Dark Forces #13 The Curse, #14 Blood Sport, and #15 The Charming

In Dark Forces #13, The Curse, Dana is terrified because her 17th birthday is in three days. During her entire life, Dana has had nightmares about how she will be killed on her 17th birthday. Dana's nightmares worsen, and Dana soon realizes that she is an ancient Egyptian princess who has been reincarnated.

I did not like this book and skimmed most of it.  I felt disconnected from Dana and never cared at all about her.  The book is lacking everything that makes a book interesting to read.

In Dark Forces #14, Blood Sport, Bob is asked to join the Icarus Gymnastic Troupe.  The members travel from city to city doing public performances, and Bob wants the practice so that he can qualify for the Olympics.

Like the previous title in the set, the book is missing something.  I never felt interested in what happens to Bob and never cared about his predicament.

The story is overall good but I was never engaged.

In Dark Forces #15, The Charming, Kathy wants to be a famous actress.  Her boyfriend is in charge of the school play, and Kathy is furious when another girl is chosen for the lead role.

Kathy is approached by an agent, who promises that she can make Kathy famous.  Kathy must agree to two conditions:  She must tell no one about the arrangement, and she must obey all commands.

On page 39, Kathy is told, "[Y]ou read too many Nancy Drew mysteries when you were growing up."

Fortunately, this book is better than the previous two titles.

Just like the Twilight Where Dark Begins series, the Dark Forces series declined towards the end of its run.

I overall greatly enjoyed the Dark Forces series.

I have created a Facebook group for enthusiasts of vintage teen books such as the ones reviewed in this post.  Please follow this link to join.

Dark Forces #11 Waiting Spirits and #12 The Ashton Horror

In Dark Forces #11, Waiting Spirits, Lisa and Carrie are staying with their parents and grandmother in their grandmother's childhood home.  Lisa and Carrie try spirit writing, which summons several spirits to them.  Soon, Lisa realizes that one of the spirits is trying to take over her body.

I like this statement by Lisa's grandmother on pages 96 and 97.

"Your times haven't been so sweet," she said sadly.  "Oh, I don't think it's been all that bad for you.  But the shadows are longer now than they were then.  It all changed in 1945."

Lisa gave her a puzzled look.

"Oh, study your history, child.  That was the year we blew up Hiroshima and learned our planet was as mortal as we are.  I always thought a great dividing line was drawn then.  No one born after that time can understand what it was like to grow up without that shadow."

This resonates with me.  We have now lost even more of our innocence, and the world is very different now than it was when I was growing up in the 1980s.

This is a good book.

In Dark Forces #12, The Ashton Horror, Dennis joins Adrian's fantasy game club.  The club meets in an old cavern that has ancient drawings. Adrian announces that the club will be summoning Mogar out of the past.  The other members think it is all just in fun, but they later learn that Mogar is very real and very dangerous.

The ending of the story is wrapped up way too fast.  Dennis takes some grenades out of his father's weapon collection.  He uses a crowbar to pry the cases open.  I would like to have seen how Dennis would have explained his actions to his father.

I enjoyed this book.

I have created a Facebook group for enthusiasts of vintage teen books such as the ones reviewed in this post.  Please follow this link to join.

Dark Forces #9 Eyes of the Tarot and #10 Beat the Devil

In Dark Forces #9, Eyes of the Tarot, Bonnie is told by her grandmother to put the deck of old tarot cards back in the trunk.  Bonnie disobeys and takes the cards home.  She learns to use them and finds that she is an expert.  Bonnie has dreams in which the characters shown on the cards interact with her.  Soon, Bonnie realizes that she is in grave danger and that an evil magician is using Bonnie and the cards to return to power.

I enjoyed this book.

In Dark Forces #10, Beat the Devil, Doug loves video games.  One night, Doug wanders into a new video store in a deserted part of town.  The owner has only one game to sell, Beat the Devil. In the game, the player must beat the devil or have his soul consumed by the devil.  Doug quickly becomes obsessed with the game as the devil begins to take control of his soul.  Doug's only chance is to finally win the game—to beat the devil.

The cover of this book is fun.  It shows an old 1984 computer.  The game icons are displayed above the computer and are so delightfully accurate as to how lame game icons looked in 1984.

This story plays off of the belief many people have that video games are bad for children and teenagers.  In this book, a video game is actually bad, so bad that it is evil.  I love it!

Doug describes the colors in the game as brilliant and much more impressive than what he has ever seen in a video game.  I was thinking about how games looked in 1984, and somehow, I don't think it would take much to impress someone from 1984.  That is, I don't think a game from 1984 with "brilliant" colors would come close to what we have now.

This is an excellent book.  I always enjoy the ones that feature dated computers and applications.

I have created a Facebook group for enthusiasts of vintage teen books such as the ones reviewed in this post.  Please follow this link to join.

Dark Forces #7 Unnatural Talent and #8 The Companion

In Dark Forces #7, Unnatural Talent, Andrew wants to be an excellent basketball player. Andrew's father is the coach of the high school team, and he is under intense pressure to be the best.  Unfortunately, Andrew has no basketball ability—until he performs a spell from a book he purchased.

The spell summons a demon, who gives Andrew what he wants.  But  Andrew  soon learns that the demon wants payment, and the payment is more than he can handle.

I enjoyed this book but not as much as other titles in the set.





In Dark Forces #8, The Companion, Jeff has had a secret friend since childhood.  Jeff's secret friend is Kim, a little green man who insists on coming with Jeff to his new boarding school.  Jeff soon learns that Kim has been using him to gain control of his soul, and Jeff can do little to stop him.

I had trouble getting into this story.  I might have enjoyed it more if I could have understood how Jeff came to like Kim to so much that he kept Kim as a companion for so many years.  Since I wasn't able to read about the early years, I had trouble accepting the premise.

I did not enjoy the first two-thirds of the book very much, but I greatly enjoyed the last one-third of the story.

Dark Forces #5 The Bargain and #6 Swamp Witch

In Dark Forces #5, The Bargain, The Coastals is a struggling rock group.  The members are high school students who want nothing more than to become famous.  One night at a club, Chort introduces himself to the group.  He promises the members instant fame if they will enter into a bargain with him.  He assures them that they will be able to pay his fee.  What the members do not realize is that the fee will be their souls.

This book moves very slowly and is quite detailed.

I enjoyed this story.

In Dark Forces #6, Swamp Witch, Linda stays with her best friend, Heather.  The housekeeper, Tubelle, thinks Linda is trying to steal a boy away from Heather.  Unknown to Linda, Tubelle casts spells to bring about Linda's destruction.

I hate it when authors imply something without coming out and stating it.  If an author is going to use racial stereotypes, then the author might as well be upfront.  I was unsure about Tubelle's race.  That is, I made an assumption about Tubelle's race and then wondered if I was being racist.  This really bothered me.

On page 3, Tubelle states, "I is getting her breakfast ready."  On page 7, Tubelle states, "Made some extra for mah baby."  Nobody else in the book speaks this way, and Tubelle's race is not mentioned.  I assumed that Tubelle is African American and was surprised to see the dialect in a young adult book from 1983.  I then worried about whether I was the one who was guilty of racial stereotyping, even though I was pretty sure I was correct.  This worried me for a good portion of the book.  I couldn't decide for sure how to picture Tubelle.

Finally, on page 100, we learn more about Tubelle's grandson, Ben.  "Ron knew that Ben was sensitive about his background.  To bring up the superstitions that many of the blacks in the area still lived with was a delicate matter.  Even among friends."  This is an indirect statement, but it does make clear that Ben and his grandmother are African American.  At least I finally knew that I had not misinterpreted the intent of the dialect.

This book reads like a book from the 1950s or before because of the racial stereotypes.

I enjoyed this book.

Dark Forces #3 The Doll and #4 Devil Wind

In Dark Forces #3, The Doll, Cassie is drawn to a doll that is available as a carnival prize at the fair. Her boyfriend, Jack, wins the doll for her.  As soon as Cassie takes possession of the doll, she notices that it seems to resemble her but gives it no further thought.

Jack notices that Cassie is under the doll's spell and that the doll is growing larger and taking on a more human appearance.  Meanwhile, accidents surround Cassie and her friends.  Jack believes the doll is cursed, but can he convince Cassie that she must get rid of her prized possession?

Some of the events are quite unsettling.  One scene in particular disturbed me, as it involved the death of a beloved animal.

This is an excellent book.

In Dark Forces #4, Devil Wind, Peter and Mary enjoy their afternoon sailing until they enter a mysterious cove.  While inside the cove, fog envelops them, and the two young people become separated.  Peter has a terrifying experience that he cannot remember later.

Peter begins acting strangely, and Mary researches the history of the area in order to find out what is happening.

This book is a bit gruesome.  Let's just say that it involves animal mutilation.  The details are not described, but the reader can easily imagine the scene.

I enjoyed this book.

Dark Forces #1 The Game and #2 Magic Show

In Dark Forces #1, The Game, Julie and Terri are identical twin sisters, but their lives are changed when Julie is paralyzed in a car accident.  Julie feels sorry for herself and begins playing with a Ouija board in her room at night.  Julie becomes possessed by an evil spirit, and Terri must find a way to help her.

I like the little cultural references that appear in books from the 1980s, since those were my formative years.  On page 25, Terri reflects, "All of a sudden it occurred to her that they didn't make red M&Ms anymore.  She hadn't seen one in years."

So true.  We didn't have red M&Ms at that time because of the health scare with red dye #2. M&Ms never used red dye #2, but they discontinued that color for 11 years.  My favorite M&Ms are green, orange, yellow, and brown. That's the way it was in the 1980s, and that's the way it should be.  The blue and red ones never have looked right to me since they weren't around when I was young.

The constant point of view shifting in the middle of all scenes makes it hard to remember which girl is which.  The book would have been easier to read if the chapters had alternated with each girl's point of view.

The resolution at the end of the book is too quick and easy.

I enjoyed this book.

In Dark Forces #2, Magic Show, Chris inherits a sorcerer's book of spells from a deceased magician.  Chris begins using the book and quickly gains power.  Unknown to Chris, a spirit is using him to get revenge.  Lucy knows that her boyfriend is in danger, but can she help him?

