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The Tale of the Torso and other stories that should not be told
What would you do for desire … without consequence? Meet the girl of your dreams. No questions. No expectations. No judgment. No guilt. Just one problem. Jonathan M. Vick’s short stories expose the nightmares of human nature and will challenge your own ideals of morality. Is it ever acceptable to lust, to fear, to fall out of love, to run away, to kidnap, to kill? Take a raw, unflinching journey into the horrors beyond mere nightmares. With a lilting, almost lyrical prose, these stories will alter your consciousness, and haunt you for the rest of your life. This collection contains 12 stories that have been called “Haunting”, “Creepy”, “The dark side of human psyche”. The Tale of the Torso was the 1998 Orlando Erotic Writing contest WINNER!
198 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
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About the author
Jonathan M. Vick
16 books11 followersJonathan M. Vick is an award-winning playwright and novelist. His play, “A Bridge To Nowhere Is Just A Pier” won the 2005 Eclectic Company Theatre Hurricane Season award. His short story The Tale of the Torso won the 1998 Orlando Erotic Writing Competition. It is currently included in his book of short stories by the same name. Jonathan currently writes in the Orlando, FL area with his beautiful wife and three kids. He can be contacted at Defymacbeth@aol.com. For more of Jonathan’s books and plays Check out his website: http://jonathanmvick.com
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 15, 2013
I received a copy of this book through a GoodReads First Reads giveaway.
So what we have here is a short story collection of odd tales. Overall they can somewhat be classified as horror but not strictly that genre. The stories deal with all different types of human emotion, such as dealing with the urge to cheat on a significant other and lasting love in a relationship, wrapped in strange and sometimes violent stories.
The title story of the collection, The Tale of The Torso, was excellent. I think it achieved that perfect balance of grotesque imagery and solid story telling. It deals with a virgin who is dealing with never having had sex. He discovers a box with a living female torso in it at a carnival. He instantly becomes attracted to the torso. After murdering the carnie overwatching the torso he steals it. We then follow his descent into madness and obsession with the torso. Again, the story really was excellent.
The problem I had with the entirety of the collection was that none of the stories live up to that first one. The book starts with such a bang but doesn't hit that high of a mark again. That isn't to say the rest of the stories aren't good, they just don't pack the same punch as the first one. Vick is an excellent writer though. Every story in the collection is extremely well written.
I do reccomend this book mainly for the title story. It is worth getting alone for that story.
So what we have here is a short story collection of odd tales. Overall they can somewhat be classified as horror but not strictly that genre. The stories deal with all different types of human emotion, such as dealing with the urge to cheat on a significant other and lasting love in a relationship, wrapped in strange and sometimes violent stories.
The title story of the collection, The Tale of The Torso, was excellent. I think it achieved that perfect balance of grotesque imagery and solid story telling. It deals with a virgin who is dealing with never having had sex. He discovers a box with a living female torso in it at a carnival. He instantly becomes attracted to the torso. After murdering the carnie overwatching the torso he steals it. We then follow his descent into madness and obsession with the torso. Again, the story really was excellent.
The problem I had with the entirety of the collection was that none of the stories live up to that first one. The book starts with such a bang but doesn't hit that high of a mark again. That isn't to say the rest of the stories aren't good, they just don't pack the same punch as the first one. Vick is an excellent writer though. Every story in the collection is extremely well written.
I do reccomend this book mainly for the title story. It is worth getting alone for that story.
June 8, 2015
*I received this book from a Goodreads First Reads giveaway in exchange for an honest review.*
This book was not my cup of tea. The stories contained in this collection are of a gonzo variety that seek simply to shock with vulgarity and offensiveness incorrectly billed as eroticism. The Title story was actually the second worst, the most awful being the pointlessly vulgar poem. That isn't to say that they were all bad. The second half of the book was better written and the tales seemed more thought out. "The truth 'bout Dewitt Mawbry", "Something Like Redemption", and "Tony Fucking Morelli Day" were pretty good, but even they had pointless sexual references that detracted from the feel of the stories.
The editing was also a bit lacking, as there were quite a few typos in my copy. It had no labeling that it was an ARC so I am assuming I received a final draft.
By no means is this a bad book, but it feels more akin to the works of Carlton Mellick III or Bradley Sands. That type of writing has never appealed to me, but feel free to give this book a read and judge for yourself.
This book was not my cup of tea. The stories contained in this collection are of a gonzo variety that seek simply to shock with vulgarity and offensiveness incorrectly billed as eroticism. The Title story was actually the second worst, the most awful being the pointlessly vulgar poem. That isn't to say that they were all bad. The second half of the book was better written and the tales seemed more thought out. "The truth 'bout Dewitt Mawbry", "Something Like Redemption", and "Tony Fucking Morelli Day" were pretty good, but even they had pointless sexual references that detracted from the feel of the stories.
The editing was also a bit lacking, as there were quite a few typos in my copy. It had no labeling that it was an ARC so I am assuming I received a final draft.
By no means is this a bad book, but it feels more akin to the works of Carlton Mellick III or Bradley Sands. That type of writing has never appealed to me, but feel free to give this book a read and judge for yourself.
July 9, 2014
REVIEW TO COME
I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews