"[Growing Things] brilliantly takes ordinary situations--an author reading, an AP history class, a family vacation--and seamlessly sprinkles in a sense of unease that quickly builds to a sense of pure horror. These are stories that live in the increasing popular space between literary fiction and horror, where speculative terrors and very real universal truths collide." -- Booklist (starred review) "In these 19 stories, Tremblay doesn''t just hold a mirror up to reality, but live-streams it, projecting the whole spectrum of our modern anxieties so vividly it feels as if we''re watching in real time . You can''t help feeling that he is a writer whose reach will continue to grow and grow and grow." -- New York Times Book Review "Tremblay''s unsettling prose, filled with poetic metaphors, sets an ominous tone, and readers will be sucked in from page one." -- Library Journal "It is a terrible thing to read a Paul Tremblay story. Terrible because you know, going in, that it''s probably going to mess you up. That his stories and his words have this way of getting under your skin.
Of crawling inside you like bugs and just . living there. They become indistinguishable from memory. It''s terrible to read these stories, but you do it anyway. They''re fun because they''re dangerous. Because, word by word and title by title, I can feel the damage accruing. The scars." -- NPR "These frighteningly imaginative slices of horror are often far more chilling than their relatively mundane inspirations.
From high fantasy to monsters to (literally) Hellboy, [Growing Things has] something for everyone who digs things that go bump in the night." -- Kirkus Reviews "Paul Tremblay has mastered creepy, interstitial spaces with his own brand of supernatural-adjacent horror. This collection proves again that in any form, at any length, Tremblay is a must-read." -- Chuck Wendig, New York Times bestselling author of Wanderers and Invasive "Those hoping for the perfect balance of terror and psychological insight that makes for the most frightening reading should flock to Growing Things." -- Los Angeles Times "On display is Tremblay''s gift for inventive storytelling techniques, most notably his bold use of metafictional narrative conceits such as invented emails, blog entries, articles, and other detritus of the digital world. A great introduction to Tremblay''s oeuvre." -- Toronto Star "Taken as a whole, the book confirms Tremblay''s atmospheric mastery, his ability to capture a growing sense of Not Right, the moment when dream goes nightmare." -- Boston Globe "A skilled purveyor of the uncanny who always seeks meaning amidst the fear, Paul Tremblay is one of the key writers who have made modern horror exciting again.
" -- Adam Nevill, author of The Ritual "Intensely gripping. Tremblay weaves these dark and often macabre narratives quite deftly, cradling the reader between reality and the implausible." -- TheNerdDaily.com "Paul Tremblay''s writing has a way of sneaking under your skin and messing with your head. Growing Things is a collection of bite-sized, disturbing and brilliantly observed stories . Some will make you question everything you thought you knew about the craft of writing." -- Sarah Lotz, author of The Three and The White Road "A short story collection from a favorite author is just the best possible thing in the world; Growing Things is among the best of them." -- Cemetery Dance Growing Things shows Tremblay is as adept at short fiction as he is at writing novels and proves he''s one of the best, most innovative writers in contemporary horror.
Taken together, it''s easy to see why this masterful book, which Stephen King called one of the "best collections of the 21st century," was a New York Times Notable Book and a winner of the Bram Stoker Award. Tremblay is at the forefront of his generation, taking horror into uncharted territory via unique formats, groundbreaking storytelling, and smart experimentation, and this collection shows he''s still improving. -- Los Angeles Review of Books.