Chilled

by Heather Richardson

A female soldier is haunted by the memory of the refugee she couldn't help. An ex-con's hopes of a normal life are threatened by the secret hidden in the walled-in room. A barmaid serves Irish whiskey to a customer who might just be God.Five stories from Northern Irish writer Heather Richardson, including 'The Walled-In Room', winner of the Brian Moore Short Story Award, and shortlisted for the British Fantasy Society Best Short Story Award.

41 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 4, 2011

Reviews

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author offered this e-book as a freebie through Smashwords, so I decided to give it a try. For the most part I enjoyed it, and it was an entertaining read.

The book is a collection of short stories (or short-shorts in some cases). Some of the stories I really enjoyed. (I liked the title story the best.) Some stories really left me hanging. I felt as if I'd missed the punch line of a good joke. These stories ended much too abruptly in my opinion, leaving many unanswered questions and leaving too much to the imagination.

Now I realize that I'm not as sophisticated a reader as most, but I really felt like some of the stories were unfinished. Perhaps I enjoyed them so much that I just wanted to read more. Regardless, I would still recommend this book just for the opening story alone.

[Keith Currie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this short collection of short stories. I would have liked a few more! The title story was amusing and unsettling, despite suspicion about what the punch line would be. ‘The walled-in room’ was very dark, one to encourage bad dreams and private terrors. All the others are evocative in various ways, generally sad, dark or bleak. If there is a fault with some, it is that after a convincing and intriguing set up, the story does not actually go anywhere. I felt this about one or two. On the whole, however, I did enjoy this collection and would look forward to reading more by the same author.

[Al · Rating 4 out of 5]

Five short stories. All are dark, but in different ways. "Chilled," from which the collection takes its name, is a little out there - something you hope isn't real - not unlike the horror genre. Others, "[BEAT]" (which considers choices not made) and "Liberation," consider the dark side of the world and life that are all too real. A quick read with well done stories that were a nice change of pace from my recent reading fare.

**Originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog. May have received a free review copy. **

[Bobby · Rating 3 out of 5]

My stories need something of a completion and these novellas did not come through for me. I'm not totally opposed to being left hanging but I would at least like to see the rope!! I needed much more information on the"I don't belong here" tale. Could have been a great premise.