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Sunday, July 8, 2012

Review of Dark Light ~ supports Ronald McDonald house

Book Review of Dark Light




Book Synopsis:

Dark Light is the light that shines through when some of the finest writers in horror use the power of their words for something good. That’s the case with this anthology—42 writers coming together to help support the Ronald McDonald House Charities and all the good the organization does for families every day of the year.

Make no mistake, though. These are horror writers and the stories they’ve written are not pretty. Traditional and non-traditional horror, dark humor, ghosts, serial killers, alternate universes, magic, zombies, and other creatures of the night hide between these pages. Shadows move and dead fingers stroke unsuspecting flesh, razor sharp knives shimmer in the moonlight, and unknown things hide in closets and under the bed. The stories here are as varied as the writers themselves. If you’re a fan of horror, you will not be let down.

Despite the horrific nature of these tales, however, their very existence in Dark Light stands as proof there will always be a light at the end of every tunnel.

Turn the lights down low and enjoy the show.








Author Information:

Introduction
My daughter Ireland Joy Hose was due to come into the world on March 3rd,, 2012. Since my wife Marcee was going to have a C-section, her doctor scheduled her to deliver Ireland February 13th. It’s typical to schedule C-sections about two weeks before the actual due date, but in my wife’s case, the C-section was scheduled a little earlier because she had complete placenta previa, meaning her placenta was blocking the birth canal. This is normally not a problem unless the previa turns into accreta, which means the placenta attaches to body organs and actually begins to grow into them (pretty alien-like). This can result in severe hemorrhaging and may require a partial or even a complete hysterectomy.
All of this is beside the point. Ireland decided she wanted to show up on January 27th at 10:35 P.M. She was six weeks premature, 18 inches long, and weighed just 4 lbs. 13 oz.
Marcee had gone to the gynecologist that day. He told her she was having contractions. We went to the hospital, where they tried to stop her contractions. It didn’t happen. Marcee started bleeding, and while I write about blood all the time, seeing it pour from my wife’s body was pretty damn scary.
I was in the operating room when Ireland was delivered. She came out fine, although she would have her own struggles ahead of her in the coming weeks. Shortly after the nurses began cleaning Ireland up, one of the doctors said to another doctor that Marcee had accreta and would need a hysterectomy. I was caught between the joy of my daughter’s birth and my wife’s fragile situation.
The doctors began pumping my wife full of anesthesia and she was fading fast. All she wanted was to hear our baby girl cry, to know Ireland was all right. “Cry, baby girl,” she said, and when Ireland began to wail, Marcee drifted off.
I was ushered from the OR with Ireland in my arms. What followed was a two-and-a-half-hour wait while the doctors
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performed surgery on Marcee. There was a lot of blood loss, but in the end she came through the surgery alive and eager to see Ireland. Barely able to sit up, she insisted I wheel her to the nursery, where she held Ireland for the first time, a full four hours after Ireland was born.
Because Ireland was premature, she was going to be spending time in the NICU. She was moved to a different hospital—one that was further away from where we lived—the next night. Marcee and I agreed I should go with Ireland. There was really no discussion necessary. This, however, left Marcee alone to deal with the trauma of her experience without me or her newborn daughter to comfort her.
One of the memories that haunts me still is seeing an ambulance with the words Neonatal Transport Unit on the side and thinking, that’s a baby ambulance and it’s here for my baby.
I arrived at the hospital where my daughter was taken late that night. The blur begins here, so I don’t have the exact time. The NICU staff suggested I get a room at the Ronald McDonald House. I insisted I didn’t need one, that I would be staying at my daughter’s side day and night. They worked hard to convince me a room at the Ronald McDonald House made more sense—that it would be more comfortable than a chair in the NICU. If it had just been me, they probably wouldn’t have changed my mind, but since I knew Marcee was planning to join me as soon as she could strong arm the doctor’s into discharging her (which she did in record time), I relented and allowed one of the nurses to contact the Ronald McDonald House nearby to reserve us a spot.
