Growing Things and Other Stories is a collection of 19 intensely gripping stories from horror writer Paul Tremblay. Grounded in real-life situations slowly infused with fear and unrest, Tremblay uses a very personal voice which allows his writing to unfurl naturally, feeling so familiar the stories seem to be telling themselves. As they descend into the realm of horror, each story keeps the reader guessing. Are these situations really as they seem? Are they fantastical? Or could there be another plausible explanation for the bizarre occurrences at hand? Perhaps the greatest fears are the real-life monsters that surround us and those we carry inside?
In the title story, “Growing Things,” readers revisit a familiar family from Tremblay’s novel, A Head Full of Ghosts. A father and his two daughters are confined to their home, attempting to survive while rapidly growing plants take over the world outside. When the father ventures out on a supply run and does not return, the girls begin wondering what really lies outside their door as they struggle to survive.
In “Something About Birds,” a young man is thrilled at the opportunity to interview the author of his favourite short story. An older man who is notoriously reclusive, this author takes an acute interest in the narrator, inviting him to a private party with a mood vaguely reminiscent of the film Eyes Wide Shut.
“A Haunted House is a Wheel Upon Which Some Are Broken” is an adult version of the childhood classic choose-your-own-adventure tales. A woman revisits the home where she grew up, a house populated by ghosts, with the reader leading her journey from room to room.
In “Further Questions for the Somnambulist,” a man, a woman, and a child each present a series of questions to one who is revered for his extraordinary sight of both the past and the future. Do they really want to know the answers to their questions, though?
“Her Red Right Hand” is about a family who moves to an isolated home in the woods, the father hopeful that a famous well on their land will provide healing water for his terminally ill wife. The mother’s illness and decline, as well as the aftermath, are revealed to the reader frame by frame through the eyes of the child and her comic book style drawings.
Tremblay weaves these dark and often macabre narratives quite deftly, cradling the reader between reality and the implausible. Each story has a strong, convincing voice and unique structure, yet the reader will enjoy hints of classic horror literature like Shirley Jackson, modern stylings akin to American Horror Story, and even echoes of Stephen King. This collection of literary horror is also replete with opportunities to reflect within oneself, as well as to consider a larger social commentary.
Growing Things is my first experience with the work of Paul Tremblay and it definitely won’t be the last. The singular intensity and twists embedded in each story will draw you in and keep you coming back for more.
Paul Tremblay is the author of the Locus award winning novel The Cabin at the End of the World, as well as Disappearance at Devil’s Rock, A Head Full of Ghosts, and numerous other novels. His fiction and essays have been featured in multiple Year’s Best anthologies and The Los Angeles Times, among other publications. He previously worked as a fiction editor for CHIZINE and as co-editor of Fantasy Magazine. He also served as the co-editor of the anthology Creatures and is a current member of the board of directors for the Shirley Jackson Awards.
Growing Things and Other Stories is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers. My sincere thanks to William Morrow Books for the finished copy of this book to review for The Nerd Daily. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
A chilling collection of psychological suspense and literary horror from the multiple award-winning author of the national bestseller The Cabin at the End of the World and A Head Full of Ghosts.
A masterful anthology featuring nineteen pieces of short fiction, Growing Things is an exciting glimpse into Paul Tremblay’s fantastically fertile imagination.
In “The Teacher,” a Bram Stoker Award nominee for best short story, a student is forced to watch a disturbing video that will haunt and torment her and her classmates’ lives.
Four men rob a pawn shop at gunpoint only to vanish, one-by-one, as they speed away from the crime scene in “The Getaway.”
In “Swim Wants to Know If It’s as Bad as Swim Thinks,” a meth addict kidnaps her daughter from her estranged mother as their town is terrorized by a giant monster… or not.
Joining these haunting works are stories linked to Tremblay’s previous novels. The tour de force metafictional novella “Notes from the Dog Walkers” deconstructs horror and publishing, possibly bringing in a character from A Head Full of Ghosts, all while serving as a prequel to Disappearance at Devil’s Rock. “The Thirteenth Temple” follows another character from A Head Full of Ghosts—Merry, who has published a tell-all memoir written years after the events of the novel. And the title story, “Growing Things,” a shivery tale loosely shared between the sisters in A Head Full of Ghosts, is told here in full.
From global catastrophe to the demons inside our heads, Tremblay illuminates our primal fears and darkest dreams in startlingly original fiction that leaves us unmoored. As he lowers the sky and yanks the ground from beneath our feet, we are compelled to contemplate the darkness inside our own hearts and minds.
