These thirteen stories are our own lives, inside out. A boy's summer romance doesn't end in that good kind of heartbreak, but in blood. A girl on a fishing trip makes a friend in the woods who's exactly what she needs, except then that friend follows her back to the city. A father hears a voice through his baby monitor that shouldn't be possible, but now he can't stop listening. A woman finds out that the shipwreck wasn't the disaster, but who she's shipwrecked with. A big brother learns just what he will, and won't, trade for one night of sleep. From prison guards making unholy alliances to snake-oil men in the Old West doling out justice, these stories carve down into the body of the mind, into our most base fears and certainties, and there's no anesthetic. Turn the light on if you want, but that just makes for more shadows.
The Ones That Got Away
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This review was originally published at The Nervous Breakdown:
The Ones That Got Away (Prime Books) tiptoes into the darkness, luring us deep into the woods, up into crawlspaces, and to distant islands, where the people, the sacrifices, the losses are our own, our universal fears come to life. You'd think that once he surprised me, once Dr. Jones pulled that old trick where you watch the left hand while the right hand does something else that I'd be prepared for more misdirection, watching the wolf when it was always going to be the dolphin. But it's all there, it's always right there, a tingling sensation that runs up your spine, an itch where it settles, burrowing in, a heat up your neck flushing with realization. It isn't misdirection. It's an adding up of information, the sum larger than the parts. It's coming to your own conclusion before the story ends, whispering to yourself that it can't be what you think it is. Please don't let him go there. It's not a trick, or a twist, and no God as machine descends from the sky. It's what you knew all along, it's what you feared could be true, it's a stiff body standing in the corner of a musty basement, the camera on a tripod tipping over, and the evil revealing itself. And it's how the everyday people in these tales deal with these revelations when they come home to roost.
From the very first story, there is no hesitation, no easing into these tales, these dark fables. This is no mistake, the way this collection of short stories starts. What could be more innocent than a bunny rabbit in the snow? A father and son lost in the woods, surely there will be an escape, a rescue, and everything will be fine in the end. But that's all relative, isn't it? The surprises start with this story, 'Father, Son, Holy Rabbit,' and from the sentence, something isn't quite right:
'By the third day they were eating snow. Years later it would come to the boy again, rush up to him at a job interview: his father spitting out pieces of seed or pine needle into his hand. Whatever had been in the snow. The boy had looked at the brown flecks in his father's palm, then up to his father, who finally nodded, put them back in his mouth, turned his face away to swallow.'
One of the many things that Stephen Graham Jones does well is mix the reality of nature, of life, with the elusive presence of the horrific, the fantastic, the mythic:
'The next day, no helicopters came for them, no men on horseback, following dogs, no skiers poling their way home. For a few hours around what should have been lunch, the sun shone down, but all that did was make their dry spot under the tree wet. Then the wind started again.
'Where's that stick?' the boy asked.
The father narrowed his eyes as if he hadn't thought of that. 'Your rabbit,' he said after a few minutes.
The boy nodded, said, almost to himself, 'It'll come back.'
When he looked around to his father, his father was already looking at him. Studying him.
The rabbit's skin was out in the snow, just past the tree. Buried hours ago.
The father nodded like this could maybe be true. That the rabbit would come back. Because they needed it to.'
The rabbit would come back, of course, because they did need it to, but not in any way that I anticipated. I guess at endings all the time, as many of us do, and I'm pretty good at getting it right. But with these stories, I only knew what was coming about half the time. And that's no reward either, to know what's coming, hardwired to fear the hidden beast, accidents already set in motion, or the horrible things we as human beings continue to do to each other.
Another strength of Stephen Graham Jones is a willingness to build stories on the classic myths of horror and fantasy. There are only so many things that go bump in the night. It's man versus the machine, nature, the known, the unknown, the monster, the truth, himself. There are vampires and zombies and werewolves, of course. In 'Wolf Island' he takes the werewolf story and turns it into something else completely. Out there in the wild it's eat or be eaten, as you know:
'The bird was like an oversized gull. A tern, maybe. Definitely not a pelican.
After pulling all the feathers out there was hardly any meat.
Emma shook her head no about it anyway.
Ronald nodded that he understood, and peeled the stringy meat from the bone, had his eyes closed to eat it when Emma stopped him.
'What?' he said.
She took the meat, touching it with as little of her fingertips as possible, and walked to the water line, laid the meat in the wet sand.
Within thirty seconds, two large crabs and one smaller one were snipping at the meat.
'Now,' she said to Ronald, and he stepped forward, brought his foot down on one of the large crabs.
Its claws sliced the air uselessly, and then Ronald drove his bare foot deeper and the crab cracked, died.
Emma laughed nervously.
Ronald studied her, no real expression on his face.'
He sets us up, as we watch Emma and Ronald search for food on the deserted island. Until things start to change. Until Ronald changes, or really, stays the same, just revealing himself as something more beast than man.
Ronald slowly befriends a school of dolphins, seeking to connect, to divide up his loneliness and primal urges into manageable chunks of time. But in the end, much like the tale of the scorpion and the frog, his true nature rears its ugly head. And as the scorpion stings the frog there are other creatures sitting on the shore, eyeing that scorpion for their own little meal. As Vonnegut said, so it goes.
When you think maybe you've got him cornered, all smug that you get where he's coming from, can see it coming now, Stephen Graham Jones morphs into a pair of shallow high school girls, a mixture of Heathers and Carrie, with his stamp of dark humor applied. 'So Perfect' is funny in its portrayal of youth (always wasted on the young), their language and priorities stilted and full of entitlement. It has heat at times, the two young ladies slender and tan, unafraid to use their powers of persuasion. And it's haunting how far these two will go to get thin, to stay on top, to remain the queens that they think they are. Tammy and Brianne, you've seen them before:
''And did you see her nametag?'
'Don't even start.'
'Like I would be using somebody else's credit card, though? Please.'
'Shh, shh. She might be listening. Her dad's got to be in prison or something, right? To let her work at a register like that?'
'You're making excuses for her.'
'No. I just don't want my car to get keyed.''
And of course, like this:
'Two days later is a Friday. Tammy and Brianne are having a tanning contest on Brianne's back porch. Her dad, home early from work, is washing the Irish setter. The dog's name is Frederick.
Because it's funny to her, Tammy keeps arranging her bikini so as to make Brianne's dad have to look somewhere else.'
But this is all in good clean fun and nobody gets hurt. Until they do:
'On the other side of the classroom, hiding, is Joy. She isn't lifting her head from her desk.
Tammy shrugs to Brianne about it and Brianne shrugs back, makes the eeek! shape with her mouth.
Halfway through class is when it happens, the thing that will spark an investigation that will span four high schools and never once interrogate either Tammy or Brianne, the real killers here.
All at once, in the middle of Mr. Connors taking up last night's problems, Joy slings her head up from her desk. A line of vomit strings down from her lip. And there's more coming.'
Expect the unexpected. In this collection of short stories, Stephen Graham Jones does all of the things that have come to be expected of him, and more. There are moments of terror, tension built up over time, an uneasy feeling creeping over you, your gut in knots, hesitating to turn the page. There are gestures of kindness and love, loss built on sacrifice, families protecting each other. There are histories from childhood that are buried deep, but sometimes not deep enough. And there are myths and legends that turn out to be true, awe paired with knowledge turned to fear. Be prepared for the nightfall, I'm warning you now. Laugh if you want to, it's okay. Maybe you're one of the lucky ones, your imagination held in check. Or maybe you'll stare at the ceiling, listening to the scratching while you try to convince yourself that it's just the squirrels in the attic. When the shadows slip across your bedroom walls, it's from a car passing by, for sure. Just close your eyes, and drift off to sleep, there's no weight sinking into the bed. It's probably just the cat.
You do have a cat, don't you?
NOTE: Since this review was written, The Ones That Got Away was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award for the best in horror writing and has made the final ballot.
The Ones That Got Away (Prime Books) tiptoes into the darkness, luring us deep into the woods, up into crawlspaces, and to distant islands, where the people, the sacrifices, the losses are our own, our universal fears come to life. You'd think that once he surprised me, once Dr. Jones pulled that old trick where you watch the left hand while the right hand does something else that I'd be prepared for more misdirection, watching the wolf when it was always going to be the dolphin. But it's all there, it's always right there, a tingling sensation that runs up your spine, an itch where it settles, burrowing in, a heat up your neck flushing with realization. It isn't misdirection. It's an adding up of information, the sum larger than the parts. It's coming to your own conclusion before the story ends, whispering to yourself that it can't be what you think it is. Please don't let him go there. It's not a trick, or a twist, and no God as machine descends from the sky. It's what you knew all along, it's what you feared could be true, it's a stiff body standing in the corner of a musty basement, the camera on a tripod tipping over, and the evil revealing itself. And it's how the everyday people in these tales deal with these revelations when they come home to roost.
From the very first story, there is no hesitation, no easing into these tales, these dark fables. This is no mistake, the way this collection of short stories starts. What could be more innocent than a bunny rabbit in the snow? A father and son lost in the woods, surely there will be an escape, a rescue, and everything will be fine in the end. But that's all relative, isn't it? The surprises start with this story, 'Father, Son, Holy Rabbit,' and from the sentence, something isn't quite right:
'By the third day they were eating snow. Years later it would come to the boy again, rush up to him at a job interview: his father spitting out pieces of seed or pine needle into his hand. Whatever had been in the snow. The boy had looked at the brown flecks in his father's palm, then up to his father, who finally nodded, put them back in his mouth, turned his face away to swallow.'
One of the many things that Stephen Graham Jones does well is mix the reality of nature, of life, with the elusive presence of the horrific, the fantastic, the mythic:
'The next day, no helicopters came for them, no men on horseback, following dogs, no skiers poling their way home. For a few hours around what should have been lunch, the sun shone down, but all that did was make their dry spot under the tree wet. Then the wind started again.
'Where's that stick?' the boy asked.
The father narrowed his eyes as if he hadn't thought of that. 'Your rabbit,' he said after a few minutes.
The boy nodded, said, almost to himself, 'It'll come back.'
When he looked around to his father, his father was already looking at him. Studying him.
The rabbit's skin was out in the snow, just past the tree. Buried hours ago.
The father nodded like this could maybe be true. That the rabbit would come back. Because they needed it to.'
The rabbit would come back, of course, because they did need it to, but not in any way that I anticipated. I guess at endings all the time, as many of us do, and I'm pretty good at getting it right. But with these stories, I only knew what was coming about half the time. And that's no reward either, to know what's coming, hardwired to fear the hidden beast, accidents already set in motion, or the horrible things we as human beings continue to do to each other.
Another strength of Stephen Graham Jones is a willingness to build stories on the classic myths of horror and fantasy. There are only so many things that go bump in the night. It's man versus the machine, nature, the known, the unknown, the monster, the truth, himself. There are vampires and zombies and werewolves, of course. In 'Wolf Island' he takes the werewolf story and turns it into something else completely. Out there in the wild it's eat or be eaten, as you know:
'The bird was like an oversized gull. A tern, maybe. Definitely not a pelican.
After pulling all the feathers out there was hardly any meat.
Emma shook her head no about it anyway.
Ronald nodded that he understood, and peeled the stringy meat from the bone, had his eyes closed to eat it when Emma stopped him.
'What?' he said.
She took the meat, touching it with as little of her fingertips as possible, and walked to the water line, laid the meat in the wet sand.
Within thirty seconds, two large crabs and one smaller one were snipping at the meat.
'Now,' she said to Ronald, and he stepped forward, brought his foot down on one of the large crabs.
Its claws sliced the air uselessly, and then Ronald drove his bare foot deeper and the crab cracked, died.
Emma laughed nervously.
Ronald studied her, no real expression on his face.'
He sets us up, as we watch Emma and Ronald search for food on the deserted island. Until things start to change. Until Ronald changes, or really, stays the same, just revealing himself as something more beast than man.
Ronald slowly befriends a school of dolphins, seeking to connect, to divide up his loneliness and primal urges into manageable chunks of time. But in the end, much like the tale of the scorpion and the frog, his true nature rears its ugly head. And as the scorpion stings the frog there are other creatures sitting on the shore, eyeing that scorpion for their own little meal. As Vonnegut said, so it goes.
When you think maybe you've got him cornered, all smug that you get where he's coming from, can see it coming now, Stephen Graham Jones morphs into a pair of shallow high school girls, a mixture of Heathers and Carrie, with his stamp of dark humor applied. 'So Perfect' is funny in its portrayal of youth (always wasted on the young), their language and priorities stilted and full of entitlement. It has heat at times, the two young ladies slender and tan, unafraid to use their powers of persuasion. And it's haunting how far these two will go to get thin, to stay on top, to remain the queens that they think they are. Tammy and Brianne, you've seen them before:
''And did you see her nametag?'
'Don't even start.'
'Like I would be using somebody else's credit card, though? Please.'
'Shh, shh. She might be listening. Her dad's got to be in prison or something, right? To let her work at a register like that?'
'You're making excuses for her.'
'No. I just don't want my car to get keyed.''
And of course, like this:
'Two days later is a Friday. Tammy and Brianne are having a tanning contest on Brianne's back porch. Her dad, home early from work, is washing the Irish setter. The dog's name is Frederick.
Because it's funny to her, Tammy keeps arranging her bikini so as to make Brianne's dad have to look somewhere else.'
But this is all in good clean fun and nobody gets hurt. Until they do:
'On the other side of the classroom, hiding, is Joy. She isn't lifting her head from her desk.
Tammy shrugs to Brianne about it and Brianne shrugs back, makes the eeek! shape with her mouth.
Halfway through class is when it happens, the thing that will spark an investigation that will span four high schools and never once interrogate either Tammy or Brianne, the real killers here.
All at once, in the middle of Mr. Connors taking up last night's problems, Joy slings her head up from her desk. A line of vomit strings down from her lip. And there's more coming.'
Expect the unexpected. In this collection of short stories, Stephen Graham Jones does all of the things that have come to be expected of him, and more. There are moments of terror, tension built up over time, an uneasy feeling creeping over you, your gut in knots, hesitating to turn the page. There are gestures of kindness and love, loss built on sacrifice, families protecting each other. There are histories from childhood that are buried deep, but sometimes not deep enough. And there are myths and legends that turn out to be true, awe paired with knowledge turned to fear. Be prepared for the nightfall, I'm warning you now. Laugh if you want to, it's okay. Maybe you're one of the lucky ones, your imagination held in check. Or maybe you'll stare at the ceiling, listening to the scratching while you try to convince yourself that it's just the squirrels in the attic. When the shadows slip across your bedroom walls, it's from a car passing by, for sure. Just close your eyes, and drift off to sleep, there's no weight sinking into the bed. It's probably just the cat.
You do have a cat, don't you?
NOTE: Since this review was written, The Ones That Got Away was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award for the best in horror writing and has made the final ballot.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.9 out of 5 stars
9 reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Don't Let ONES Escape You
Feb 19 2011
By Fred Venturini
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Story collections are like golf shots . . . if you run into a crap story, the next one could be the redeemer, so it keeps you interested start to finish. You run into a stinker of a novel, you're screwed for 300 pages, you know? But in reading the latest from Stephen Graham Jones, The Ones That Got Away, I'm reminded that it is still possible for a collection make me say, "Seriously, this next one cannot be better than this one. No way." And then delivers again. And again. And again.
I wasn't this giddy or delighted reading a stack of stories since I was 10 years old, mopping up King's Skeleton Crew, crapping my footie pajamas to "Survivor Type" and "The Jaunt."
Jones slam-banged me right out of the box with the very first story, "Father, Son, Holy Rabbit," about a stranded father and son who continue to eat a "magical" rabbit over and over again to stay alive. I was thinking about that story for days, and it has all the makings of a lifetimer for me, where I'll be sixty talking about that story to someone, probably my grandkids, who will laugh when I try to explain what a payphone was.
Bookending the collection is "Crawlspace," which, if you think a telepathic infant sounds creepy, wait until the guilt of our narrator's infidelity starts to get the best of him. The final page is unsettling.
Special thanks to the story "Raphael" for just existing. Wow. This one accomplished a rare feat in my reading exploits . . . there are two pages that just made me stop and reread them on the spot, then I finished the story, then read the whole thing again.
There's another story where the title itself can give you nightmares. Two words for you: "Meat Tree." Think about that.
King called his men's magazine stories that populated Night Shift and Skeleton Crew "screamers." Well, Jones takes the screamer mentality and deploys it full force, with an ability prod you along with sentences that are sharp enough to cut. Twisty and startling, the stories don't finish up in predictable "screamer" fashion many times . . . they just worm their way into you, make themselves at home, and you'll feel like your balance is off for a few days. You find yourself wanting a little extra sunshine, maybe a long shower. This effect is achieved largely through the use of childhood as a gateway to the horrors within the collection, and the close attention paid to who the horror happens to as opposed to how.
The story notes are a treasure trove for anyone interested in fiction, the author, or just loves having insight into these excellent stories. Better than that crap bonus material you find DVD's, that's for sure.
You want me to sit here and gush about every story? Just go out there and buy this book. Like, now.
I wasn't this giddy or delighted reading a stack of stories since I was 10 years old, mopping up King's Skeleton Crew, crapping my footie pajamas to "Survivor Type" and "The Jaunt."
Jones slam-banged me right out of the box with the very first story, "Father, Son, Holy Rabbit," about a stranded father and son who continue to eat a "magical" rabbit over and over again to stay alive. I was thinking about that story for days, and it has all the makings of a lifetimer for me, where I'll be sixty talking about that story to someone, probably my grandkids, who will laugh when I try to explain what a payphone was.
Bookending the collection is "Crawlspace," which, if you think a telepathic infant sounds creepy, wait until the guilt of our narrator's infidelity starts to get the best of him. The final page is unsettling.
Special thanks to the story "Raphael" for just existing. Wow. This one accomplished a rare feat in my reading exploits . . . there are two pages that just made me stop and reread them on the spot, then I finished the story, then read the whole thing again.
There's another story where the title itself can give you nightmares. Two words for you: "Meat Tree." Think about that.
King called his men's magazine stories that populated Night Shift and Skeleton Crew "screamers." Well, Jones takes the screamer mentality and deploys it full force, with an ability prod you along with sentences that are sharp enough to cut. Twisty and startling, the stories don't finish up in predictable "screamer" fashion many times . . . they just worm their way into you, make themselves at home, and you'll feel like your balance is off for a few days. You find yourself wanting a little extra sunshine, maybe a long shower. This effect is achieved largely through the use of childhood as a gateway to the horrors within the collection, and the close attention paid to who the horror happens to as opposed to how.
The story notes are a treasure trove for anyone interested in fiction, the author, or just loves having insight into these excellent stories. Better than that crap bonus material you find DVD's, that's for sure.
You want me to sit here and gush about every story? Just go out there and buy this book. Like, now.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
The darkness comes to light....
Sep 16 2012
By BJ
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
This is a story collection that I've been wanting to read for quite a long time. The price for the book on Amazon and other sites kept me away. Finally the price has dropped and I snatched it up with excitement to read.
I've read the glowing reviews and the book is often recommended along with story collections.
"The Ones That Got Away" contains thirteen stories, with various subject matter and alot of unforgettable characters and moments. Many of the stories are horror based and horror isn't my thing, but I can read and appreciate it when its done well as it is here.
The book starts with an introduction by author Laird Barron The Croning, its three pages long and gives you a brief glimpse into the world your about to enter.
One minor thing I noticed in the book is that every story starts either two pages short or long of what the table of contents states. This was done purposely in my opinion, just to shake things up.
The stories are:
Father, Son, Holy Rabbit - A father and son have lost their way in the deep woods in a storm, hungry and desperate the father does what he must to keep his son alive.
(4 out of 5 stars)
Till the Morning Comes - Two brothers, one scared of the blacklight posters in his Uncle's room, always learing of skeletons coming to life at night, until one night they do. (4 out of 5 stars)
The Sons of Billy Clay - A bullriding fable, a legendary bull, prison guards and revenge. (3 out of 5 stars)
So Perfect - A wild, believable story that could turn into reality fairly easy enough. Two girls that want to, look better, lose weight for a wedding, at any cost. (5 out of 5 stars)
Lonegan's Luck - A loner travels town to town in the old west selling his quick fix potions and lotions, or so it seems, but his intentions are much, much darker. A really great story, with a great twist, my favorite story in the collection. (5 out of 5 stars)
Monsters - A boy finds love on summer vacation and much more then he bargained for afterwards. (3 out of 5 stars)
Wolf Island - A shipwreck leaves a woman alone on an island with another man from the ship that she doesnt know. Something about him just isn't right, why does he run on all fours? (4 out of 5 stars)
Teeth - A dark, gloomy detective story that slowly builds. First teeth, then other bones are being found, teeth and bones that have been digested, by a human. (4 out of 5 stars)
Raphael - A boy and his friends like to get together and read scary stories. One day they dare a friend to do something dangerous and what happens next changes them forever. This story has alot of genuine creepiness to it, the main scene in particular gave me chills. The author himself says the particular scene still scares him when he reads it. (5 out of 5 stars)
Captain's Lament - A urban legend come real life. (3 out of 5 stars)
The Meat Tree - A truely weird story, that could definitely be considered bizarro. (3 out of 5 stars)
The Ones Who Got Away - Two friends agree to kidnap whoever answers the door at the targeted house, just to scare them. Its a favor for a another friend, except they go to the wrong house. (5 out of 5 stars)
Crawlspace - A true horror story. A man believes his infant son can see his thoughts and his neighbor has a dark secret that may confirm it. (4 out of 5 stars)
The collection concludes with a story notes section from the author. He talks about each story individually and how the story came to life and what inspiration he had to write it. I always enjoy when authors put story notes at the back of a collection, because it gives you extra insight to the stories that you may have missed.
