the form in which you are escorted into wherever it is that you go, is up to you. Melissa, having not truly lived her life to the fullest extent, has many reservations about going with Death anywhere and try as she might, she enevitably gives into the kiss of Death, which by this author’s perspective, is quite the kiss. I loved how the author explained the forms Death takes on and the manner in which he takes you. Really good read.
LEAKING: Leaking is a short but incredibly sweet tale of hidden beasts and visual nightmares. A very lovecraftian search into the tunnels of Greenwich Village that leads Brian to the source of his nightmares, but are they truly his nightmares, or the beasts? I love anything that gives me a chill through descriptions of an unseen force.
THE SIXTH BOROUGH: I really liked this lengthier tale. It centers around Cyrus, a man who has been swindeled by his roommate and lives out his miserable existence with her greediness. Once Cyrus finds out about Penny’s deceitful behavior, he storms out with no real place to go other than his favorite bookstore. Here he meets a mysterious fellow that speaks of a paradise called Bella Vista. At first, Cyrus disregards the man’s tale, but soon finds himself intrigued and in search of said paradise. What he finds is more relief than paradise, but there’s a fine line between the two. Again, I loved this from start to finish. Especially the finish.
RETRO VIRAL: Mix one part abandoned clinic, with two parts drug induced teens and what you will find is a haunting of epic colorful proportions. A ghost story that transcends time and manifests like a disease. I enjoyed the back and forth between the doctors trying to figure out what happened and the story of what went done between the teens and the clinic.
BROKEN GLASS: This was a strange little story centering around a man who is obviously super anxious waiting to get to his destination. He is very awkward and stand offish to his coworker sharing the ride, and when a couple of hooligans demolish a light fixture, we begin to see the true nature of what is making Phil so anxious to get home. I don’t want to give anything away but Phil’s explanation to his coworker for his oddity is kind of out of place but I suppose it needed to be explained. I like the tone of self restraint.
WALLFLOWERS: Wow to this one. Our run of the mill “Ashley” stars as the clerk in an upscale boutique. One where you can smell the money and see the noses in the air. “Ashley” lives in a very snooty materialistic world but when the doors are locked, she’s about to get a whole lot looser. The boutique use to be a church that would open its doors to parties and debauchery making it one of the best nightclubs before its doors were shut down. Energy never leaves and when the lights go out, “Ashley” is consumed by the nightlife….literally. The swirling imagery and gory whirlwind is forever etched in my brain.
THE NONE PERCENT: This was a super fun read and reminded me a lot of The Frighteners. John is at the top of his game. Hes got the drugs, the house, the job, everything, until one day he finds he is dead. Floating around he meets other tycoon like spirits that basically tell him, this is what we do. We wait around, welcome new comers, and eventually fade away. Well this doesn’t sit well with a go getter like John and suggests a plan to help others like them who are still living. It’s quite the plan and all are aboard. Might as well do something while you wait to fade out.

[Lizzy Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

My review for Monster Librarian can be found at http://www.monsterlibrarian.com/TheCi....