Sunday, March 30, 2014

Tales from the Nightside by Charles L. Grant was published by Arkham House in 1981. There were 4121 copies printed. Futura (London) reprinted the book in 1988 and Tor (New York) reprinted it in 1990.
The contents are as follows:

Foreword (by Stephen King)
Coin of the Realm
Old Friends
Home
If Damon Comes
A Night of Dark Intent
The Gentle Passing of a Hand
When All the Children Call My Name
Needle Song
Something There Is
Come Dance With Me On My Pony's Grave
The Three of Tens
Digging
From All the Fields of Hail and Fire
The Key to English
White Wolf Calling

I have not read anything of Grant's before so had no idea what to expect. In the foreword, Stephen King had nothing but praise so I was hoping for one of those books that I would never forget. However, I came away feeling indifferent about it.
Some of the stories (mostly the ones in the first half) left something to be desired. In each one, I was pulled into the story and loving it but then at the end was either left confused or thinking it could have ended better. It became almost funny to me. The last half was much better though. My favorites were "The Three of Tens", "Digging", and "From All the Fields of Hail and Fire". I felt like all of these ended well and kept me wanting to read the next page the entire time.
I may go back and read this one again in the not too distant future but for now let me just say that if you pick it up, you may want to read it in reverse order.

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