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The Dark Country

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About this listen

Etchison's fiction is justly famous for its creepy ambience, and explores the terrain mapped out by Philip K. Dick, Thomas Harris, and any number of black and white horror movies. This is his legendary first collection, carefully corrected by the author for this new edition. The title story won both the World Fantasy Award and the British Fantasy Award in 1982, the first time a single work received both major awards.

Contents include 16 groundbreaking stories and an introduction by Ramsey Campbell.

  • "It Only Comes Out at Night"
  • "Sitting in the Corner, Whimpering Quietly"
  • "The Walking Man"
  • "We Have All Been Here Before"
  • "Daughter of the Golden West"
  • "The Pitch"
  • "You Can Go Now"
  • "Today's Special"
  • "The Machine Demands a Sacrifice"
  • "Calling All Monsters"
  • "The Dead Line"
  • "The Late Shift"
  • "The Nighthawk"
  • "It Will Be Here Soon"
  • "Deathtracks"
  • "The Dark Country"

©2013 Dennis Etchison (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc., and Skyboat Media, Inc. Anthologies Anthologies & Short Stories Fiction Horror Scary Short Stories Fantasy Horror Anthology
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Very surprised I had never heard of Dennis Etichson before as there are some truly brilliant and terrifying stories in this collection. He is compared to Stephen King in the forward and there is no question that his best stuff is equal to King. His style is uniquely descriptive and perhaps not quite as accessible as Kings work. Some of the stories I didn't quite get: if you miss an important word the meaning can be lost. I wasn't blown away by the organ transplant series - he seems to have a fixation on this and wrote three stories on the topic. The best one is "it only comes out at night". Definitely a worthwhile listen.

Some real gems

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Well written and well read, but not written to be read aloud. Better in print, perhaps.

Better on Paper?

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These stories are among the best creepy fiction I've listened to. Very atmospheric and the narrators really draw you in

Amazing stories and wonderful narration

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Had to skip large portions towards the end as Etchison's writing is too contrived for its own good. Narration fine.

de Cuir is great but that's about all.

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I really wouldn’t bother with this one. I love this genre of weird and wonderful stories but this book bored me. I had to skip some of the stories as they just made no sense.

Awful

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