Rock Paper Scissors

by Tamela Miles

Rock Paper Scissors is a compilation of many previously published horror short stories by Tamela Miles, including four new short horror stories: Carin has somewhere to be but she's not leaving before she handles some unfinished business with pop star, Billy Chambers; 10 year-old Vanessa feels unloved and abandoned by everyone, including her beloved grandfather. Unfortunately, her new hobby is nothing less than deadly for those around her;
Zach is the kind of man who loves love and believed that he had found his perfect match in Naomi. What happens when he is pushed to his limits after he suffers a crushing disappointment?; Aldous, a former Marine, lived a fairytale life with his wife until a tragic accident leads him down into the darkest pits of human despair. He discovers that some things can't be forgiven and, if he has to pay the piper, he won't be paying alone.

85 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Tamela Miles is a school psychologist with an Ed.S and PPS credential and a graduate of California State University San Bernardino and California State University Dominguez Hills. She is also a former flight attendant. She grew up in Altadena, California in that tumultuous time known as the 1980s. She now resides with her family in the Inland Empire, CA. She's a horror/paranormal romance writer mainly because it feels so good having her characters do bad things and, later, pondering what makes them so bad and why they can never seem to change their wicked ways.

She enjoys emails from people who like her work. In fact, she loves emails. She can be contacted at tamelamiles@yahoo.com or her Facebook page, Tamela Miles Books. She also welcomes reader reviews and enjoys the feedback from people who love to read as much as she does.

Photo Credit: Nichanh Nicole Photography, Torrance, CA

Reviews

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

*I was given an arc through a group in exchange for an honest review*

I really enjoyed the short stories that Tamela wrote. They were geared more towards witches/warlocks type genre then horror and gore but I was entertained none the less.

Tamela does a great job of pulling you in from the get-go and keeping you interested til the end of each story. She gives just enough insight and her writing keeps you drawn in.

Most of the stories I really enjoyed and there were a few that were just ok. Overall, very good stories and gripping in their own way.

[Yawatta Hosby · Rating 5 out of 5]

***I received a free copy from the Paranormal and Horror Lovers group in exchange for an honest review***

Like any short story collection, some stories I really loved and a couple were okay. Some I predicted the ending by the first paragraph. Some caught me off guard in excitement because I hadn't seen the twists and turns coming.

Breathe

Tierney was married to Rob, who was a rocker. He hid a "Demons, Great and Small" book from her. My favorite line: "She shivered in terror." All I can say is be careful what you wish for. When they were asleep and Tierney could hear a laugh in the darkness that really creeped me out (in a good way)!

One

Ethan and Anya were best friends who also happened to be writers. What if your friend did something unforgettable to you? Would you fight back or just take it? Anya decided to fight back with her Wiccan friends. Since I'm not much of a supernatural genre reader, I couldn't really get into this short story.

Ex-Girlfriend

I was intrigued by the opening sentence "If you pester them enough, everyone has a story to tell." The story was written in Christian's first person point of view. He was dating Virginia. They visited a tarot card reader. Something bad happened linked to that last tarot card. Since I'm not a supernatural genre reader, I couldn't really get into this short story.

A Little Blood Between Friends

Wowza. After reading this short story, I can see why vampire books are so popular. The vampire Ash was sweet and romantic, yet hot and steamy as he fed off of Delilah's blood. It was a nice twist of the classic a girl waits on a guy at the bar...

Thea's Mirror

This story was one of my favorites. Thea was depressed about her lonely life and often visited the bar Dollhouse. Andy, the bartender, was worried about her. She kept dreaming of her dead grandma's rose garden--roses dripped in blood. There's a consequence because Thea touched the mirror. I loved the ending.

Disturbia

This was one of my favorites. Lucky and Daniel were best friends. She was jealous because Daniel was hooking up with rude Casey. Their back and forth in the cafe was cute and engaging. As a reader, I was rooting for Lucky and Daniel to end up together. Then, there's a twist. There's a Baby Doll Killer! I feared for their lives. My favorite line: "Predictability would be her downfall." I loved all the twists. Were these characters real? Who was the killer? The ending was stellar.

Cushion

This cute story was one of my favorites. I love ghost stories. The very first scene was Carin's ghost watching herself die in a car accident, the car caught on fire. I felt bad for her. She realized that humans could still see her, so she decided to teach pop star Billy Chambers a lesson. Their interactions were pretty intense. My favorite lines: 1) "Be a good guy, Billy. The world is already full of dicks." 2) "Don't just be sorry. Be better."

Rock

This was one of my favorites. I'm a huge fan of the psychological thriller genre. Vanessa was just a kid, but boy was she crazy! She killed a cat, then asked a young boy to play with her. This story was creepy (in a good way) and had a great twist at the end!

Paper

Zach and Naomi are supposed to be getting married soon, but Zach was upset with her. He thought she was cheating on him. There's an erotic scene of him fighting his lust for Naomi. All I can say is Zach was crazy. He thought he had to teach anyone a lesson who "betrayed" him.

Scissors

This was one of my favorites. At first, readers feel sorry for the married couple because they lost their daughter. Aldous and Courtney were in the living room being cute, reminiscing about the past. Then came an unexpected shock!!! His actions came out of nowhere, which put me at the edge of my seat for the entire ride. I loved how the story showed a flashback of what happened to their daughter Michelle. It was a very chilly ending! I still have goosebumps just thinking about it.

I RECOMMEND this short story collection to read.

[Monique · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection gets a solid 3 stars.
There were a few editing issues, but not enough to detract from the stories. (Like many readers, I'm not a fan of the 'info dump').

Overall, a nice selection of creepy short stories that makes one wonder about life on the surface...and the darkness that can lurk underneath. It was cool how the author based many of her stories around the mythical town of Caddo, California.
My favorites from the collection were 'One' and 'Thea's Mirror'.
The two 'baddies' that stood out for me were Zach (of 'Paper'), and Vanessa (of 'Rock'). God - I really hated that messed-up little girl...lol

Anyway - I hope to read more of Tamela Miles' work!

[Sarah Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was given this book for a fair and unbiased review.

I loved these short stories, I don't tend to enjoy short stories but these were really good.

I loved the Caddo town based stories, these could have been made into there own full stories, I would have loved to know if these stories ever get expanded!!!

Will look for this authors future work as thoroughly enjoyable to read, highly recommended!!

[Emma Jaye · Rating 3 out of 5]

A series of competently crafted short stories, more in the theme of mildly creepy demon/witch stories than any genuine horror or romance. Characters and situations are well described, but none of them particularly grabbed me.