The last collection of stories I read by Joe Zito was the brutally awesome A Vulgar Display of Short Fiction. Within those pages were some of the most sordid, grotesque, and disturbing tales where trigger warnings were very much at the fore.

I was very much expecting the same kind of thing here, a decent into the darkness resulting in many icky faces pulled by the reader.

But I was wrong. Well, a bit wrong. This collection differs in many ways. Yeah there are a few moments where some readers may wince, where things hint at getting full-on Zito-d, but generally it was a wholly new experience for me. Less horror and more gritty drama, so to speak.

These stories don’t follow a ‘normal’ narrative (which isn’t a bad thing, normal is sooooo boring), in fact they are written as though they are poems. But not poems, if you know what I mean. I have to say I’m not a lover of poetry (I know, I know, I just haven’t read the right poetry or whatever), and initially I thought this would put me off. And while I would have preferred a ‘usual’ presentation of the tales here (because I’m soooo boring), I soon got used to the style. If anything they were more like song lyrics you might read through whilst listening to a metal album.

There is darkness within here, oh yes indeed, but it’s less obvious. If you can get over the writing style then I’m sure you’ll have a blast.

Categories: book review

Tags: book review, death, horror, joe zito, short stories, violence, your favorite darkness