Havoc After Dark: Tales of Terror

by Robert Fleming

Book Overview

Foreword by Tananarive Due. Bold and provocative, the short stories in this collection blend traditional horror with political and sociological chills in which realistic themes such as slavery, war and capital punishment are harrowingly explored. Challenging the genre, Havoc After Dark takes real-life horrors from today's headlines and turns them into real-life nightmares. From slavery to Nazi torture, from suicide of the soul to death of the body,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0758205759
• ISBN13: 9780758205759
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Dafina Books
• Length: 241 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.1" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Awesome book, great for us withshort attention spans.

This is actually a really good book, it have like 3 or 4 short stories and the way he writes just stucks you into the story. VERY descriptive, violent, and gorey.......YES!!! Fleming more please.

Exquisite, dark horror

Robert Fleming's collection of short horror stories is a true revelation. Sensual and horrific at the same time, these stories grab your legs and pull them out from under you. As the owner of more than 500 fantasy and horror anthologies, it takes a lot to impress me, but Robert Fleming did just that. The subject of his horror ranges from man's inhumanity to man, to the other side wrecking havoc with mortal man. His range is amazing, and his writing style is just relaxed enough to make the stories flow, and make them easy to read. A complete list of the stories are ** Life After Bas ** The Ultimate Bad Luck ** In My Father's House ** The Inhuman Condition ** Bordering on the Divine ** Havoc After Dark ** The Blasphemer ** Arbeit Macht Frei ** Speak No Evil ** Punish the Young See of Satan ** A Lizard's Kiss ** The Garden of Evil ** The Wisdom of the Serpents Most of the stories have eroticism, and any fan of Hot Blood will devour this anthology. If you're looking for a collection of stories that will entertain, frighten, and titillate you, this is the book to buy. Highest recommendations!

Well, into a new world i am ushered.

Ordinarily, when I visit the bookstore, be it Barnes & Noble, or Books-A-Million or Walden Books, (or simply Wal-Mart or Sam's Club, for you see, I'm not very picky about where I buy my reading) I end up picking up novels or short story collections which have been written by, for the most part, white Americans and Brits. I don't make an effort of it for it to always turn out this way, of course...it simply just happens. I don't know why. I don't ordinarily make a chore of picking up books with any thought of their author's race in mind, but this time, I did. I hadn't read any decent black writing since Ralph Ellison's last, late, great novel, which was preceded by several excellent Donald Goines books, so, after finishing the 6th Harry Potter novel for the third time, (for I freakin love these novels, Rowling is a damned genius) I decided to have an intentional go at black writers. Most of the books I came across were either too sexual(Zane), too "street"(), or although written very, very well, too feminine.(Terry MacMillan, who is, by the way, a fantastic author) As I sought out a new book to spend hours and hours upon, it crossed my mind: "Have I ever read horror by a black author before?", so, I perused the magazine and book isle at Wal-Mart until I came upon a book that caught my attention. Havoc After Dark, by Robert Fleming. I'd heard of him at one time or another, but I'd never really felt driven enough to give his work a try. I am very, very glad I did. His writing is surprisingly normal, not unlike talking to an intelligent young man who simply has a lot to say, with perhaps even a few lessons amid his many words to boot. I found the term "Horror" used excellently, as I must say...I did expect to find vampires and werewolves, among other nightly beasties and vermin, amid these pages, but I was very much surprised and pleased to see that while there were werewolves, vampires, and man-eating plants present, Fleming also used his understanding of The Human Condition to shed light on other kinds of horror, more everyday sort of terrors. Like prejudice. And inarticulate hatred. Pride, lust, greed and jealousy, all pushed by everyday yearnings and wants to excel at being horrible enough to write a few stories on that actually hit with all the force of a bomb when read. I highly recommend this collection to anyone who loves brilliantly written stories with valid points and views among them. You will not be disappointed. And I certainly will be searching out more of Mr. Fleming's work. Cheers. Hawksmoor...From The Bleed.

Leave a light on

After editing notable collections like Intimacy and After Hours, Robert Fleming has assembled his own tales of terror in his latest compilation, HAVOC AFTER DARK. The tales are not typical tales of terror. They range from a man's curse brought on by his father's indiscretions to a greenhouse full of flowers that feed on humans. Some of my favorites were a story of a boy who endured religious abuse and one of a faithless bluesman who had a debt to pay. There are none of the stale tales of vampires or werewolves with the scripted garlic and silver bullets; no chainsaw massacres or escaped mental patients. Adversely, and perhaps with more intensity, Fleming weaves believable stories that are so terrifying precisely because of their possibilities. The characters in any of the tales could have been me. With this powerful angle, HAVOC AFTER DARK scared the daylights out of me more than once. Additionally, none of the stories seemed to have been written just for terror's sake. Each made me think about the underlying message behind the words. I am tremendously impressed with this book and with this author.Reviewed by CandaceKof The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers