Reviewed by Chandra Claypool (Instagram) (TikTok)
Welcome to Clifton Heights, New York. There are stories lingering in the shadows in this town where four people are in for some unexpected experiences that will change the trajectory of their lives forever.
I have a love/hate relationship with story collections and typically rate them down the middle. But We All Go Into the Dark is a phenomenal read and I thoroughly enjoyed each story! Yes, I liked some more than others, but each one of them gave me incredible visuals and some truly crawled under my skin.
“Zoo Town” – Jim loves visiting abandoned buildings and places and, while in Clifton Heights, learns of Zoo Town. A place named because the workers of the zoo mostly lived on the premises. It is said to be haunted and people tend to steer clear of this space, warning Jim it’s better to not go off the beaten path. He hears some singing and runs into a woman randomly at the grocery and then again while he’s making camp at Zoo Town. It’s been so long since a woman’s hit on him, that how could he say no? What happens when they spend some time together over an open fire leads to something far more sinister than he could ever have imagined.
“The Man Who Sits in His Chair” – A man gets stranded in Clifton Heights due to car troubles and reflects on his life. Noticing a man sitting in his chair in front of his house sparks his curiosity and he can’t help but seek out the mystery of this man. Sometimes secrets are just meant to be that and now it’s too late.
“In The Court of the Spider King” – A photographer comes to town to take photos of the area’s spiders. However, there’s more than just spiders that he’ll have to contend with. This horrific discovery surely sent chills beneath my skin and now I’m even more afraid to run into any kind of spider for fear it will lead to experiences I cannot handle.
“To Slip the Surly Bonds of Earth” – Paranormal show host is encouraged to go to abandoned Raedeker Amusement Park to see if any spirits have remained. What he finds is much worse than he could ever have imagined. He quickly learns that what he thought he knew about the world is… different.
I’m being very vague in this review because I think it’s best to go in without knowing too much. We have ordinary people doing ordinary things that lead to the extraordinary… though not necessarily always the best things. After all, once the dark takes over the light, there’s no knowing what lays within the shadows and further. Folklore, ghosts, evil entities, cults and cosmic fantasy saturates these pages. Perhaps you, the ordinary reader, will find yourselves side-eyeing the dark and wondering where your next mundane task will take you. Proceed with caution but remember…WE ALL GO INTO THE DARK.
Everyone’s a critic these days, but within the literary universe, the art of critiquing is no task for the meek. Dissecting the nuts-and-bolts of what makes a story work — or not — takes a trained eye. There are miles of distance between a one-star stinker and a five-star phenomenon, and recognizing those differences requires the work of the assertive; those unafraid to flay the flesh from characters and dig deep into the viscera of influences and motives, or to call out those narrative plot holes big enough to drive a truck through. It’s the business of Rick Hipson and the like, shored up by chops that take decades of commitment to develop. Or 
“B.I.R.D.S.”
