FORGOTTEN BOOKS #75: THE DARK COUNTRY By Dennis Etchinson

At a certain point in the 1980s, I considered Dennis Etchinson the best horror writer in the world. Better than Stephen King. Better than Dean R. Koontz. Better than Peter Straub. I believed Etchinson was the best horror writer in the world based on his brilliant short story collection, The Dark Country, published by Scream Press (which is a name I’ve always been fond of). Classics like “It Only Comes Out at Night,” “The Machine Demands a Sacrifice,” and “Calling All Monsters” make this book one of best horror story collections ever published. It won a World Fantasy Award and the British Fantasy Award. Etchinson went on to publish more short story collections: Red Dreams, The Blood Kiss, and The Death Artist. He wrote some pseudonymous novelizations of the HALLOWEEN movies. But my admiration for Etchinson’s work all started for me with The Dark Country. If you read it, you’ll be astonished.

13 thoughts on “FORGOTTEN BOOKS #75: THE DARK COUNTRY By Dennis Etchinson

  1. Scott Cupp

    I have got to agree. Amazing stuff. I think it is a shame his novels are not as good as his short pieces, but that is true of many writers.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Yes, you’re right, Scott. Etchinson’s short stories are amazing. His novels…not so much. Of course, that was the rap against Harlan Ellison: he was a brilliant short story writer and a mediocre novelist.

      Reply
  2. Jeff Meyerson

    I read this in 1984 but have absolutely no memory of it at all, other than the fact that I really liked it at the time. I guess I should look it up.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      You might want to find Etchinson’s retrospective collection, TALKING IN THE DARK (2001), Jeff. That really displays Etchinson’s best work.

      Reply
    1. george Post author

      Dennis Etchinson is a master of psychological suspense, Patti. Too much modern horror focuses on splatter and gross violence which I find boring and unimaginative. Etchinson’s stories will haunt you.

      Reply
  3. Todd Mason

    Etchison is one of the most brilliant writers in horror and suspense fiction, and has been since the early ’60s, a slightly older contemporary and peer of Ramsey Campbell’s (with no slavishly Lovecraftian period early on)…and we can’t forget his work as an editor, either, ranging from the MASTERS OF DARKNESS volumes through METAHORROR to his volume of that fine eclectic series, LORD JOHN TEN.

    And he’s not done yet. Glad you picked up the Babbage Press edition, as Lydia Marano, she of the vanished, alas, Dangerous Visions non-virtual bookstore, is good people.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Glad to see you back online, Rick. Hope you’re feeling better. TALKING IN THE DARK brings together Etchinson’s best work.

      Reply
  4. Todd Mason

    Etchison argued with himself as whether he should revise some of his earliest stories in THE DARK COUNTRY, which is also retrospective…and decided against it.

    Ellison’s novel SPIDER KISS is fine. That might be the only one he likes much (he’s written only a handful under his own name, at least).

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      In general, I’m against writers going back and revising their work once it’s published, Todd. It’s the purist in me. But, that being said, the work belongs to the writers and they can do whatever they want with their work.

      Reply

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