Ok, first off, to set a baseline for this volume of short stories from the mind of Del Gibson. There’s a difference between this one and the first volume. Again, it has nothing to do with the actual words or the stories but in volume 2 the layout pleases me much more. I can’t say that I’m necessarily a traditionalist, because I like when things are done unconventionally, I love experimental films etc. Why should you be “forced” into a fold and do it like everyone else?

But with that said. The second volume is much kinder to me since there’s no double line spacing anymore. It’s more conventional. It also means that there’s not as many pages. I think there were a little more than 200 in the first and here it’s about 50 less. The title pages are almost impossible to read though. There should have been a little more contrast in the images, but now I’m overanalyzing and nitpicking. In other words, nothing new…

Other than that, the cover itself is as fantastic as the first one. It’s something between velvet and silk when you touch and feel it. 

A Menacing Heart

The opening story in the second volume of short stories is on another level. From about the first sentence I’m sucked into this universe of the macabre and horrifying. There are some elements of the supernatural but it’s not the main thing in this story. It’s more like, how can I put it, something that is necessary for the premise of the story but not really focused on. The focus is more on the effect than on the cause. Totally brilliant. It’s better to let the non essential, even if it’s important for the story, hide in the background while their gruesome things get the focus. 

A Menacing Heart is a story about a heart transplant and what effects this maye have on the receiver of the heart. What connections are there really between the donor and the receiver? There is something strange going on that’s for sure!

I think this is very clear when you read the story but If I were to go into details here I think I’d ruin the reading experience for you, so I won’t. Let’s just say that it’s ghastly and for each page I turn the more the terror reveals itself. I do have one thing though, something that I really wish would be made differently. And, without revealing too much I think the ending should be dealt with in another way. But that’s probably more about painting up my own world and conclusion as I go along rather than that there’s something wrong with it, cause there isn’t.

Deadly Obsession

Deadly obsession is another story that also breathes terror. There’s nothing supernatural about it all, although I imagine some parts could be interpreted that way. I don’t. I see it as a story where real world terror is being described in a way that you can feel the discomfort of the protagonist in every sentence. And when I say discomfort, that is of course a fancy way of being diplomatic and understating the terror quite a bit.

It doesn’t take a page before we’re into a story about stalking. There are some mysterious circumstances. Phonecalls, banging on doors etc to capture our curiosity. For me, it’s not so much about finding out who’s behind the terror, but the terror itself. I had my suspicions, but I must admit the story didn’t take the turns at the end as I expected. The story outsmarted me. I wouldn’t even say that I fell for a red herring, the revelation just didn’t occur to me. That’s always a good thing and a sign for a great authorship.

In contrast to the first story in the anthology – A Menacing Heart, I LOVED the ending of Deadly Obsession. You might think it’s over, but it’s really not until the very last line. And even then you are not sure.

Ladies of the Lake

When there is a title like that along – Ladies of the Lake, I can’t help but to think about the King Arthur saga, Excalibur and all that. So I was immediately curious in which direction Del Gibson would take this in. Would it be a fantasy-horror story or what would her mind have thought up this time? Well, it’s not Excaliber, that’s for sure. On the other hand, that might be my favorite story of all time and it’s hard to compete with it.

You can tell from the very beginning that Ladies of the Lake will be something else than the previous stories. It has a whole different kind of prose to it. In the others there was direct, intense language which was very easy to read. Ladies of the Lake is more poetic, the language is more colorful and to me, as a Swede, it makes it a little more difficult to read. It doesn’t follow the same flow. The sentences are more complex and paint a finer picture than before. 

It’s also divided into prologo and different parts, and as soon as I realized that I should have known this was something else. The other stories had gone straight into terror right away but Ladies of the Lake is more cautious. It takes its time even though it’s a short story. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a short story divided into parts before. It’s a bold move, I think.

Anyway, as soon as I get into the premise of the story I think of the fantasy flick Ladyhawke. If you havnät seen it you should but this is not the time and the place to go into further details. I can see some similarities with Ladies of the lake though. But there are of course also major differences. Let’s boil it down to the fact that there’s some kind of curse in both of them.

I didn’t find this as terrifying and intense as the other, and I think that, for me, the poetic prose took away a little bit of the terror and tension. But on the other hand this is a beautiful piece. It’s all in the eye of the beholder and what your expectations are I think. The prose is fantastic!

2027

2027 is another short story that is actually divided into parts. There’s two parts to this one and at first I didn’t really see the connection. Well, it’s obvious if you read it, but until I got those small details that connected them I was just confused. Now, that confusion lasted only a few seconds but it was enough for some thought going through my head. My therapist once said that I think a lot and I think fast. Go figure!

