Review: a smorgasbord of myths, fables, parodies and puns
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 10 12, 2011
The New Death and others is an interesting collection of short stories and poems.  As with any collection of stories, I liked some of them, hated a few and others were just OK for me.  Two memorable ones were "How the Isle of Cats Got Its Name" and "Weary Love"James Hutchings has an active imagination. This body of work is a smorgasbord of myths, fables, parodies and puns. There were political and religious views woven into a lot of the work. Some racial and ethnic profiling may upset the unsuspecting reader. In all honesty, a lot of the intended humor missed its mark with me.  I would have liked to have seen an overall theme to this novel. When I purchase a collection of works, it is usually because the stories or poems all share a common theme that interests me. While some of the tales had a good story line, I felt cheated.  They weren't developed enough and felt rushed. I would have preferred  a longer story with more details.  Hutchings's fantasy stories show promise. This collection is available as an eBook .I want to thank author James Hutchings for providing me with a copy of his eBook in exchange for my unbiased review.