The Bone Yard

Night Visions #6

by Paul J. Mikol (Editor), Dean Koontz (Introduction), F. Paul Wilson (Contributor)

A collection of short stories in the fields of horror, suspense, and dark fantasy, dealing with money, murder, evil forces, and faceless killers

Genres: Horror, Anthologies, Short Stories, Fiction, Literature, Thriller

329 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Misty Marie Harms · Rating 3 out of 5]

A blood filled collection of short stories guaranteed to keep you up at night. Some stories are meh, but majority will give you goosebumps. Grab your favorite snacks and turn on all the lights to snuggle up to this horrifying read.

🐱🐱🐱

[Karl]

This hardcover is numbered PC of 600 copies and is signed by by F.Paul Wilson, Sheri S.Tepper,Ray Garton, Dean R. Koontz, and Phil Parks on the limitation page.

[Olethros · Rating 3 out of 5]

-Diferentes concepciones de “el monstruo”.-

Género. Relatos.

Lo que nos cuenta. Cinco trabajo de tres autores diferentes, cuatro relatos de diferente extensión y uno que parece una novela corta, todos escritos para esta recopilación, con Dean R. Koontz como responsable del prólogo y que ofrecen distintas aproximaciones al arquetipo de “el monstruo” como aparente temática extraoficial de fondo.

¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:

http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...

[Ignacio Senao f · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cuatro historias, tres autores. Su tema: los monstruos. Lo que leemos: un terror muy real. El monstruos se muestra en lo negativo que sucede en la sociedad, sus imperfecciones que nos hace sufrir, lo que nadie quiere que le suceda pero todos estamos expuestos a ello.

[Temucano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terror de los sentidos, ya sea por exceso o falta, que altera la normal rutina del hombre, devengando monstruos, o simplemente rozando los límites permitidos de la cordura, violentada por entidades sobrenaturales, generalmente de dientes largos.

Sobre los autores:

F.Paul Wilson es muy entretenido, no lo conocía en distancias cortas y me gustó casi más que en novelas: "Sentimientos", es una divertida historia macabra, "Inquilinos", una simpática aventura fantástica, pero mi relato preferido fue "Rostros", drama policiaco, expectante y sangriento.

Sheri S.Tepper; autora que nunca había leído y me sorprendió con "El jardinero". En una narración más pausada, va destilando gotas de ansiedad y misterio que terminan por enganchar de mala manera. Desenlace algo obvio pero muy bien desarrollado. Buscaré más cosas de ella.

Ray Garton, mas efectista que efectivo su "Monstruos". Difícil de asimilar el horror, a pesar de la multitud de páginas que lo soportan. No obstante no fue tan malo como esperaba, más corto hubiera quedado mejor.

[Tim Meechan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I also have this in paperback form with the cover titled "The Boneyard" rather than Night Visions #6.

Strange, just noticed this after 30 years.

