Review: A masterful horror story collection
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 7, 2014
Most modern day horror short stories have devolved into gore-fests, into a string of gruesome vein openings, more interested in exploiting death, than exploring horror. Horror stories have stopped being horrifying. They have become stories that prey on our fear of death. Gruesome, messy death.Most have forgotten the lessons of the masters, that the true birthplace of horror is our mind, that which hides deep in our subconscious, lurking, waiting to be unlock by a writer’s prose. D R Gordon’s stunning collection of short stories, From Darkness, lovingly embraces this classical notion, that true horror arises from our psyche, that it bubbles up from our gut.A strong Gothic undercurrent, which would make Horace Walpole smile, weaves its way through much of Gordon’s work. There is also a strong psychological element to many of the stories, which immediately calls to mind Baltimore’s most famous dismal denizen, Edgar Allan Poe. The writing is superb, Gordon’s prose is chameleon-like as it shifts to fit the mood of each of his stories; it can rich and detailed, or taut and filled with tension.The best horror stories stick with you, hitchhiking a ride on your soul, leaving an indelible mark. From Darkness is a collection filled with these types of stories. You will think about them long after you have closed the book, a wonderful recurring day-mare. But isn’t that what horror is truly about?