Anyway, the first part is definitely the one who hits closest to home. There’s a tale about what happened in the old world, before the new order arrived, before the pandemic killed millions of people and left the world in ruins. As this is set more or less in the present tim it’s hard not to think that the Covid pandemic wasn’t the inspiration for this. At least in part.

But the focus is not so much the pandemic but what followed. How the things we take for granted in large parts of the world suddenly isn’t a thing anymore. The young children don’t know what a school is anymore and books are only a legend to them. There’s no democracy and the world belongs to the wealthy and powerful. I hate to make this political but it’s not that far-fetched when you look around what’s happening in the world today. Make up your own mind, I won’t point the finger.

Anyway, I think this is a clever, even if it’s not a unique, way to describe a world that is almost post apocalyptic, at the very least dystopic. Start by using all the things we take for granted, and then take them all away in the eyes of the children who only have heard about “the old days” in stories. It’s actually really scary, especially when it’s so close to home.

When the second part begins we realize that the takeover imagined in the first part is just the beginning and that much worse things are about to come. Perhaps even the end of civilization altogether.

An Ancient Forest Curse

An Ancient Forest Curse starts off, more or less with a campfire and someone telling a ghost story. If you’re somewhat familiar with the slasher concept you know one of two things will happen, possibly both. Either it’s just a thing to scare the kids and someone will jump out of the woods just in time for the finishing crescendo of the story. Or, the whole take is true and a crazy axe murderer will hunt them down and kill them one by one.

But that’s film, this is the written word and to be honest I didn’t really pay much attention to the camp fire story itself from the beginning. I thought it was just a way of starting the story. And, of course it is, but it also has a great impact on what’s going to happen. 

To me, most of An Ancient Forest Curse is a parentheses. I like it but it doesn’t do much for me, it doesn’t grab me by the throat and make me eager to turn to the next page and the next and so on. It’s a good story, absolutely, but I didn’t find that little extra boost as I’ve done with the previous stories in this compilation.

Until… The very end. I would never have seen that coming in a million years! It’s one of the most shocking endings of a story ever. It’s efficient and it comes out of the blue. I live for endings like this. I totally love when I’m surprised and haven’t even had a single thought leaning in that direction!

Stolen Love

Stolen Love is a story that’s set very close to reality. It’s not really scary, more like disturbing. Imagine being so deep in denial that you forget who you really are. Imagine learning the hard way that all your life was a lie. 

Of course we do not get all the pieces of the puzzle right away, that would take away the pleasure of reading and exploring the story. We get it little by little. It starts with doubt, which turns into distant innuendoes. Still getting little by little you slowly unravel the truth, and it’s not a pleasant one.

I could tell something was off about from the very beginning, or at least when we started to get some kind of insight to the back story. I couldn’t really figure it out but it didn’t come as a total surprise when it was disclosed to us. It’s dark! But the most scary part is that my mind was thinking of an even darker conclusion. 

Soldier in the Mist

Soldier in the Mist is by far the most Twilight Zone-ish tale in Mistress of Darkness – Stories of the Macabre (volume 2) so far. It’s not really scary, at least I didn’t think so, but it has that quality of dealing with the unknown. And everything doesn’t need to be really scary, macabre, revolting or horrifying. Sometimes we need a story like this to be able to continue breathing.

It’s like the impossibility of always living in bliss, if you don’t contrast it with sadness and sorrow everything will just turn out into apathy. Now, I’m not saying that Soldier in the mist is particularly heavy on either bliss, sadness, or sorrow. I’m merely saying that the existence of a story to reset the brain is sometimes necessary.

I love the Twilight Zone-ish aspect of it though. You think you know what is going on and you might be partly right, but the end twist always hits you in the gut. I didn’t see it coming and I’m not sure If I understand why it happened like it happened either. But that’s also the strength of the story. Everything doesn’t need explanation. You can imagine your own or even come to the conclusion that there aren’t really viable solutions.

Just let the ghostly events play out in front of you and enjoy the ride!

Terror in the Night

Terror in the Night is a story that makes my skin crawl and send shivers down my spine. it starts out innocent enough and you’re not sure where the story is going to take you. Of course, as Mistress of Darkness – Stories of the Macabre (volume 2) is what it is, we understand that something ghastly will happen. 

I was thinking about some nightly creatures as the title suggests, but no, this is far worse and might be the worst case scenario of a night out drinking I can think of. Once the “dark” things are starting to happen there’s really no turning back, there is no way I’m putting this down until I have come to the end. I’m sitting on pins and needles and the anxiety is giving me that familiar cramps in the stomach that only a really tense and macabre story can bring.

Just like Stolen Love there is a really dark ending, but also with a glimpse of hope. I would have gone in another direction with it myself but at the same time I think it’s wise to show some kind of hope for mankind. With that said, I think it’s designed to give the reader some kind of choice on how to interpret it. Is it a “happy” ending or is this fate the worst that could possibly happen?

In Between Two Worlds

In Between Two Words explores a couple of things that really grabs my attention. I am obsessed with stories that focus on insanity. There’s a line from a song that I have carried with me since the 80s “Who can tell what it’s like to me insane?” To me that’s kind of equivalent to expressions like “it takes on to know one”, in other words. No one, except those that actually are insane, knows what it’s actually like. We, assuming that we are in fact sane, can only make educated guesses. 

The other thing is religious fanaticism. And although this story itself isn’t particularly scary, I don’t think there’s anything in this world that scares me more than fanatical religious people. I won’t point the finger and I won’t condemn, but I also believe that I got the right to my opinion as much as you do, religious or not. As long as we can be civilized about it. You don’t force me into something I don’t believe in and vice versa.

With that said. What is this story about? Well it includes both religious fanaticism and insanity (even though, as I said in the beginning, who can actually tell without being insane themselves?). The form of the story is an absolute stroke of genius! I love the fact that it’s told from two angles. But that’s not the best part. It’s told in the form of journals. 

One of them is the patient on a psychiatric ward and the other one is a doctor. Of course they see things from different angles and use different kinds of wording to express themselves. I think Del captures that brilliantly in this one. The patient’s reasoning is totally believable and the doctors notes are clinical enough to carry the illusion that a physician actually wrote them. 

And not only that, in the very beginning we are told that names have been changed or redacted to protect the people involved and that it is in fact a true case. I don’t think it is, but that’s not the point. It carries the illusion even more! This is the kind of writing that only the most talented authors can come up with. 

The story itself might not be particularly scary, macabre, revolting or frightening. But it is inevitable and there’s really just one possible outcome. And…it’s impossible to stop reading!

Attack of the Hearts

Attack of the Hearts is again a somewhat different story in style than many of the previous ones. It’s written in second person as a start, addressing the protagonist, and the antagonist I suppose. Of course, there might also be the very same person. The language is less direct than what I’ve read before. It’s kind of poetic but not really. It’s kind of harsh, but not really. It’s absolutely more describing than ever before.

Again, it’s written in sections, where each section has a name attached to it. It’s still written in second person so it’s still from the same point of view regardless of who it’s about. I don’t know how unusual that is but I find it very interesting in this particular story.

There’s nothing supernatural about this Attack of the Hearts, and it took me a while to understand the title. When I did, I thought it was very clever and suitable. Let me tell you that it doesn’t end well and karma and tragedy is present when it comes to the conclusion. Well, tragedy comes in rather early but it’s not really until the end we can really fathom what consequences one (or two) persons actions can have. Maybe you shouldn’t fall into infidelity…

The Gorge

The Gorge is not really a short story, you might consider it a micro story. It’s very short. In fact so short it can hardly be considered a story. It’s more of a concept, an idea! I don’t even want to describe what it’s about because the description itself might ruin the twists in it. Although I must say that the conclusion was somewhat expected, it could have gone in other directions too. There was never a straight path where we without a doubt knew which way the story – or idea – was going to take.

Nevertheless, the supernatural elements and the conclusion kind of send shivers down my spine. The Gorge may be short, but it’s still effective and it takes you to the end via a merciless path.

Undying Love

The Final story in Mistress of Darkness – Stories of the Macabre (volume 2) revolves about eternal life, so to speak. Maybe not in the way you think. It might be portrayed a bit more macabre than you’re used to. I do have one strong opinion though, something that set my mind in motion and made me miss the mark from the beginning. As soon as a character is named Lilith my mind immediately goes to the first woman on earth, or the demon in Hell whatever suits you the most. I don’t think most people have these connections though. I’m weird. 

The story paints a macabre picture though and emphasises on what length we’re prepared to go to protect the ones we love or care for. We want to be together forever right? Of course, I could go into a rant about the dangers of that and why we shouldn’t set that goal. But in the story the premise makes sense and even if it might be a huge sacrifice given the circumstances, I feel it’s the right way to go.

The setting of Undying Love is more disturbing than the actual story to me. I think it’s kind of a happy ending, given the circumstances. Again, I’m weird. The gore, because there is such a thing in Undying love, is very well described and I can see the images before my inner mind. I wouldn’t mind a few more pages of build up though.

Bottom Line

Of course, I need to compare this with the first book, I just can’t get around that. It’s kind of a hard thing to do since they’re quite different. But also very easy, just because they are so different. This one focuses more on stories based in reality while the first book was mostly set in the paranormal world. And, as much as I like a good paranormal story I think this beat the first book on all counts! 

I feel more involved in the stories, it’s more diverse in the writing styles and I feel more terrified after each story. There’s a saying, which I don’t know if it translates well, that “I would like to look into that mind”. But I’m not sure I would dare. There’s something deeply disturbing in the imagination of Del Gibson. Now, publish another book please! I want it. Now!