First Book Up:
Goodreads Book Giveaway
Esmirana’s Trunk
by Mark Stattelman
Giveaway ends February 07, 2021.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads. Enter Giveaway
A mix of stories.
Think Alfred Hitchcock, Ruth Rendell, Daphne du Maurier, and the Twilight Zone, along with a tale similar to an Agatha Christie mystery. Even threw in an underwater thriller.
In other words, psychological suspense, with some action . . .
To be even more specific with regard to Du Maurier and Rendell, I would suggest similarities to Du Maurier’s short story collection, Kiss Me Again, Stranger (which includes the story “The Birds”), and Rendell’s short story collection, The Copper Peacock.
For more info on each of these books click links below:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1896779.The_Copper_Peacock_and_Other_Stories
Or you might try The Roald Dahl Omnibus: Perfect Bedtime Stories for Sleepless Nights. A couple of stories that pop into my mind are “The Landlady” and “Lamb to the Slaughter.”
And then there is Cornell Woolrich . . . (sorry, I can’t stop)
The above screenshot is from Goodreads . . . And the following is a copy of a review from Amazon:
For those of you who have never met him, let me introduce you to Cornell Woolrich, the greatest suspense writer of all time. He’s cruel, he’ll wring you dry, he’ll pummel you physically and emotionally until you just about break down. And you’ll never be able to get enough.
Now let me introduce you to the ONLY thing that is in print from this remarkable man, who wrote over twenty novels and a few hundred short stories… The Omnibus, which contains I MARRIED A DEAD MAN and WALTZ INTO DARKNESS, two of the last novels of his “main” period and both written under the pseudonym William Irish, and five short stories collected under the Title “Rear Window”. I MARRIED A DEAD MAN is one of Woolrich’s best: existentially terrifying, incredibly depressing, and wholly dependent on bizarre coincidences that you must just accept as being part of his cruel and mocking universe. WALTZ is a strange choice to include, since it uncharacteristically takes place in a period setting (1880s Louisiana) and depends less on crime and suspense than his other works, but it is nonetheless captivating — his dark view of life and love still sits at the helm, but this novel isn’t representative of his work the way you would expect for inclusion in an “Omnibus”.
As for the shorts, they are uniformly a strong group. “Change of Murder” and “Post-Mortem” are solid if not incredible, but they do show you what some of his typical magazine work was like. “Rear Window” (which was first published as “It Had To Be Murder”) is still a great story, even if you’ve seen the movie a few hundred times. Woolrich keeps the action tense and claustrophobic the way no one else can. “Momentum” (first published as “Murder Always Gathers Momentum”) is a delirious action nightmare that outdoes Camus on the existential level (Woolrich is far far ahead of any French writer for existential despair — and yet he’s the one out of print, go figure!). It resembles another excellent story, “Dusk to Dawn” that Woolrich wrote a few years before.
I would especially like to point out what the reviewer said about the story “Three O’Clock,” which is one of my favorites of all time. Nail-biting suspense!
And then there’s “Three O’Clock”. Oh God. God, what can I say about this story? Woolrich’s biographer called it his greatest work, and to read it is “to die a little.” Be warned, this is a wrecking piece of prose, so tense and so frightening that you will never forget it, although you may try….
This collection is worth the price just for this short story alone.
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Now, this isn’t to say that my prose is as ‘top-notch’ as these heavyweights. I’m just saying that my thoughts generally run in the same vein with regard to the type of stories I like to write. I tend to peer around dark corners, glance under the beds, search in crevices . . . for any sort of oddity with respect to human nature or happenstance. After all, one can never be sure what lies within the mind of one’s fellow man, or woman. Not truly. And the actions they will take when no one is looking is anyone’s guess. Go ahead, turn your back, but always be aware that someone might be just behind you, standing there . . . and who knows what is going through their mind, hmm?
And then there is Patricia Highsmith. Who can forget about Strangers on a Train? Or The Cry of the Owl (which was odd, and very dark, but good). And there was The Talented Mr. Ripley . . .
Okay, enough! It’s time I move on to the second book I’ve got up for a giveaway:
Goodreads Book Giveaway
I Fear Only the Dogs and other stories
by Mark Stattelman
Giveaway ends February 10, 2021.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads. Enter Giveaway
You’ll see that I Fear Only the Dogs is Volume Two of my Civil War Dark Tales series. If you’ve read Daguerreotype Dreams (Volume One), then you know what to expect. Except these stories are more tightly written than those in the first volume, at least in my opinion. And according to some people who have read these stories, these stories are a bit darker. I don’t know, maybe I intended to go a little darker (partly due to the cover, which is a story in itself. One day soon, I’ll explain).
Anyway, these stories are along the lines of Ambrose Bierce, Stephen Crane, and Edgar Allan Poe, perhaps with a touch of Stephen King thrown in for good measure.
Again, that’s not to say I’m on the same level as these greats, but I do like to play in the same sandbox. And I do believe I learn more and become better with each story I write. Depends on my mood, and what day you ask.
In Volume Three, And You Shall Not Live!, I do have a story, “Quicksand,” that is a direct tribute, or an homage, to Poe’s story, “The Gold Bug.” But that has nothing to do with this book, except along the discussion of style or type of story/stories found here in Volume Two: I Fear Only the Dogs. The title story (from Volume Two) may, in fact, be my favorite from the book. I can clearly picture the final scene of the two figures moving down the street and fading . . .
Not to give too much away.
Anyway, just wanted to mention the two Giveaways.
I hope you enter. I hope you win. But most of all, I hope you enjoy!