The Shimmering

by H.D. Anyone

Lance Edgerton resents being moved to a ghost town and sets out to disprove the supernatural lore with the intent of ruining the local tourism, but his investigations prove to the contrary when he uncovers a crystal cavern revealing The Shimmering, which enables him to confront the evil altering the old mining town of Jerome.

276 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 2, 2016

About the author

I have been writing since the age of nine and studied literature in college. I have been a waitress, a bartender, a business owner and an insurance claims manager. I have also been an equestrian, sailor, and an almost pilot. If I had unlimited power, I would end animal abuse, stop terrorism, and balance the national budget. My fantasy trilogy (and ten year project), “The Parables of Ancient Earth” is now available. And my wish as an author is to affect lives for the better.

Reviews

[Pat Cummings · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let's start with the author's name. Perhaps his last name really is "Anyone." I'm willing to give the writer the benefit of the doubt, but it's a point of suspicion when selecting a book to read. I nominated this book in Kindle Scout despite that name and the slightly hokey cover illustration, because its short description sounded likely:

Lance Edgerton resents being moved to a ghost town and sets out to disprove the supernatural lore with the intent of ruining the local tourism, but his investigations prove to the contrary when he uncovers a crystal cavern revealing The Shimmering, which enables him to confront the evil altering the old mining town of Jerome.

I thought the story premise was promising, and the first pages of the novel gave me no clues that it would not fulfill that promise. I was especially encouraged by the high-school science teacher's lecture on crystals:

“Some of the locals would have you believe there are healing properties in crystals. I don’t know anything about that. The only mystical property they possess, and of which I am aware, is the power of protection. If you locate an exceptionally large geode, you can strike someone on the head with it for protection.” His yardstick hit the board. “That was a demonstrative whack.”

The book was not selected for publication by Kindle Press, but I bought a copy anyway. Unfortunately, after the first encouraging pages, the story rapidly descends into exactly the kind of woo-woo crystal-power nonsense the chemistry teacher argues against at the beginning.

Although this was disappointing from one perspective (science), the story is nevertheless solid and engrossing. Lance and his friends Manuel and Whisper explore, make discoveries about their environment and the town's history, and become more interesting people. They grow. They fight on the side of good, to the best of their ability to determine it. In that sense, it is a worthwhile YA novel, and I found it enjoyable to read.

I hope that H.D. Anyone finds the courage to come out from under the pseudonym to write again. With growth and practice, the story-telling skills can only improve. Anyone already has a solid base to begin from.