Review: A Story To Tell Around The Campfire
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 04 20, 2014
This story reads as if it were aimed at the Young Adult market.However, there is a problem if that is the case. There is a high percentage of the vocabulary that would be unfamiliar to the average junior high and young high school students. I taught juniors and seniors and they turned in reports that were written with crayolas.  They would never understand enigmatic, ascended, contemptuous, indefinable, malicious, impetuous,Newel post, malignant, manifested, reverberated, exhalation, or slumberous.  With only one dictionary available I doubt 90%  of the students would understand the content of this story.The age and gender of the first person narrator is never revealed. Teen readers need more description of the characters so they can identify with them. The male character is given some nimrod traits that make him awkward and unlikeable.If I am correct, and the story is aimed at young adults, the author makes a serious mistake in mentioning the use of whiskey by both characters. That is a "NO-NO" in Y/A reading materials.The setting, that is the House, is way over described causing readers to skip over many descriptive details to get back on the action storyline.In my opinion the author will benefit from reading more short stories by well known authors such as O. Henry, and by using THE ULTIMATE THESAURUS by Sam Stone.and the Marg McAlister.BUSY WRITERS TIPS books sold on Amazon. They are great resources to start a writer's library.Finally, as many writers will swear. "Writing is all about re-writing."This book was gifted to me by the author for review.Roger Shepherd