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Monday, March 16, 2015

Book Review: Where All Light is Left to Die by Robert S. Wilson

Where All Light is Left to Die
by Robert S. Wilson

Paperback, First Edition, 222 pages
September 23rd 2014
by Empire of Blood Books
When those with a special gift can catch your soul in that dark realm between here and hereafter and bring you back to life, who will save us all from the jealous void?

Lurking between the crowds of men and women, there are those among us who feed on something other than plants and animals. Predators with a unique kind of prey. Predators of those who prey on women and children... Predators with a taste for justice.

James Benton might be the last man on earth. Racing to get to work, he finds random abandoned cars, smoldering pile-ups, and something even stranger. Everywhere he goes there's no grass, no people, not even a bird in the sky. Alone in a barren world, James travels west in search of someone, anyone who might have survived The Quiet.

When Art Gibson's collie, Ginger, goes out of control, barking and digging at Dead Man's Hill, Art makes a chilling discovery: someone is trapped inside. Alive. Once rescued, the man himself is even stranger. Naked and unable to speak, he is taken to the hospital. As he recovers from an unknown shock, the fate of an entire universe is at stake.

Thirteen tales in all. Awakened from the mind of Robert S. Wilson. Ripped from their slumber and stretched across the fabric of space and time, silently screaming into the farthest reaches of the cold dead void... where all light is left to die.

Break down of stories: Six short stories, four flash tales, two novellas, and one novelette
The Death Catcher (originally published in Fear the Reaper from Crystal Lake Publishing)
Playing with Fire (exclusive to this collection)
The Singularity (exclusive to this collection)
The Last Time I Saw my Brother Nathan (originally published in A Quick Bite of Flesh from Hazardous Press)
Self-Aware (originally self-published as a stand-alone short story)
The Boy in the Elevator (originally published in The Best of The Horror Society 2013)
Forcipules (originally self-published as a stand-alone short story)
Calling Me Home (originally published here on my blog)
The Resurrection of Tommy Derringer: An Empire of Blood Short Story (exclusive to this collection)
The Suits (exclusive to this collection)
The Quiet (revised and expanded version, will also be re-released soon as a stand-alone novella)
Through the Mindhole (originally self-published as a stand-alone novelette)
The Nesting Place (new, but will also be released as a stand-alone novella)

The first book I read by Wilson was Shining in Crimson: Empire of Blood #1. He impressed me with his writing and imagination. If you are looking for an excellent horror writer then give Robert S. Wilson a try.

The stories range from science fiction to cyberpunk to dark urban fantasy. One of the reasons I don’t read many author collections is because after a while all the stories pretty much have the same voice. I didn’t feel that while reading this collection. The stories are unique and intelligent and play in the gray areas of human morality. I had lots of favorites, but I have to admit Through the Mindhole was hard for me to wrap my brain around <G>. My favorites were the Death Catcher, The Suits and Self-Aware.

It is hard to put into words my overall general feeling about the collection because each story touches or evokes different emotions. The best thing I can say is all the stories do, and that is what makes them worth reading. No happy endings here, only great story telling.

The cover doesn't do this collection justice. 

4 “there are more sheep than these” Sheep




About the Author:
Robert S. Wilson is the author of SHINING IN CRIMSON and FADING IN DARKNESS, books one and two of his dystopian vampire series: EMPIRE OF BLOOD. He is the Bram Stoker Award-nominated editor of BLOOD TYPE: AN ANTHOLOGY OF VAMPIRE SF ON THE CUTTING EDGE, a co-editor of HORROR FOR GOOD: A CHARITABLE ANTHOLOGY and NIGHTSCAPES: VOLUME 1, and lives in Middle Tennessee with his family and a silly obnoxious dog. His short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies, online, and paper publications, and his cyberpunk/horror novella EXIT REALITY was chosen as one of e-thriller.com's Thrillers of the Month in July 2013.

His debut fiction collection WHERE ALL LIGHT IS LEFT TO DIE is scheduled to release on September 23rd, 2014. He is currently working hard to finish a number of novels and novellas all at once like a blind juggler given knives and led into oncoming traffic.

Samples of his work as well as the free audio serial for Shining in Crimson can be found on his website at http://www.shiningincrimson.com You can also find him and Shining in Crimson on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/robertswilsonauthor and http://www.facebook.com/shiningincrimson


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