Review: Great variety! Great stories!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 18, 2012
This is my fourth collection from The Eclective also. I enjoyed it a lot."Empty Vessel" by M. Edward McNally is about a ghost ship. It has a lot of the superstitions from the old sailing vessels with which you are familiar if you have read any of the historical novels that had ocean travel or commerce in them. It is one of those stories that love to scare you by sticking in your mind and popping back into your consciousness when you go below deck in any sailing vessel - much as the old gothics do for basement and old piled up attics."The Smell of Death" by Tara West tells us of the paranormal abilities of a young girl. She can see ghosts and feel the energies that children are aware of but that we talk ourselves out of believing in by the time we are adults. However, it is a story that ends well - which is important to me because so many stories leave you on a cliff so that you will buy the next story."Safe" by Emma Jameson is set in 19th century London and is told by a street urchin who has moved up in the ranks to grave robber. It does get graphic but it is an excellent story."Cupcake Goddess: Sinfully Sweet" by Shea McLeod has Halloween, trick-or-treaters, ghosts, the passing of a century, and decisions to be made. It kept my attention and I think it will keep yours also."May I Go Play?" by Heather Marie Adkins - If you have little ones and believe that disembodied spirits can cause real trouble in our world - especially in old houses where there has been tragedy before -then this story will scare the crap out of you. Well done, Heather!"Blehdward, the Vampire Who Couldn't Sparkle" by P.J. Jones - I'm not really 'into' vampire stories (I've read my share) but I can say that it is good a story as most I have read."Franscesca" by Alan Nayes is set in 20th century Brazil. It is about a 'witch doctor' and the young lover who did her wrong. He was a sculptor and a chunk of blue marble figures prominently in the story."Soul Eaters" by R.G. Porter is an excellent story and I was quickly engrossed in it. I do wish I had known up-front that it was just the lead-in to a book. P.G. has excellent powers of description and puts them to use here.Overall, I can definitely recommend this book.