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    Dark Screams: Volume Four
    Dark Screams: Volume Four
    Dark Screams: Volume Four
    Audiobook3 hours

    Dark Screams: Volume Four

    Written by Clive Barker, Ray Garton, Ed Gorman and

    Narrated by Joe Barrett

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    "The Departed" by Clive Barker: On All Hallows' Eve, a dead and disembodied mother yearns to touch her young son one last time. But will making contact destroy them both?

    "Creature Feature" by Heather Graham: What could be better publicity for a horror convention than an honest-to-goodness curse? It's only after lights out that the hype-and the Jack the Ripper mannequin-starts to feel a little too real.

    "The New War" by Lisa Morton: Mike Carson is a war hero and a decorated vet. He doesn't deserve to be trapped in a hospital with some black thing sitting on his chest as patients die all around him. His only hope is to take out the nurse before it's his turn.

    "Sammy Comes Home" by Ray Garton: It's what every family prays for: a lost pet returning home. But when Sammy, the Hale family sheepdog, appears on their doorstep, he brings back something no parent would ever wish upon his or her child.

    "The Brasher Girl" by Ed Gorman: Cindy Marie Brasher is the prettiest girl in the Valley, and Spence just has to have her. Unfortunately, Cindy has a "friend"-a friend who tells her to do bad things.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateNov 24, 2015
    ISBN9781494588328
    Dark Screams: Volume Four
    Author

    Clive Barker

    Clive Barker is the bestselling author of twenty-two books, including the New York Times bestsellers Abarat; Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War; the Hellraiser and Candyman series, and The Thief of Always. He is also an acclaimed painter, film producer, and director. He lives in Southern California.

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    Reviews for Dark Screams

    4/5

    50 ratings9 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I liked all five of the stories in this collection. The main thing I liked was that each one was totally different in style, story type and writing. I've read all these authors before and this collection just reinforces how great they each are. I enjoyed reading this book.
      I received this arc book free from NetGalley for a honest review.
    • 5/5
      Dark Screams: Volume Four by Clive Barker, Ed Gorman & Heather Graham is a creepy anthology. Some of the stories actually made me cringe. I gave it five stars because it was horrifying & a fast read.It included:The Departed by Clive Barker where a loving young mother yearns to touch her son just one more time.Creature Feature by Heather Graham where the Jack the Ripper mannequin comes to life. A totally unnerving reading experience.The New War by Lisa Morton left me confused.Sammy Comes Home by Ray Gorton reminded me of Stephen King's Pet Cemetery meets Alien. It's another goose bump inducing tale.The Brasher Girl by Ed Gorman where things are not what they seem. Cindy has a friend who helps her come up with entertaining ideas.I would like to thank Random House Publishing Group - Hydra & NetGalley for the complimentary kindle copy to read. It did not change my opinion for this review.
    • 4/5
      This is the best volume of Dark Screams yet! With some heavy hitting authors within, I thought this collection was pretty damn good.

      The Departed by Clive Barker-A very sad story to read around Mother's Day. 4*

      The New War by Lisa Morton-Another sad story about a WWII veteran. 4*

      Sammy Comes Home by Ray Garton- A creature feature that really hit home for me. This was my favorite of the bunch. 5*

      The Brasher Girl by Ed Gorman-A story where I thought I knew where it was going, but I was very wrong. 4*

      Creature Feature by Heather Graham-This was my least favorite of the bunch. It seemed to be all over the place-not knowing what kind of story it wanted to be? Or maybe it was just me-because I thought the initial concept was good then it morphed into something else. 3*

      Overall, I thought this was an above average collection and I recommend it highly!

      *I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. This is it! Thanks Net Galley!*
    • 4/5
      I received a free ARC from Net Galley

      Overall, I feel this is the best of the Dark Screams series so far. Three of these stories I thought were great, and the other two were still pretty good. I enjoyed reading all of them.

      The Departed - a sentimental ghost story. Interesting, but didn't seem like anything special to me. I was hoping for more scares from Clive Barker.

      Creature Feature - I thought this was an interesting premise. I really liked the setting, in a horror convention after closing time. I would worry about the creatures coming to life too. The shifting point of views was a little distracting though.

      The New War - this was a tense story. Is the black thing real or imagination? And will it get Mike? I enjoyed this one.

