Black Evening

by David Morrell

Book Overview

A thrilling and suspenseful short story collection from bestselling and award-winning author David Morrell. David Morrell, whose many bestsellers include Double Image, Extreme Denial, and The... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0446608645
• Release Date: February 2000
• Publisher: Warner Books
• Length: 439 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 1.2" x 5.0"

Customer Reviews

Morrell is a master of the horror novella.

Although his novels often include horrific elements, David Morrell rarely deals with the supernatural and macabre in his longer works. Rather, he explores those topics in his shorter work, such as those gathered in his 1999 collection BLACK EVENING. These well-crafted tales, written between 1971 and 1992, are ample credentials for recognizing Morrell's status among the modern masters of horror.The stories selected for inclusion are presented in order of composition. In Morrell's words, they "wear their age well." "Tales of dark suspense," he continues, "their approach is different from that of my international thrillers. You won't find spies and round-the-globe intrigue here. What you will find are the stark emotions behind that intrigue: fear and trembling."Fear does indeed lurk at the heart of these stories, and in manypermutations. This may be fear for the safety of your loved ones ("The Dripping"), fear of being exposed as a fraud ("The Typewriter"), or the fear of being caught up in someone else's delusions ("But at My Back I Always Hear You"). Each successive story peers deeper into the dark, revealing just how close at hand it really is. Whether he is writing about an apocalyptic thunderstorm, a high school football team that owes itssuccess to an idol, or a town paralyzed with fear over the presence of a serial killer, Morrell writes with an edge of the seat immediacy, an urgency that communicates his characters' fears directly to his readers.How good are these stories? Consider this: the majority found homes in the premier anthologies of the eighties and nineties, including WHISPERS, SHADOWS, NIGHT VISIONS, PRIME EVIL, and DARK AT HEART. If you question the judgment of experienced editors like Charles Grant and Douglas Winter, you can always find assurance in the fact that two of the stories "The Beautiful Uncut Hair of Graves" and "Orange is for Anguish, Blue is forInsanity," won Stokers for Best Novella. Enhanced by Morrell's revealing Foreword, individual story notes, and Afterword, BLACK EVENING makes for rewarding reading, the kind that keeps you up late into the night. Just don't turn off the lights.

Finally in one volume

There have been several times that I have bought an anthology like "Prime Evil" so that I could read an otherwise unreleased Stephen King or Clive Barker story, and ended up being blown away by the stories of David Morrell. Finally, K-Tel-like, everyone can enjoy these powerful, imaginative stories without having to buy a dozen other books.While this collection does not contain all of Morrell's short fiction, it does contain all that I had read in other anthologies, most notably the powerhouse novella "Orance is for Anguish, Blue for Insanity," one of my all-time pieces of fiction, short or otherwise. I am a fan of author notes in collections, and Morrell doesn't disappoint. While he doesn't expound the way that, say, Harlan Ellison does, there are short notes before each store in addition to a Foreword and Afterword, and these add a texture to the book that I think makes your first read more enjoyable and increases the re-readability. Plus if you've already read a couple of these in anthologies it is nice to see the author's perspective instead of the anthology editor's perspective before the stories.I read this during a particularly hot summer week and found it to be perfect for this setting...the stories are engrossing enough that I forgot about the heat, and a few times I caught a genuine bit of a chill! Anyone who enjoys dark stories or speculative fiction should give this great book a read.

the most incredible collection i've ever read...

never in my life have i been so captivated by a short story then when i read "Orange is for anguish, Blue is for insanity", the other stories included are tremendous as well, but this one is the spellbinding one that grabs ahold of you and never let's go. i praise Morrell for letting out all of his frustration and his own insanity within this collection of masterpiece writing..."Black Evening" is a must own, no one should go through life without reading these stories...they have the power to keep you reading all through the night, and the power to change your life...now that's an author.

A good chance to look into the evolution of a great writer.

This collection of short stories is a great chance to get into the mindset of a wonderful writer! I first met David Morrell's writing in "First Blood", moved on to "The Brotherhood of the Rose" and have been a fan ever since. The group of stories he has put together for this book leads the reader through his early years of writing to the present. Each story is prefaced with his recollection of the how and why the story came to be. This immensely enriches the stories themselves. I had to finish this book from cover to cover in one sitting. A very intense, very scary and truely revealing, must read book!

Great stories, vintage Morrell!

I just read a few of the stories in "Black Evening" and had a lot of scary delights. David Morrell is great when it comes to suspense and thrillers and now, horror. He mixes a sense of his thrillers in with his horror stories making them much more exciting. I could even go on to compare with Stephen Kings short stories in "Skeleton Crew" Well done Mr.Morrell!