| Title | : | Darkness Whispers |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 133 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 2016 |
Richard Chizmar, award-winning author of A Long December, and Brian James Freeman, acclaimed author of The Painted Darkness, have combined forces to create an old-fashioned tale of horror, full of good and evil, with a breathtaking ending that will leave you wondering when this peculiar old man might be coming for you.
Darkness Whispers Reviews
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A beautifully-written, evocative, lean, and gruesome novella that calls back to the horror fiction of the Eighties while being firmly grounded in the present.
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This hardcover book is copy 82 of 500 copies printed and is signed by Richard Chizmar and Brian James Freeman.
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Титулното произведение беше готино, макар и да не блестеше с кой знае какво. Просто една добре обрисувана история в духа на класическия Кинг.
Двата разказа бяха прилични, но не ме грабнаха особено. -
Томчето включва три произведения.
Мракът шепне - Ричард Чизмар и Брайън Джеймс Фрийман
Откриващата новела много, ама много ми напомни за
Бурята на века, само дето Кралският размах на въображението го нямаше тук, макар и изпълнението на дуета да беше що-годе прилично. В Уиндбрук, население 2134 идва зловещо старче, издокарано в черен костюм, мека черна шапка с бяла лента и, забележете, богато гравиран бастун със сребърна дръжка, а в малката сплотена общност, в която всички се познават, животът бързо се обръща с краката нагоре. Старчето скитори насам-натам и разпитва хората за най-съкровените им желания, като обещава да ги изпълни срещу съот��етната цена... Кой как ще реагира на тази сделка - ще я приеме или отхвърли?
И кротките ще наследят... - Ричард Чизмар
Две хлапета се промъкват в дома на възрастния си съсед, подозирайки, че е сериен убиец. Разказ, изграден предимно от диалози, в който улових нещо от адаша на автора - Леймън.
Изоставено от предишните собственици - Брайън Джеймс Фрийман
Двама мъже влизат в изоставен склад на стар промишлен комплекс, в който преди години е станал пожар и са загинали много хора, за да се опитат да оправят повредения генератор... Подобно и на предните две истории - прилично изпълнение с леко претупан край.
По отношение на оформлението, нямам никаква забележка. Взех си екземпляр с твърда корица, а артът на Томислав Тикулин е прекрасен, издържан в духа на хорър стилистиката и някак подсетил ме за шарените рисувани обложки на албумите на Death (Spiritual Healing), Rumble Militia (Stop Violence and Madness), Sodom (Mortal Way of Live)... и още един куп заглавия. Така или иначе за мен хорърът е еквивалент на пънка, дета и траша в музиката... Вътрешните черно-бели илюстрации на Димо бяха допълнителен страховит бонус.
Крайна оценка - Пълен Четири! -
I received a copy of this title from the author (Brian Freeman) and Cemetery Dance in exchange for an honest review.
This is the second collaboration involving Brian Freeman that I have read recently and I can tell you that the chemistry is different each time. The other novel, also very enjoyable, was The Halloween Children—written with Norman Prentiss. Both stories are quite dark, but this one had a fairy tale quality to it that may have been Richard Chizmar’s influence. Chizmar just published Gwendy’s Box that he wrote with Stephen King and some reviewers have likened the tone of Darkness Whispers to King and I can see that, especially in the “Needful Things” vibe the plot was giving off.
King, however, at least in most of his writing (Revival being a big exception), has a gentle grand-fatherly voice that, even after he just scared the snot out of you, ruffles your hair and tells you to go along now and play and don’t think too much about the scary stuff he just seared into your brain.
Darkness Whispers is more brutal than that.
This novella is about how anything good probably won’t last. About how many of us hold a darkness inside—a darkness that listens when evil comes and whispers in our ear. It’s about how you can know someone so well, you think; yet be so fooled when they show the monstrosity that they had concealed.
And it is about how certain people can make the big sacrifices that save us all.
The devil may be cheated. Maybe a bit ticked off. But he will move on because it is a big, wide world out there and the truly noble folks are, sad to say, few and far between.
And the devil never rests. -
Чизмар и Фрийман са притежателите на култовото издателство "Семетери денс", което от години поддържа жанра в Щатите с бутиковите си издания с ограничени тиражи.
Всеки от двамата не веднъж е казвал, че е по-добър издател от колкото писател и това, плюс произведенията които съм чел от двамата, ме подготви много добре какво да очаквам - приличен стил на писане и неангажиращи истории.
Книгата съдържа три разказа, като първия е почти с дължината на повест писани съответно от двамата заедно и от всеки по отделно.
Мракът шепне - произведението колаборация в което се вижда безбожно силно влияние на Кинг. Става, но не блести нито със сюжет, нито с литературни похвати. Даже на места имах усещането, че авторите прилагат чисто епигонство на кингови прийоми, без да са наясно защо.
В малко и идилично градче в Пенсилвания пристига странен чужденец, който ще превърне подредения живот на местните граждани в кошмар.
И кротките ще наследят... - Кратък разказ от Ричард Чизмар по доволно експлоатирана тема с лек политически привкус.
Две хлапета са убедени, че самотния съсед е сериен убиец. Когато решават да разследват сами в старата му къща ща се натъкнат на откритие далеч надхвърлящо детската им фантазия.
Изоставено от предишните собственици - Кратък разказ от Брайън Фрийман за обитавано място, който доста ми хареса. Тук вече видях собствен стил и оригинално разглеждане на класическата трактовка. Имаше клаустрофобия, паранормално, доволно количество страх, абе... много прилично.
Семейството на Скот е наело стара фабрика, в която преди години се е случила индустриална катастрофа. Докато се опитват да преместят бизнеса си на новото място, Скот и зет му ще открият причините за отдавнашното нещастие по възможно най-кошмарния начин. -
This was an interesting story about choices and consequences. It's not always easy to see the path that results from a choice. Maybe its better not to...
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Страхотно оформената книга (с изключение на всячески раздутия обем) съдържа една повест и два разказа.
"Мракът шепне" е съвместното отроче на двамата автори, посочени на цветно-зловещата корица. Освен това е и бездарно копие на "Бурята на века" на Кинг. Тъпи и клиширани герои (може би само лошкото е една идея по-интересен, но не повече), водят тъпи диалози, и вършат тъпотии... Определена като "лаконична, мозаична, кинематографична" на задната корица... Че е кратка - ясно; мозаична - нищо подобно; кинематографична - да, ако филмът е рейтинг под 2 в IMDB... 2* само защото няма правописни грешки.
"И кротките ще наследят..." някои от проблемите на предишното произведение! За щастие - само тъпите диалози и прекалено постния стил. Сюжетът не е втрещяващ, но е добър. Чизмар явно е по-добър. когато пише сам, макар и не - фантастичен. 4 с голям минус
"Изоставено от предишните собственици" на Брайън Джеймс Фрийман е незапомнящо се кратко разказче, в което най-запомнящо се е облекчението от достигането до края му. Седни си - 2!
Като цяло, за първи път купувам книга, в която най-хубаво е самото издание - качеството си личи, илюстрациите на Dimo са за шест, даже ме подлъга и взех дебелите корици. Такова внимание подхожда на много по-качествена литература... Поне да бяха пляснали някъде, че е подходящо за 12-14 годишни читатели, които може би биха били по-благосклонни от мен.
Тройка, и то само заради качественото издание, запълнено със спорно съдържание. -
This had one major story and then two smaller stories. All of them were great
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Личи си влиянието на Стивън Кинг...!
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Не са лоши разказите, харесаха ми. Особено първият, а именно "Мракът шепне". Добра идея, доста екшън, ужаси. Другите два разказа също бяха приятни, четат се бързо.
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Мда. „Бурята на века“ среща „Неизживени спомени“. Разказите... хм.
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What a great little read! This book reminded me quite a bit of Stephen King's Needful Things. And that is not to say it's a carbon copy, but you can tell that it was inspired by it. And older man in a black suit and a fedora suddenly appears around town asking people what they would do for their deepest, darkest desire. That's definitely a scary question....what would you do? Would you kill someone? So good!
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Darkness Whispers (1st Story)
A dream wakes him as many nightmares before have, but this one’s unusual, this one is telling him something not quite right. Sheriff Benjamin Logan could never conceive just how wrong things are on such a beautiful April day.
Something rotten has entered his quiet little town of Windbrook, Pennsylvania. Moreover, though, he is not sure yet where the unpleasant feeling that’s gipping him stems, he can feel its foulness in his bones.
This story hit home in more ways than I care to share with strangers. Sometimes it is hard to do the right thing—sometimes its almost impossible, but we all have a choice. So, when the devil is knocking on your door what decision will you make? It is a tough question to answer.
The Meek Shall Inherit… (Story 2)
By Richard Chizmar
MR. Pruitt has been acting strange since his wife died. He traded his Cadillac for a van, he’s been buying strange items, and bring things into his home late at night. His bazaar activities have captured the attention of Jimmy and Brian two neighborhood kids. Jimmy, Mr. Pruitt’s next-door neighbor, believes him to be a serial killer. However, no matter what he is, the boys intend to find out what the man is hiding. Neither of them knowing, of course, it may just be the last thing they do.
