 Wide ranging 35-story tribute to Alvin Schwartz’s legendary If you are after a massive multi-author anthology of horror stories to scare young kids (ages 8-12 according to the cover) then Don’t Turn Out the Lights, which has been edited by Jonathan Maberry, has much to recommend. 35 stories, spread across 380 pages, is a lot of reading with many a mere five-to-seven pages in length. The shortish page length did detract from some of the tales, as it is hard to build-up effective scares with so few words and instead have to rely upon “BOO!” style ending, some of which worked better than others. However, one could easily imagine many of the stories being read aloud in class by teachers, during circle time with the lights dimmed, around the campfire or at sleepovers. They would be at their most potent in these situations and many will have been written for such occasions. The great Alvin Schwartz would surely be nodding in approval. The anthology is a tribute to Alvin Schwartz’s legendary Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, and it was nice to see many of the stories written in a similar style to the original and two sequels. It is worth noting that although Schwartz’s collections are routinely and deservedly eulogised by the American horror community they made little impact in the UK and whilst American kids of the 1980s were being scared by the three collections published between 1981-91, we in the UK had our own anthologies and were more impressed by the likes of Christopher Maynard’s Usborne’s World of the Unknown: Ghosts which was massive on our side of the Atlantic. Even though I am a lifelong horror fan I never read them myself until well into the 1990s and that was because of their reputation as a banned book during a period when there was heavy censorship in American libraries rather than their status in the horror world. I am not sure why they never truly took off in the UK, as other literary exports from roughly the same era Goosebumps and Point Horror both transferred beautifully and hit the jackpot. Interestingly, the recent film version is aimed at a YA audience, whereas the books targeted kids of primary age. It is heartening to see the Horror Writers Association ‘presenting’ this anthology as there is plenty of scope for them to get involved in the junior horror market. However, if they are contemplating dipping their toes in this particular literary pond they need to make a better job of it than with the Young Adult (YA) Bram Stoker Award in which they have regularly presented their prestigious gong to books which are incredibly weak and have zero YA credibility beyond their own organisation. If the current holder of the YA Stoker Award is an honest representation of the ‘best’ in teen horror available of 2020 then I am a Martian. Thankfully, the anthology does include a decent mix of the best of current YA horror writers, including, Courtney Alameda, Amy Lukavics, Madeleine Roux, Margaret Stohl, Kami Garcia, Barry Lyga, Brendan Reichs, RL Stein, Sherrilyn Kenyon and Brenna Yovanoff. It is worth noting than none of these authors have ever won a YA Stoker and several them have written books which deserved to. Make of that what you will, or you could always ask the HWA. Many other notable names are thrown into the mix, including adult horror writers Josh Malerman and Christopher Golden. My three personal favourite stories were by Madeleine Roux (The Tall Ones), Amy Lukavics (The Neighbor) and Christopher Golden (The Open Window). Roux’s story closes the anthology in some style with probably the longest story, a small town has its own weird local myth, when strange chalklike signs appear in the local community this is a warning that creatures called the ‘Tall Ones’ are shortly going to visit. Although nobody knows what they look like, everybody follows the rules and leaves out offerings of food and gifts. The story is seen from the point of view of a little girl called Estrella who befriends a new boy, whose family do not believe in the myth and pay the price. Amy Lukavics is one of my favourite YA authors and I always take a keen interest in what she releases, in The Neighbor Dennis wakes up and sees a little boy across the street staring at him, they quickly become friends and go wandering in the encroaching forest which Dennis is usually forbidden to play in. This was also a slightly longer story, with a slightly deeper and impressive twist and a great description of a boy digging himself out of a grave, this is a story permeated with a deep sense of melancholy. Christopher Golden’s crazy The Open Window features a little boy who has a nightmare night when he is stalked by multiple doppelganger versions of his dad, to the extent that he does not know who the real one is. It does not end well. The beauty of the short story, both for adults and kids, is that there is no necessity to provide a happy ending and that is certainly the case with many of the stories in this anthology, as is the great tradition with campfire stories, nobody wants a ‘happily ever after’. Alethea Kontis’s The Golden Peacock was