Fans of the Twilight Zone will appreciate a new collection of short stories told from the dark side.
Dartmouth author Robert Schwarzmann is set to release, Tales From The Darkside, his first collection of short fiction at the Centre For The Arts Tapes on Nov. 20, from 7-9 p.m. This eight-story collection ranges from tales of psychological suspense to magical realism.
“These short stories all have the similar themes, none are reality based,” he said. “It’s about regular people having weird experiences. It’s a psychological horror similar to The Twilight Zone, they are suspenseful - some verge on horror - but none of them are gory, or violent.”
Schwarzmann says he enjoys the work of Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, and Alfred Hitchcock. His stories feature character-driven plots where regular people meet extraordinary circumstance. A business man meets a money tree; murderers and mistaken identities; and, of course, encounters with magical creatures.
Over the years, Schwarzmann has worked as a reporter, translator, and ESL teacher. He has lived and worked in Mexico, Korea, Thailand, Cambodia, Kuwait, the Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Los Angeles, before moving to Dartmouth
“As a child, I devoured fairy tales,” says Schwarzmann. “Later I discovered the 1960s TV series Twilight Zone, recently revived by Netflix, which took the audience to other dimensions of the imagination.”
The title of the book is a playful reference to Dartmouth, or the ‘dark side’ as people in Halifax like to say.
Several of the stories in this collection were inspired by his travels abroad. The Poet, a story loosely inspired by Leonard Cohen, was made into a film that was directed by Michael Rothecker. This film was invited to the Montreal International Film Festival in 2007, and will be featured during the book launch on Nov 20.
other writing has appeared in various publications over the past 20 years and ranges from poetry, short fiction, newspaper articles.
“I had all these stories I wrote over the years and kept in suitcases and drawers as I travelled,” he said. “I finally brought the best of them together and found a publisher.”
He added that he is thrilled to have these stories finally published together after all these years. He says this is proof that writers should never give up, they need to keep writing, as it’s never too late to be published.
Nova Publishing is a new company in HRM, founded by Violet Rosengarten and Alan Collins, an award-winning filmmaker. The book cover was created by Josh Owen, a well-known young Halifax filmmaker.
Tales From the Darkside, will be launched at the Centre for the Arts Tapes 2238 Maitland Street Halifax on Nov 20, from 7-9 p.m. That evening, people will also catch a glimpse of Allen’s film based on The Poet. The book will be available to purchase during this event, and will be available at Bookmark on Spring Garden Road, The Dartmouth Book Exchange in Cole Harbour, and at selected Chapters and Coles in time for Christmas.
