Dark Dreams

A Collection of Horror and Suspense by Black Writers

By: Brandon Massey

Narrated by: various

Length: 13 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

With heart-stopping stories by Zane, Tananarive Due and Steven Barnes, Joy M. Copeland, Robert Fleming, Terence Taylor, Francine Lewis, Brandon Massey, and 12 other established or up-and-coming writers, Dark Dreams is a must-have contemporary anthology for fans of the supernatural.

©2004 Brandon Massey (P)2004 Recorded Books, LLC

slow start, but good

this a collection of horror stories by different Black American authors the first few stories I was really disappointed, the ending just left you hanging, like the narrator was about to go the next section and.....nothing, after the first few stories it got really good with some very good short stories by Blk amer. authors , some of these I'd seen in print but never purchased. I want substance and not a lot of unnecessary drama in what I listen to or read. But after the first 3 I was pleasantly suprised, I will look for these authors works I just wished more were in audio format

What the?

Over all these stories were great and written and executed quite well. There were a couple that were too sexually explicit and one so bloody, I quite literally felt the need for a bath and a therapist.

Niambi Niambi has a VERY boring voice

I enjoyed all of the stories except the ones narrated by Niambi Niambi. The dullness of the voice just made me zone out. I was glad when the stories narrated by him would end! I will not ever purchase an Audiobook fully narrated by that dull voice!

Good horror

This was a good ecclectic collection of short horror pieces, some better than others, and a few outstanding. Narration was fantastic, from a number of sincere and dramatic voices. In my experience with horror anthologies, a book is worth getting even if there are only two or three chilling and disturbing tales which you will keep in the background of your thoughts for weeks afterward, which this collection has.

enjoyable!

I enjoyed this Anthology but there were 2 stories that were just a little bit too wordy/ surreal / Macabe for me. Most stories were not Steven King Scary. Besides that I enjoyed it. my favorite was Red! Good balance of fear, sex, character development, and surprise.

meh

i was thoroughly disappointed by some of the stories. some were ok. a few were good.

DID NOT ENJOY

14 hours of my life that i will never get back. Good that I have to commute daily to work. I think I may have like 2 to 3 stories from this collection...Did not really enjoy this book at all. I thought some of the stories were very slow. They were unable to hold my attention. This is one book I wish that i could have gotten a refund on.... Buy this one at your own risk!!

Black Entertainment

l loved this book. Lots of ups and downs. Laughing out loud while shaking my head!!! Something for everyone.

Will be buying paperback verson.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I am attempting to become a horror writer myself. I have been practicing on short stories so DD was very useful for me.

What other book might you compare Dark Dreams to and why?

The least anthology i read was The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Six. Both contain stories that should not necessarily be listed as horror. Overall though DD is a far better collection. I only ended up skipping 3 stories stead much of the first half of BHY.

What about various’s performance did you like?

The many narrators did well. the women seemed to get a little more into the job than the men.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Some of the stories could work if this were turned into a mini series.

Any additional comments?

I was very hesitant to buy this initially. the focus on black writers caused me to suspect it would be all about "the plight of the black man+some scary stuff." to my pleasant surprise it was not. in fact the editor declares that his intention was to keep the anthology from becoming another stereotypical addition to the realm of Black literature. there were some race based stories, but they were they exception and not the norm.

overall i was very satisfied with the anthology. my two major issues is that most of the white people seem to be blonde hair blue eyed bombshells.

worse than that, for my personal need, the audio book chapters do not correspond with individual stories. thus 1 story could span several chapters. in most cases 2 separate stories will start or end in a chapter. then there's the possibility of a chapter concluding a story, contain a full story and then begin another story. for me, the chapters are the whole reason i will be returning this and getting the physical version.

Gem after Gem

I need the extended versions of each story. Each story kept me in suspense. Power is my fav.