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gharris777's review against another edition
4.0
Excellent collection of short stories by Philip Fracassi!
Thinking about this collection last night, I came to the idea that each short story involved death in some way.
Either through the physical act or emotional one.
I love that this collection plays around with this theme and gives different scenarios or ideas on the horror of dying.
Favorites:
Harvest – 4/4.5 stars
(Great concept and atmosphere.)
The Wheel – 5 stars
(Perfection!)
Soda Jerk – 4 stars
(Great concept and the ending still gives me the creeps.)
ID – 5 stars
(I loved this one! Definitely stays with you and the insanity of it all is perfection.)
Death, My Old Friend – 4 stars
(Not necessarily horror but really loved this one.)
Great but wanted more to the story:
Fragile Dreams – 4 stars
(It would have been a favorite if unanswered questions that I had were addressed.)
Good:
***Comments after the title on why it wasn’t a favorite.***
Symphony – 3 stars
(I didn’t like the ending on this one. It didn’t feel true to the motivations of the characters.)
Ateuchus – 3.5 stars
(I need to take some acid and reread this again.
Thinking about this collection last night, I came to the idea that each short story involved death in some way.
Either through the physical act or emotional one.
I love that this collection plays around with this theme and gives different scenarios or ideas on the horror of dying.
Favorites:
Harvest – 4/4.5 stars
(Great concept and atmosphere.)
The Wheel – 5 stars
(Perfection!)
Soda Jerk – 4 stars
(Great concept and the ending still gives me the creeps.)
ID – 5 stars
(I loved this one! Definitely stays with you and the insanity of it all is perfection.)
Death, My Old Friend – 4 stars
(Not necessarily horror but really loved this one.)
Great but wanted more to the story:
Fragile Dreams – 4 stars
(It would have been a favorite if unanswered questions that I had were addressed.)
Good:
***Comments after the title on why it wasn’t a favorite.***
Symphony – 3 stars
(I didn’t like the ending on this one. It didn’t feel true to the motivations of the characters.)
Ateuchus – 3.5 stars
(I need to take some acid and reread this again.
evan_streeby's review against another edition
4.0
A great collection, with “Death, My Old Friend”, “Symphony”, and “Fragile Dreams” being my personal favorites. The others weren’t bad by any means, but those three really shine.
beau_reads_books's review against another edition
4.0
Okay damn Fracassi I was not familiar with your game. I like reading story collections of authors before jumping into novels because it operates as a sampler platter. “Pale Sky” was Fracassi’s charcuterie board of darkly bizarre, often cosmic, and deeply horrifying short fiction that somehow ended with a warm, gentle caress of a new friend’s hand on your cheek: it feels good to have it there, but they don’t know you like that and there’s a wrongness after it. The whiplash was astonishing. Only eight stories and I can’t pick a favorite, that’s the sign of success. Okay fine, y’all know I’m a bug boy, you can figure it out :D
Fracassi’s an equal opportunist: everyone (I mean everyone) gets hurt.
4.5/5 I’ve shied away from his catalog for too long, I’ll be grabbing whatever I can get my hands on soon enough.
Fracassi’s an equal opportunist: everyone (I mean everyone) gets hurt.
4.5/5 I’ve shied away from his catalog for too long, I’ll be grabbing whatever I can get my hands on soon enough.
constantreader_nic's review against another edition
5.0
Every single story in this amazing collection is a home run. Thought provoking, eerie, dark and scary this is a perfect fall read. On top of that, Fracassi’s writing is gorgeous and fully developed. This is as good or better than any King I’ve read and loved.
I loved going in blind, so be warned, it’s a little spoiler-y ahead…
Harvest: a very dark wedding story.
The Wheel: a carnival story with multiple POV converging to a terrifying end
Soda Jerk: unsettling small town horror with a creepy finish.
Symphony: a sad reverie on grief, abuse and the nature of hell.
Ateuchus: aliens. Super gross but horrifyingly cool.
ID: a man gets mixed up with a crazy girl from the asylum.
Fragile dreams: the most intense near death story of all time. Jesus.
Death, My old Friend: my favorite in the whole book. Short and devastating, the end took the wind out of me.
I loved going in blind, so be warned, it’s a little spoiler-y ahead…
Harvest: a very dark wedding story.
The Wheel: a carnival story with multiple POV converging to a terrifying end
Soda Jerk: unsettling small town horror with a creepy finish.
Symphony: a sad reverie on grief, abuse and the nature of hell.
Ateuchus: aliens. Super gross but horrifyingly cool.
ID: a man gets mixed up with a crazy girl from the asylum.
Fragile dreams: the most intense near death story of all time. Jesus.
Death, My old Friend: my favorite in the whole book. Short and devastating, the end took the wind out of me.
smcgillicuddy320's review against another edition
5.0
Beautiful and horrifying. These stories will haunt me for a long time. Fracassi is a dark, dark poet.
not_bender's review against another edition
4.0
This was yet another fantastic collection from Philip Fracassi. Not as precisely aligned with what I look for in horror, and not quite as mind-blowing for that matter, as Behold the Void was, but it's still a real killer (hah!) of a collection. Opens with a bang, keeps them coming, and ends...surprisingly tenderly? I enjoyed it thoroughly.
doug_f91's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
mollywadkins's review against another edition
4.0
The ambiguous endings and oddity of a few of the stories had me scratching my head in confusion rather tensing with dread like I'm sure the author desired, but over all the craft, skill, and concepts of each story were wonderful and enjoyable.
I'd love to see 'Soda Jerk' and 'Death, My Old Friend' expanded more.
I'd love to see 'Soda Jerk' and 'Death, My Old Friend' expanded more.
a_chickletz's review against another edition
3.0
This was one of the books in my Night Worms June 2021 box. I am still working on finishing the other book that was included.
The theme all these stories seemed to share: death, death in its strange end. Bitter, bittersweet, and odd. The ending of some of the stories were a bit lost on me, but again, I think the character some of these characters come to meet up with the end is 'death' personified.
I had some favorites, and I had some that sort of bored me. I tend to enjoy anthology style short stories where the stories intertwine/overlap, and the cover story involving the Ferris Wheel would probably be my favorite. It was a pretty gruesome tale.
It was my first time reading anything by this author, and I can see why Josh did an introduction for his book. If you like his stories chances are you'll probably enjoy his.
The theme all these stories seemed to share: death, death in its strange end. Bitter, bittersweet, and odd. The ending of some of the stories were a bit lost on me, but again, I think the character some of these characters come to meet up with the end is 'death' personified.
I had some favorites, and I had some that sort of bored me. I tend to enjoy anthology style short stories where the stories intertwine/overlap, and the cover story involving the Ferris Wheel would probably be my favorite. It was a pretty gruesome tale.
It was my first time reading anything by this author, and I can see why Josh did an introduction for his book. If you like his stories chances are you'll probably enjoy his.
rogergeis's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0