When the Lights Go Out by Kevin Lucia

When the lights go out...that's when things change. When masks are put aside, and eerie truths are laid bare. It's when towns grow extra streets and cul-de-sacs which don't exist in the daytime. When whispered wishes and fantasies become reality. When our deepest fears and most powerful longings become flesh. When ambitions become obsessions which overpower us, and leads us to our ends. But it's also when our imaginations run free, unfettered by the trappings of mundane living. Just as the dark unleashes despair, it also fuels fantastical leaps impossible to take during the day. It's the canvas upon which we paint worlds and universes which take the darkness and create something out of nothing.In his new collection, one of the leading voices in small press horror offers up an eclectic collection of strange tales - the kind which can only happen when the lights go out, and we close our eyes.

 

I love short horror stories and especially enjoy when author notes are included. I'm always fascinated to learn how the stories or the ideas for them came to be.  I had a great time with the majority of this book. I do have to say that ending the book with story fragments that are bits and pieces of tales that may or may not ever come to be is such a tease. I hope to see them completed someday. Especially the one about the snow that is not snow. You can not start to tell me about a burning snowstorm that falls in warm weather and then leave me hanging. 

The author's writing style pulls me in, to the point that I can't help but be invested in the story even when warned ahead of time that it won't be complete.

As far as the complete stories in this collection the book begins with a more traditional ghost story that takes place in a haunted school before moving on to less benevolent tales that combine the supernatural with psychological horror. I had multiple favorites, including one about a man who creates his own world out of model trains, a can recycling center that is more than it seems, and every story that had anything to do with Bassler House. Creepy and clever twists kept me turning the pages.

4 out of 5 stars

I received an advance copy

Available for preorder

About the author