Review: Eleven clever tales with surprises
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 22, 2012
I describe Joshua Scribner's writing style in my prior reviews of his books, including "Strange Magic." I see him as a kind of O'Henry for supernatural stories because Scribner, like O'Henry, writes interesting, usually far-out tales, with surprise endings. This volume has eleven tales. Some examples are: In "Sescompandy," a husband and wife buy a property for an unusually cheap price. When they start living at the place, they discover that the septic tank is empty and the toilets are plugged up, and why this is so. In "Spring Lives," we read about an unusual way that a man saves lives. "Of and On" is about a strange box that stops cravings when one presses "off" and restarts the cravings when one presses "on," and how the box is misused. "Draining" tells what happens to a boy who bullies another boy who belongs to a family of witches.