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Book Review: Shallow Waters: A Flash Fiction Anthology: Special Halloween Edition edited by Joe Mynhardt

cover art for Shallow Waters: A Flash Fiction Anthology: Special Halloween Edition

Shallow Waters: A Flash Fiction Anthology; Special Halloween Edition Book 9 of 10) edited by Joe Mynhardt

Crystal Lake Publishing, 2022

ASIN:: B0BGYXGH4D

Available: Kindle edition ( Amazon.com )

 

Shallow Waters, a monthly flash fiction contest hosted by Crystal Lake Publishing, collects stories with different themes each month. This volume presents 18 pieces of flash fiction centered around Halloween. While I enjoyed all of the stories in this anthology, there are a some that stuck with me long after I finished the book.

 

William Meikle is one of my favorite genre writers, and his “Tumshie” is my top pick in in this book. A drunkard of an abusive father refuses to let his son have a Halloween pumpkin, rather insisting on a tumshie, a carved turnip. When John discovers the secret of the tumshie, he embraces his new tradition.

 

I enjoy stories that aren’t told in a typical format. Letters, newspaper articles, and diaries lend stories a more intimate feel. “West Pennfield Township Newsletter, October 2021” by Tom Coombe presents a, well, newsletter to the township regarding “simple rules” that the townspeople need to follow lest The Judges be awakened. Another story told in a unique format is Francesca Maria’s “How to Create the Perfect Pumpkin.” Carving a fresh pumpkin can be so exciting, but there is something about this list of instructions that doesn’t seem right.

 

In “I Want Candy” by Larry Hinkle, Erik’s addiction to candy leads him to do the unthinkable when his wife and child come home from a successful night of trick-or-treating.

 

Rick Whatley’s “Let the Darkness In” comes from the perspective of two parties. Four Class of 2022 high school seniors set out to kill a witch. Behind closed doors and still in mourning, Edith doesn’t know what is coming.

 

In “The Pumpkin Fetch” by Tom Deady, the Halloween traditional of a pumpkin thieving contest ends in a different kind of harvest.

 

The chaos of a Halloween party where parents and children are in attendance results in an urban legend becoming a reality in “One Parent Survives” by Wil Dalton.

 

I have only read a few flash fiction collections, and I am impressed with how some authors can evoke fear in a reader with few words. Because of the impact this anthology had on me, I will be reading other volumes in Shallow Waters. Recommended

 

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on December 18, 2022 by , Reply

Book Review: Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White

Cover art for Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White

Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White.

Peachtree Teen, 2022

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1682633243

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition ( Bookshop.org | Amazon.com )

 

Hell Followed with Us is an incredible and original book, but it is not an easy read. It is a scream of rage. Make sure to read the author’s content warnings at the beginning of the book.

 

Benji is a trans boy injected with a virus that will turn him into a genocidal monster, a Seraph, for a doomsday cult, the Angels. He tries running away but is captured by the cult’s death squad. A group called the Watch, queer teens inhabiting their destroyed teen center for LGBTQ+ youth, attacks and kills everyone in the death squad except Benji, who is offered refuge by the leader, Nick, an autistic gay boy. Nick knows Benji is the Seraph, but hides it to protect him, believing that his powers will allow him to control the Graces, monstrous creatures made from infected bodies trained by the Angels to attack nonbelievers.

 

The Watch successfully attacks a church with Benji’s help. Benji discovers his fiance, Theo, is hiding in the church, and visits him there, only to find that the visit was used by the Angels as an opportunity to burn down the home of the Watch. As Benji continues to physically disintegrate into the Seraph, he makes a plan with Nick to pretend to return and cooperate with the Angels, despite their murder of his father, transphobia, and religious extremism. While the first plan is botched and Benji turns fully into a Seraph, a second plan unleashes a bloodbath on the Angels and frees the Watch from fear and persecution..

 

Andrew Joseph White wrote this for trans kids facing a hostile world, to give them a mirror of a trans boy who fights back. But it’s not necessary to be trans or queer to be wowed by it.  So many of the major characters were queer that I got to see many different aspects of how they characters experienced their queerness, and it also didn’t become the only factor defining their identities. I loved the found family feeling of the members of the Watch, looking out for each other in a hostile world.

 

It’s difficult to imagine how hard-right evangelical Christianity in this country could get more repressive and violent than it currently is, but somehow White takes it to an even more terrifying extreme. Highly recommended.

 

 

Contains: transphobia, deadnaming, misgendering, graphic violence, domestic, child, and religious abuse, body horror

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

 

Posted on December 18, 2022 by , Reply

Book Review: A Man in Pieces: An American Nightmare by Henry Corrigan

Cover art for A Man in Pieces: An American Nightmare by Henry Corrigan

A Man In Pieces An American Nightmare by Henry Corrigan

Darkstroke Books, 2022

ISBN: 9798848967593

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

 

 

Renowned book reviewer and armchair philosopher Murray Samuelson was famously quoted as saying “that which is interesting in life resides in the domain of mundania.”  In other words, sometimes the basic, everyday stuff can make for a good book, if written well.  That’s exactly what you get with A Man In Pieces..  There is no big action, no big gore, no big excitement… instead, it is a subtle, well–written portrait of what happens when everyday stress finally pushes a person off the edge of sanity.

 

The precise stress on the characters in this story is the‘ big possibility of losing their jobs in a tight job market, when living paycheck to paycheck (one many people can probably relate to)  Mike and Tom are the two main characters, a couple of drones in an office cubicle farm.  They are diametrically opposite in character, competing for the same job, and dislike each other immensely.  The story encompasses just one five-day workweek.  They both find out on Monday about the coming layoffs, but of course WHO is going to get tossed won’t be decided till Friday.  How they deal with the specter of looming unemployment and possible bankruptcy over the week is what makes up the story.

 

Based on the above, the book probably doesn’t sound that interesting…but somehow, it is.  Just chalk it up to good writing.  This is more of a psychological story, focused on  the thoughts and feelings of the characters, rather than their outward actions, and their inner thoughts are of paramount importance in this story.  The pacing is measured and methodical as the deadline approaches for the characters, each of them struggling to keep going, knowing their lives might take a crashing turn for the worse.  One of them tries to hide it away and put on a happy face, while the other becomes rude and antagonistic, but cracks start showing in the frame of their sanity over the week.  That’s the fun part of the book: the slow build, it leaves you anticipating more to come…and it does.  Friday arrives, someone (or both someones) is about to have their life change for the worse, and then…why, you’ll have to read the book to find out, of course!

 

Unusual in its style and plot choice but satisfying nevertheless, A Man In Pieces is a stylish character study that will impress readers looking for something out of the ordinary.  Recommended.

 

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

Posted on December 5, 2022 by , Reply
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