      Sammy Comes Home - My favorite story in the book. Although it didn't really explain why things were happening to the pets, it was still a pretty creepy story. The visuals at the end of the story of the other animals returning home was great.

      The Brasher Girl - This felt more like a novel than a short story. I think it could easily be fleshed out into something longer. Cindy's special "friend" was a surprise, and not what I expected. I was thinking about this one long after I finished it.
    • 5/5
      This volume is full of good twists and turns. The collection of stories in this set are full of characters that you can get right into the story with and follow them as they face uncertain events. If you are thinking about getting this ebook and have not read the others then don't hesitate to start from the beginning because you will not be sorry.
    • 5/5
      This is a review for the an ARC of Dark Screams: Volume Four received from Cemetery Dance Publications. Like the previous volumes, it collects five storys of suspense/horror. As before, I am not big on disclosing too much of the plot. The stories are as follows:"The Departed," by Clive Barker I had previous read as part of his "Books of Blood." This bittersweet story (I know; doesn't sound Clive Barker-esque) of a ghost desperate to reconnect with the child she left behind. One Halloween evening she ventures and to meet him with unexpected consequences. I love the feeling this story left me with, and I guess that is high praise. Simply, but effective.In "The New War," by Lisa Morton, Mike Carson is convinced that the night nurse is killing patients at the nursing home, using "the black" that follows her into the room. Of course, even his own daughter does not believe him. When he begins seeing visions of a former friend from his days in the Pacific, his battle to avoid "the black" escalates. I appreciate this story for both the sense of isolation and dread it creates as Mike is trapped in a situation he is currently unable to do anything about."Sammy Comes Home," by Ray Garton plays with every pet owners fear of losing their pet. When family pet Sammy goes missing, it feels like the worst has happened. But after he turns up as a bloody mess on the front porch, the nightmare truly begins. This is one of those stories for which it should be illegal to divulge the plot. Read it for yourself. For me, it was the highlight of the collection!!"The Brasher Girl," by Ed Gorman, plays with the high-school lovers genre to create something truly unsettling. When a fresh-out-of-the-army guy begins dating a seventeen-year-old high school girl both popular and good-looking, he thinks he has it made. As their dating progresses, he gets to know about than he ever wished. A story for all those who never got the date the most popular boy/girl at school. After reading this, you may not want to!Finally, we have "Creature Feature," by Heather Graham. My second-favorite story in this collection, it plays homage to films such as "Terror in the Wax Museum" while putting its own original twist on the genre. I loved this story, because it was creepy and hid its secrets well.As with the previous collections in this series, I feel the editors have done a good job of pairing older stories with new stories to provide a well-rounded reading experience book by book.
    • 4/5
      Wow! What a difference a volume makes. This volume of Dark Screams is the best so far. Significantly better than last volume. The stories were all solid and engaging. None of them left me feeling disappointed or wanting for more. Maybe my expectations had been lowered enough to make the stories better. I doubt it but even if that was the case, all the stories were still good. In all the previous volumes there has been at least one story that disappointed. But not here. In order of least favorite to my most, here they are."The New War" by Lisa Morton - Mike Carson is in a hospital, recovering from a surgery. While he thinks that is has only been a little time, his daughter is telling him it has been months. Plus he keeps seeing men he served but whom also died during the war. He knows though that his nurse has brought a black thing that is killing him and others. Or has she? This was a good story that touched on several topics: growing old, memories, and dementia. The choices made by the characters were well done and left me feeling good. The story wasn't ground-breaking but it was solidly entertaining."Creature Feature" by Heather Graham - Rather than centered around the creature features horror movies that were on Friday and Saturday nights during the 60s, 70s and 80s, (my first thought upon reading the title) this story actually focuses on a convention. Sort of a special effects and make up convention for movie and TV studios. The story is around a killer who dons a costume and hides in plain sight in one of the booth displays. As it turns out, that is a fear that my wife has: a real killer hiding in plain sight in a haunted house. Anyway, the story is fun and enjoyable. My only clueless moment came with the big reveal of the killer and I went "Who?" But that was my own fault and not Graham's."Sammy Comes Home" by Ray Garton - Very quickly into this story, you know that things are going to go bad. A family's dog is missing in addition to a bunch of other neighbors who are also missing their pets. Sad but