Grave Decisions

by John O'Riley

In the urban fantasy short story, Grave Decisions, a young inexperienced witch has car troubles outside of town and is pursued by a powerful supernatural assailant. A bonus short story, Deadly Familiar, features three witches who perform an enchantment to summon a new familiar for their friend but the spell goes awry and results in unforeseen consequences they aren’t prepared to deal with.

77 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 13, 2014

About the author

The author, John O'Riley, is an award winning writer. He is an author of both novels and screenplays in the categories of urban fantasy, comedy, science fiction and young adult.

He is the author of the Grumpy Old Wizards series, the Wizard of Seattle series, and the Winters Family Psi Chronicles series. A full listing of all the series in chronological order with book excerpts and descriptions can be found on the official author website at http://johnoriley.webs.com.

When you sign up to be on the mailing list at http://johnoriley.webs.com/new-book-n..., you will always know when new titles are available and will be kept in the loop when there are special offers. You will also receive a short story free when you sign up.

John's movie feature screenplay, Cursed, is an Honorable Mention Winner for the 2012 Screenplay Festival. His most recent accomplishments include the screenplays Cursed, Project Pandora, Pinky Swear, Incipio, and Bad Sister which have been listed as Quarter Finalists, Semi Finalists, and Top Finalists in the 2012 Screenplay Festival, 2012 Filmmakers International Screenplay Awards, 2012 StoryPros International Awards, 2012 Pulsar Sci Fi Screenplay Contest, and the 2012 Reel Authors International Breakout.

He is the author of the Grumpy Old Wizards series, the Wizards of Seattle series, and the Winters Family Psi Chronicles series. You can visit the author website at http://johnoriley.webs.com to see a complete listing with book descriptions and book excerpts.

You can sign up at http://johnoriley.webs.com/new-book-n... to stay in the loop for special offers and to know when a new book is available. The first time you sign up, you will receive a free short story.

He loves reading fantasy, science fiction, and humorous fiction. Some of his favorite authors include Kim Harrison, Jim Butcher, Kay Hooper (Bishop Files/ psychic detective thrillers), Kat Richardson, J.K. Rowling, Angie Sage, Jayne Krentz, and Janet Evanovich. He currently lives in Lynnwood, Washington which is by Seattle and owns a parakeet named Amy. Amy is by far the most polite bird he's ever had as she always quiets down if he takes a nap or needs rest. However, when she wants a treat, she will squawk at him until he takes her out of the cage and gives her millet seeds.

Reviews

[Carissa Burks · Rating 1 out of 5]

Grave Decisions is a small collection of short stories. The writing is simplistic and easy to read. However, the writing level seems a bit low and the sentences can be a bit bland. The book is probably good for elementary and middle schoolers, most likely boys.

Grave Decisions: Told from the first person perspective, we're thrown into a chase between the narrator and his pursuer. The short story is riddled with due ex machinas to the point it's cliche and a bit of a let down. The ending sentence is supposed to be witty but comes off as something one might find in a beginning fanfiction author's work.

Deadly Familiar: Three teens decide to use magic to summon a familiar. As you can guess, the spell goes horribly wrong. The story isn't a bad idea in and of itself, however the author uses too many descriptor words. What ever happened to said? Not every sentence needs and exclaimed or uttered joyfully. It takes away the flavor, excitement, and importance of those words if you use them every sentence. A few missing commas could have been used to help the story flow better and the dialog could use a bit of sprucing up. No real plot to this story. No real conflict or solution. Just three kids and an invisible bird.

Vorgan: Another trio of friends. This time the trio are out to hunt down witches that summon demons. (And apparently it's ironic that witches perform spells in their own home??)

"A lot of criminals were slobs although they were just people, so many were average and some were obsessively neat." (Kindle Locations 318-319).

The above sentence doesn't make a whole lot of sense and is really unnecessary for the story. A lot of the descriptions tend to take away rather than add to the story. The ending was once again a due ex machina with large leaps made by the characters that is not all that easy to follow as a reader. It was almost as if the writer was rushing to finish the story.

Over all the writing needs work and the stories need to be fleshed out more. Gone with the lackluster descriptors and supposedly witty dialog and hello to fresh endings that aren't pulled out of thin air. Interesting concepts but not all that well executed. Besides that, there's 67% of the book left and that's just a preview for another book. Not worth the money in my opinion.

(*Note I was given this book free through Member Giveaways on LibraryThing in exchange for an honest review. I was also offered another book of his in exchange for the review. Neither have swayed my opinion in the slightest.)

[Sophie David · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought Grave Decisions was an interesting collection of short stories. Each one was well written and showed potential for more. I do like reading about various forms of sorcery and even though the short story format didn’t quite allow for as much depth as I would have liked, I found it enjoyable to read nonetheless.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice collection of 3 short stories. My favorite genre is supernatural based books. And these 3 stories covered magic quite well. My recommendation to the author would be to expand the first story. I think it could be a novel. The characters grabbed me from word one. Read this book if you get a chance.

[Cathy Geha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of three short stories should probably be targeted for a teen audience. The writing is clear, clean and concise. Each story could have had more detail and depth but for a quick read it was fine. I would be interested to know what a teenaged reader might think of the collection.

I received this collection through LibraryThings giveaways in exchange for an honest review.

[Lilfries · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was given a free copy of this book for an honest review. What happens when witches, magic and spells come together? Good things and very unexpected things! These 3 shorts were a fast and fun read.