It turns out no reservation was needed that night. Hospital security drove me to the Ronald McDonald House where we would be staying. It so happened I was the only guest at the time. The house was a quaint looking affair that reminded me of a bed and breakfast in the country—from the outside. Inside was a maze of stairways and narrow hallways that housed about thirty rooms. The security guard said I wouldn’t be able to get a key until morning, so once he left, I wouldn’t be able to get in and out. The doors lock automatically.
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After the security guard left, I wandered around the house. It was beautiful. Hardwood floors, stocked library, fully-stocked kitchen (help yourself to anything you want), fireplace, and a playground outside for kids. It was amazing.
And a little creepy.
The house sat in a beautiful residential area with red brick streets and lots of gorgeous trees, but at night, alone as I was, still a little in shock over the premature birth of my daughter and the bloody mess that was Marcee’s surgery, my mind began working overtime. I imagined all sorts of creaking floors and shadows moving through the house—hell, maybe it wasn’t my imagination. In any case, sleep did not come easy that night. I’d seen far too many horror movies, written far too many horror stories myself, not to know what usually becomes of lone visitors in quaint country homes in the middle of the night. I called Marcee to let her know I was settled in and that I thought I had the company of ghosts, or maybe something much worse.
With no key, I used my overnight bag to prop the door open so I could step outside and have a cigarette.
It was a foggy night—isn’t it always?
One cigarette became two, two became three. I stood outside in the fog, looking through the chilly darkness, grateful to have a new daughter, but afraid for how fragile she seemed to be; happy Marcee came through the surgery alive, but sad she was alone at another hospital; missing our boys, who would end up seeing us very little over the next three weeks (although they were well taken care of, thanks to Marcee’s mom and dad).
It was 3:00 A.M when I finally went back inside and stretched out on the bed, fully clothed, lying on top of the covers.
Marcee arrived the next day. She shouldn’t have been walking at all, but she wouldn’t be denied her daughter. We spent the next three weeks living at the Ronald McDonald House (they moved us from the bed-and-breakfast model to one that resembled a fairly expensive hotel). Our days were filled with walking from the Ronald McDonald House to the hospital and back again. We would feed and change our
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daughter, hold her, and watch as she began to overcome the challenges of prematurity. She did those things like the little champ she is. I believe having us with her day and night helped contribute to her impressive adjustment to being thrust into the world so early. She is just over two months old at the time of this writing and healthy as can be. Marcee is doing great too.
The Ronald McDonald House played a big part in making this happen. They provided food, shelter, homemade gifts from volunteers, and even cards for Valentine’s Day. We didn’t need to do anything except be there for Ireland. If not for the Ronald McDonald House, Marcee and I would have had to travel every day to see Ireland, or we would have had to sleep in the NICU to be with her. We would have gladly done either, but the Ronald McDonald House made it so we didn’t need to.
The Ronald McDonald House does this for thousands of families every hour of every day of every year.
I came up with the idea for this anthology one night while Marcee and I were in our room at RMH. We wanted to give back to the organization not only for what it was doing for us, but what it has done for families since the first Ronald McDonald House opened its doors in 1974. The organization operates strictly on donations, and the best way I could think to give back was to use my talent with words.
I knew I couldn’t do it alone, however, so I called upon some of the best names in horror fiction to help out. The response was overwhelming. With very few exceptions, every author I contacted was willing to participate. I also received stories from writers who saw the call for submissions on Dark Markets. It wasn’t long before I had more stories than I could possibly use—enough to fill two volumes of Dark Light.
I can remember where I was and at what time of the day it was when I received word from each of these fine writers that he or she would be happy to contribute. It isn’t that difficult, though. I was either at the hospital or at the Ronald McDonald House. The days and nights ran together, but each one of these authors responding that he or she would be willing to participate in Dark Light was an uplifting moment.
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I am grateful to the 42 authors included here, as well as to those who wanted to participate but couldn’t be included. I would also like to thank ahead of time all of you who will be helping promote the book after its release (there are several commitments already). Without each of you, this project could not have been realized. Your generosity warms my heart.

