DISCUSSION GUIDE FOR DAY OF THE DARK

Short story anthology of eclipse tales, edited by Kaye George

 

This anthology was inspired by the 2017 total solar eclipse in August. The editor, Kaye George, happened to live in the path of totality, in Knoxville TN, and thinks it was one of the most awesome natural phenomena she has ever been through.

 

Did you experience all of part of the 2017 solar eclipse in North America? Have you witnessed one anywhere at any time? What were your impressions? The eclipse was long anticipated and widely publicized. Even then, it was amazing. If you saw this one, or another one, what happened that you didn’t expect?

 

Twenty-four authors were inspired to incorporate crime with the darkness and their stories are collected here.Do you detect a pattern in the order of the stories? (Hint: think of the path the eclipse took.)

 

These stories range widely (wildly?) across genre, time periods, and places, as well as solar and lunar. Did you like the inclusion of the paranormal with the straight mysteries? The historical mixed in with the contemporary? How well do you think this mixture works here?

 

These stories were all written and published BEFORE the eclipse. The publisher rushed to get this out before the August date. What do you think of the cover and the publication?

 

Most of the authors had never been through a total eclipse. Can you imagine the research we all did? We tried to be as thorough and authentic as possible, but we got some things wrong. Did you notice? Now that I’ve told you, can you tell what was portrayed a bit differently than the reality?

 

Were there some types of stories you liked better than others? What was your favorite story? Your least favorite? Can you tell why?