Waves of Light and Darkness
Stories
Waves of Light and Darkness is a musing short story collection made up of character-driven, introspective tales.
Sprinkled with science fiction intrigue and cosmic mysteries, John K. Danenbarger’s involving short story collection Waves of Light and Darkness is about grief and romance.
While each story stands alone and all vary in tone, subject, and style, the entries are tied together by common themes related to lost love, fresh romance, and high-society parties. Indeed, most reflect in some way on intimacy and relationships alongside more existential themes, with the two dovetailing well through high-minded exchanges between characters.
The book’s more philosophical themes include death, loss, and the natures of knowledge, fate, and identity. A man confesses to his friend that he escaped a serial killer because of self-doubt. In another tale, a divorced father, undone by his memories, experiences anxiety while with his children:
The amusement park lights blinked against the dusk sky. Calliope music mingled with screams from the roller coaster. Ethan’s father had taken him to a similar park after he recovered enough to walk.
While there are occasional supernatural intrusions, these serve most to elevate the book’s existential themes. Further, most of the tales lead to succinct twist endings.
The book’s overall approach is sober and efficient, establishing scenes with speed and driving forward thanks to sharp exchanges between characters. The characterizations are also distinctive enough to drive characters’ respective plots, though there are a few stock traits and motivations that appear on repeat: The narrators are often lone men with vague, checkered pasts; the women leads are beautiful, intelligent, playful, and seductive. Further, the supporting characters are often out-of-touch, petty socialites.
The book’s overarching reliance on archetypes means that those stories which break molds are all the more memorable. Also distinguishing is the earnest, informal style that memories of early adolescence are written in, reflective of youth, as well as, elsewhere, the introduction of sensual and seductive language into the prose. Indeed, the book’s intimate scenes and sexual acts are narrated with tact. Some awkward phrasing arises, though, and there are off-putting instances of overt objectification when it comes to the book’s women.
Further, each tale is given limited room to establish its stakes; this is sometimes to a story’s detriment. Some are tied up with succinct scenes or phrases of revelation that have diminishing impacts on their recurrences; those stories that are longer and more involved also have tidier conclusions. Further, some of the book’s surprises come at the expense of the stories, reframing narratives to distracting effect.
The existential narratives collected in Waves of Light and Darkness orbit themes of love, grief, death, and time.
Reviewed by
Brendan McKelvy
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
