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The Door and Other Uncanny Tales

Dmetri Kakmi

3.41 · Rating details · 27 ratings · 21 reviews

Living paintings, spectral children, cannibal serial killers, lost souls, haunted houses, and ancient evil proliferate The Door and Other Uncanny Tales. Everywhere reality and fantasy collapse to create a new unstable world, even the body is not what it seems. Combined with Dmetri Kakmi’s gothic imagination and mordant humor, the result is fiction that is as memorable as i ...more

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Published September 28th 2020 by NineStar Press

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Average rating 3.41 ·

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· 27 ratings · 21 reviews

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Oct 07, 2020 Nikki Joyce rated it it was ok

Many thanks to NetGalley & Ninestar Press for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I do not typically read short stories, so this was something very different for me. I was looking for something creepy & spooky, and the description and cover of this book caught my eye.
For me, the first two stories (The Door and The Boy at the Gate) were the strongest, but unfortunately I did not care for the others. What I liked: The Door has a unique Twilight Zone feel, and The Boy at the Gate ...more

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Jan 28, 2021 Amy rated it liked it

Shelves: for-dramatic-effect-ya-think, crazyisthenewsane, ghosts-goblins-and-things-that-go, netgalley-arc, stephenkingisthebomb-thoselikehim, when-monsters-have-a-human-face

RTC

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Dec 10, 2020 Lee Kofman rated it it was amazing

I normally don't read supernatural and/or horror fiction, but I'm glad I read this collection. The novellas and short stories in it are written beautifully, with fine attention to language and psychology, plus - as is usual with these genres - the plot is strong and enticing. My very favorites were the first two: The Door and The Boy by the Gate, but they all good in their own ways. Some are more fabulist, whereas in others the realistic component is stronger. ...more

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Sep 11, 2020 Devann rated it it was ok

Shelves: a-adult, c-arcs, g-horror, sg-lgbtia, t-anthology, t-novella, z-20-netgalley, 2-0-star

I received an ARC copy of this book from NetGalley

★★★☆☆ The Door
★★☆☆☆ The Boy at the Gate
DNF☆☆ In the Dark
DNF☆☆ The Long Lonely Road
★★☆☆☆ Light in Her Eyes
DNF☆☆ Haunting Matilda

The first story was by far the best and also longest in this collection so maybe the author just needed to flesh them out a little bit more to get them to a higher level, but then again In the Dark and Light in Her Eyes in particular had me pulling the most hilarious 'what the hell am I reading' faces so I'm not sure anyt ...more

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Sep 16, 2020 Booker Wocky rated it it was ok

The Door and other Uncanny Tales is a collection of short spooky stories. Although I don't prefer reading short stories, I requested this book for its scary content. The first story - The Door, is the spookiest of them all after which it starts to go downhill.
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It concerns with an artist Orestes, who paints a life-size painting of a door and then one night, while he is alone, finds that door open. This was a quiet horror sort, which I like, slowly building up the atmosphere. The next story - The ...more

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Sep 26, 2020 Brenda rated it liked it

Shelves: netgalley

As always I’ll review the stories individually then average the scores out!

The Door: 4/5

A deliciously creepy premise. A man paints a life size door, then starts to hear noises from behind it. Soon it does exactly what a door does—it opens. And the man has to contend with what’s on the other side.

The Boy by the Gate: 4/5

Short and sweet. A young woman sees a little boy in a graveyard and makes the fatal mistake of drawing his attention. Masterfully handled and the perfect ghost story to tell at a ...more

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Sep 17, 2020 Chelsea rated it it was ok

The Door- 2.5/5
The Boy at the Gate- 2/5
In the Dark- 2/5
The Long and Lonely Road-1.5/5
Light in Her Eyes 2/5
Haunting Matilda- 2/5

The Door was the best out of all of them, though it was a bit repetitive and kind of confusing. The others I just didn't care about and overall didn't like the writing style. ...more

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Sep 15, 2020 Amanda rated it it was amazing

I loved these spooky stories! Got this as an arc from Netgalley, and now I'll definitely keep this author on my radar. The writing was REALLY good, not just the stories, but also the writing in itself. Many times I paused my reading and thought "that was really clever" or "that was really beautifully written". My favorite stories: The Door, Haunting Matilda & Light In Her Eyes

CW: These stories contain some descriptions that might be triggering or disturbing to some people. There are specific tr ...more

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Sep 27, 2020 Alexandra rated it really liked it

