An Excerpt from Insanity By Increments, Stories

Edward could have stayed to chat longer. Instead, he took out his wallet and proceeded to motion Danny over to tip him. Edward handed it to Danny, and Danny smiled as usual, thanking Edward and wishing him a safe trip. Edward walked out the door, seeing his BMW in its usual space. He got in, and turned the key in the ignition, but saw the silhouette of a woman hailing down a cab without much success, preventing him from leaving.

Isabel was flagging a taxi cab down. One by one, they drove past. Isabel saw an empty slow-moving cab approaching. Suddenly, the cab sprinted past, splashing her with standing water from the street. She took a little time gathering herself before looking for another cab, but every single one seemed to be occupied. Edward suddenly felt a wave of compassion come over him. She almost looked like a woman he dated a long time ago ... someone he had loved and lost. It stung to have remembered. During that relationship, love hadn’t been enough.

He called out to Isabel. “I’ll take you home, if it’s ok?” he asked her, his offer stunted by another splashing of the standing water.

She hesitated, but the downpour wasn’t getting any better. He seemed trustworthy enough. She weighed the pros and cons of letting her favorite author take her home in the midst of bad weather. He might have been her favorite author, but he was also a total stranger, a handsome articulate one no less.

It wasn’t a difficult decision to make. ”Sure. That would be wonderful,” she said with a smile.

- Dulcinea, Insanity By Increments, Author: Alaric Cabiling

Excerpt Taken from Insanity By Increments

One October night, Marcela came home late, close to midnight. Saul was asleep in his room. I’d spent the greater part of the day with him, looking after him in the afternoon, cooking supper and feeding him, reading to him before bed. The street lamp sent a hazy light through the curtains, and I watched Marcela undress, ready to slip into her side of the bed, beside me. I waited patiently for her in the darkness.

“Where have you been?”

“Grant, I’m sorry. I thought you were asleep.”

She slid into the sheets quietly, facing the window outside, never once looking at me.

“I had something I needed to take care of,” she said. 

“What was it this time?”

“Just work. Go to sleep, honey.”

She might have expected me to stop there, but I pressed further. She was lost to me then. She had been for a while, seeing the man she'd met on one of her trips to Paris. I had even seen them in my dreams, their naked bodies, their smooth skin, making the kind of love that I had never known from her. She whispered sweet nothings to him and she had meant them, the way she never had with me, and never would.

“I know you’ve been unfaithful,” I told her, looking up at the ceiling, never once at her. She continued to face the window. She has resigned herself to this marriage, I thought to myself, eyes hot with anger and hurt. All she ever had to do was tell me she wanted out.

“Yes, I have been,” she said.

New Review of Insanity By Increments by SPR

Here is another glowing review of Insanity By Increments care of Henry Baum of Self-Publishing Review.  Please click the link below to read the entire review.  I have also attached an excerpt below.  Thank you.

http://www.selfpublishingreview.com/2015/07/insanity-by-increments-by-alaric-cabiling/

"The title is very apt: this collection is a slow burn. It’s not horror in the traditional sense, with jump scares and obvious terror, but it’s harrowing all the same. The stories are recommended for fans of Poe, Hawthorne, Lovecraft and Maupassant, but with a more modern sensibility. To this reviewer, that’s a very potent combination for a work of literary short fiction." - Henry Baum, SPR

An Interview with Author Alaric Cabiling

Recently, blogger and proprietor of Donovan Literary Services, Diane Donovan, spoke with me about Insanity By Increments, my short career as a writer so far, my creative process, and my plans for the future.  Please check it out.  Thank you.

http://donovansliteraryservices.com/a1july1.html

More positive commentary recommending Insanity By Increments

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Full Text: An interesting take on the Gothic form, with some eerie tales, some tales of life on the downside of things and some tales of tragedy, which leave you feeling either down or disturbed, but none of which fail to stir emotions in the reader.
 

My favourites were "The Illusion of Progress", about a single parent father who lives for his young son, "Winter's Eden" about two students going to stay with their uncle and disabled aunt and "Hope Leaves" about a man whose wife is in a coma following an accident, all of which are imbued with heart break and tragedy.
 

On the more macabre side, the strange "Frailty" about a grave-robbing photographer working on a very strange assignment for a necrophiliac was decidedly attention-grabbing.
 

The writing style often belies the setting of the stories - I often felt that they were set in Victorian times due to the language and tone, only to discover they were far more contemporary, which added to the general sense of otherworldness.
 

The tales are subtle and eloquent - if you're looking for shocks and gore, then this isn't the collection for you. However if you want some wonderfully written tales from the darker side of life, then you should definitely investigate this further.

Reviewed by Helen Marquis, Netgalley

Read the latest review of Insanity By Increments

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Full Text: Insanity by Increments is an interesting read. Made up of nine short stories/ novellas, the book resembles snapshots of life or of the human condition. The snapshots are of the darker side of humanity and each story will make you think. Bleak landscapes and bleaker outlooks set the tone of the book.

 

What I liked: While I enjoyed all of the stories in this book, there were two that stood out for me.

 

Frailty was my absolute favorite out of the collection. It's the story of a photographer whose talent lies in photographing the macabre, the grotesque, and he has just been commissioned for something far outside the norm. It is, however, his specialty to document the decay of flesh and bone and his latest job is to photograph the work of a serial killer. As with most of the stories, Frailty is filled with sexual tension but this story is tempered with horror. The narrator tells us, " Frailty is mankind's incurable weakness. All of life is fragile to the core. ... My own frailty works twofold: first, I suffer from a starvation for life, a libido with an insatiable appetite. ... Secondly, I suffer a fascination for the beauty of death. ..."

 

Dulcinea is the story of Edward, a well renowned author who spends his nights drinking in a neighborhood bar. Affluent and handsome, he is bored and disdainful of his own success. One night a beautiful woman comes in a changes everything for him. That is, if she was ever really there at all.

 

What I didn't like: I love reading dark fiction, the darker the better. However, this book was more than dark. It bordered on depressing and at times I had a hard time reading it. That said, this is still a great read and a good collection of stories that will definitely make you think.

Link Text: Insanity by Increments

Link: https://readingfemme.wordpress.com/2015/06/06/insanity-by-increments/

Another glowing review of Insanity By Increments!

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Full Text: I don’t often read short stories as I prefer more character and plot development than short stories can offer. But sometimes a short story collection will catch my eye, like this one did. Who could resist that title?

There are a total of nine short stories in this collection. The whole book was only about 120 pages on my e-reader so each of the stories was quite short. However, this author uses every word to wonderful effect, with no fillers whatsoever. To me, these were more mood pieces rather than stories with a beginning and ending. Things aren’t always spelled out in black or white but rather are hinted at. The author expertly sets up a dark atmosphere for each story, with subtle psychological suspense running through them. I see that the author’s first book “Darkest Day” is a book of poetry and I can certainly see the heart of a poet in this short story collection.

The next time I see a short story book, I won’t be so quick to pass it by as I very much enjoyed reading these short bursts of literary prose. I read the book almost straight through but did have to stop after each story to contemplate it a bit before moving onto the next one. Highly recommended.

Link Text: Marjorie's World of Books

Link: http://marjorie.booklikes.com/post/1177262/dark-excellence