[[on hiatus, probably forever] The rockabilly werewolf from Mars · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somewhat hit-or-miss anthology, with a particularly awful introduction. Wilson's stories were fairly standard 80s pulp horror material; I normally like this genre, but his writing style doesn't really appeal to me for whatever reason (I think it's the not particularly subtle political agenda, something which I, as someone who detests politics and political discourse, cannot tolerate). The strongest of his stories - conceptually at least - was probably Tenants (although it gets bogged down with tedious discussions about the tax system poorly shoehorned into the story, which I found quite irritating. I'm of the opinion that politics and horror don't generally mix well; a few writers can pull it off, but Wilson is not one of them); I doubt he's an author I'll actively seek out. Tepper was the only author here who was completely new to me (it appears that she primarily writes fantasy), she is represented by a single novella. Her piece is interesting in concept, but takes too long to get started; something about the characters' behavior irritated me, but I can't exactly say what, apart from the fact that much of it struck me as deeply irrational. I'll consider trying some of her horror novels, if I come across them ever (update: I have read her novel Blood Heritage, it wasn't especially good). I have previously read a few of Garton's short stories; his story here - about an author persecuted by religious fundamentalists - is probably the highlight of the collection. Of the authors here, Garton is the one I'm most likely to seek out more work by. Now, a few notes on the introduction. Koontz seems to think of the horror genre as being essentially a type of morality play, and essentially declares that authors need to believe in good and evil as some sort of physical forces in order to write horror. This first claim is obviously false, for reasons that should be obvious (anyone reading this should be able to think of innumerable counterexamples); this isn't to say that it can't be used for those purposes, but it strikes me as a overly limited interpretation of the genre. The second claim relies on the unfounded assumption that the reader is looking for some sort of insight into life; in my case, I'm just looking for fear, exploration of the human condition is optional, and at times undesirable. I'm sure many others feel the same way. He also claims that authors who write supernatural horror should believe in the supernatural; I'm sure that anyone reading this will be able to notice the absurdity in this claim (by that logic, authors of fantasy novels, for example, would have to believe that wizards and dragons actually exist; I'm sure that very few of them actually think that). Later, he argues that horror writers should write for the public at large, rather than for horror readers specifically; in practice, this leads to the sort of bland homogenized thriller novels that clog up the horror sections in bookstores, read mostly by people who don't actually read horror (just remember all of those bland Silence Of The Lambs knock-offs that nearly killed the genre in the early 90s by unsuccessfully trying to court the thriller fans). Another unfortunate part of the introduction is his claim that authors should be up-front about any message they want to deliver (instead of hiding it behind layers of metaphor). This is generally very bad advice; such stories are often plodding, hectoring muddles devoid of any literary value. Of course, not having a message is also a valid option. I'm sure all of this falls into the sort of "hard-core fan criticism" that Koontz rails against in his introduction; but given his obvious lack of understanding of the genre, such complaints are of little importance.
Overall, the Night Visions series seems to be extremely hit-or-miss; of the three entries I've read so far, only one (the Campbell/Tuttle/Barker volume) has been especially good.

[Guera25 · Rating 2 out of 5]

The standout story was "Monsters", by Ray Garton. It's a scathing critique of religious zealotry and repression. The critique veers into the pretentiously-hamfisted near the end, especially during the terminally-ill friend's "I'm better than them because I'm not controlled by doctrine and ritual smugfest, and the protagonist, Roger, is a tool with the unmistakable waft of eau de douche, but he's sympathetic all the same. It's hard not to sympathize with someone persecuted by zealots for the sin of daring to write books with which they disagree.

The other stories were okay, but curiously fatuous, devoid of substance. I know that on the surface, horror isn't a serious genre; we're treating with monsters and bogies, for Christ's sake, with tropes that necessarily carry a patina of the absurd, but there is often a very serious foundation underpinning the huggermugger. There are werewolves, zombies, ghosts, demons, and worms with sentience and the capacity for organization and cooperation, but the story isn't really about them. While the story is pointing them out to us with the bombastic glee of the carnival barker, it's also whispering unpleasant secrets into our unwilling ears. Everything is not okay. The world is not kind. Sometimes you lose even when you try. Horror is the ultimate scolding mother, wagging its fleshless finger at us and reminding us what happens when we do bad things. When we're not paying attention. When we dismiss the warning from the crazy old coot who lives down the road and wears pee-stained overalls.

These stories, for the most part, were just there, competent proofs of the hypothesis that someone could write. Well, fine. Now what? So your bogey had unearthly, glowing red eyes. And? Why is that scary? Because the standard cliches in your horror handbook say they should be? Try harder. Maybe they would be if your characterization and prose weren't as dull and lifeless as the dead garden requested by the mysterious, wealthy client.

