"Dark Domain"

The main reason for my interest in this book was because Grabinski is Polish. He has even been referred to as the “Polish Poe” (as in Edgar Allen Poe) on a couple of web sites that I came across. Now I have not read much of Poe’s work (mostly in high school), and don’t have a tendency to read those type of stories he is most famous for. Though I have wanted to. So when I came across this and saw that he writes rather macabre fantastical type stories, what may even be referred to as early horror, I decided to take the plunge. Another intrigue was that of the writers in Polish literature, Grabinski was the one and only writer of this style for a long time (born in 1887 and died in 1936).

I don’t want to keep referring to Poe, being under educated on his work, but Grabinski’s prose is not nearly as poetic. This could be due to the translation. Though from what I have read, Miroslaw Lipinski’s work is highly thought of in terms of translation to English. Mind you, the prose is still very steeped in deep descriptions that give the story so much more.

This is the first collection of Grabinski’s work translated to English. The book contains the following stories:

“Fumes”
“The Motion Demon”
“The Area”
“The Tale of the Gravedigger”
“Szamota’s Mistress”
“The Wandering Train”
“Strabismus”
“Vengeance of the Elements”
“In the Compartment”
“Saturnin Sektor”
“The Glance”

“The Motion Demon” is probably his most famous, being also the title of a short story collection that was published in Grabinski’s lifetime (recently translated to English). Like many of his stories, it takes place on a train.

Of all the stories, I think “Fumes” was the one that grabbed me the most. It was the right combination of strange happenings without straying too far from where it started. The descriptions and the style of the writing at the start really had me geeked, if it was any indication of what was to follow. “Fumes” is about a civil engineer out on a survey when a blinding snowstorm comes upon him and he loses his companions. After walking a long way he finds a two room shack, and two strange people inhabiting it.

Most of the stories endings are a twists, and a couple of them you can see coming. Or at least get the idea of where they are headed. Most are still a very good read in getting to there. That can’t be said for “The Wandering Train” though. It involves an unscheduled train that keeps showing up at stations at odd times throughout the country, sometimes in an impossible circumstances. For me, the story didn’t draw me in and the ending was rather anti-climatic. But that was the only clunker in the bunch.

Other then trains, a common theme seems to be fighting one’s own demons, whether another person, or supposed other person. And with “Vengeance of the Elements” it comes down to the main character, who is the fire chief, battling the as stated elements, though mostly fire.

Again, I haven’t read a lot of Poe, and have yet to crack open the copy of the “Cthulhu Mythos” by H. P. Lovecraft that I have. But fans of these writers and other alike would probably find some entertainment in this collection. I sure enjoyed it.

8/10