What They Left Behind( Story 3)
By Brian James Freeman
Scott Soderman’s father has just bought a run-down company, Timlico, that was abandon some time ago, to try and save his own business. However, Scott and his sister’s boyfriend George are about to find out the previous owners left something behind—something that nightmares stem from.
Richard and Brian have created a compilation of short horror stories that are, of course, entertaining and terrifying, but also makes the reader think beyond the words printed, which, to me, is one of the best kind of stories that exist. Darkness Whispers has made it’s way to my must-read list with one clean swoop. Highly recommended. -
Chizmar is a writer i have recently found and totally love... i am not all that familiar with Brian James Freeman...
: Darkness Whispers - decent enough, but entirely too similar to Stephen King's 'Needful Things'... and it lacked enough development to go with the summary of the town's inhabitants... did not find the dark stranger to be all that scary either, though some of the dastardly deeds and gory scenes were pretty grand... maybe too much of a "thinking piece", or just not enough to think about... either way, not nearly what i expected from Chizmar....
: The Meek Shall Inherit - a nice feel to the story... i found he back and forth with the two boys to be quite well done and real-seeming... a bit too thin when it got to the bad stuff, probably not enough of it either... not impressed...
: What They Left Behind - rather dull, maybe written for a themed anthology? lacked any atmosphere or tension... didn't much care what happened to the characters...
so i left this disappointed, based mostly on expectations for the two Chizmar tales... decent enough, but 'A Long December' is an amazing collection from Chizmar everyone should read... not sure i'd chase down any BJF based on his entry here... -
Richard Chizmar and Brian James Freeman, two very talented individuals who own and operate one of the best independent publishing companies out there - Cemetery Dance Publications - decided to get together and write a novella. Just based on that alone, one can surmise that the venture would result in something phenomenal; and it was.
I am lucky enough to own a limited, signed edition (423 of 500) - that is as wonderful to look at, as it is to read.
Now, if you've read any of my reviews, you know I'm nothing if not honest. Having said that, when I started reading this novella (key word 'started') I started thinking to myself, "Well, this is just an imitation of Stephen King's Needful Things (which is one of my favorites)."; and boy was I wrong.
While the initial "feel" is there - pay a price for what your heart desires, a theme that has been used since the dawn of fiction writing - the end result is not what you would expect. In fact, it's down right frightening.
In addition to the main novella, this collector's edition included a short story from each of the authors:
1) The Meek Shall Inherit - by Richard Chizmar: Richard has the innate ability to set scenes that just about everyone can relate to from their childhood. His character development is uncanny in that you feel like you know, and grew up with, at least one of his characters - or at the very least, have participated in the shenanigans that his "kids" get into. This story has two such boys that think their elderly, widowed neighbor is a serial killer. I was not prepared for the all too realistic ending. In today's day and age, this story is close to becoming a reality.
2) What They Left Behind - by Brian James Freeman: This is an eerie and unsettling ghost story. Brian is another author who can set a scene that has you looking over your shoulder. Don't make the mistake I did and read this one during a storm. I don't get scared easily (if at all), but when you're reading about two people exploring an abandoned warehouse during a storm, you might jump during a clap of thunder - especially if that warehouse was where people were trapped and died during a fire.
All three are well worth the read, and then a re-read - to see what you missed after the initial shock. -
Абсолютно класическо и непретенциозно усещане. Приятно.
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Windbrook is a small Pennsylvania town where everyone knows everyone and things are always the same. At least, it is until an elderly gentleman comes to town wanting to know your secrets...
I really enjoyed this. It was extremely fast-paced, racing from horrible incident to horrible incident. Not for those who are squeamish, but for those that aren't well the first incident goes like this: they "ran over Betty's head, flattening it in an instant, sending her eyeballs bursting from their sockets and her brains exploding out of her ears..." I must be macabre, because I thought that was great. The ending was a bit of a surprise, but a good one.
Plus there was a bonus story by each author. Hard to complain about that!
All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable book. -
This was a nice novella and two short stories collection. I've come to enjoy Richard Chizmer's short stories especially the recent collection 'A Long December'. I'd like to see how he does in a long work.
