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Spine Shivers
Fade to Black
Mila Chun wishes she knew what to say to the boy she likes, but she's too shy. So when her best friend, Junie Weid, hands her a script detailing how to converse with him, Mila is relieved. However, it doesn't take long before Mila feels like she's acting in a TV show and decides to ditch her lines. After abandoning the script, Mila experiences strange things. Flashes of light and people laughing in the background, big chunks of her time that go unaccounted for and looming faces that seem to be staring down at her from above. Can Mila figure out what kind of sinister force has taken over her life before the scene fades to black?
128 pages, Library Binding
First published August 1, 2016
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About the author
J.A. Darke
10 books22 followersPseudonym for authors Eric Stevens and Brandon Terrell.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 13, 2023
Multiple authors have written under the pseudonym J.A. Darke for Stone Arch's Spine Shivers series, but Eric Stevens tends to have the most intriguing story concepts. As Fade to Black gets underway, fifteen-year-old Mila Chun can't stop dreamily staring at Ricky Chestnut in math class, despite the teacher's harsh admonitions that she pay attention to the lesson. It's obvious she likes Ricky, so after school Mila's best friend, Junie Weid, hands her a script she's written for a series of conversations between Mila and Ricky. Junie promises that if Mila follows the script, Ricky will certainly become her boyfriend. The idea is weird, but Mila doesn't dismiss it out of hand. Could Junie's script be her roadmap for gaining Ricky's affections?
The unsettling incidents begin on Mila's walk home from school. She hears raucous laughter coming from nowhere, like a laugh track in a television situation comedy. The laughter even seems to respond to her unspoken thoughts. At home, Mila's memory skips huge chucks of time, switching instantly from morning to evening, or fast-forwarding an entire week in the blink of an eye. Whenever Mila leaves a room her family is in, she's lucky if she returns and finds them still there; often when she comes back the room is deserted, and a creeping, profound darkness hovers outdoors. High, howling winds pervade this darkness, and ghostlike faces eerily bob and weave within its expanse. Rarely do Mila's family, friends, or teachers acknowledge anything odd is going on, but when they do, it's with a muttered directive to "stick to the script." Are they talking about Junie's script? How could they know about that? Mila has no idea how to escape this frightening paradigm in which her life has been reframed as a television show. She knows she's a real person, with agency to make her own decisions. She's more than a character in Junie's or anyone's script...isn't she?
Fade to Black had enormous potential. The plot is fresh and surprising, more so than Eric Stevens's earlier entries in the Spine Shivers series. The atmosphere is creepy, spilling over with unpredictable elements; the problem is, it never forms a coherent narrative to arrive at the masterful conclusion the book deserves. Much about Fade to Black makes no sense: Why would Junie handing Mila a script for a set of conversations with Ricky change the fabric of her life? What do the spectral faces in the wind have to do with anything? Is Mila an actor, a character, both, or neither? The concept and feel are spot-on, and it's too bad Eric Stevens couldn't develop it into the spectacular psychological thriller he clearly wanted to. I'd rate Fade to Black one and a half stars; the author has talent, even if we never see it efficiently implemented in the Spine Shivers series. If he were to find his writing "sweet spot", though, the results would be exciting.
The unsettling incidents begin on Mila's walk home from school. She hears raucous laughter coming from nowhere, like a laugh track in a television situation comedy. The laughter even seems to respond to her unspoken thoughts. At home, Mila's memory skips huge chucks of time, switching instantly from morning to evening, or fast-forwarding an entire week in the blink of an eye. Whenever Mila leaves a room her family is in, she's lucky if she returns and finds them still there; often when she comes back the room is deserted, and a creeping, profound darkness hovers outdoors. High, howling winds pervade this darkness, and ghostlike faces eerily bob and weave within its expanse. Rarely do Mila's family, friends, or teachers acknowledge anything odd is going on, but when they do, it's with a muttered directive to "stick to the script." Are they talking about Junie's script? How could they know about that? Mila has no idea how to escape this frightening paradigm in which her life has been reframed as a television show. She knows she's a real person, with agency to make her own decisions. She's more than a character in Junie's or anyone's script...isn't she?
Fade to Black had enormous potential. The plot is fresh and surprising, more so than Eric Stevens's earlier entries in the Spine Shivers series. The atmosphere is creepy, spilling over with unpredictable elements; the problem is, it never forms a coherent narrative to arrive at the masterful conclusion the book deserves. Much about Fade to Black makes no sense: Why would Junie handing Mila a script for a set of conversations with Ricky change the fabric of her life? What do the spectral faces in the wind have to do with anything? Is Mila an actor, a character, both, or neither? The concept and feel are spot-on, and it's too bad Eric Stevens couldn't develop it into the spectacular psychological thriller he clearly wanted to. I'd rate Fade to Black one and a half stars; the author has talent, even if we never see it efficiently implemented in the Spine Shivers series. If he were to find his writing "sweet spot", though, the results would be exciting.
June 17, 2021
I love the concept of this book. It’s paced well and it kept me intrigued. However I will say it’s the ending of the book where things fall flat. The reveal as to what is causing the scenario is pretty underwhelming. I feel the lesson they were trying to make could have been achieved more effectively had the concept of the lesson been reflected in the character’s personality.
If you’re a fan of Goosebumps/Fear Street, or just kids horror in general I recommend this one!
If you’re a fan of Goosebumps/Fear Street, or just kids horror in general I recommend this one!
March 20, 2018
Creepy story about Mila, a teenage girl who seems to be losing her mind and may no longer have a grip on reality. Can Mila figure out what's really happening before she completely loses her mind?
January 5, 2023
I can see ms and hs kids getting a kick out of this as well as my 5th graders. :)
October 4, 2018
i liked it
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews