Night, Neon: Tales of Mystery and Suspense is a collection of short fiction by Joyce Carol Oates published in 2021 by The Mysterious Press. The volume comprises eight short stories and a novella, "Night, Neon."
The story "Parole Hearing, California Institution for Women, Chino, CA" won the Pushcart Prize, XLVI: Best of the Small Presses and was included in The Best American Mystery and Suspense, 2021.Oates, 2021 p. 299: Acknowledgments
Stories "Detour" (Harper's Magazine, March 2021) "Curious" (Salmagundi, Spring/Summer 2021) "Miss Golden Dreams 1949" (anthology Collectibles, May 17, 2021) "Wanting" (Narrative Magazine, Winter 2018) "Parole Hearing, California Institution for Women, Chino, CA" (Boulevard, Spring 2020) "Intimacy" (Vice, December 4, 2017) "The Flagellant" (anthology At Home in the Dark, April 30, 2019) "Vaping: A User's Manual" (anthology The Nicotine Chronicles, September 15, 2020) "Night, Neon" (American Short Fiction, Summer 2018)
Reception Reviewer Ben East at The Guardian regards the collection as classically Oatesian in theme and style; in other words "a disquieting snapshot of American life on the verge of individual or ideological collapse."East, 2022: "You tend to know what you're getting with an Oatesian short...and these nine additions to her oeuvre don't disappoint."
Kirkus Reviews regards the stories as less plot-driven and more a collection of horror fantasies presented through "flashbacks, reflections, or complications of their powerful opening tableaux." Indeed, "nightmares is an even more apt term than usual for these stories."
Theme According to Publishers Weekly, "Abuse, madness, confinement, and flight are prominent themes in this strong collection of nine varied, dark, and disquieting stories from Oates."
Footnotes
Sources East, Ben. 2022. "Night, Neon and Other Stories of Suspense by Joyce Carol Oates review – nuanced, not neat, thrillers." The Guardian, March 27, 2022. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/mar/27/night-neon-and-other-stories-of-suspense-by-joyce-carol-oates-review-nuanced-not-neat-thrillers Accessed 2 March 2025. Oates, Joyce Carol. 2021. Night, Neon: Stories of Mystery and Suspense. The Mysterious Press, New York.