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3.5 stars
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A Long December was the first book I read by Richard Chizmar so it will be the benchmark by which I judge everything else I read by him. I found that collection of stories to be consistently good and some to be exceptional therefore I expect a lot from Chizmar. It will go down as one of my favorites and I do love my short story collections. I haven’t read anything from Freeman before this book so I had no preconceived expectations there. I am going to start with nit picking. These days anyone can get published. It doesn’t matter if your book is good or not as long as you have the money to send it off to one of these fly by night publishers. Because of this, I am no longer surprised by the multitude of grammatical errors in many books I read. Annoyed, yes. Surprised, no. Therefore I was shocked to come across a couple of grammatical errors in Darkness Whispers. I hold Cemetery Dance publications in the highest of esteem and to find such in a book written by two of their editors really shocked me. It didn’t change how I felt about the book or the publication company but it did leave an impression. As I said, I acknowledge that I am being picky and this is more a note to the authors than the readers. It should in no way deter anyone from reading the book.
This is a 120 page story with 2 small bonus stories. I expected a novel or novella – could be my fault that I didn’t pay enough attention to the listing. I did expect something longer though. Darkness Whispers was an ok story. Perhaps I have read too much in my life (could there be such a thing?!) but I didn’t see the originality and “breath of fresh air” that I gathered from the comments in other reviews. I believe that Needful Things must have been a source of inspiration for Darkness Whispers because it felt too similar and thus naturally fell far short from the King novel. It is a short story and so it can’t be expected to compete with Needful Things. It is written in short two page chapters. I don’t know if this was an intentional trick to make the reader feel as if the story is longer or if it was designed to intensify the fast pace of the story. I am going to believe the latter because I enjoyed the two page chapters and thought it an effective method. The 120 page story includes black and white illustrations which pushed it from an ok story to “I like it” status for me. I am not sure Darkness Whispers is quite worth the $14.95 I paid for it but the stories are entertaining if not particularly memorable. It is definitely worth the hour or so it takes to read the book. -
Darkness Whispers is actually a collection of short stories than an actual novella. The title story is novella-length, written by both authors, while the collection also features one story written solo by each author. Like most collections, it's a mixed bag of quality.
The title novella is about a mysterious man who comes to town and wreaks havoc by granting some residents their heart's desire, and others their worst nightmare. It sounds a lot like Needful Things to me, but where King's book followed his formula of likable characters in unlikable situations, Darkness Whispers is just plain unlikable. The authors cheat their way through the story, building up a false tension by writing lines like "Had he known it would be his last day with his family, he would have spent more time with them at breakfast", but then ends the story by having the whole family survive. It's fine that the authors took the story in that direction, but they cheat by hinting that the story will end differently than it does. It destroys whatever credibility the authors have, and it means we can't trust them any more. (And, frankly, the less said about the ending with Hitler, the better. It's just cliched at this point.)
"The Meek Shall Inherit..." is Chizmar's solo story, and is compelling, but by the time the story finally gets interesting, it ends. It reads more like a spec summary for a novel than a story into itself, and I felt disappointed with it. I don't have to have a firm resolution to every story I read, but for this one, I needed more details, and needed to know how it would end.
Freeman's story, "What They Left Behind", is the best story in this small collection, but even it isn't a five-star story. What makes it work is the atmosphere Freeman creates around the story, which imbibes the story with a just-right creepy feeling. I only wish he had been able to bring more of that atmosphere and subtlety to the title story.
Darkness Whispers isn't a top-tier collection, but it does have its moments. I only wish that the title story had been more trustworthy, and that it had featured more of the best skills of each writer. As it is, it's mediocre at best, and not something I would recommend even to the most hardcore of horror readers. -
I received a signed and numbered copies of this with my Cemetery Dance Grab Bag (31/500) and am very happy to add this to my collection! I’ve only read one other collaboration of Richard Chizmar’s before, Gwendy’s Button Box; and, all though I have been following Brian James Freeman for quite a while, I had yet to pick anything of his up. I will now! This was a hard and fast ride into small town horror. You hit the ground running and don’t stop until it ends. I loved it! And the no use stories were amazing as well and really give you a taste for each author’s individual writing styles.
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"МРАКЪТ ШЕПНЕ" е сборник с разкази, който има невероятно обаятелна корица. Колективът от автори ни представи три различни истории, изпълнени с мистерия, съспенс и ужас. Не мога да кажа, че не съм чел по-добри произведения, но заслужено книгата получава три звезди. Ако искате да си почешите сетивата, то това е вашето четиво.
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FANTASTIC read!! The main story was creepy and imaginative with definite hints of Stephen King!! The bonus stories were well written and amped up the creep factor. They stayed with me long after I finished them! Can't wait to see what they cook up next!!
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Richard Chizmar is truly an author worth discovering. His short stories are sensational, and Darkness Whispers was a superb tale of Good vs. Evil in a modern day setting. For lovers of Doomsday scenarios!
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Good read!
Horror is my favorite genre for passing the hours. I have stayed up all night just to finish a horror novel, having the book fall on the floor as I fell asleep, the sound waking me so I could continue reading.
