A Quiet Place

A Quiet Place
J.W. Schnarr

This is a collection of horror fiction from Canadian author J.W. Schnarr. I went looking for an overall theme to the collection, and while many of the stories were rooted in Biblical traditions of hell, demons, and not pissing off God, there was a good bit of diversity to the plots. The opening piece, Love Disappears, is the quietest story in the bunch. First love is fleeting, but this beachside tale stayed with me for days. There are werewolves, demons, Elvis impersonators and zombies.

Yes this is a book of horror. You’d certainly expect pools of blood and flies and some gruesome imagery, but often the author goes into a level of detail that may be disturbing to some. I was disappointed that some stories used show more blood and gore in a way that seemed added for shock value and nothing else. It stuck out. It didn’t fit. I didn’t finish one story because my eyes were rolling so hard I couldn't read. I think nearly every collection of shorts has a dud, and I found mine.

But there were gems I couldn't ignore. Two tales were gorged on imagery that fed from the deepest pits of hell into something I had to think hard about to visualize completely. I was disturbed by what I read, and delighted that it raised the hairs on the back of my neck. Gory? Yes, but it was perfectly appropriate and necessary and gorgeous.

The last piece of the collection was my favorite and the most disturbing. Opt-in. In the near future, advertising is crafted just for you by the people who know you best. They just want to help you. They want you to be a better person, a better friend, a better human being. The mad men are on the phone and It’s for you. show less

This was an odd collection of short stories. I love the short story format and I think this author did a great job of creating short stories and keeping them short, with good details. That said, I really only was drawn to a couple of them. Sometimes the stories seemed to be "out there" for no other reason than just being "out there." A short story doesn't need gore or shock value to be good.

It's impressive to find an author that knows exactly when to end a short story. Far too often, stories drag on past a natural conclusion or end abruptly, leaving me unsatisfied. The supernatural nature of these shorts appeals to me, and the plots are fun and inventive. All-in-all, definitely worth a read.

I have read some Schnaar before and was quite pleased with it but in this collection the author has taken a a crack at more psychological, suspenseful tales but with very limited success. One or two or maybe three of these tales work fairly well but most of them are almost instantly forgettable. The fai to grip from the get go and often one is left wondering what point there is. I am sure, from his previous work that he can write but this new approach needs more work and possibly a harsher critic before publication - this collection was simply not ready to see the light of day. I hope that the next collection will be.

11 short stories of somewhat bleak psychological nature. I did not really enjoy apart from.... "Green Hills" where a pilot of a small piper cherokee takes a cargo to an unusual destination and "Blue Suede Blues" Clyde no 1 Elvis fan enjoys a short holiday and finally resolves the problem of his nagging wife Shelly....

I must admit I'm not the biggest fan of short-stories at the best of times but I felt very much let down by this collection. I found most of these stories lack-lustre and many seemed way too slow from the beginning. The one exception and my favourtite story from the collection was "Green Hills". I also enjoyed "Emily" however I felt it's ending was somewhat predictable.