are they dead from a serial killer? Someone running them over? A demented teenager experimenting on them? But then the pets return with bloated and extended tumors. Probably because it is a horror story but my first thought was kill it. Shoot it in the head. Of course they don't and of course things turn quickly into a disaster. I was anxious and worried the whole way through."The Departed" by Clive Barker - I thought that this was a very sweet and adoring ghost story. A dead mother desperately wants to connect with her son one last time. I won't say anything to ruin the impact of the story but it left me wistful yet happy."The Brasher Girl" by Ed Gorman - Not as poignant as Barker's story, Gorman still tops him with this tale about a young man who gets into trouble when his girlfriend introduces him to a voice in a well. I just thought that it was very nicely told and had characters with depth to them. Gorman took his time with the story and built things up nicely. His characters went through a growth process even though it was a process that didn't help them at all. It was another story where you knew the ending wasn't going to be good but how and who were the questions.
    • 5/5
      In my opinion, Dark Screams: Volume Four is the strongest yet in the collection. Volume Three was somewhat disappointing to me, but Volume Four starts off with a bang, giving us “The Departed,” a spooky little story from Clive Barker. I was familiar with Lisa Morton via The Halloween Encyclopedia, but unfamiliar with her fiction. “The New War” really delivered, and I look forward to more from her in the future.Ray Garton’s tale (or should I say “tail,” since Sammy is a dog?) makes this collection worth the price of admission. This one truly belongs in a collection called Dark Screams. When Sammy, the family dog who has been missing, returns home, things are very different.Another really good story is “The Brasher Girl” by Ed Gorman. I really appreciated how he ended this tale. I’ve you’ve never read Ed Gorman, you don’t know what you’ve been missing.The last story, “Creature Feature,” by Heather Graham, is okay. It felt like a part of a series. Maybe it is, and I just don’t know. It was entertaining, but not as enjoyable from my perspective as the others.
    • 4/5
      The Departed (Clive Barker)My favourite in the collection, The Departed is heartwarming, sad but also very sweet. It is a silent story about motherly love, but also about the absolute love of a child for its mother. Have some Kleenex ready when reading this eye-waterer. 5 stars.The New War (Lisa Morton)Subtle and dark, this is a depressing story about the oppressing presence of death for an old man. The author did a great job building up tension. 4.5 starsSammy Comes Home (Ray Garton)Creature alert! A little disgusting but highly entertaining, although I felt sad for the pets. Would be nice to have this one stretched into a novella. 4 stars.The Brasher Girl (Ed Gorman)Although I liked the plot, I felt indifferent towards the characters and the outcome of the story. It was ok I guess. 3.5 starsCreature Feature (Heather Graham)The title tells it all, although I expected a larger mess and more real creatures. Though not really bad, this was my least favourite of the bunch. 3 starsAfter some middle-rate second and third volumes, the fourth part of Dark Screams raises the level again and collects some very fine stories. However, I suggest reading in reverse order to save the best for last.A town with a dark history...when a new resident moves into the old dilapidated Upshaw Mansion, history comes alive again in Mesa Rapids. Affecting its inhabitants, the town and especially the rooms and surroundings of the Upshaw Mansion turn into a nightmare vision resembling a Hieronymus Bosch painting (who is mentioned, quite fittingly, in the book). Only a handful of people are able to see the truth and discover that something truly evil is about to be released. Will they be able to stop it before it's too late?The story is told in very short chapters, each named after the character who is the main focus of that chapter. This made reading a very fast-paced process and allowed to see events from several perspectives, which helped put the pieces together. There also was a part documenting the town's history, which gave a lot of explanations to the questions raised by the creepy events taking place. Together with the interspersed diary entries of Colin, who is hired to paint at the Upshaw Mansion and thus, unknowingly, wake something terrible from the past, we get a good idea what is going on.The well-drawn main characters, especially Colin, were not all easily likable, which perfectly worked to make them real and believable. The book had a constant dream-like quality, and I felt like stepping into a nightmare where unimaginable things happened. However, the townsfolk participating in this sick dream were unable to see what was really going on and even enjoyed their cruel acts, like at a never-ending party in hell.While the story had some predictable moments, it was unputdownable until the end, which still held a surprise.However, I still wonder why the author chose to name the buyer of the mansion Klimt - with the constant references to art and the main subject of painting, I would have expected some connection to the painter...(I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review)