This story has a good basic idea, but I felt that the statues would have been scarier if they had been described a little more. You say the first one looked like a combination of an Easter Island statue and Sumerian, which I had trouble picturing in my head, but what about the rest of them?

Also, how did the Serling family really get the statues? They said they just collected them on their travels around the world, but were they telling the truth? Are the Serlings in league with the evil of the statues, or are they just like their keepers? Or are the statues controlling them, forcing them to move from town to town to get more victims, so they don't get turned to stone themselves? Considering how long this story was, it felt odd not to get any hint of their true motives. Also, what happened to the Serlings and their statues in the end?

I liked the twist of irony of Dr. Lentz ending up in the mental hospital, when earlier she was thinking of putting Mr. Drexler in there. But I felt it was kind of a ripoff how easily they just turned Dr. Lentz's hand back to flesh at the hospital. Hospitals are not that experienced in dealing with supernatural-type afflictions. It wouldn't be THAT hard to go through life with one stone hand, and would be a constant reminder of the supernatural death she escaped.

What would have been really cool/scary was if her whole body started turning to stone bit by bit, but they managed to find an ancient spell from the tribe that made the statues just in time to stop it from killing her, and maybe one arm or hand stayed stone. Maybe you could have it that ALL the statues were real people who got turned to stone by the original statue. And maybe they could turn one or some of them back or partly back to flesh, and they could tell about their lost cultures and how they all got tricked into worshiping an evil god who turned them to stone!

Also, I don't get why you have yourself constantly "stepping out of the background" like you're reading from a script. Is this supposed to be something that is actually happening to these people, or are they and you all just characters in a Twilight Zone episode? (I thought the Twilight Zone was copyrighted!) This story would probably work better if you took all these parts out.

Very well done. A lot like the Twilight Zone, which was nice. I love the way you write and your ideas. Keep writing, no matter what happens. I'll keep on reviewing, since the stories you write are better than some of the ones I've read on this site. You and Will are ranked as two of my favorite authors on this site.

Here's my pledge to you, Nicky: each time you take down the review I leave for your story, I will return the following day and post it again. Either gain control of Fictionpress and ban reviews, or be prepared to spend a lot of time taking down reviews that don't praise your collection of misspelled words. Here's my review: this was terrible. Learn to spell first, then learn how to write. Hope that helps!

Great story. I think this would have made an excellent episode of "The Twilight Zone." I really enjoyed this one.

Hey you've actually got characters in this one. Now that's the way to write.

wow. good twist at the end, just like in twilight zone. if only they had just listened to her . . . oh well. the only thing bad about this is the conversation, but otherwise this was a great short story.
Cheers.
r/r me ~~sg

this is getting good. i like the background info on the statue. there's just one thing . . . um the people talking to each other that is kind of unnatural, like comparing rooms to books. but this is good anyway, a good storyline. i like it. well onto the next chapter!
r/r me ~~sg

oh they're going to sleep in the basement? uhoh. you know something's gonna happen down there. all right im going to stop writing the review because the story is suspenseful and why am i still typing? i shoul stop righ
r/r me ~~sg

hey this is great, real good description. i watch the Twilight Zone-it's one of my favorite shows. i like it how it has little spurts of humor here and there like this Don’t be spooked even though that our collection of statues might be inspiration for overheated gothic writers.”
i love that line.
thanks for the reviews. theyre some of the best ive ever gotten. i love stephen king, i read his stuff all the time. im reading IT now. Thanks for comparing me to all those horror writers. i think i might take a look at Lovecraft's stuff.
anyway, on to the next chapter!
r/r me ~~sg

I'm not sure if this classifies as fanfiction or not, but i don't really think that matters...
This was a good story, but i would like to make one suggestion. Your dialogue is unnatural for the characters. Try using some accents, local dialect, and more...conversational sounding dialogue. Everyone just says all they have to say at once. Though, that may not be entirely bad for a Twilight Zone story. Hm...anyways, just maybe think about working on a more natural flow of conversation. This was really good though. Interesting too. A few little typos, but no worries. There were a few tense changes, but other than that, it was fine. Well, I think this is long enough. ADios!
Gata de la Noche

Hmm... Short, but it held up the chapter strong.

Hello Nick-
Excellent chapter my friend.

Hmm-
Very good chapter, Mr, Nick. I liked it. I like this brand new style of writing you have written. I think you got potential to write something more darker, and much more graphic than this using this style of writing.

Hello Nick-
Interesting. Something new from you, but a very good read. Mr. Dexler is a funny character. You have crafted a nice creative story. Something that I will look at, eventually the whole story.