Originally read February 16, 2012 4 Stars
Brian is something of a rarity in today's Horror genre. A writer who doesn't beat you over the head with all the violent, gory details in his stories. Oh, the violence and gore is there, but it's left to your imagination. Kind of like the shower scene in Hitchcock's "Psycho". You may not see every stroke on the screen, but you certainly visualize it in your mind. Don't get me wrong, there is definitely a place in Horror for the writer who put's it all on the page, but it's nice to see one with the skill to achieve the same results with the unwritten word. On to "Seven Stories". If I have any complaint it's that 7 wasn't enough. It was a little like your favorite band releasing an EP rather than a full album. The collection started with "Walking With the Ghosts of Pier 13" It's not straight out of today's headlines...yet. And I'm hopeful that events like these never come to pass here in the US. In all his stories, Brian finds the horror in the everyday, often dealing with loss, shining a light into the darness only to reveal a deeper darkness. I love Brian's ability to make me cringe and squirm just by setting the table and allowing me to imagine the torment and horror of a situation, as he does to perfection in "The Punishment Room". It all wraps up with a shocking ending in story seven, "When the Sunlight Sleeps". Get this one, turn the lights down low and let Brian James Freeman exorcise your imagination.
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