David Morrell is best known for testosterone-fueled thrillers like Extreme Denial and First Blood (whose excellent movie version, reissued on DVD in 1999, stars Sylvester Stallone as Rambo). But Morrell has also penned many frightfully scary short stories. In Black Evening, he presents 16 of his favorites, each with a fascinating introduction explaining what provoked him to write it.

"The Dripping" (1971) came to the author in a dream that most would regard as a nightmare. In this eerie little number, a father faces his worst fear when his family goes missing. Morrell suffered his own family tragedy in January of 1987, when his son Matt was diagnosed with bone cancer. "Orange Is for Anguish, Blue for Insanity" (the Horror Writers Association's best novella of 1988) was written shortly before Matt's death. Writing about a mad painter kept Morrell sane: "The made-up horror was paradoxically providing a barrier from real-life horror." But after Matt's death, Morrell was besieged with panic attacks, and could do nothing but "stare at the ceiling" for three years. A harrowing story about lost children and a long buried family secret, "The Beautiful Uncut Hair of Graves" (another HWA award-winner) signified Morrell's return to short fiction. The title is taken from Walt Whitman's poem about death and children; John Rambo's name is a pun on Arthur Rimbaud. Morrell is a genre writer with a poet's soul.

And whether he's writing stories of subtle psychological terror or conjuring up scenarios of pure horror, Morrell never fails to scare the bejesus out of us. --Naomi Gesinger


From Publishers Weekly
Though best known for his high-action thrillers, Morrell has traveled many side roads in his long writing career--horror novels, westerns, even a highly personal account of his teenage son's losing battle with cancer. Now, he offers up a generally intriguing but uneven collection of 15 short stories written over a 20-year period ending in 1992. Many of the entries here are vintage Morrell, featuring dark themes, dark humor, bursts of action, a setting that's slightly askew and a main character driven by fear. "The Typewriter" tells of a writer's panic when his magic typewriter no longer turns out bestsellers. "At My Back I Always Hear" is a haunting account of a college professor (which Morrell once was) stalked by a student. The best of the stories showcase Morrell's ability to capture pure, hard-driving suspense, often culminating in unspeakable tragedy or bizarre discovery. These include "Orange Is for Anguish, Blue for Insanity" and "The Beautiful Uncut Hair of Graves." The weaker links among the entries are those with a decidedly creepy bent representative of Morrell's horror period. Among them are "The Dripping," Morrell's first published work; "Black Evening"; and "For These and All My Sins." Even the less successful stories, however, have a gripping quality--some twist or mood that drives the plot forward and locks a reader's attention. Morrell (The Brotherhood of the Rose) prefaces all the stories with personal anecdotes and other autobiographical reflections that place them in a meaningful context. In a foreword and afterword, Morrell talks about his career thus far. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
This compilation of horror stories from the 1980s and 1990s by David Morrell, author of FIRST BLOOD, is everything a good audiobook should be. The seven stories are well selected, providing a thrilling aural experience. The performances, by six actors, blend narration, music, and acting to create the sinister atmosphere of Morrell's tales of loss and death. The highlight is the final story, "The Beautiful Uncut Hair of Graves," an award-winning tale of a lawyer's search for his true identity, told with blood-chilling authority by Stefan Rudnicki. To complete the package, Morrell provides enlightening introductions to each story. G.M.N. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

FROM OUR EDITORS

Writer David Morrell has dabbled in various forms of the art, penning dark novels of horror, high-action thrillers, a couple of westerns, and a nonfiction account of his teenaged son's heart-wrenching battle with leukemia. Throughout it all, Morrell has had an off-and-on love affair with the short story, several of which have won awards and appeared in various journals and anthologies. Now he has assembled 15 of his best shorts for a collection that is as varied as it is chilling: Black Evening.

The collection marks a 20-year period in Morrell's life during which he experienced incredible highs, soul-shattering lows, and a remarkable evolution of his writing talent and career. Collectively, the stories are a story in themselves, mapping out Morrell's journey through both life and his craft.

The first story, "The Dripping," which was also Morrell's first published short, is brutal and bloody, a harrowing piece of graphic horror. In others, like "Black and White and Red All Over," Morrell relies more on psychological terror. There's plenty of the supernatural to go around, too. "Mumbo Jumbo" is an almost lighthearted tale of a magical mascot used by a wily football coach with devastating results. "The Storm," a truly spooky tale of the ultimate payback delivered by an Indian magic man to a scornful disbeliever, delivers plenty of horror throughout and ends with a one-two punch that is both literally and figuratively chilling.

In some cases, Morrell's introduction to a story provides for certain insights that make the piece even creepier. Such is the case with "But at My Back I Always Hear," a tale of one college student's otherworldly stalking of her professor, a premise that came about when Morrell, a real-life professor, had an overzealous student of his own. Writers will love the ironic horror behind "The Typewriter," and anyone in business or looking for a job will appreciate the desperation and cunning behind the mind of the character in "The Partnership."

Morrell provides an overview and, often, a bit of personal history as an introduction to each story, giving the reader some fascinating insights on the thoughts, emotions, and processes that were involved in creating each one. None are quite so poignant as the introduction to "Orange Is for Anguish, Blue for Insanity," which Morrell wrote while sitting at the hospital bedside of his dying son. Equally touching and perhaps surprising is Morrell's revelation about how he found solace in reading horror during this difficult time, for the made-up horror offered a sort of barrier against the all-too-painful real-life horror.

Though the mood and character of each story in Black Evening are unique, Morrell's ability to raise the goose bumps remains constant. With this career-spanning collection, he spins out the suspense with an increasingly masterful hand as he delves into the horrors -- both imagined and real -- that lurk just beneath the surface of everyday life. The stories themselves are eclectic, with subject matter that ranges from the supernatural to simple homicidal maniacs. But one thing they all share in common is a powerful taste of horror that is consistently and chillingly rendered.

—Beth Amos

FROM THE PUBLISHER

From the American heartland to the edge of Hell, David Morrell, the bestselling author of the classics First Blood and The Brotherhood of the Rose, presents a career-spanning examination into his own life...and the fears we all share. From his first published short fiction to his latest, award-winning stories, including:

"The Beautiful Uncut Hair of Graves"--Winner, Best Novella, Horror Writers of America Award: Both your parents die suddenly; now, going through their legal papers, you find adoption papers, dated on your birthday...signed in a town that has been abandoned...

"Orange Is for Anguish, Blue for Insanity"--Winner, Best Novella, Horror Writers of America Award: Beneath the placid, beautiful landscapes of a master's paintings lie hidden levels of pain, madness...and unearthly horrors...

"Dead Image"--Finalist, Best Novella, World Fantasy Award: You know, of course, that Hollywood movie stars think fame is more important than life itself...but you don't know the half of it...