another entertaining entry with a grim ending which will have the kids going yuck! A couple with a five-year-old girl inherit a painting of a peacock feather which they hang in her bedroom. Soon she begins talking of an invisible friend called Melora, a name of some significance from their family history and a dark connection to the painting. Laurent Linn’s The Funeral Portrait was one of the few stories to be set in a different historical period. A blood thirsty newly crowned king gets too big for his boots and has his funeral portrait done by a painter with a mysterious reputation when still a young man, a big mistake, and you just know pride will come before a fall. Brendan Reichs’s The Carved Bear was the other story with a historical setting. A young boy steals a bear carving from a gypsy peddler and later the night, whilst gloating with his sister, the bear seemingly changes shape whilst the children sleep and becomes more threatening, moving closer to the fearful children. Jonathan Auxier’s Lint Trap is the first of the final five stories I would like to flag as personal favourites. A family move into a house with a dodgy past and soon five-year-old Jasper hears strange voices from coming within the washing machine in the basement. The voices are just so inviting and friendly he cannot resist their pull and hang in there for another bleak ending. Luis Alberto Urrea and Rosario Urrea’s Brain Spiders was a quirky spin on the school bully story. Katya is a Ukrainian immigrant who is tormented by her mean girl style classmates, because of her dress sense and strange health problems and once her classmates start digging beyond her bandages, they are really going to regret it. Tananarive Due’s The Garage is the only zombie story in the anthology. This was a stylish tale of a family in hiding from ‘The Freaks’ who started appearing six months earlier, with the daughter who narrates the story now very bored any living in the family garage. But being bored is better than being dead. DJ MacHale’s The Green Grabber was one of the longer stories, kids fooling around drinking beer tell the story of ‘The Green Grabber’ and then a mysterious new tree suspiciously appears in the garden of the holiday home. Finally, in Tonya Hurley’s Pretty Girls Make Graves an unpopular girl invites members of the cheerleading team home for a beauty makeover as she believes her mother is a beautician and can borrow her make up. Things do not turn out as planned. Too many of the other stories followed a very similar pattern and if you read the stories close together, you will pick up on the pattern. It goes like this: A kid is warned of a dodgy graveyard, ghost or urban legend, the kid then ignores the warning and goes outside anyway. The kid, to his or her peril, realises their parents were right all along and is killed or disappears never to be seen again. This is the standard format for a campfire story, it is not deep but is effective in delivering a short sharp horror shock. So, teachers, or parents reading the stories out loud, would best read them in small doses. Don’t Turn Out the Lights is a fitting tribute to Alvin Schwartz and there is much fun to be had within these pages. Editor Jonathan Maberry is no slouch at short story writing himself, but on this occasion does not contribute anything. Currently, Harper Collins (and imprint Harper Teen) are releasing some great stuff, including Adam Cesare’s excellent Clown in a Cornfield and it is nice to see horror in the spotlight at a big publishing house. This anthology will undoubtedly mean much more to American readers than I, many of whom will love it, but even this Scotsman thought it was highly entertaining and am sure lots of kids will be really taken by it. Potentially, it is a lovely gateway book into horror for many kids. Tony Jones  Featuring stories from R.L. Stine and Madeleine Roux, this middle grade horror anthology, curated by New York Times bestselling author and master of macabre Jonathan Maberry, is a chilling tribute to Alvin Schwartz’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Flesh-hungry ogres? Brains full of spiders? Haunted houses you can’t escape? This collection of 35 terrifying stories from the Horror Writers Association has it all, including ghastly illustrations from Iris Compiet that will absolutely chill readers to the bone. So turn off your lamps, click on your flashlights, and prepare--if you dare—to be utterly spooked! The complete list of writers: Linda D. Addison, Courtney Alameda, Jonathan Auxier, Gary A. Braunbeck, Z Brewer, Aric Cushing, John Dixon, Tananarive Due, Jamie Ford, Kami Garcia, Christopher Golden, Tonya Hurley, Catherine Jordan, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Alethea Kontis, N.R. Lambert, Laurent Linn, Amy Lukavics, Barry Lyga, D.J. MacHale, Josh Malerman, James A. Moore, Michael Northrop, Micol Ostow, Joanna Parypinksi, Brendan Reichs, Madeleine Roux, R.L. Stine, Margaret Stohl, Gaby Triana, Luis Alberto Urrea, Rosario Urrea, Kim Ventrella, Sheri White, T.J. Wooldridge, Brenna Yovanoff   |
Archives
April 2023
|
RSS Feed
|
|