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Growing Dark

Kristopher Triana (Goodreads Author)

4.14 · Rating details · 43 ratings · 14 reviews

A small town is ruined by black rain, and two police officers find themselves face to face with the creatures lurking in the flooded streets. In the wild west, an aging gunslinger returns to his favorite brothel, only to encounter a fathomless black tar that's devouring everyone within. Paramedics find a remedy for a zombie virus outbreak – but can the survivors come to te ...more

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Paperback, First Edition, 220 pages

Published July 28th 2015 by Blue Juice Books (first published May 15th 2015)

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Average rating 4.14 ·

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· 43 ratings · 14 reviews

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Jul 08, 2017 Brenda rated it really liked it

Shelves: shelf-awareness

Separated by short story, ready go:

From the Storms, A Daughter
4 out of 5 stars
I love sea monsters! So much! Black rain flooding the world gives rise to creepy things beneath the surface of the water....

Eaters
4 out of 5 stars
A highly original take on the zombie idea. It's a virus that people can potentially beat, so even if you eat someone you may still recover and be fully human again. It's trying to reconcile your actions (eating people) once you're healthy again that's the problem.

Growing Da ...more

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Jan 25, 2021 Leopoldo Di maio rated it really liked it

All stories of good level.

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Jun 23, 2015 Nicole Amburgey rated it it was amazing

What a great collection of short stories! 'Growing Dark,' is predominantly horror - almost every story representing a different sub-genre; from demons to zombies to cannibals to crazies to ghosts. The stories that aren't horror are simply dark and haunting. Actually, dark and haunting is how I would describe nearly every story in this collection - and I mean that in a good way!

Mr. Triana's writing style is reminiscent of Stuart O'Nan, with a cowboy twist. His stories are atmospheric, dark, movin ...more

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Oct 12, 2016 Paula rated it it was amazing

First-rate storytelling! You can read my full review here... https://horrornovelreviews.com/2016/1... ...more

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Jun 08, 2020 Sea Caummisar rated it really liked it

Like most grab bag books of stories,I thought some of these tales were better than others. This is my first Triana book and I was not disappointed. There s a very interesting take on a zombie virus that made me laugh my butt off. I'm not usually a fan of ghost and supernatural stuff, but the story about a VHS rental store was probably my favorite out of all the stories. There was a couple that I thought were just kinda okay, but none of them were bad. This author does have a very interesting ima ...more

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Jun 06, 2020 Richard Haynes rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, horror

Short stories and all of them are good.

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Oct 16, 2015 Kim rated it really liked it

Shelves: goodreads-giveaway-books

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I received this book for free from the Goodreads Giveaways.

Kristopher Triana has written a masterpiece collection of horror and interesting short stories.
Some of these pieces didn't feel like horror to me but I thoroughly enjoyed every single one of them. I don't even know which one would be my favorite.

The book opens with a short story about a town flooded by a gross rain that is transforming the children and unborn babies into flesh eating monsters.
The second is about a group of survivors in I received this book for free from the Goodreads Giveaways.

Kristopher Triana has written a masterpiece collection of horror and interesting short stories.
Some of these pieces didn't feel like horror to me but I thoroughly enjoyed every single one of them. I don't even know which one would be my favorite.

