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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.
Beautiful and horrifying. These stories will haunt me for a long time. Fracassi is a dark, dark poet.
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.
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
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.
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.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
These stories didn’t really reach out to me. Fracassi uses a lot of mundane disasters for his horror, which I know a lot of people like, but it’s not my cup to tea at all. Give me ghosts an demons over a random plane crash any day.
The first story is really good, but the rest of them fail to follow up on the promise. A lot of people get randomly turned into pink mist in this collection. A real emphasis on the fragility of human life and the randomness of tragedy.
I believe I am uninterested in horror which examines random tragedy and favor metaphorical uses of terror. It’s also possible I read this during a really stressful week and entirely missed the point. In any case, I didn’t really like it.
The first story is really good, but the rest of them fail to follow up on the promise. A lot of people get randomly turned into pink mist in this collection. A real emphasis on the fragility of human life and the randomness of tragedy.
I believe I am uninterested in horror which examines random tragedy and favor metaphorical uses of terror. It’s also possible I read this during a really stressful week and entirely missed the point. In any case, I didn’t really like it.
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I’m slowly going through all of Philip Fracassi’s books, and I need to let you all know that every single last one is beautifully written. I don’t know that I’ve ever been brought to tears by short stories, but two in this book just hit some kind of way. I can’t recommend this collection of short stories enough.
I’m honestly sad it’s taken me this long to read this book. Lesson learned!
I’m honestly sad it’s taken me this long to read this book. Lesson learned!