Published : 1996 Genre : Horror/short story collection Format : Paperback Pages : 282
This is a collection of short stories by the author of “The Ring” all involving water in some way .
First story : Prologue
“Any particularly intriguing you may come across on the beach is best left untouched – because it begins to tell its story to you , as soon as you pick it up . Fine if the story is heartwarming , but if it curdles your blood , things will never be the same .”
Summary : Kayo tells her granddaughter tales based around objects found on the beach .
Second story : Floating Water
“The bag with the Kitty motif that they had discovered on the rooftop one week ago , the bag that had sat for three full days on the counter in the super’s office before being thrown out unclaimed in the polythylene garbage bin along with other garbage , that bag was here in front of them now .”
Summary : A germophobe mother , a mysterious Kitty bag , and a haunted apartment .
Third Story : Solitary Isle
“Yes , that Battery No.6 , the one under the Rainbow Bridge … the ghost island.”
Summary : A scientific survey of a well known ghost island , surely nothing could go wrong .
Fourth Story : The Hold
“Always hazy , always just out of reach … what had happened the night before ? His efforts to remember proved futile .”
Summary : An abusive fisherman seeks his wife after blacking out the night before .
Fifth Story : Dream Cruise
“Just then , his hands registered a violent jolt , and the rope pulled taut as if something enormous had caught on the other end . As he tried to maintain hold of the rope , Enoyoshi was pulled halfway over the side of the yacht . “
Summary : If you think being stranded on a yacht is bad … imagine being stuck on there with two people trying to get you in on their pyramid scheme .
Sixth Story : Adrift
“The cruiser was traveling with its sails down. There was no sign of anyone on board.”
Summary : Sailors come across an abandoned ship and one decides to climb aboard . Damn … this guy doesn’t watch enough movies.
Seventh Story : Watercolors
” Go up to the floor above, find the leak , and take care of it.”
Summary : A mysterious leak interrupts a theater performance .
Eighth Story : Forest Under The Sea
“Although convinced that they had finally found what they were after , Sugiyama expressed a kind of reserved ambiguity; it was no simple matter to discover an underground cavern into which no man had ever set before .”
Summary : A man and his buddy find an undocumented cave and go into it and then keep going deeper . Definitley not catching me doing that .
Ninth Story : Epilogue
” What kind of circumstances could have made the father write a letter like that to his son ?”
Summary : An injured woman finds a mysterious letter written from father to son and makes it her mission to deliver it . Gotta admire that !
Review : What is this ? A short story collection written by the author of “The Ring” , oh hell yeah ! Some stories in here could be considered thrillers but this is largely a horror story collection and not one of these feels like filler to me . Go buy it !
Recommendations : Books
- Birthday by Koji Suzuki
- Octopussy And The Living Daylights by Ian Fleming
- Cycle Of The Werewolf by Stephen King
- Haunted Mesa by Louis L’Amour
- The Wonderous Adventures of the Domino Lady ! by Lars Anderson
Songs
- The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald – Gordon Lightfoot
- What Do You Do With A Drunken Sailor – Irish Rovers
- Bridge Over Troubled Waters – Michael W. Smith
- Carry On My Wayward Son – Boston
- Cool Water – Marty Robbins
Movies
- Dark Water (2005)
- Creepshow (1982)
- Tales From The Darkside: The Movie (1990)
- Black Sabbath (1963)
- Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (1998)
Lesson : Don’t just pick up random shit on the beach … you don’t know if it’s cursed or not .
Grand Wierd Reviews 