Joseph Payne Brennan (1918–1990)

The Shapes of Midnight by Joseph Payne Brennan

I went into this book blind. I did not know who the author was, or when the book was written, only that the cover looked interesting and it was in one of my favorite genres (the horror anthology). I am very glad that I did, because it was like some kind of mirror into my own reading history.

In the afterword, there is a quote from Stephen King that calls Brennan "one of the most effective writers in the horror genre" and I have to agree. Not because of the actual chills in the stories (honestly, I didn't find that many) but because of the obvious influence he had on the genre, particularly Stephen King himself.

Reading the book, unaware of the history behind it, I felt myself thinking "This would have been perfect for Weird Tales." more than once. I was, of course, 100% right. Brennan wrote hundreds of stories for that classic magazine.
I also found myself thinking, "This guy loved him some Stephen King." It turns out I had it backwards!

These stories are nothing all that unique to the experienced reader of horror, and the "twists" in them are not twists at all, today. But this is because Brennan literally created many of them.

Of the stories in this collection, I found I liked The Pavillion best. A story of murder, guilt, and revenge(?) from beyond the grave, I found myself imagining it shot for shot in some early 80s horror anthology movie (Creepshow, of course).

Disappearance is another proto-King story. Indeed, I can see direct influences of several King stories here--the taciturn farmer with a secret, the missing family member, the grisly discovery. They all seem buried deep in our horror conscience now, thanks to stories like this.

As horror, honestly, there probably isn't much here for the modern fan, but as a glimpse into the roots of the genre this is a very interesting (and still quite fun!) read.

I'd like to thank the publisher for the review copy!… (more)

These are some of Brennan's non-Lucius Leffing stories, though one of them mentions him in its opening. They are a more varied lot. Many are basic straight horror stories, a genre I generally like less than occult detectives.
The opening story (City of the Seven Winds) is more like Dunsany, and has the benefit (from my point of view) that the first-person narrative actually turns the tables on the villain and escapes, which does not happen that often in horror stories. My only objection to it is that although it is supposedly set on the Syrian border, the "feel" of the city is more old-European than Arabian.… (more)