Shelves: giveaways-and-review-copies

First of all, thank you very much to the publisher and NetGalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My true rating for this collection of short stories would be 3.5 stars, but I bumped it to 4 to counterbalance some of the lower reviews. I'm an avid reader of horror (it's nearly all I read at this point), and while this wasn't a stand-out or anything groundbreaking, I did find it a solid and enjoyable little collection of short horror stories. I enjoyed three of the s First of all, thank you very much to the publisher and NetGalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My true rating for this collection of short stories would be 3.5 stars, but I bumped it to 4 to counterbalance some of the lower reviews. I'm an avid reader of horror (it's nearly all I read at this point), and while this wasn't a stand-out or anything groundbreaking, I did find it a solid and enjoyable little collection of short horror stories. I enjoyed three of the six stories, with the other three just not being to my taste.

The Door - Enjoyed the quiet, creeping dread of this one. I know that not everyone enjoys this more ambiguous sort of horror, but I very much do. One thing that I really appreciated about this story was that the horror wasn't entirely reliant on the supernatural; it was split between that and the sometimes horrifying mystery of self-identity and the place we hold in other's lives.

The Boy by the Gate - A bit of what could be called a "run of the mill" ghost story, but a fairly fun and effective one nonetheless. It had a sort of old-school vibe to me, with the bulk of the story being read from a letter giving it a bit of that "1950s Victorian horror movie" feel.

In the Dark - Not the worst short story I've ever read, but this one was mostly a miss for me. It seemed like it wasn't fleshed out enough, was a little too bare bones and needed a bit more development; it almost struck me as something I might read on the NoSleep Reddit. I was also initially intrigued that the child in this story seems to be the main character in the first story, but that element ultimately didn’t seem to add anything.

The Long Lonely Road - I love reading horror that is either from other countries than the USA, or that's tinged with different cultural traditions. This one reads almost like a simple folk tale, and is quite sad; I enjoyed it.

Light In Her Eyes - Mm, not a fan of this one. Seemed a bit too... preachy. It's one thing to explore grief and trauma related to a subect like this, but some of the language used, as well as the set up and conclusion, seemed a bit too "rah, rah, pro-life!" for me. Unsure if that was the author's intention, but really disappointing nonetheless.

Haunting Matilda - Lovecraftian horror is my favorite, but this was another miss for me. A bit too schlocky and "B-movie edgelord" for my tastes. ...more

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Sep 12, 2020 Maxine Robinson rated it did not like it

Shelves: 2020, netgalley, short-stories

I've had a weird hankering for horror recently (very unlike me) and as I do in times of book need, I turned to NetGalley. Imagine my excitement when I got approved for The Door. I've been obsessed with short stories lately so this collection was perfect.

The Door contained some brand new stories and a couple of previoulsy released tales.

Most of the stories were set in Victoria, which is where I'm from, so it was really cool to read the fantastic descriptions of Melbourne and a couple of other b I've had a weird hankering for horror recently (very unlike me) and as I do in times of book need, I turned to NetGalley. Imagine my excitement when I got approved for The Door. I've been obsessed with short stories lately so this collection was perfect.

The Door contained some brand new stories and a couple of previoulsy released tales.

Most of the stories were set in Victoria, which is where I'm from, so it was really cool to read the fantastic descriptions of Melbourne and a couple of other beautiful towns. I will admit, the creepy level was raised because I knew the places that were mentioned. Also there is a warning at the start of the book as some pretty heavy topics are covered, like domestic abuse, child abuse and attempted suicide. Most of these stories are centred around a child, so just a heads up.

As for the stories, they started out strong. The Door was intriguing, creepy and I turned the light on at one point. Note to self, reading horror is not best saved for night time.

"The eye withdrew from the keyhole and, almost instantly, a face appeared in the frosted glass above."

This was the moment I said Get Fucked, and put the book down for five minutes because it scared the shit out of me. Just for clarification, it was a painting, there should have been no one behind the door, it wasn't a real door.
The Door was a deep dive into what it means to be alive, to actively live instead of passively existing. I thought it was a well written, inclusive story, that seemed to dive deep, considering how short the story was.

The collection continued with several beautifully written stories that I found engaging and horrifying. The slow build creep factor was high. I was really glad to have picked this one...

Until I came to the story Light in her Eyes and look, I tried to give it the benefit of the doubt, I tried to figure out if I was reading it the wrong way, but I just couldn't get passed it. I was fucking horrified and kind of disgusted. I was going to share a quote from this one just so I don't have to be the only person whose retinas were burnt, but I decided that wouldn't be fair on any unsuspecting person that reads this. I'm not even going to dive into the last story because there was a scene in it that made sure I would never ever read this author again. Not for me.

