Darkness On The Edge Of Town: Stories of Pine Deep

Pine Deep

by Jonathan Maberry

From New York Times best-selling author Jonathan Maberry comes a collection of five stories set in "the Spookiest Town in America" - including one brand-new story.

In "Long Way Home", a young soldier returns from the Middle East and discovers that there is another - and much stranger - war to be fought in his hometown.

In "Mister Pockets" a young paperboy discovers that a random act of kindness may have greater consequences - especially as night falls in Pine Deep.

In "Property Condemned", a prequel to the Pine Deep trilogy, young Malcolm Crow and his friends go looking for ghosts and find something much darker and hungrier.

In "Whistlin' Past the Graveyard", a cemetery worker in Pine Deep begins to suspect that the dead are not resting easy in their graves.

And in the new story "The Trouble", a direct sequel to the Pine Deep trilogy, Malcolm Crow thought he had destroyed the evil that had terrorized his town for 40 years. But a new series of brutal murders forces him to prepare for another battle with the forces of darkness.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Audiobook, Short Stories, Supernatural, Fantasy, Suspense

Audiobook

First published May 5, 2015

About the author

JONATHAN MABERRY is a NYTimes bestselling author, #1 Audible bestseller, 5-time Bram Stoker Award-winner, 4-time Scribe Award winner, Inkpot Award winner, comic book writer, and producer. He is the author of more than 50 novels, 190 short stories, 16 short story collections, 30 graphic novels, 14 nonfiction books, and has edited 26 anthologies. His vampire apocalypse book series, V-WARS, was a Netflix original series starring Ian Somerhalder. His 2009-10 run as writer on the Black Panther comic formed a large chunk of the recent blockbuster film, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. His bestselling YA zombie series, Rot & Ruin is in development for film at Alcon Entertainment; and John Wick director, Chad Stahelski, is developing Jonathan’s Joe Ledger Thrillers for TV. Jonathan writes in multiple genres including suspense, thriller, horror, science fiction, epic fantasy, and action; and he writes for adults, teens and middle grade. His works include The Pine Deep Trilogy, The Kagen the Damned Trilogy, NecroTek, Ink, Glimpse, the Rot & Ruin series, the Dead of Night series, The Wolfman, X-Files Origins: Devil’s Advocate, The Sleepers War (with Weston Ochse), Mars One, and many others. He is the editor of high-profile anthologies including Weird Tales: 100 Years of Weird, The X-Files, Aliens: Bug Hunt, Out of Tune, Don’t Turn out the Lights: A Tribute to Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Baker Street Irregulars, Nights of the Living Dead, Shadows & Verse, and others. His comics include Marvel Zombies Return, The Punisher: Naked Kills, Wolverine: Ghosts, Godzilla vs Cthulhu: Death May Die, Bad Blood and many others. Jonathan has written in many popular licensed worlds, including Hellboy, True Blood, The Wolfman, John Carter of Mars, Sherlock Holmes, C.H.U.D., Diablo IV, Deadlands, World of Warcraft, Planet of the Apes, Aliens, Predator, Karl Kolchak, and many others. He the president of the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers, and the editor of Weird Tales Magazine. He lives in San Diego, California. Find him online at www.jonathanmaberry.com

Reviews

[Badseedgirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of short stories felt like a wrap-up of the Pine Deep Trilogy. Many of the questions left unanswered had resolution. It was nice to see Mike Sweeny again also.

[Andreas Acevedo Dunlop Strom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Soooooo great to visit Pine Deep again. In fact, it made me pick up Ghost Road Blues again for a reread.
The best story was the last - a proper follow-up to the Pine Deep Trilogy.

[Gareth Is Haunted · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of Pine Deep stories. Top notch work as expected. My favorite would be 'Property Condemned' a short haunted house story which really had me engrossed.

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

This audiobook was narrated by Ray Porter.
The last short(ish) story was the best. And the saddest.
4.5 stars, and recommended for those who have already read/listened to the other books in the Pine Deep trilogy.

[Rachel]

I'm not rating this one because I thought it was a collection of short stories. And it is! But I didn't realize it was attached to a full trilogy. I was so lost in places and felt l was missing more of a backstory...it's because I was! 😂 If I ever read the trilogy I'll come back and reassess.

[Sally · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say, I a love all things Pine Deep!

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection of short stories that take place a few years after the events of the Pine Deep Trilogy. it's been years since I read those and listening to these brought me right back to the story.
I liked all of the stories. they all had a different feel to them and just made me want to re-read the series.
Definitely worth checking out if you're a fan of Jonathan Maberry

[Stefan Koepeknie · Rating 4 out of 5]

You do not need to read the 'Pine Deep Trilogy' to read this but you will enjoy it more.
There are big picture spoilers for the trilogy.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid short stories of the supernatural. Elevated by Ray Porter's masterful narration. My only wish was that I had read the Pine Deep trilogy first, but still great stories on their own.

[myreadingescapism · Rating 5 out of 5]

If Jonathan Maberry writes it, there is a 99.9% chance I am going to love it.

[Shawn Deal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally, we get to go back to Pine Deep. I have been anxiously waiting to go back to this most haunted city since the end of his triology. Where this is not a novel, which I hope he is going to come, this is a great collection of short stories all set in Pine Deep. Thank God, at least he is thinking about it. Now let's hope fore another novel.

[Allen Jorgensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great group of stories to listen to right before Halloween, especially if you have read the Pine Deep Trilogy.

[Dasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 estrellas

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Long Way Home" 4/11/2020
"Mister Pockets" 4/14/2020
"Property Condemned" 4/16/2020
"Whistlin' Past the Graveyard" 4/18/2020
"The Trouble" 4/20/2020

[Jason Arbuckle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book 212 - Jonathan Maberry - Darkness on the Edge of Town : Stories of Pine Deep

The Pine Deep Trilogy is a series of horror stories set in the town of the same name…with decades of stories dealing with evil…the supernatural…vampires and other scary monsters.

I didn’t know that what I was reading was a snapshot of stories told across the history of the town.

They were well written…suitably scary…well characterised…but…something was missing… almost a horror-by-numbers tale.

Nothing memorable but nothing rubbish…just ok.

Might go back and look at the first in the series at some point…as I was intrigued.

[Evan · Rating 4 out of 5]

For this collection of stories, its really necessary to have read the Pine Deep trilogy.

"Long Way Home", my least favorite of the collection

"Mister Pockets" this story was gripping, if not completely satisfying - who is Mr. Pockets?!?!

"Property Condemned", this was good

"Whistlin' Past the Graveyard", terrifying yet humorous.

"The Trouble", not as scary, perhaps, but provided the best update on what is going on in Pine Deep status post the Red Wave.

[greggo · Rating 3 out of 5]

in the sense that you can feel him building out the ‘show bible’ of pine deep for an inevitable full length return, this is really cool. i wish it had more in the way of fan service and less of the slice of life in town stuff, which works well in the large format ‘the stand’ collage style and less well when half of the book is about unrelated characters, and there’s some teasing going on here that is starting to drive me crazy. worth the time, inessential.

[Nathaniel Darkish · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very solid collection of stories set within the Pine Deep series. I really loved most of the stories-- Mr. Pockets was terrifying, and the two stories with Crow and Val as major characters were fantastic as well. The other two stories were good but weren't amazing, which is the only reason this collection doesn't get five stars.

[John Randall · Rating 4 out of 5]

You don't need to have read the Pine Deep trilogy to read this but it was more enjoyable to me as a result of having already read them. This filled in some time before and after the trilogy seeing both new characters, as well as, the main characters both before and after the trouble.

[David Thurman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jonathan Maberry never disappoints. I loved the Pine Deep trilogy, so it was so great to revisit that place. After reading this collection of stories, I think it’s time for a full on sequel. The very prolific Mr. Maberry should get started on that right away.

[Matt McCall · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like the Pine Deep trilogy you'll like this.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could listen to Ray Porter narrate Maberry stories all day.

[Lisa HEFLIN · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love pretty much everything Johnathan Maberry writes.

[Amanda Hudson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed revisiting Pine Deep

[Janice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent compilation of stories about Pine Deep.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting set of stories about the town of Pine Deep and the monsters who are trying to take over. Some nice twists in a couple of the stories. I enjoyed listening to them.

[Vanessa Kiger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent!! This was so satisfying.. perfect tie up stories after finishing the trilogy. I really enjoyed every one of them.

[Wayne's · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable makes we want to re-read the original Pine Deep series.

[Jacquelyn Dohoney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will never get tired of these characters. I wish there would be more novel length stories added to this series. Jonathon Maberry is a phenomenal horror writer and his take on vampires and werewolves is among the best I’ve seen.

[Lorri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very fun short stories in the pine deep world.