What do you think?
Rate this book
Judith's Ashes
Preston Holt may have fallen out of touch with his mother but at least he made the funeral. Before heading back eldest brother Norman insists he should have some of the ashes. Wife Paula makes sure of it.
The good news is they don’t look out of place in his precious home.
The bad news is there does appear to be life after death.
The good news is they don’t look out of place in his precious home.
The bad news is there does appear to be life after death.
37 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 26, 2016
About the author
Jamie C. Pritchard
5 books1 followerJamie C. Pritchard was born in Birkenhead, England, in 1986 and has always had an appreciation for horror since 'Aliens' disturbed him at a tender age. In his opinion, “Horror is the greatest of all genres as it has the ability to trespass.”
He is the author of the anthology 'Dare to Read: 13 Tales of Terror' and is currently writing an epic horror trilogy - 'Legend of Simidae'.
Jimmy’s Fish Tank is the name of his publishing company, website and YouTube channel.
He is the author of the anthology 'Dare to Read: 13 Tales of Terror' and is currently writing an epic horror trilogy - 'Legend of Simidae'.
Jimmy’s Fish Tank is the name of his publishing company, website and YouTube channel.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 13, 2018
When reading a short story, I often feel that it would have been a better story if the author had devoted a few more pages to tell readers more about the characters or background. However, when reading Jamie Pritchard's "Judith's Ashes," I had the opposite reaction. The author came up with a fairly decent idea for a story but waited until halfway through the somewhat bloated (and overly pricey) work before beginning to tell it.
The Judith of “Judith’s Ashes” is the matriarch of a working class British family who has recently died as the story begins. After the funeral, the custody of her ashes falls to one of her younger sons, Preston, who has been rather estranged from the rest of his family for years. Unfortunately, what Preston discovers, to his dismay, is that disposing of his mother’s ashes is not quite as simple as it seems. And, to give more away would risk spoiling a rather creepy finish to the story.
While the finale of “Judith’s Ashes” has the makings of a good horror story, to get there, readers will have to slog through about 20 pages of what is the fictional equivalent of Facebook postings from a rather distant acquaintance who chooses to document every minor event in his life. Author Pritchard goes into considerable detail about the funeral and the wake and Preston’s own rather distant relationship with his adult sons and his future plans with is wife. To his credit, the author is a decent writer, so all this information he provides makes for easy reading. However, it does not make for interesting reading. Instead, I had the feeling I was attending the funeral of someone I didn’t know watching relatives go through the motions.
When the author actually does get around to the meat of his story, it proves to be rather interesting, as horror stories go. But while Pritchard spent too much time on extraneous detail in the first half of the story, he doesn’t devote enough to it here. While there a few “things that go bump in the night” here, I got the feeling that we really needed more to set the right mood. When the story ended, I felt that it had a decent, but rather bare bones plot hook.
Assigning a rating to a story like “Judith’s Ashes” is a bit difficult. The story really needed better editing to cut back the early detail and expand on the later events, and it could have been a good bit better. But the author knows how create a smoothly flowing story with none of the irritating mistakes that often plague self-published or minimally published works. So, I’m giving it 2.5 stars, rounded up to three on the strength of the ending. Like most funerals, the story is worthy of a bit of respect, even if it’s not the smoothest production.
The Judith of “Judith’s Ashes” is the matriarch of a working class British family who has recently died as the story begins. After the funeral, the custody of her ashes falls to one of her younger sons, Preston, who has been rather estranged from the rest of his family for years. Unfortunately, what Preston discovers, to his dismay, is that disposing of his mother’s ashes is not quite as simple as it seems. And, to give more away would risk spoiling a rather creepy finish to the story.
While the finale of “Judith’s Ashes” has the makings of a good horror story, to get there, readers will have to slog through about 20 pages of what is the fictional equivalent of Facebook postings from a rather distant acquaintance who chooses to document every minor event in his life. Author Pritchard goes into considerable detail about the funeral and the wake and Preston’s own rather distant relationship with his adult sons and his future plans with is wife. To his credit, the author is a decent writer, so all this information he provides makes for easy reading. However, it does not make for interesting reading. Instead, I had the feeling I was attending the funeral of someone I didn’t know watching relatives go through the motions.
When the author actually does get around to the meat of his story, it proves to be rather interesting, as horror stories go. But while Pritchard spent too much time on extraneous detail in the first half of the story, he doesn’t devote enough to it here. While there a few “things that go bump in the night” here, I got the feeling that we really needed more to set the right mood. When the story ended, I felt that it had a decent, but rather bare bones plot hook.
Assigning a rating to a story like “Judith’s Ashes” is a bit difficult. The story really needed better editing to cut back the early detail and expand on the later events, and it could have been a good bit better. But the author knows how create a smoothly flowing story with none of the irritating mistakes that often plague self-published or minimally published works. So, I’m giving it 2.5 stars, rounded up to three on the strength of the ending. Like most funerals, the story is worthy of a bit of respect, even if it’s not the smoothest production.
Displaying 1 of 1 review