Book Review: Nightingale Songs – Author Simon Strantzas

Nightingale Songs by Simon Strantzas
(Dark Regions Press)

In the dead of night, there are footsteps in the hall
In the dead of night, your past mistakes will haunt you
In the dead of night, you hear a discordant tune
In the dead of night, the nightingale sings

Simon Strantzas, master of the subtle and the bizarre, returns with a dozen strange tales and eerie mysteries. From the shores of a remote oil-stained sound to deep within the familiar heart of suburbia, these are the songs of broken people who cannot find a way to fix themselves, who must search the dark for salvation. Like a siren, the nightingale sings them onward to face their end. But it sings for you too. A requiem in your honor. Because, for you, it is already too late.

Table of Contents

In the Nightingale, Waiting for the Curtain to Rise, an Introduction by John Langan
Out of Touch
Her Father’s Daughter
The Deafening Sound of Slumber
Unreasonable Doubt
Tend Your Own Garden
The Nightingale
Pale Light in the Jungle
An Indelible Stain upon the Sky
Something New
Mr. Kneale
Everything Floats
When Sorrows Come
Afterword

I love starting off the new year with a collection of short stories by an author I haven’t had the pleasure of reading yet. The wonderful people at Dark Regions Press sent me a nice group of books right before the holiday season. Included in that group was “Nightingale Songs” by Simon Strantzas. As is usual with Dark Regions books the edition is beautifully done.

As I stated, I hadn’t yet read anything by Mr. Strantzas until now and I am glad I did. This is such an amazing group of stories.  Relationships play a big part in his stories, his writing is subtle, unsettling and eerie. This group of stories will get under your skin. You will sweat, you will cry, you will become unnerved and these tales will stay with you long after you put this book down.

These stories are full of vividly disturbing images, bleak gloomy atmosphere and haunting prose. A perfect companion for a stormy cold winter’s night. This book will chill you to the bone and then some.

There is not a weak story in the bunch but their are two stories that just walloped me in the stomach.

“Everything Floats” is the best short story I have read in a while. What starts off as a seemingly simple haunted house tale turns into something so much more. This story will scare you, twist and turn you, and if you don’t cry at the end of this tale you are probably not amongst the living.

“When Sorrows Come” is another great short story that will leave you considerably shaken. It is a story of love, loss and heartbreak that will leave you gasping for air. I love when stories do that to me.

Simon Strantzas has definitely caught my attention and is someone I will be watching and waiting for new material, as well as reading his first two short story collections.

“Nightingale Songs” is not to be missed and is a must read for anyone who loves the art of short stories. Simon Strantzas gets it right and I give it my highest recommendation.

Book Review: Nightingale Songs – Author Simon Strantzas