Contents
Introduction
Carl Hose ................................................................................... 9
John Sadness
Jeffrey Thomas .......................................................................... 14
Crasher
Debbie Kuhn ............................................................................ 23
Harbinger
Carl Hose .................................................................................. 37
A Sight for Sore Eyes
Deborah LeBlanc ..................................................................... 47
Confidence Man
David Tocher ............................................................................ 55
Hunters
William Todd Rose ................................................................... 67
The Vampire Shortstop
Scott Nicholson........................................................................ 79
Protector
Rycke Foreman ........................................................................ 99
After the Fall
Paul Fry .................................................................................. 104
Beijing Craps
Graham Masterton ................................................................... 112
Shattered Mirrors and Smokeless Flames
Angeline Hawkes .................................................................... 137
3:33
Randy Chandler ...................................................................... 150
Death Comes Calling
Randy Chandler ...................................................................... 154
Live Better
Steve Voelker........................................................................... 171
I Was Yet Another Teenage Vampire
C. Hugh .................................................................................. 174
Resurrecting Mindy
Joe McKinney ......................................................................... 179
The Bride of Frankenstein Dances with Celebrity
C. Hugh .................................................................................. 198
Dead Run
Frank Larnard ........................................................................206
Coda
Walt Hicks ............................................................................... 213
In a Fit of Jealous Rage
Ray Garton ............................................................................. 228
Charles
Steve Rasnic Tem .................................................................... 239
Cut
Alex Bledsoe ........................................................................... 250
Harlots of New Chapel Row
Terry Horns Erwin .................................................................. 253
Animals
Kody Boye .............................................................................. 275
Beach House
William Cook ........................................................................ 299
It Sounds a Bit Like . . .
Gary Fry ................................................................................. 309
Conversations Kill
Tim Waggoner ........................................................................ 320
Raphael
Stephen Graham Jones ............................................................ 335
Taken
Felicia Merkler ....................................................................... 361
Blood Bath
Wrath James White ................................................................. 363
Big Fat Pig
Timothy Maxon ...................................................................... 372
Cognitive
Joseph Mulak .......................................................................... 379
Three Fingers, One Thumb
Steve Volk ............................................................................... 387
When Shadows Come Back
Nancy KilPatrick ..................................................................... 392
The Sum of a Man
David B. Silva ......................................................................... 400
Remembrance
Christopher Fulbright ............................................................. 414
Hannah’s Babysitting Blues
John Grover ............................................................................ 417
Haunted House
Lisa Morton ........................................................................... 429
Triggering
John Shirley ........................................................................... 439
The Evolutionary
Tim Lebbon ........................................................................... 454
That Last Day, Those Final Moments
Gary McMahon ....................................................................... 478
Trapdoor
Tim Curran ............................................................................. 482
The Long Wait
Christopher Shearer ...............................................................492
Family Tradition
Sebaston Milam ...................................................................... 516

Carl Hose online:
Website  www.carlhose.net

Book Review:

            Horror really isn’t my thing, but I was so impressed with the purpose of the paper. 
However, I really enjoyed these stories, much to my surprise.  It doesn’t surprise me that
these authors are considered to be the best of their genre. 

I strongly recommend that everyone  purchase this book.  Not only is it a great read, but it supports a really great charity, the Ronald McDonald house.  Definitely pick one or two up.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed these stories.  I give this book 4 out of 5 clouds.


This product or book may have been distributed for review; this in no way affects my opinions or reviews.
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1 comment:

  1. Thank you so much for you participation in the tour and your willingness to help promote Dark Light and its cause. It means so much. Great job on laying out the story, and thank you for the review.

    ReplyDelete