Review: Dark Visions

Dark Visions by Douglas E. Winter
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

By Stephen King:

The Reploids - ⭐⭐
The down side to short stories is they often make their mark with a shock ending with no explanations.

This is the story of mistaken identity, but it's clear from the start something is hinky. I found the 'shock reveal' ending was just what I'd assumed reading the whole thing, so it was rather disappointing. The story was too short to really pack a punch, and while the idea it presented was interesting, there just wasn't enough detail on it to give it any real emotional response. A disappointing beginning.

Sneakers - ⭐⭐⭐
This one was better and drew me in more, but it was another ending that fell flat for me. The mystery of the sneakers drew me in for sure and kept me hooked, but ultimately I got less than I expected from the reveal. I was also quite confused about Tell's role towards the end. So getting better, but still a bit underwhelming for King's work.

Dedication - ⭐⭐⭐
Ah. There's that classic King sexual weirdness.

A little black magic happening here, but aside from being disturbingly gross, there wasn't anything too horrific here. Just confusing again in what the point was. I get it - hoodoo magic - but ... why? I think sometimes the bizarreness is just not enough to outweigh the question of why we care. Again, the twist ending just didn't really mean a lot to me. An interesting, curious read, but ultimately disappointing.

By Dan Simmons:

Metastasis - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Oooh now this is some creepy horror!

I honestly had no idea what was going on with this story but the descriptions are horrifying. These are some freaky creatures taking centre stage here and I loathed them.

I don't know that I've actually read anything by Dan Simmons before but I like! His words are crafted quite well and this was a brilliantly unique horror story that I felt fit well enough in with reality that it added that extra creep factor.

Again, the ending was a little confusing, but I had an easier time with it than the previous King stories.

Vanni Fucci is Alive and Well and Living in Hell - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

YES! This is the standout so far.

I love the way this story built; you could really sense the momentum building, and feel the atmosphere of the story getting thicker.

I loved the Dante references here and I particularly love how much this story created from it. This story features rich religious jerks getting some karma so I was all in for that.

Loved the descriptions, the set up, the build, and the grand finale. Just a great story all round.

Iverson's Pits - ⭐⭐⭐

Writing, yes; story, no.

This is the story of a boy who accompanies a war veteran to the scene of a horror from his past. It's long and a tedious trek until you get to the point, which when it finally came was a good hit but just a little too late for me.

The writing, on the other hand, was fantastic. Proper creepy stuff going on, with descriptive passages that soak you in the miasma of this story's horror scenes. I really enjoyed that aspect.

So while the story didn't quite grab me and was a little too long, there was a reward in the language used to tell it.

By George R. R. Martin:

The Skin Trade - ⭐⭐⭐

This was more like a novella, so the length frustrated me a bit, but once I sunk into it it was a pretty decent story.

This is a fun werewolf story with murder, carnage, and all kinds of messiness. Which is kind of my happy place when it comes to horror.

However, it does often bother me how much some male authors focus on sex and make their characters naked for no discernable reason, and Martin is one of the worst for this. It tends to draw me out of the story because the lack of logic gets in my head.

Aside from that nitpick and the length of this one, it was actually a pretty decent story. It had some classic werewolf tropes but it also went into some unexpected territory that I really enjoyed. The writing is mostly crass but Martin deals in blunt force shock more than finesse, so the horror comes from the level of gruesome more than any kind of building tension or anticipation.

A memorable story for sure.

Overall thoughts:

I mostly enjoyed this collection, as it was quite an addictive read. Short stories are always easy to get through, but I think that notion is also why I get a bit frustrated with the longer ones.

Dan Simmons was the standout for me here: King's stories felt like they were scraps that he'd thrown to this book so it could have his name as a selling point, and Martin's single story seemed like it would have been better off on its own. But this is my first time reading Simmons and his writing really drew me in. I'll be looking for more of his work in the future.

A bit of a hodgepodge collection but fun and addictive all the same.

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