Anthologies are a mixed bag. If there are a dozen stories, two or three will be excellent, double that number will be mediocre, and the rest will be absolute dogs, unrepentant blights upon the genre that make you wonder when sedated chimpanzees learned to operate typewriters, or just how desperate the editor was to be shut of the project and pay his light bill. "Feelings" and "Monsters" were excellent, "Faces" is unremarkable, and "The Gardener" is a bland snorefest. Perhaps the latter would have had more impact if the protagonist had been as dastardly as the writer would have us believe, but he was simply a garden-variety tool, and his supposed harsh treatment of his spurned paramour was relatively inoffensive? He's a terrible cad deserving of a terrible death because Ilinina failed to make her culture's customs about sex abundantly clear before they had sex? And because he didn't love her forever and ever after a few short months? Mmmkay. He's a jerk, sure, but that hardly warrants a death sentence, especially when the author falls to give any content for their relationship beyond "they had dinner and sex." There was no manipulation, no broken vow, just a sheltered girl having a strop because her first relationship ended. Because the supposed villain of the piece had committed a cardinal sin only in the mind of the author, there wasn't even the shameful, vicarious thrill of just desserts deliciously served. It was a pointless exercise in the act of writing, and a waste of time.

[Jk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best entry in this series so far - not a weak story in the bunch!

[Cedric · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I could give 6 stars.....

[Wis_Marc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Colección de relatos de terror:

F. Paul Wilson: ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2
Buenos sus relatos pero medio basicos, nada del otro mundo. "Rostros" creo que es el mejor, "Sentimientos" es muy cliche del terror de maldiciones e "Inquilinos" me gusto mucho pero no diria que es terror.

Sheri S. Tepper: ⭐⭐⭐
Con "El Jardinero" vi un muy buen desarrollo pero el final se me hizo muy basico podria haber sido mejor.

Ray Garton: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
"Monstruos" es el mejor relato de lejos, quizas un pelin mas cortito funcionaria a la perfección pero de todas formas muy bueno. Garton sabe muy bien lo que esta haciendo, definitivamente voy a leer algo mas de el

[Gary Franco · Rating 3 out of 5]

La verdad es que batalle para terminar este libro. Me agradaron 4 de los 5 cuentos (1 se me hizo eterno) pero no lograron atraparme del todo. Contiene los elementos clasicos del terror, algunos cuentos no titubean en emplear sangre en sus paginas, pero a mi gusto no fue lo que esperaba

[Alejandro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Algunas historias interesantes, pero ninguna historia realmente buena.

[SalvatoreBe Balls · Rating 3 out of 5]

picked up randomly at a used book shop. it's an Anthology of short horror stories. "Tenants" was far and away my favorite.

[David Barber · Rating 5 out of 5]

I ran across "Night Visions 6" at a used book shop in Boulder, Colorado. As a long-time fan of horror fiction, I was familiar with the series but had never actually read any of them. Wow was I missing out. This chilling anthology offers some fine examples of the genre. Each author brings their own unique brand of terror to the book, crafting stories that are both unsettling and thought-provoking. Wilson contributes two stories with his unlikely fairy tale, “Tenants”, showcasing his mastery of psychological horror and being the cleverer of the two tales. Tepper’s story, “The Gardener”, about a man who avoids all emotional entanglements in the relentless pursuit of his craft delves into the realms of the supernatural, culminating in a most satisfying conclusion. Garton’s story, “Monsters”, adds a visceral and gritty dimension to the collection with a twisted story that blends lycanthropy with religion together in a violent stew. The threads that tie these narratives together are the darkness lurking just beneath the surface of ordinary life and the skillful execution of the three writers delivers a lesson in fear itself. Night Visions 6 is a must-read for aficionados of the macabre, offering well-written collection of nightmarish tales that will haunt your dreams long after you turn the final page.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of the better anthologies I've read in a while. "The Gardener" is a little long winded with not much payoff but still enjoyable nonetheless. The last story, "Monsters" got under my skin to an uncomfortable degree but it was more regarding the hypocrisy of religious zealots rather than sheer typical horror.

I definitely recommend. :-)

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 pretty good.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muy buenos relatos, todos monstruosos, hay terror y suspenso y a los personajes les pasan las peores cosas. Un libro excelente!