Also I feel like I should mention that besides maybe 2 of the stories, I didn't find the others scary.

So overall a couple of really well written stories followed by two stories that were beyond fucked and they tainted the entire collection for me. ...more

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Sep 21, 2020 Mary rated it it was amazing

Shelves: netgalley-i-love-netgalley

Have you ever found yourself completely taken in by a painting? Have you ever felt that you could walk from your world into the world that the artist has painted onto canvas?
Orestes Gallanos is living the life of his dreams with the man he loves. Orestes creates a realistic and haunting oil painting of a door. onto linen With Orestes, we open the door and walk in and discover all that Orestes has forgotten and thought was behind him. He's a troubled man, Orestes. "In The Dark" we meet Orestes a ...more

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Oct 13, 2020 Rosaura rated it it was amazing

I like horror and I am not scared of reading strong materials. All the opposite, I appreciate authors who dare to go there. I also liked that there is a common atmosphere to all these short stories, and that there is even a character who gets repeated in two of them. The order of the short stories is very important, so I would recommend every potential reader to stick to the order on which the short stories have been published.

The best short story is the first one, The Door, which is also the lo ...more

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Sep 07, 2020 Alice rated it really liked it

The door and other uncanny tales is written by Dmetri Kakmi who has written about the darker sides of life and classic urban legend ghost stories.

Some of these stories have already been published before but include three new ones so that you can now read them all together.

The stories involve living paintings, ghosts of children, serial killers and haunted houses to name a few. The writing is quick and has easily relatable characters. Some of these made me feel sympathy for characters, dislike t ...more

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Dec 27, 2020 Amra Pajalic rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: ozauthor

This is a short story collection that was so chilling and creepy. It was ultimately satisfying and I enjoyed dipping in and out of the stories. I feel like each story was more horrific than the next. The first story The Door is almost half the book and had this sense of impending doom with a door that torments the main character Orestos. It was chilling and memorable. The Boy By the Gate was a ghost story that was macabre and atmospheric. In the Dark was so chilling in its sadism and depiction o ...more

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Nov 05, 2020 Elle rated it it was amazing

The Door and Other Uncanny Tales by Dmetri Kakmi was a beautiful collection of short stories. There are a total of 6 horror tales and overall they are all wonderfully written standalone stories. My favorites were The Door, In the Dark, and Haunting Matilda. These stories were all captivating and I found myself fully immersed in them, which is not easy to do in 30 minutes time. Kakmi is able to create characters whom I actually cared about. Overall, I highly recommended The Door and Uncanny Tales ...more

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Sep 23, 2020 whataslacker rated it did not like it

First, I want to thank the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this title. Thank you.

I don’t normally write a review for books I don’t care for, but I agreed to write one so here it is.

Short stories often fall flat for me and this book was no different. The first story had a good base but had so much other stuff going on it seemed to lose its way to the punchline so to speak. I know I was lost and found myself uninterested and skipping most of the filler.

After that fiasco, I ...more

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Sep 29, 2020 Liz104 rated it it was ok

This was an intense book, full of strange and sometimes really creepy and not in a good way stories. I really loved two of them, they were the kind of ghost stories that you could read in a campfire. The one with the abortion was really weird, though. And the Matilda one was appaling.
The thing I really liked was all the LGBT characters, it's not common in this kind of stories. ...more

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Sep 03, 2020 RACHEL REED rated it really liked it

This is a short anthology of chilling ghost stories.
Each story was hauntingly captivating and hypnotic.
My favorite one was Matilda.
Very original, dark and scary ghost stories for your next campfire trip!

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Sep 12, 2020 Mandy Hazen rated it liked it

This book was.....interesting. Very horror specific and definitely very graphic to the point of being almost difficult to read sometimes. Was never necessarily scary but more so just over the top when it maybe was not totally necessary? Either way not really my cup of tea but well written. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

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Oct 23, 2020 Aryani Siti rated it it was amazing

Interesting ghost story for Friday night reading. If something is uncanny, is it mysterious? Strange? Or supernatural?

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Oct 17, 2020 lucyreads_ rated it liked it

Shelves: short-stories-novellas, horror, netgalley-or-edelweiss

A good, varied mix of horror stories. This was a solid collection for me and i'd happily read this author again, but unfortunately there were no total stand outs for me here.

*ARC copy provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. ...more

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