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Beware of the Mist
Nate spent his entire career in special operations, four deployments in all. Today was going to be a fresh start in a civilian job. Now he's trapped in the Freedom Tower and the only thing the Ranger has against what's in the mist is a two-foot blade from the office paper cutter.
A Homage to Lovecraft, Ligotti, and King that should be read with a coffee, beer, or a glass of wine - and the light on.
Nate spent his entire career in special operations, four deployments in all. Today was going to be a fresh start in a civilian job. Now he's trapped in the Freedom Tower and the only thing the Ranger has against what's in the mist is a two-foot blade from the office paper cutter.
A Homage to Lovecraft, Ligotti, and King that should be read with a coffee, beer, or a glass of wine - and the light on.
42 pages, Paperback
Published November 5, 2015
3 people are currently reading
23 people want to read
About the author
Daniel Arthur Smith
97 books237 followersDaniel Arthur Smith is a USA Today bestselling author. His titles include Spectral Shift, Agroland, The Cathari Treasure, and a few other novels and short stories. He also curates the phenomenal short fiction series Tales from the Canyons of the Damned and Frontiers of Speculative Fiction.
He was raised in Michigan and graduated from Western Michigan University where he studied philosophy, with focus on cognitive science, meta-physics, and comparative religion. As a young man Daniel was a bartender, barista, poetry house proprietor, teacher, then became a technologist and futurist for the Fortune 100 across the Americas and Europe.
Daniel has traveled to over 300 cities in 22 countries, residing in Los Angeles, Kalamazoo, Prague, Crete, and now writes between Manhattan and Connecticut where he lives with his wife and sons.
For more information, visit danielarthursmith.com
He was raised in Michigan and graduated from Western Michigan University where he studied philosophy, with focus on cognitive science, meta-physics, and comparative religion. As a young man Daniel was a bartender, barista, poetry house proprietor, teacher, then became a technologist and futurist for the Fortune 100 across the Americas and Europe.
Daniel has traveled to over 300 cities in 22 countries, residing in Los Angeles, Kalamazoo, Prague, Crete, and now writes between Manhattan and Connecticut where he lives with his wife and sons.
For more information, visit danielarthursmith.com
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
November 1, 2015
Daniel Arthur Smith notes that his series of short stories, TALES FROM THE CANYONS OF THE DAMNED, are an homage to Stephen King and HP Lovecraft, and he proudly wears these influences on his sleeve.
This first in his series of episodic releases in the TALES brand hits the ground running, and we're only a few taps of the Kindle screen before all goes bonkers. Nate is an ex-military man heading to work in his office job in One World Trade Center when, minutes into his new career, an EMP bomb knocks out the power and traps the workers inside 80-some stories up. After realizing help is not coming, Nate leads a small cadre of office drones into the stairwells in search of food and, perhaps if they're lucky, a way out. Only problem: there's a weird fog in the stairs, and plenty of screaming coming from the other side of the door...
TOWER is, for all intents and purposes, a terrific mashup of King's THE MIST, with plenty of Lovecraftian tentacly goodness tossed in for good measure. While this a horror read, it's not over-the-top in its graphic depictions of bloodletting, but Smith does a good job setting the scene and giving us the gory info necessary to let us know the frights reach beyond any given Case of the Mondays these folks might be having.
Note that TOWER is only the first episode of this particular serial, and the cliffhanger is rather sudden. All the more reason to move on to the next episode, Tales from the Canyons of the Damned: Sandhogs.
This first in his series of episodic releases in the TALES brand hits the ground running, and we're only a few taps of the Kindle screen before all goes bonkers. Nate is an ex-military man heading to work in his office job in One World Trade Center when, minutes into his new career, an EMP bomb knocks out the power and traps the workers inside 80-some stories up. After realizing help is not coming, Nate leads a small cadre of office drones into the stairwells in search of food and, perhaps if they're lucky, a way out. Only problem: there's a weird fog in the stairs, and plenty of screaming coming from the other side of the door...
TOWER is, for all intents and purposes, a terrific mashup of King's THE MIST, with plenty of Lovecraftian tentacly goodness tossed in for good measure. While this a horror read, it's not over-the-top in its graphic depictions of bloodletting, but Smith does a good job setting the scene and giving us the gory info necessary to let us know the frights reach beyond any given Case of the Mondays these folks might be having.
Note that TOWER is only the first episode of this particular serial, and the cliffhanger is rather sudden. All the more reason to move on to the next episode, Tales from the Canyons of the Damned: Sandhogs.
November 7, 2015
I'm so glad I read this in the daylight! Very creepy read featuring an EMP, tentacles, lots of blood, mist, odd physics, and a skyscraper. In the middle, my fan suddenly came to life (faulty wiring... or is it??) and scared the bejeezus out me! I thought it was a nasty tentacle coming after me. Looking forward to reading the next installment!!
November 5, 2015
Nate’s first attempt at a civilian job dumps him right into a situation requiring his military skills and leadership ability. He knows an attack when he sees one, and recognizes the type of attack as well. If only it had stayed that simple. Nate’s no better equipped than anyone else to deal with a building that no longer conforms to the laws of physics.
The mist and the tentacle-wielding creatures it disguises are the obvious nods to King and Lovecraft. From there, the story advances into stranger territory, in a building that would have to be considered a magnet for trouble. Does it harbor a nexus for alternate worlds? Maybe a point of overlapping dimensions? There’s plenty of strange and haunting activity throughout the tower, and no lack of murderous tentacles.
Spooky reading! I want to find out what happens next.
The mist and the tentacle-wielding creatures it disguises are the obvious nods to King and Lovecraft. From there, the story advances into stranger territory, in a building that would have to be considered a magnet for trouble. Does it harbor a nexus for alternate worlds? Maybe a point of overlapping dimensions? There’s plenty of strange and haunting activity throughout the tower, and no lack of murderous tentacles.
Spooky reading! I want to find out what happens next.
November 2, 2015
With a serialized story I always feel like I'm cheating time because I get to read it before the book comes out... I know silly... The story begins with Nate's impressions of the building as he enters it to start his first day on the job. And wow, what a first day, it's a dozy... Horror is normally not my go to genre, but Daniel is such a good writer that I just couldn't pass up reading this... I believe he will end up tying all the stories together... Go ahead, I dare you, jump on this 'Tower' train and read along with us and lets see where it takes us...
November 2, 2015
If the cover doesn't do it . . .
the story will!
Man o man! Heck of a way to set up this series! I'm really looking forward to seeing where this goes :D
the story will!
Man o man! Heck of a way to set up this series! I'm really looking forward to seeing where this goes :D
November 4, 2015
Fantastic!! I read this short but action packed story in one sitting. Great Lead character, fun supporting characters. Great pace! Can't wait to read Sandhogs.
January 8, 2017
Spooky!
Reminded me of King's "The Mist" and that movie where people are trapped in some strange moving multidimensional cube (might be the actual movie title..The Cube? They made several, I think). Cool story ... that has no ending. Given the weirdness of "after" maybe it's a given: no ending because there's no way the three survivors ever make it out of the Tower. Creepy!!!
Reminded me of King's "The Mist" and that movie where people are trapped in some strange moving multidimensional cube (might be the actual movie title..The Cube? They made several, I think). Cool story ... that has no ending. Given the weirdness of "after" maybe it's a given: no ending because there's no way the three survivors ever make it out of the Tower. Creepy!!!
July 1, 2024
Delightfully eerie!! What fun!!! 👏👏👏
December 4, 2016
This is, as other readers have commented, a very short version version of Stephen King's "The Mist" set in a skyscraper. That building is the One World Trade Center, AKA "Freedom Towers", where the Twin Towers once stood.
I do think it was tasteless of the author to use this setting for this story, given the REAL-LIFE horror that took place on that lot. It also diminishes what the new tower's meaning. Another very tall building in the US could have been used, such as Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco that does not carry this same tragic history so not so short a time ago. So, one star off for this.
As I said, the plot is similar, but there is also a spatial distortion taking place in the building which is unlike anything that took place in "The Mist", so it really cannot be considered a continuation of that story.
The story does end abruptly in the middle of a violent attack.
Despite what some readers believe, this is NOT a cliffhanger ending. The ending of the story is obvious from what happens in the story itself. Weeks if not months are spent trying to escape the tower without any success, and, more important, not even the slightest hint it *might* be possible to escape. The few remaining people in the building are using up the food and other resources in the building. The surprise attack that happens to the main character at the end -- which the reader does not know if he survives or not -- is a clear indication of what *will* happen with time to ALL survivors in the building -- over and over again.
Either the trapped humans will starve to death or they will be killed by the Mist Monsters with time. Nothing in the story indicates the ending could be otherwise.
The ending is everyone in the building ends up dead. The End.
. . .
I do think it was tasteless of the author to use this setting for this story, given the REAL-LIFE horror that took place on that lot. It also diminishes what the new tower's meaning. Another very tall building in the US could have been used, such as Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco that does not carry this same tragic history so not so short a time ago. So, one star off for this.
As I said, the plot is similar, but there is also a spatial distortion taking place in the building which is unlike anything that took place in "The Mist", so it really cannot be considered a continuation of that story.
The story does end abruptly in the middle of a violent attack.
Despite what some readers believe, this is NOT a cliffhanger ending. The ending of the story is obvious from what happens in the story itself. Weeks if not months are spent trying to escape the tower without any success, and, more important, not even the slightest hint it *might* be possible to escape. The few remaining people in the building are using up the food and other resources in the building. The surprise attack that happens to the main character at the end -- which the reader does not know if he survives or not -- is a clear indication of what *will* happen with time to ALL survivors in the building -- over and over again.
Either the trapped humans will starve to death or they will be killed by the Mist Monsters with time. Nothing in the story indicates the ending could be otherwise.
The ending is everyone in the building ends up dead. The End.
. . .
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 16, 2016
The Mist in a Skyscraper
Tower is exactly what it appears to be - The MIST in a skyscraper. And this is not a bad thing - Mist in a tower is a cool premise. Overall I enjoyed the story, with a few reservations. First, we get a good set up, but once the action gets going the narrative stops showing and starts telling, a sort of narrative synopsis takes over -- second, there's no resolution. Story just ends in the middle of the action. I would love to read a full novel that takes its time to flesh out the story.
Tower is exactly what it appears to be - The MIST in a skyscraper. And this is not a bad thing - Mist in a tower is a cool premise. Overall I enjoyed the story, with a few reservations. First, we get a good set up, but once the action gets going the narrative stops showing and starts telling, a sort of narrative synopsis takes over -- second, there's no resolution. Story just ends in the middle of the action. I would love to read a full novel that takes its time to flesh out the story.
June 18, 2016
Fun concept, not a bad writing style, but storytelling falls short in the end. Long passages of nothing really happening, and an ending that only says 'it's explainable and therefore Lovecraftian, deal with it' ... I mean, even Lovecraft gave endings to his stuff that made all the suspense and weirdness acceptable. But we can only assume that things are happening at this particular spot because the author said so. The author's contents would make a better video-game than a book.
January 2, 2016
No end, just build up
Well written,but lacking direction or character development. It felt more like a stream of consciousness after having read Stephan King's the "Mist." No originality really. But, I would still like to know what happens to them. Then again, I know what happened in "The Mist". I can do without. However, as kindle unlimited book I got everything I paid for.
Well written,but lacking direction or character development. It felt more like a stream of consciousness after having read Stephan King's the "Mist." No originality really. But, I would still like to know what happens to them. Then again, I know what happened in "The Mist". I can do without. However, as kindle unlimited book I got everything I paid for.
February 22, 2016
Unique and interesting
I selected this because of my liking Steven King's The Mist and the fact the author dedicated this story to his brother, a veteran. Well written, interesting, strange, and a little spooky, the author manages to hold your interest with a handful of characters struggling to survive an attack by an otherworldly creature.
I selected this because of my liking Steven King's The Mist and the fact the author dedicated this story to his brother, a veteran. Well written, interesting, strange, and a little spooky, the author manages to hold your interest with a handful of characters struggling to survive an attack by an otherworldly creature.
April 4, 2016
Interesting story
This tale of strange things happening at Ground Zero is fun and quirky, sometimes a little bloody if you are not a horror fan. I liked it. I will check out this author's other works.
This tale of strange things happening at Ground Zero is fun and quirky, sometimes a little bloody if you are not a horror fan. I liked it. I will check out this author's other works.
November 29, 2015
Brilliant bare-knuckle, high-speed horror tale!
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews