Behold the Void

By: Philip Fracassi

Narrated by: David Stifel

Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

Behold the Void includes nine stories of terror that huddle in the dark space between cosmic horror and the modern weird, between old-school hard-edged horror of the 1980s and the stylistic prose of today's literary giants.

Revenge takes a monstrous form when a scorned lover acquires bizarre, telekinetic powers; a community swimming pool on a bright summer day becomes the setting for a ghastly nightmare of sacrifice and loss; a thief does bloody battle with a Yakuza for the soul of a horse god; a priest must solve the mystery of a century-old serial killer or risk the apocalypse; a newly-married couple discover that relationships-gone-bad can be poisonous, and deadly; a child is forced to make an ultimate choice between letting his parents die or living with the monsters they may become; and when a boy is trapped on a beach at low tide, he must face death in many forms - that of the rising water coming to consume him and the ghost of his dead mother who wants him back, reaching for him with dark, longing arms....

©2017 Philip Fracassi (P)2017 Journalstone Publishing

Fantastic stories

What did you love best about Behold the Void?

Fracassi has a rich and frighting imagination, reminds me of vintage Stephen King

Who was your favorite character and why?

Fracassi is great at developing memorable characters in a short amount of time. I'd say my favorite was the boy in Mandala, the final story in the collection

Have you listened to any of David Stifel’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not

Who was the most memorable character of Behold the Void and why?

It's a collection of short stories, so there are many characters to choose from. I think the one that stayed with me the most was the lead character in Surfer Girl, it's a terrifying look into the mind of a potential serial killer

Any additional comments?

Highly recommend

Story is great, narrator is not, unfortunately

I don’t like to be rude about narrators, I’m sure they’re good people, but the one who read this story shouldn’t be doing this. He didn’t have the right tone for people’s quotes, nor the correct emphasis on words within each statement! I was re-reading every spoken line again to myself in order for the story to make sense. That was hella frustrating. I might use non grammatically correct words like ‘hella’ but I have a common sense ability to know exactly how a line needs to be read for the specific situation. He read every exclamation the same way no matter who it was or what they said. It’s like he wasn’t even paying attention. Please. Get a different narrator.

most excellent

loved it! i'll for sure revisit this book when some future purchase disappoints; both narrator and author make me jealous with their talent.

Hold on you’re going for a ride!

This is top notch horror. A must read for fanatics of the terror that never stops!!!5 stars

Last story the best

Most of Phillips stories leaves you kind of hanging, but the last story completely completely finished. It was absolutely fantastic..

Impressed

I'm glad i ignored the negative reviews. The narration is fine and the collection of stories is one of the better I've listened to. The last story was outstanding. It's the longest story in the book and to me was the star of the show. It had me physically holding my breath. I'm adding this to my list of favorites and trying more books by this author. Would absolutely recommend.

Philip Fracassi is not to be slept on...

There is nothing I can say more accurate or appropriate to any one about to dive into this collection of short stories & novelettes - each one crescendoing and ending with their wonderful central characters being forced to face impossible revelations about the world and the chaos of it all that brought them to their final moment alive - that would be worded better than Laird Barron’s introduction to this debut publication. (For those new to the world of good horror literature, Barron is a heavyweight champion who makes the likes of Stephen King look like children’s books - so Laird’s giddy and enthusiastic preamble was honestly shocking for me to read as I prepared to see what this “Void” had ready for, and just as Barron stated, Fracassi has obviously been winding up for years, and this is as big of a statement as one could ever dream of from any horror author’s first volume of short stories.)

Not since John Langan’s, “The Wide Carnivorous Sky,” has there been a new name on the mainstream weird fiction/occult horror block worth obsessing over. Philip Fracassi, you HAD my curiosity, but now you have my full attention!

Excellent horror that gets better as you go

In the world of horror, few stones have been left unturned, but this book manages to find that black mold that is terror, fuels it with creative nightmares and lets it creep into our bones. Well written and performed.

Bone Chilling superb supernatural tales

Everything about these short stories is well-done. Bravo to Fracassi and a great narrator too!!

Didn't like this

What didn’t you like about David Stifel’s performance?

The narrator sounds like Deputy Dawg as read by a computer voice simulator. There's a weird halting character to his voice and the narration is replete with weird pauses.

Any additional comments?

Some of the stories were OK, but I didn't like them enough to get me past the weird narration.