DARK TALES by J.D. Allen

Genre: Horror

Format: eBook

Pages: 367

Rating: ★★★★★

Synopsis:

DARK TALES is a collection of J.D. Allen’s most haunting and imaginative stories. From science fiction terrors to body horror frights, from haunted dolls to premature tombstones, these dark tales will haunt you long after you’ve read them. Included in this tomb… er… excuse me, I meant, ‘tome’… are four shocking novellas:

CONJOINED
The job offer? Spend this winter on the remote, private island of the mysterious Dr. Castor Pollux, as a companion to his surgically abused daughter, Gemini. Sounds like the start of some demented horror story? It is! Lured onto the operating table, and into madness, by the hypnotic silver eyes of a sadistically predatory nurse, you’ll donate every organ to terror as you follow young Danielle on a horrific journey into a medical nightmare where no one escapes unaltered.

SILVER SKY
Watching a loved one drift away from illness becomes a literal nightmare for the family and friends of those afflicted with Silver Sky Syndrome, as victims become immune to the laws of gravity, and ascend into the heavens, in this metaphorical horror story.

TOMBSTONES
Out at the old cemetery, in the quiet town of Luna Vista, mysterious tombstones are rising up out of the swampy ground in an unused and cursed field, and gruesome deaths are predicted for the unfortunate townsfolk whose names can be found carved into their rocky surfaces! Who will be next?

CAN SUSAN COME OUT AND PLAY?
Some ghosts won't allow the living time to properly mourn the dead.
Some hauntings begin with the very last heartbeat.
And sometimes the living can haunt us too.
This is a ghost story about the living.

Review:

"It's scary to think just how quickly a person can become all alone in the world."

 Grotesque body horror, love and loss, death and grief, the living, and the dead, all wrapped up in this compilation of four novellas of the dark and macabre. 

All four stories are so descriptive it scintillates the senses of the mind and heart. Taking us to the dark places of the imagination. 

A doctor that only wanted to complete his daughter once again, but nothing happened as he had planned it. But a sadistic nurse tries to fulfill his wishes to complete the family once again. Creepy vibes similar to The Modern Prometheus.

An analogy depicting the loss of family members and dear loved ones as they drift away. 

A witches curse exacting revenge upon the town of Luna Vista. 

When a man loses his greatest loves, his wife and daughter, his grief is impalpable, but a creepy doll takes him on a journey of an even darker discovery. 

Every one of these stories did not disappoint my horror loving heart. I found myself excited with the anticipation of being able to continue reading every chance I could! The stories brought to my mind the Outer Limits, one of my absolute favorite television series!

This is one I am going to be adding to my top reads of 2024!

Goodreads Author Link:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/

Amazon Author Link:

https://www.amazon.com/stores/J.D.-Allen/

About the author

Born after midnight on the evening of Halloween, 1963, Joseph Dean Allen stalked the foggy enclaves of the San Francisco Bay Area, by moonlight, for much of his youth. Currently he haunts the rainy Pacific Northwest with his husband, Kyle, and the two gremlins, disguised as house cats, with whom they live.

Review Links:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/

https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/