There’s an obsidian darkness and brilliance to many of these short-short stories. Many of these 1-2 page distillations of horror take the reader on an imaginative twist of a journey off the beaten path. The author is good at titles and last lines and accompanies some of the stories with chilling black-and-white drawings. Some stories are particularly creative. For example, there’s the tale of the killer who orchestrates all the typical street noises into a deadly symphony. Don’t read too many of these pages all at once though. Allow intervals for each individual horror to ooze into you.
The stories suggest that the author has a wide, interesting experience of life. One story demonstrates what could well be first-hand knowledge of Tokyo’s side streets and gaming arcades. Another story is set on the little-known Hart Island of New York City. I had never heard of this place, which is not even shown on most New York maps. It’s the location of the mass graves of Potters Field and of the victims of bygone wars and TB epidemics. Another story involves the use of Mercury Thiocyanate, also known as “the Pharaoh’s Serpent.” Yet another story is set along the National Recreation Trail network in a way that suggests he might have hiked some of its length.
I hate to criticize anything about this book, not only because so much of it is good, but also because – the author scares me. It’s unlikely that “Michael Squid” is his real name. He seems to be all too knowledgeable about what it’s like to carve into living human flesh, and he morphs all too easily from an average Joe narrator into the mind of a monster. The book is peppered with stories that would be particularly unsuitable for children. They have an “I Spit on Your Grave” revenge torture theme.
That’s partially the trouble. There is too much flayed skin here, too many lips peeled back, too many heads squashed like melons.
However, the main reason I demoted this book to 4-stars is that it really is in need of editing. The book appears to have been self-published without the consistent services of any proofreader. There are frequent run-on sentences, misspellings, and grammatical errors. Sentences such as these from “The Disturbing Arcade Game in Kabukicho” are all too common – “The view was phenomenal, A (sic) state-of-the-art VR display and incredible sound, depicting a medieval castle interior. 3D rendered goblins wandered around and I quickly got the hand (sic) of the movement and attacking with the sword, taking out the warted, hopping green enemies.
Authors have long recognized that, especially when their plots swirl off into wild fiction, they need to have a sturdy scaffolding of fact and convention. This grounding is necessary to induce the reader to suspend disbelief and to come along as the author spins into fantasy. So for future works, Mr. Squid would do well to get a good proofreader!
Overall though, this book, with its scary cover art and all things scary inside – is a keeper. I also found a bonus in Mr. Squid’s acknowledgements. There he mentions a “Short Scary Stories” webpage. I’m grateful to have been turned onto this site. It includes some ultra-short stories (a few sentences each) that are real little chill packs.
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![Where the Light Stops Dead: 50 Short Horror Stories by Mr. Michael Squid by [Mr. Michael Squid]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41K6Uj9J-aL._SY346_.jpg)
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