I also picked up the author's new book Growing Up Dead in Texas and look forward to reading it.
Highly recommended collection for short story fans, that like the darker side.
I've read the glowing reviews and the book is often recommended along with story collections.
"The Ones That Got Away" contains thirteen stories, with various subject matter and alot of unforgettable characters and moments. Many of the stories are horror based and horror isn't my thing, but I can read and appreciate it when its done well as it is here.
The book starts with an introduction by author Laird Barron The Croning, its three pages long and gives you a brief glimpse into the world your about to enter.
One minor thing I noticed in the book is that every story starts either two pages short or long of what the table of contents states. This was done purposely in my opinion, just to shake things up.
The stories are:
Father, Son, Holy Rabbit - A father and son have lost their way in the deep woods in a storm, hungry and desperate the father does what he must to keep his son alive.
(4 out of 5 stars)
Till the Morning Comes - Two brothers, one scared of the blacklight posters in his Uncle's room, always learing of skeletons coming to life at night, until one night they do. (4 out of 5 stars)
The Sons of Billy Clay - A bullriding fable, a legendary bull, prison guards and revenge. (3 out of 5 stars)
So Perfect - A wild, believable story that could turn into reality fairly easy enough. Two girls that want to, look better, lose weight for a wedding, at any cost. (5 out of 5 stars)
Lonegan's Luck - A loner travels town to town in the old west selling his quick fix potions and lotions, or so it seems, but his intentions are much, much darker. A really great story, with a great twist, my favorite story in the collection. (5 out of 5 stars)
Monsters - A boy finds love on summer vacation and much more then he bargained for afterwards. (3 out of 5 stars)
Wolf Island - A shipwreck leaves a woman alone on an island with another man from the ship that she doesnt know. Something about him just isn't right, why does he run on all fours? (4 out of 5 stars)
Teeth - A dark, gloomy detective story that slowly builds. First teeth, then other bones are being found, teeth and bones that have been digested, by a human. (4 out of 5 stars)
Raphael - A boy and his friends like to get together and read scary stories. One day they dare a friend to do something dangerous and what happens next changes them forever. This story has alot of genuine creepiness to it, the main scene in particular gave me chills. The author himself says the particular scene still scares him when he reads it. (5 out of 5 stars)
Captain's Lament - A urban legend come real life. (3 out of 5 stars)
The Meat Tree - A truely weird story, that could definitely be considered bizarro. (3 out of 5 stars)
The Ones Who Got Away - Two friends agree to kidnap whoever answers the door at the targeted house, just to scare them. Its a favor for a another friend, except they go to the wrong house. (5 out of 5 stars)
Crawlspace - A true horror story. A man believes his infant son can see his thoughts and his neighbor has a dark secret that may confirm it. (4 out of 5 stars)
The collection concludes with a story notes section from the author. He talks about each story individually and how the story came to life and what inspiration he had to write it. I always enjoy when authors put story notes at the back of a collection, because it gives you extra insight to the stories that you may have missed.
I also picked up the author's new book Growing Up Dead in Texas and look forward to reading it.
Highly recommended collection for short story fans, that like the darker side.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Top-notch collection of short horror fiction
Sep 13 2011
By M. Griffin
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
One of the stronger single-author collections I've read in the last few years. Well-written, nice variety, engaging voice. I strongly recommend this and will have to pick up other books by Jones.
The book collects thirteen stories published in a variety of venues ranging from more obscure journals and anthologies to the more prominent such as Cemetary Dance. In his story notes at the end, Jones offers entertaining and casual insights into the conception and crafting of each story, and in some cases talks about different versions of the story that existed along the way before he found a way to tell what he wanted told. I love this kind of stuff! It reminds me of the story notes that were always part of Harlan Ellison's collections, which I looked forward to as much as the stories themselves. Jones seems to have such a humble attitude and likeable personality I imagine most readers will enjoy these bits, even those not looking for insight into the craft of writing.
I've always preferred horror fiction with a greater emphasis on character and story than on monsters and gore. Sometimes, though, horror fiction with literary aspirations takes this too far, and downplays the horrific aspect so much the end result is not horror at all, but a vague, low-key sort of ennui. This collection manages that balance perfectly, with plenty of gruesome details and chilling scenes that never become gratuitous or cause eye-rolls.
The first story, "Father, Son, Holy Rabbit" is exemplary. It's a beautiful, sensitive story of fatherly love for a son, yet it's also a tale so gruesome and disturbing as to cause nightmares. Despite its brevity, this story carries a serious payload.
Some stories are stronger than others, as in any collection, but not one is less than good. I suppose "The Meat Tree" is the one I feel could be removed without weakening the whole. In every other case, Jones combines a vivid conceptual imagination with convincing characters and conveys the whole in an engrossing voice. The final novella ("Crawlspace," original to this collection) is some of the most gripping and anxiety-producing fiction I've ever read. It's hard to imagine a reader making it from the first story to the last without being impressed.
The book was a finalist for a "Best Collection" Bram Stoker award, but was matched-up against the potent and masterful Occultation by Laird Barron (who wrote the introduction to Jones's collection), and the book that won the award, Full Dark, No Stars by the world's most popular author (doing some of his best work here) Stephen King.
Some writers exhibit a single strength, but Jones has all the bases covered. His writing has an edge without losing accessibility, his stories address familiar tropes and concepts in a way that seems fresh, and he seems in every case fully in control of his world, its mood, and the effect it has on the reader. I recommend this book, and it has definitely convinced me to seek out other works by Jones.
The book collects thirteen stories published in a variety of venues ranging from more obscure journals and anthologies to the more prominent such as Cemetary Dance. In his story notes at the end, Jones offers entertaining and casual insights into the conception and crafting of each story, and in some cases talks about different versions of the story that existed along the way before he found a way to tell what he wanted told. I love this kind of stuff! It reminds me of the story notes that were always part of Harlan Ellison's collections, which I looked forward to as much as the stories themselves. Jones seems to have such a humble attitude and likeable personality I imagine most readers will enjoy these bits, even those not looking for insight into the craft of writing.
I've always preferred horror fiction with a greater emphasis on character and story than on monsters and gore. Sometimes, though, horror fiction with literary aspirations takes this too far, and downplays the horrific aspect so much the end result is not horror at all, but a vague, low-key sort of ennui. This collection manages that balance perfectly, with plenty of gruesome details and chilling scenes that never become gratuitous or cause eye-rolls.
The first story, "Father, Son, Holy Rabbit" is exemplary. It's a beautiful, sensitive story of fatherly love for a son, yet it's also a tale so gruesome and disturbing as to cause nightmares. Despite its brevity, this story carries a serious payload.
Some stories are stronger than others, as in any collection, but not one is less than good. I suppose "The Meat Tree" is the one I feel could be removed without weakening the whole. In every other case, Jones combines a vivid conceptual imagination with convincing characters and conveys the whole in an engrossing voice. The final novella ("Crawlspace," original to this collection) is some of the most gripping and anxiety-producing fiction I've ever read. It's hard to imagine a reader making it from the first story to the last without being impressed.
The book was a finalist for a "Best Collection" Bram Stoker award, but was matched-up against the potent and masterful Occultation by Laird Barron (who wrote the introduction to Jones's collection), and the book that won the award, Full Dark, No Stars by the world's most popular author (doing some of his best work here) Stephen King.
Some writers exhibit a single strength, but Jones has all the bases covered. His writing has an edge without losing accessibility, his stories address familiar tropes and concepts in a way that seems fresh, and he seems in every case fully in control of his world, its mood, and the effect it has on the reader. I recommend this book, and it has definitely convinced me to seek out other works by Jones.
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