Genre: Horror
Length: 301 Pages
Publisher: Grey Matter Press
Release date: September 18, 2018
Synopsis:
HUMANITY IS TARNISHED.
First he gave us Little Deaths: The Definitive Edition. Then he unleashed his unique brand of pain in The End in All Beginnings.
Now Bram Stoker Award-nominated John F.D. Taff – modern horror’s King of Pain – returns with Little Black Spots. Fourteen stories of dark horror fiction gathered together for the first time, exposing the delicate blemishes and sinister blots that tarnish the human condition.
— A man stumbles on a cult that glorifies spontaneous human combustion…
— A disgraced nature photographer applies his skills for a vile outcome…
— A darkened city parking structure becomes dangerously and malevolently alive…
— An innocent Halloween costume has a husband seeing his wife in a disturbing new light…
— A ruined man sees far too much of himself in his broken family…
— A young boy finds a mysterious bottle of liquid containing a deadly secret…
— And so much more.
Little Black Spots is a beacon shining its light into some of life’s most shadowy corners, revealing the dark stains that spatter all mankind.
Review copy provided in exchange for an honest review
I’ve been a fan of the king of pain since his first collection, Little Deaths. Here in this collection, Little Black Spots, we see what I feel is a new direction for the king of pain. It is edgy, bold and the stories are out there. It kicks off with The Immolation scene, it was original and interesting, a solid start. The Bunny Suit was off the charts and not at all what I expect to read from Mr. Taff. He has entered a whole new arena and written something I can’t even classify. The Depravity of Inanimate Things was one hell of a story. Again, John finds a voice I’ve not heard before.
Just a Phone Call Away was so shocking I didn’t know what to think, where the hell did John Taff come up with this stuff. Everything Must Go was a mystery that left me feeling strange, odd and unsure what was real in the pages of that short. Purple Soda Hand was another strange story that left me wondering and questioning the story behind the story, and it was fun and gross at the same time. A Kiss from the Sun for Pardon was a great little romantic tale, and a nice twist on the traditional vampire we all know. The Dark Level is my favorite story in this collection. It had more suspense and tension than I could handle. It was dark, claustrophobic and scary to the core, just plain excellent in every way possible. As with any collection, its hard to say much about the stories without giving them away. I believe there are plenty in this one to satisfy your need for something dark and disturbing.
Link to purchase Little Black Spots
John F.D. Taff, Biography-
John F.D. Taff is the Bram Stoker Award®-nominated author who has been writing for nearly 30 years, and has more than 90 short stories and five novels in print. His collection of novellas, The End in All Beginnings, was published by Grey Matter Press. Jack Ketchum called it “the best novella collection I’ve read in years.” Taff’s work also appears in Dark Visions I, Ominous Realities, Death’s Realm and Savage Beasts among many others. He lives in the wilds of Illinois with a wife, two cats and three pugs.
The Scary Reviews 