On page 22, Chris asks Lucy to play a game of Asteroids with her.  Yes!  I played Asteroids probably hundreds of times in the early 1980s.

This is a very good book.

Twilight and Dark Forces Teen Horror Series

I learned about two sets of vintage teen horror series from the 1980s that I had never read: Twilight Where Darkness Begins and Dark Forces.  I seem to recall in junior high seeing other students reading the Dark Forces books, but I never read one.  I have no memory of ever seeing the Twilight books.

I looked up the series and was intrigued to discover that both sets of books are from the early 1980s.  I have a particular affinity for books published during the 1980s.  The reading that caused me to collect series books occurred from the summer of 1979 up through 1991.  I began collecting series books in 1991.  Consider that 10 of those 13 years were the 1980s.  That decade and my love for reading are closely intertwined.

I am familiar with the teen horror genre.  I loved reading Christopher Pike's teen horror books from 1988 into the early 1990s, so I suspected that I might like the Twilight books.  I went to Thriftbooks.com and purchased seven of the Twilight books in late May.  I chose the books that I could get at the minimum price of around $4.00 each so that if I didn't like the books, I could get my money back.

I read two of the Twilight books in late August in order to decide whether to complete the set.  I did not like the first book I read, but the second one was excellent.  Since the author of the first book did not write any of the other titles, I concluded that I would most likely enjoy reading the set.

I spent one Saturday evening building the set of Twilight books.  I find it a fun challenge to try to build a complete set of vintage books all at once by purchasing the books individually from different sellers.  Since I want to read the books and want to get the set assembled quickly, I must find every title immediately.  I greatly enjoy the process of finding and purchasing the books.

Since the Twilight series unfortunately has the same name as the very popular modern teen series about Edward and Bella, a search for "Twilight" cannot be used to find these vintage books.  One must search individually by title and author.  I also used "Twilight Dell" and "Twilight Darkness" in some of the searches to see what would show up.

I was able to find all of the Twilight books in individual listings on eBay, Etsy, Amazon, and AbeBooks.  I was able to get some books very inexpensively while I had to pay higher prices for other titles.  For all titles, I went with the very cheapest copy I could find online.

The Twilight set consists of the following books.

 1. Deadly Sleep, Dale Cowan, 1982
 2. The Power, Betsy Haynes, 1982
 3. The Initiation, Robert Brunn, 1982
 4. Fatal Attraction, Imogen Howe, 1982
 5. Blink of the Mind, Dorothy Brenner Francis, 1982
 6. Voices in the Dark, James Haynes, 1982
 7. Play to Live, Charles Veley, 1982
 8. Blood Red Roses, Sarah Armstrong, 1982
 9. Demon Tree, Colin Daniel, 1983
10. The Avenging Spirit, E. Stevenson, 1983
11. Nightmare Lake, Carl Laymon, 1983
12. The Twisted Room, Janet Patton Smith, 1983
13. Vicious Circle, Imogen Howe, 1983
14. Footprints of the Dead, Jay Callahan, 1983
15. Spirits and Spells, Bruce Coville, 1983
16. Drawing the Dead, Neil R. Selden, 1983
17. Storm Child, Susan Netter, 1983
18. Watery Grave, Joseph Trainor, 1983
19. Dance of Death, Lou Kassem, 1984
20. Family Crypt, Joseph Trainor, 1984
21. Evil on the Bayou, Richie Tankersley Cusick, 1984
22. The Haunted Dollhouse, Susan Blake, 1984
23. The Warning, Amanda Byron, 1985. ISBN
24. Amulet of Doom, Bruce Coville, 1985
25. A Deadly Rhyme, Gloria Gonzalez, 1986
26. Scavenger's Hunt, Arthur Bicknell, 1987

Here are my books.

After I purchased all of the Twilight books that evening, I thought about the Dark Forces series.  The cover art is creepier, and I was less interested in trying them.  I decided to go ahead and build a set anyway.  Late that Saturday night, I found all of the Dark Forces books on the same sites that I used to purchase the Twilight books.

The Dark Forces set consists of the following books.

 1.  The Game, Les Logan, 1983
 2.  Magic Show, Laurie Bridges and Paul Alexander, 1983
 3.  The Doll, Rex Sparger, 1983
 4.  Devil Wind, Laurie Bridges and Paul Alexander, 1983
 5.  The Bargain, Rex Sparger, 1983
 6.  Swamp Witch, Laurie Bridges and Paul Alexander, 1983
 7.  Unnatural Talent, Les Logan, 1983
 8.  The Companion, Scott Siegel, 1983
 9.  Eyes of the Tarot, Bruce Coville, 1983
10.  Beat the Devil, Scott Siegel, 1984
11.  Waiting Spirits, Bruce Coville, 1984
12.  The Ashton Horror, Laurie Bridges, 1984
13.  The Curse, Larry Weinberg, 1984
14.  Blood Sport, R. C. Scott, 1984
15.  The Charming, Jane Polcovar, 1984

Here are my books.

Reviews of individual titles in both series will follow.