Never Fear: The Tarot

by Heather Graham, Jeff DePew, Tori Eldridge

13Thirty Books asked twenty-six authors to agree to write stories based on the Tarot, with the cards determining which stories the authors would write.

Over the course of several months we reached out to some of the best genre authors and proposed our idea.

Once we had our authors, we took a tarot deck and a list of all twenty-six names. We would read the author’s name, shuffle the deck, and draw a card.

That tarot card and its traits were all the authors had to go on.

The card was removed, the deck was reshuffled, and the next name was read off.

This anthology contains twenty-six stories based on the twenty-two cards of the Major Arcana and the four cards of the Minor Arcana.

Award-winning and New York Times bestselling authors combine their talents to deal out twenty-six dark tales influenced by the Tarot.

Authored by Heather Graham, Authored by Lori Avocato, Authored by Michael M. Hughes, Authored by Tim Waggoner, Authored by Tara Nina, Authored by C.M.C. Dobbs, Authored by Michael A. Stackpole, Authored by Matthew Costello, Authored by C.L. Wilson, Authored by Tori Eldridge, Authored by Lisa Mannetti, Authored by Patrick Freivald, Authored by Jamie Rush, Authored by Rebecca Paisley, Authored by Edward DeAngelis, Authored by Richard Devin, Authored by Lance Taubold, Authored by Jeff DePew, Authored by Lee Lawless, Authored by Hal Bodner, Authored by Jennifer St. Giles

Genres: Fantasy, Anthologies

498 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2016

About the author

Also published as Heather Graham Pozzessere and Shannon Drake.

New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Heather Graham majored in theater arts at the University of South Florida. After a stint of several years in dinner theater, back-up vocals, and bartending, she stayed home after the birth of her third child and began to write, working on short horror stories and romances. After some trial and error, she sold her first book, WHEN NEXT WE LOVE, in 1982 and since then, she has written over one hundred novels and novellas including category, romantic suspense, historical romance, vampire fiction, time travel, occult, and Christmas holiday fare. She wrote the launch books for the Dell's Ecstasy Supreme line, Silhouette's Shadows, and for Harlequin's mainstream fiction imprint, Mira Books.

Heather was a founding member of the Florida Romance Writers chapter of RWA and, since 1999, has hosted the Romantic Times Vampire Ball, with all revenues going directly to children's charity.

She is pleased to have been published in approximately twenty languages, and to have been honored with awards frorn Waldenbooks. B. Dalton, Georgia Romance Writers, Affaire de Coeur, Romantic Times, and more. She has had books selected for the Doubleday Book Club and the Literary Guild, and has been quoted, interviewed, or featured in such publications as The Nation, Redbook, People, and USA Today and appeared on many newscasts including local television and Entertainment Tonight.

Heather loves travel and anything have to do with the water, and is a certitified scuba diver. Married since high school graduation and the mother of five, her greatest love in life remains her family, but she also believes her career has been an incredible gift, and she is grateful every day to be doing something that she loves so very much for a living.

Reviews

[Naz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review of C.L. Wilson's novella. I love the Tairon Soul series so I really want more of that world. This was just a taste of Shan and Elfeya's story, I really really wish it was longer. We barely even get a glimpse of them and then it's over. We already know the sad progression of their story but I wanted to see more of their happy times.

[La*La · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars.

Ace of Swords by C.L. Wilson

Shannisoran & Elfeya's first meeting. This was as wonderful as I expected, and my only niggle is that there wasn't more.

[Danielle Urban · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never Fear: The Tarot is authored by twenty-six different writers. This amazing collection was fascinating. I surprised at the depth of this anthology book. Each piece was cleverly written in a way that either chilled readers to the bone or kept them in suspense. Intriguing, well-done, and highly entertaining. I enjoyed reading each short story. Another reason, I'm happy with this collection was that I was able to experience a variety of new writers. The only writer I was familiar with was Heather Graham. Then, I learned that I had been missing out by not reading works from the other 25 writers. Overall, I was throughly impressed. Dark and mysterious. I recommend this to readers everywhere.

[MJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I stumbled across this book and was super excited about the idea.

And then I got it. I haven’t finished it, and have had to really struggle thru every story I’ve read. So far they are all horror- which to be fair, I maybe should have gathered from the name and cover in hindsight.

I’m not opposed to horror, but most of it just feels a little gratuitous. Just, how much can I jam in. Again, to be fair, it might just feel that way to me because of how very short (while feeling really long) each of the stories are. There’s no real opportunity to have anything but more gore.

Anyway, be warned, it does seem horror based.

I might try some more stories later, but maybe not.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating for Ace of Swords by C.L. Wilson

Lovely and heartbreaking because I know what happens to Shan and Elfeya. I just wish we could have seen a bit more between them. I loved the last line; it was perfect.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Only read the short story Ace of Swords by C.L. Wilson. (This story focuses on when Shan & Elfeya met for the first time, set WAY before the events in the Tairen Soul series. Lots of action & there's an epic villain for Shan (aka. Lord Death) to fight - I loved it!)

[Dorie · Rating 2 out of 5]

A complete and inclusive collection of stories written by mostly known authors of the horror genre. Each author picked a tarot card and wrote a story influenced by the card. The stories were mostly fairly short and pretty good.

[Bill Borre]

"The Star" by Patrick Freivald - Nia promises Dominic that he can renew his rockstar life if he allows her spirit to inhabit his body but she betrays him by offering Dominic's daughter as a sacrifice to a priest if he can exorcise Dominic out of the body they share.

"The Tower" by Rebecca Paisley - Iva is surprised when she remembers she once wished a tower would fall on the Grandiose and smash him flat. Basque's wolfdog Rewot tore out his throat and Rewot is tower spelled backwards.

"Ace of Wands" by Tori Eldridge - Wayan is told by a healer to seek out the spirits at midnight who transform him into a monkey so that he can steal texts of secret arcane knowledge.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story!

The story that I e joyed the most in this book was "Ace of Wands" by Jane Belmont. It had me on the edge of my seat, hanging on every word. The characters were vibrant and the end was interesting . I hope to read more of Jane Belmont's writing soon!

[Angeloflight · Rating 5 out of 5]

This rating is only for the story:

Ace of Swords by C.L. Wilson

This story was great. It was so good to see how Shan and Elfeya met, I just wish it was longer, that it showed more of the 2 interacting.

[Sophia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Only read C.L. Wilson's short story and Loved it of course, but may try the others since I have all these stories.