Careful what you wish for. In Dark Chronicles, wishes have teeth.
Ten speculative tales brimming with twisted humour and delicious menace: a pepper that lets you in on other people’s thoughts, a radio show that predicts your fate, and a blood-thirsty ghost who refuses to let go.
Award-winning author Karmen Spiljak delivers a chilling and razor-sharp mix of twists and dark suspense, perfect for readers who like their stories to unsettle and linger.
Ten dark tales. Ten twisted fates. One thrilling collection.
Purchase Dark Chronicles
This was a dark, eerie short story collection that leans into sci-fi and suspense rather than emotional depth. The tone is consistently unsettling and thought-provoking, but the reading experience depends heavily on how you feel about open-ended storytelling. This is best suited for readers who enjoy brief, high-intensity concepts and do not need narrative closure to feel satisfied.
Why I Picked This Book
I requested Dark Chronicles as part of a Rachel’s Random Resources book tour because I’ve been gravitating toward darker, creepier reads lately. The promise of suspenseful, sci-fi-leaning short stories immediately caught my attention and felt aligned with my current reading mood.
Reading Experience
This collection reminded me of reading Edgar Allan Poe short stories years ago. Each piece is quick and intense, often dropping you directly into an unsettling situation and moving just as quickly toward its conclusion.
What made the experience challenging for me was the lack of resolution. Many of the stories end abruptly, without closure or a clear sense of what happens next. While that may be intentional, reading several stories back-to-back this way became disorienting. Just as I was settling into one narrative, it would end, forcing a mental reset before moving on to the next.
As with most short story collections, some stories resonated more than others. All of them carried a suspenseful, high-intensity tone, but their impact varied.
Story Structure
The stories are very short and fast-paced, which works for the genre. However, nearly all of them end without resolution. They do not need neat endings, but the consistent lack of closure made the collection feel uneven as a whole. Instead of lingering unease, I was often left with unanswered questions that felt more confusing than compelling.
Characters
One of the strongest elements of this collection was its character variety. I appreciated that the voices felt distinct from story to story. The characters ranged from people you love to hate to those simply trying to improve their lives and finding themselves trapped in situations they never intended to enter.
There was a nice balance of perspectives, personalities, and motivations, which helped keep the collection from feeling repetitive despite having a single author.
Themes and Atmosphere
The overall tone is dark, suspenseful, and lightly creepy rather than heavy or emotionally overwhelming. Many of the stories lean into sci-fi concepts that feel reminiscent of The Twilight Zone. These unrealistic, futuristic scenarios made the collection thought-provoking, often prompting questions about how we might respond in situations we have never encountered before.
One standout story for me was “Andy,” which explores workplace automation through human-like robots designed to replace mundane labor. Its premise felt especially relevant and unsettling.
Final Thoughts
This collection did not linger for me, but it served its purpose as a quick, darker palate cleanser. I would recommend Dark Chronicles to readers looking for brief, suspenseful stories that can be read on the go or between heavier novels. If you prefer clearly resolved endings or emotionally immersive storytelling, this may feel unsatisfying.
Thank you for allowing me to be a part of this virtual book tour, Rachel’s Random Resources
Karmen Spiljak is Slovenian-Belgian author of suspense, horror and speculative fiction, a developmental editor and a book coach. Her short fiction has been awarded and anthologised. Her short story collection, Add Cyanide to Taste, won the 2022 IndieReader Discovery award for best short stories/Fiction and Pass the Cyanide won the 2023 Wishing Shelf Book Awards Bronze.
She lives in Belgrade with her husband, two mischievous cats and an undefined number of literary characters. Find out more about her writing on www.karmenspiljak.com .
Social Media Links –
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