Charnel Harbor

by S.D. Hintz

Jack Jericho had heard them all. Thirteen years in his hometown had soaked up every bloody tale. His favorite was the century-old shipwreck on the pier that killed a crew of pirates. It was said they stalked the woods nightly at high tide dragging rusted anchors. Similar yarns had been woven around the abandoned Skelt house across the street. Legend had it that at midnight on the nineteenth of every month, one could spot Lester “The Skeleton Man” Skelt hanging in the second story window. Little did Jack know, a shipment of demonic possession was about to awaken the very horror stories he had grown up with.

64 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 3, 2009

About the author

S.D. Hintz has published 5 short stories, 1 poem, and a novel this year — Vigilance & Vengeance (novel) by Solstice Publishing (late 2017), Bellows by Dark Alley Press in Ink Stains, Volume 4, Housecall by MacKenzie Publishing in the Two Eyes Open anthology, Temporary in The Misbehaving Dead collection by A Murder of Storytellers, The Devil’s Embrace in the Beautiful Lies, Painful Truths antho by Left Hand Publishers, Collingwood in the Scarlet Leaf Review, and Aspects of a Rose in the Cold Creek Review. He is the former Editor-in-Chief of KHP Publishers and extremely active on social media.

Reviews

[Steve Lowe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got my hands on a copy of CHARNEL HARBOR by S.D. Hintz this week. It’s a 33-page PDF ebook from Lyrical Press, a short, fun, fast, and sufficiently bloody read if you have a couple hours to kill on a weekend, and with a $2.50 price tag, it’s more than worth it.

CHARNEL HARBOR is the story of 13-year old Jack Jericho, a collector of kitsch who lives in a harbor town full of tall tales and ghost stories centered around a dead pirate who comes back for his treasure. A mysterious shipment of charred iron workings sparks a chain of events that will change the town forever. Being such a short story, I won’t reveal any more of the plot, other than to say that if you like ghost stories, pirates and action, this story is perfect for you. CHARNEL HARBOR reads like a Stephen King retelling of Pirates of the Caribbean, with an ingenious foil thrown in for both the humans and their pirate ghost nemeses alike.

My only complaint, if you want to call it that, is the length of the story. It moves almost too fast to a conclusion. The first chapter (12 of the 33 pages – more than a third of the story) hastily introduces us to nine different characters, but we don’t get our first ghost sighting until page 13. The story probably would have benefited from a couple fewer characters, and maybe a little more focus on those that made the cut, but that’s my minor quibble. Once the plot kicks into high gear and an ancient bellows begins to spew devilish life into iron monsters, I was hooked.

CHARNEL HARBOR is a fun, solid, spooky weekend read with an original twist on the classic pirate ghost story - 3.5 out of 5 stars.

[Danielle The Book Huntress · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a full review, check the Bitten by Books website: http://bittenbybooks.com.