For me, the absolute stars of this compilation are "The Rich Are Different" by Lisa Morton in which a writer accepts an invitation to a birthday party from a very wealthy and very different sort of fan.
"The Comforting Voice" by Norman Prentiss offers no comfort at all. In fact it set my teeth on edge and made my skin crawl, in the most delightful ways. Josh and Cheryl are new parents, which under the best of circumstances would be an uncomfortable time to take in a sickly relative. When the new baby has constant fits of inconsolable crying, and the relative is your estranged and abusive father-in-law, it's about as comforting as nails on a chalkboard. This tale had my anxiety levels through the roof and I loved it. These two stories alone are worth more than the cost of admission. 5 stars to both.
"The Corpse King" by Tim Curran is the longest story in this collection. It's a creepy tale of best buddies and grave robbers Kierney and Clow who find that not everything under the ground is lifeless. 4 stars
"The Manicure" by Nell Quinn-Gibney Has me eyeing my nail scissors distrustfully while I consider buying one of those as seen on tv doodads that files them instead. Another solid 4 stars.
"The Situations" by Joyce Carol Oates is one I have read previously in another collection and though I like much of her work this one just didn't quite do it for me then or now. 3 stars
"The Old Dude's Ticker" by Stephen King is a 1970s version of the Tell Tale Heart by Poe. Sometimes the classics are best left alone. It was ok, but not one of King's best efforts. 3 stars.
All in all this is a good collection of sinister stories that are certain to jangle your nerves.

I received an advance copy for review ( )

I received an advance copy of this book from Cemetery Dance (thanks, Brian) through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Old Dude’s Ticker by Stephen King

Early King. So early, in fact, that it was rejected when submitted for publication if we can even imagine a time period when that could happen. For me it was interesting as an insight into King’s unpolished and raw voice and also clearly shows where he was drawing inspiration (Gogol—a icon of Russian literature who wrote great horror stories, and of course Poe). Pretty much a direct homage of The Tell-Tale Heart.

The Rich are Different by Lisa Morton

I immediately thought of F. Scott Fitzerald because of the title and wow, this is a dark turn on that concept. The phrase comes from Fitzgerald’s The Rich Boy—a novella that works as a sort of dress rehearsal for The Great Gatsby. Well, in Morton’s story the rich are not just different in thoughts and point of view—they are not even fully human. I really enjoyed this story.

The Manicure by Nell Quinn-Gibney

While I was reading this I felt that this story was all about the structure in a “this little piggy” progression. I enjoyed it and it was very well written, but more of a psychological study than a horror story.

The Comforting Voice by Norman Prentiss

While not a horror story, this is a very strong and deeply moving story. Incredibly dark yet on one level at the same time very touching story about how we change as we age and how where we find comfort can be both surprising and redemptive at the same time. The character of the aging and sick father/grandfather was particularly well drawn.

The Corpse King by Tim Curran

You either like Tim Curran or you run screaming away from him. There really isn’t a middle ground. On the positive side, this drop down the rabbit hole into Victorian Edinburgh with two resurrectionists is so complete that you can practically smell and feel this awful environment. Curran has done his homework, even to the point of correct regional and period accurate slang. The only reason I know is that I was so impressed that I looked some of it up—which is always a sign that a historical story is high quality. Some will dislike the story precisely because of its accuracy—which is overwhelmingly dark and outright disgusting at times, although given the theme how could it be otherwise? I found myself a bit numbed by this story eventually, even while I appreciated the accuracy and the gallows humor of these two close friends engaged in the most unsavory of professions. ( )

4.5 stars!

Dark Screams: Volume Six was the best installment of this series so far! My favorites this time around were from the lesser known authors, most especially Tim Curran, who deserves to be as famous as Stephen King.

Tim Curran's The Corpse King was easily the best story, in my book. Being novella length, Mr. Curran got to do what he does best, which is putting his imagination to work, side by side with his knowledge of history. The result is this nasty, disgusting, and fun story about grave-robbers and what things, (other than corpses), might be waiting for them down below. A resounding 5 stars with applause!

Norman Prentiss' The Comforting Voice was a beautifully told story about baby Lydia and how she loves the sound of her grampa's voice. But what happens when grampa passes away? You'll have to read this to find out. 5 FAT stars!

The Rich Are Different by Lisa Morton was a nice story, but for me, lacked a good punch. Plus, the insta-love, (a term I learned from my romance-loving friends), didn't really work for me. It was still a cool premise though. 3.5 stars!

I liked King's story, The Old Dude's Ticker. It had that feel of a classic SK story, and that's always a good thing. 3 stars!

Overall, this anthology was above average, and I highly recommend it, especially if these stories sound interesting to you. There's something here for every type of horror lover, and it's rare that a collection have such a wide range of appeal.

*Thanks to NetGalley and to Hydra for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. This is it!*

( )

Another good collection of stories. The final one is long, but memorable. ( )

DARK SCREAMS: VOLUME SIX won't take away the "Best of the Series" award from Volume Four but it is still a solid player. I would say that two of the stories were slightly disappointing but then the volume also included six stories instead of the usual five. Plus since one of the disappointing stories was an early unsold story by Stephen King, which kind of negates the negative aspect. Once again I like the smaller size of the volume; it allows me to finish it relatively fast though real life interruptions still made it too long. I've been reading some longer collections that are taking me forever to finish; I'm looking at you Stephen Jones and your MAMMOTH BOOK OF BEST NEW HORROR. Longer novels build that excitement and tension which helps to accelerate the reading during the second half of the book. Short stories, by definition, aren't going to get the length to build that acceleration. By the same token though, I can sample more flavors of authors with short stories than I can with a book by a single author. Anyway, I've digressed. Here are the stories of this volume in order of least favorite to most.

"The Manicure" by Nell Quinn-Gibney - While the story is pretty straight forward (woman with finger issues goes in for a manicure), there are many cringe-worthy moments during the telling. Times where you have been in a similar situation and either the pain happened for real or you feared that it would happen. Unfortunately it felt more like a collection of memories and not an engaging story.

"The Old Dude's Ticker" by Stephen King - The story itself didn't really pull me in. Maybe it was the seventies slang. Maybe it was not being able to identify with the main character. I don't know. However, what I did like was that Chizmar and Freeman allowed Stephen King to provide a Forward to the story. He talked briefly about what led to him writing the story which was pretty cool. I've always liked when authors tell a little about the inspiration behind the story.

"The Rich Are Different" by Lisa Morton - This was a good story but not a standout one. The mood and style were good but the story was a little too convenient at points. The different events happened a little too easily.p>

"The Situations" by Joyce Carol Oates - This was one of those stories where the topic is dark and the character reprehensible but at the same time you can't look away. Like the daughters in the story, you hope for something happier and better to happen. Unfortunately this is what the father in the story wants too.

"The Comforting Voice" by Norman Prentiss - This was another dark story. This time though it was disguised as something much happier. As I was reading it, I was wondering where the story was going and where the horror was going to come in. Then after I was fully engaged in the character's life, I got to a part where I thought "Oh no, that's not a smart decision." Then almost immediately afterwards I went "Oh crap!" And then the other shoe dropped and the story ended. At first, I was left wanting a bit more. But then five minutes later, the story and the horror still hung with me. And then a few days later, it still hung with me. Prentiss ended it exactly right.

"The Corpse King" by Tim Curran - Curran benefited by having his story be novella length instead of just a short story. This let him really build out the world in his story and it shows. The amount of details he included in the story shows the research that he must have done. The world is disgusting and gross but realistic for grave-robbers in that time period. ( )