Tales Told Around A Strange Fire

by Bud Templin

Genres: Horror

264 pages, Paperback

Published August 5, 2025

Reviews

[Rain Hunter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It is properly dark and twisty - in the best genre traditions! I would even say, very Stephen King-y. The characters are deep (although only shortly present) and the writing is spot on. My only grudge is that the stories do not actually arrive to a common denominator the way I expected, that would make this book a smashing five stars! Despite the grudge, I really loved the ending, definitely didn't expect that.

Got this from Booksirens for free, wasn't forced or bribed to leave a review and only reviewed it because it deserves it and was a great fun!

[Susie Helme · Rating 5 out of 5]

Other-worldly tales told around an other-worldly fire
Though these stories are all different and are not connected in terms of plot, the scene keeps returning to the Firefeeders’ Fire, where workers throw cart-loads of ‘stuff’ into an other-worldly fire, and the stories they tell while they work. The ‘chapters’ alternate between a story around the Fire and a story told around the Fire. The final chapter finally tells us how the Fire started.
These stories offer wonderful examples of good writing. A skilful, exciting style, and not same-y; each story is different. Different not only in content but in style as well. Superbly innovative ideas. I was impressed by the Intros of all these stories—the first lines and first paragraphs immediately hook you. Not only is the dialogue excellent, it conveys each character, each narrator brilliantly. I really admired the use of dialect to render the Voice of the old men in ‘Waitin on Satan’.
I loved the metaphors: ‘makes Sodom and Gomorrah look like Sesame Street’, ‘truck horns, like the vanguard of a barbarian horde’, ‘strong and bad as a Tyrannosaurus Rex’, ‘he felt as grand as the Tetons, as lucky as Luciano’.
I have loved ones who are hoarders, and all the references to cart-loads of ‘stuff’ was a bit triggering, not that it put me off the stories.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoy reading short stories and the preview of this book tempted me in. Although I don’t often read horror, the humour and twists became clearer and clearer as the book progressed, and what stood out for me was the quality of the writing and the punch delivered by this collection as a whole.

My favourite tale was the delve in the human psyche in Chapter 10, which gave a very wry take on current politics, and some insightful commentary on the concept of how a mob operates now and throughout history. Without wanting to give any spoilers, the way this story was topped and tailed was epic and really funny. Great example of a twist in the tale.

As a collection of short stories, I felt that it achieved more than the sum of its parts, with the different tales working together to create a distinct narrative with a unifying voice. Amid great dialogue and flow, which was the standout part for me, it also raised some interesting topical issues.

All in all, the book does what good short stories often do: it left me puzzling and thinking long after turning the final page.

[Craig Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bud has written a series of nightmarish tales wrapped within a dystopic near-end-of-the-world interstitial moments.
While I enjoyed the enveloping story, I found many of the short tales incomplete, scenes rather than conventional stories, but they all made my hair stand on end or just disturbed me.
As I said, I enjoyed this collection of tales, and I’d see how Bud tackles a longer story.

[Grayfeather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great series of shorts. Stories short enough to engage the reader without getting too "wordy". Long enough to keep the suspense going. Recommended!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.