Toybox

Rating:
Summary: Perfect little afterthoughts for waning days.....
Review: Al Sarrantonio is yet another master of the short story medium
I have come to appreciate of late. Thanks to Joe R. Lansdale(my very favorite short story writer!(and the introduction to this
collection) As a past reviewer stated perfectly I can't seem
to get enough short stories lately, but I do try and read novels
when I have time. They both are perfect ways to spend some time. Short stories can have so much impact, I've
found some great short story collections recently from the likes of Jack Ketchum, Peter Crowther, P.D Cacek, Neil Gaiman, Simon Clark, Ray Bradbury(the godfather of these stories), the dark masques, and darker masques series of late and of course my favorite, HIGH COTTON which I
believe is a must have from Joe R. Lansdale, for your short story
collection. TOY BOX has a great cover to wet the appetite for
this strange weirdness you are about to discover. Autumn is the perfect time of the year to sit back and
discover this gifted storyteller. There are so many talented writers out there to discover and stories to take you away. Enjoy this one!

Rating:
Summary: BRADBURY FOR THE NEW MILLENIUM
Review: Here, then, are some of the best stories from TOYBOX:
"Pumpkin Head": a little girl at a Halloween party is not what she seems.
"The Man with Legs": A girl and her brother go on a bus trip and find more than they are looking for in a house that looks like a white spider.
"Roger's Head": a man's head begins to grow and doesn't stop as his two friends desperately try to save the world.
"Red Eve": Halloween in the far future when humans live on a glass shell in the sky above a burned out Earth. But vampires have survived.
"Boxes": the last story, which rounds out the book nicely as the cover closes.
But all the stories are good, these are just some of my favorites.

Rating:
Summary: BRADBURY FOR THE NEW MILLENIUM
Review: Here, then, are some of the best stories from TOYBOX:
"Pumpkin Head": a little girl at a Halloween party is not what she seems.
"The Man with Legs": A girl and her brother go on a bus trip and find more than they are looking for in a house that looks like a white spider.
"Roger's Head": a man's head begins to grow and doesn't stop as his two friends desperately try to save the world.
"Red Eve": Halloween in the far future when humans live on a glass shell in the sky above a burned out Earth. But vampires have survived.
"Boxes": the last story, which rounds out the book nicely as the cover closes.
But all the stories are good, these are just some of my favorites.

Rating:
Summary: A Disappointment For This Fan of His Novels
Review: I am always happy to locate an Al Sarrantonio book. I have truly enjoyed his novels. This is his first collection of short fiction. I had to read it right away, but I wound up being disappointed.

Short horror fiction is often far mor intense than horror novels, but that is not the case with this collection. At best the stories are odd. Usually they are just dull. I found myself reading the stories in hopes of finding the gem in the collection. There was none. This was very odd as I could relate to many of the characters.

All in all I have to say that fans of his novels may want to pass this collection by as the stories within bear little resemblance to his longer works.

Rating:
Summary: And Now For Something Completely Different...
Review: I can't decide what I like better: horror novels or collections of horror short stories. Short stories usually read faster, and they often contain stronger shocks than a novel because the author has to deliver the goods within the space of a few pages. Novels are great because the reader often gets better character development and multiple plot threads. I guess I can keep reading both types of horror literature and quit worrying about which one of the two is superior, although after reading Al Sarrantonio's collection of horrific gems, entitled "Toybox," I am giddy about short stories right now. It is difficult to describe why I liked this collection so much, as there is little in the way of the type of gory violence I always look forward to with a horror book. Despite the absence of sauce, this book is well worth reading for literate fans of the horror genre. Apparently, Sarrantonio has written tons of novels and stories over the past two decades, but I am a little ashamed to admit that this is the first book of his I have stumbled over. The introduction by Joe Lansdale effusively praises Al Sarrantonio's work as some of the best the horror field has to offer.

The first thing I noticed about this author's stories was the intricate yet whimsical writing style. On more than one occasion, I felt as though Sarrantonio must have channeled Dr. Suess while he wrote his tales, not in a literal sense, but more in how the stories bounce along in a pithy, sing-song way. The fact that many of these stories use children as the main characters also reminded me of the author of "Green Eggs and Ham." Stories that fall into this category include "Pumpkin Head," a strange tale about an unpopular classmate with a horrible past, "The Corn Dolly," a haunting yarn about a young boy who finally attends the festival in the local village and learns a disturbing secret about his long gone father, and "Wish," a primer about being careful about what you wish for in life. A sizeable part of this collection deals with the hopes and dreams of the young, with yearnings that usually end with catastrophic consequences once they come true. Several of the stories are amazingly short, barely more than three or four pages, but Sarrantonio's adroit use of the English language makes these shorter than short tales as satisfying as a sprawling novel.

Towards the end of the book, a few stories took on a darker, more ominous tone. Although I found most of the stories in the book entertaining, I soon discovered I preferred these tales. "Children of Cain" is probably the best entry in this part of the book, an account of two boys who end up sharing a murderous passion with devastating results for those around them. Then there is "Richard's Head," about an introverted genius and the repercussions of a relationship gone sour. "Red Eve" is more of a science fiction/horror story about the futility of the human race to advance beyond its disastrous limitations. "Pigs" relates the adventures of Jan, a man living in communist Poland who must flee for his life when he learns the authorities are after him.

Sarrantonio's "Toybox" is definitely not your standard horror fare these days. Few authors in the genre achieve such amazing results with the English language, let alone write stories that possess a sort of wide-eyed innocence while at the same time delivering shocks. I wouldn't go so far as to say any of these stories actually scared me (I rarely find stories or novels that spook me these days), but they are decidedly different due to a lack of gore. In fact, most of the stories imply rather than show any carnage. That's not a bad thing, but if you like horror tales with lots and lots of gruesome descriptions, you may not have much fun with Al Sarrantonio.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully eerie
Review: I have been reading horror fiction for most of my life. I am a rabid Lovecraft fan, and have read hundreds of novels and short story collections. I consider myself discriminating, only reading the best in horror fiction -- the stuff that really scares the hell out of you and makes you fear the dark.

That being said, this is now my favorite short horror story collection. The unsettling feeling that these stories leave you with will linger for quite some time.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully eerie
Review: I have been reading horror fiction for most of my life. I am a rabid Lovecraft fan, and have read hundreds of novels and short story collections. I consider myself discriminating, only reading the best in horror fiction -- the stuff that really scares the hell out of you and makes you fear the dark.

That being said, this is now my favorite short horror story collection. The unsettling feeling that these stories leave you with will linger for quite some time.

Rating:
Summary: Very Weak don't waste your money.
Review: Sarrantonio is a fine horror writer. This collection of his best short stories is excellent. Take a dash of Bradbury, a little Charles Addams, and blend with Sarrantonio and you have a great moody and haunting blend. This is one to read on a crisp October evening with a cup of apple cider at hand!

Rating:
Summary: GREAT GREAT COLLECTION
Review: Two of the stories in this volume were reprinted in Karl Wagner's Horror Best Of volumes, two years in a row, as the last stories in the book. That usually means they were the best. They're "Pumpkin Head" and "The Man With Legs," the first two stories in TOYBOX. The rest are just as good.