Whispers In The Night [Mass Market Paperback]

I read DD I and II and gave them both 5 stars. Solid,vivid, lurid horror and well crafted. But I think this volume had some threads in various stories, including the ones the Urban review listed that were subtly teasing on the reader. That is not to say that many stories in the DD I and II didn't contain amazing symbolism and allegories but this one had them spread across more stories. I disagree with the Urban reviewer's assessment of some of these stores not "belonging" in this volume. Particularly Robert Fleming and Christopher Chambers. Both writers are major published authors and veterans, and have been among several others who have been backbones of the past collections. Fleming's "Wasp" fits the footprint of what this collection apsires to be, and frankly I don't know why the reviewer would shade Chamber's "Mr. Bones" unless there is bias against his symbolism in this ghost story/devil pulling the strings story of a 19th Century minstrel show and a modern rapper and the negative aspects of hip hop culture. Given the publishing dates Chambers wrote this well before the debate fueled by the Imus event and other important debates on hip hop. I also know this because I have good fortune of inhabiting the coffee shop in suburban DC where he and other authors write. As for the Middle Passage and horror stories, read the combination of Jules Verne and Charles Johnson in Chambers's "Leviathan" in DD II)! When laid against such mediocre, even offense stories in past DD volumes by Zane and the like, I am glad for stories by Chambers, Fleming, Giles, etc.

I hope there is a 4th installment with the present cast of writers and thoughtful newbiesand I hear of fruther collaborations in the works: Massey and others, Tananarive Due and Blair Underwood, Due and others with Walter Mosley and Chambers. However, I still see DD as the first work of this sort and the standard to measure by, and I hope Massey continues to enthrall us. I think it is timely that blakc writers take up the mantle started by Edgar Alan Poe long ago and set down their own path, slnging off the baggage.

I give this one 3.5 stars. It kept me reading but that was because the stories were short and I kept hoping that one (or two) would jump out at me. I'll give my rating of each story (the "star" rating) and let you choose from there.

Summer: 3 stars
Scab: 4.5 stars
And Death Rode With Him: 3 stars
Are You My Daddy?: 3.5 stars
To Get Bread and Butter: 3 stars
My Sister's Keeper: 3 stars
The Wasp: 3 stars
Hell Is For Children: 4 stars
Flight: 2.5 stars
Hadley Shimmerhorn: American Icon: 3 stars
Nurse's Requiem: 4.5 stars (mainly because of the ending...wonderful!)
Wet Pain: 3.5 stars
The Taken: 4 stars ( I would LOVE to see this one as a full-fledged novel)
Mr. Bones: 2 stars
Rip Crew: 3.5 stars
Power and Purpose: 3.5 stars (this one was interesting)
The Love of a Zombie is Everything: 4.5 stars
Ghostwriter: 4.5 stars (the man does it again)

Whispers In The Night is third in the Dark Dreams series featuring nineteen speculative short fiction stories from veteran and upcoming authors. Massey has done a credible job assembling a variety of stories that offer differing themes and varying degrees of horror which may also appeal to some suspense/mystery fans. He anchors the anthology with the traditional `old fashioned' ghost story opening with Tananarive Due transporting the reader to Florida just in time for the emergence of the swamp demons (Summer) and closes with his self-authored tale about visiting the cemetery to remedy writer's block (Ghostwriter) .

Massey fills the anthology with stories that have political or socially-conscious themes such as slave reparations (The Taken), drug use in the

inner-city (My Sister's Keeper), spousal (The Wasp) and child abuse (Hell Is For Children). Humor is sprinkled in the mix when a "special" boy looks for a father (Are You My Daddy?) and love is in the air when a zombie claims her soul mate (The Love of a Zombie Is Everlasting) . Spirituality is at the forefront when a man's faith in God is challenged by a demon (Nurse's Requiem), false and true prophets clash (Power and Purpose), and the aftereffects of internalized intra-race discrimination manifest themselves on an unsuspecting office worker (Scab).

Although I found most stories engaging, there were three tales that I thought were notable:

And Death Rode with Him by Anthony Beal - Paradise Pub, a gritty bar in the middle of a desert, has a television that only gets channel 66 and seemingly "permanent" patrons who routinely drown their sorrows in a powerful yet strange elixir.

WET PAIN by Terence Taylor - a very touching tale that reveals misery does indeed love company in a twist on how unconquered racism of yesteryear festers and destroys friendship, family, and community amid the atrocities of Hurricane Katrina.

Mr. Bones by Christopher Chambers - a timely tale that is appropriate in the wake of the Michael Richards/Don Imus controversies. It examines the tortured souls of minstrel show performers who "sold out" their own people with disastrous results only to find themselves reincarnated in a hellish cycle of torment as modern day rapper/hip hop artists.

While some stories appealed to me more than others, I found that this collection challenges the imagination and gets high marks for creativity. I think Massey was extremely successful in his attempt to showcase old and new talent in horror and speculative fiction. I will be on the look out for independent work from these writers as well as Dark Dreams IV.

Reviewed by Phyllis
APOOO BookClub
Nubian Circle Book Club

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