The book opens with a short story about a town flooded by a gross rain that is transforming the children and unborn babies into flesh eating monsters.
The second is about a group of survivors in the zombie apocolypse and one of them becomes infected and wants to eat the others. Then he survives the virus and he and the others like him begin a new cannibalistic religion.
The third short story is about a father who pushes his son to be a man so much so that the son becomes crazed and slaughters every living thing on their dying farm.
The fourth is a very short story about two people who reunite on the anniversary they killed someone and got away with it.
The fifth was a cute story from the point of view of monsters under a 7-8 year old's bed who must succeed in scaring him or they'll be replaced by the big bad boogeymen.
The sixth was an enthralling story about a saloon being overtaken by the whores' nine babies who the owner had slaughtered.
The seventh is about a man whose mother is dying from cancer and he's returned to his hometown to see her. While she's at the hospital he goes off to meet an old lover of his who turns out to be a sort of self acclaimed succubus and he kills her instead which makes him realize he needs to be there for his mom and tells his ex girlfriend that she needs help as he has now seen crazier.
The eighth was a fantastic story about a horror movie enthusiast who sees an online ad for a vhs movie rental store. He goes there only to find it's been out of business for years and everything he sees is front but it's too late he's signed the membership agreement.....
The ninth short story is about a broken man who helps his cousin break into a pharmacy and then burns his ex fiancé's things while drugged up (he may or may not die at the end I guess that's left to our discretion?).
The final short story was very fitting, I felt. It was about two movie stars from old westerns who had died and were fighting demons in the afterlife to keep them from making time go haywire. They don't even know if this will reward them with seeing their loved ones again, but they hope. ...more

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Oct 07, 2015 Jenne Kaivo rated it really liked it

Recommended to Jenne by: Elissa Nelson

A collection of real cowboy horror. Triana's writing is moody and expressive, and his narrative voice is strong, although not changing much from one story to another. Female characters are not a strength: Soon There'll Be Leaves could be a textbook illustration of the Madonna/Whore complex, with the bipolar ex occupying both spaces. This is not a particularly unusual problem for male writers.

In my opinion, the best-realized story is Growing Dark, from which the book gets its title. There is an e ...more

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Jan 22, 2018 Cat rated it it was amazing

I am a sucker for short stories, Anything I can read when I only a bit of time and these one fit the bill Doubly as I am a fan of horror tales! I guess I don't scare very easily anymore, but these stories were suitable dark and well written. I especially enjoyed Giving From The Bottom! It was fun to revisit deceased actors in the after life! Also, Eaters was a fun take on Zombies! Awww, they were all fun in their own ways . Unique and entertaining!

I received an advance copy from the publisher in ...more

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Oct 01, 2019 Douglas Ogurek rated it liked it

I discovered Kristopher Triana in a splatterpunk anthology. His story was jaw-droppingly extreme. Therefore, I was somewhat surprised at the tameness of this collection, which includes not only softer horror, but also a couple westerns with a supernatural spin (not really my thing). The best story was "Video Express," in which a horror nerd finds himself in a retro '80s video rental store with suspicious employees. ...more

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Nov 13, 2016 Amanda Mic Perkins rated it did not like it

Eh. The first story was the best, but it sort of went downhill from there. I don't think this author likes women very much. He has a tendency to kill all of them off in increasingly violent ways, or they're easily disposed of as cold hearted bitches. Do not recommend (unless you just want to read the first story. That one was good.) ...more

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Apr 17, 2020 David DeBerardinis rated it it was amazing

Absolutely great read! Each story was just fascinating as the last. My personal favorites being Before the Boogeyman Come, The Bone Orchard, Soon There'll Be Leaves, and of course Video Express. Kristopher Triana had compiled a masterpiece of short stories and it is an absolutely wonderful read. ...more

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May 23, 2020 Michael James rated it it was amazing

Great variety of stories. This was my 2nd book by this author. Will definitely be reading more books by him. His short stories kinda remind me of Joe Landsdale.

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Aug 16, 2017 Alicia rated it liked it

Only read 1/2 of it. I'm not a real fan of short stories but the ones I did read were a bit gruesome. I will keep nearby when I want a quick read. ...more

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About Kristopher Triana

Kristopher Triana

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Kristopher Triana is the author of Full Brutal, Gone to See the River Man, Shepherd of the Black Sheep, The Ruin Season, Toxic Love and more.

His fiction has appeared in countless magazines and anthologies and has been translated into multiple languages, drawing praise from Publisher's Weekly, Cemetery Dance, Rue Morgue, Scream, The Ginger Nuts of Horror and others.

Full Brutal won the Splatterpunk ...more