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Spirits Abound: Ghostly Little Tales
In The Hitchhiker...Out of luck and out of battery, Madeleine Cooper is too prideful to go back to campus to call for a ride after she misses the last bus out of town. Determined to walk the full distance back to her current home just south of Seaside, Oregon from Astoria, one thing after another goes wrong and she's forced to try thumbing for a ride on a secluded coastal road. Little does Madeleine know that her savior is more than they appear on this dark and stormy night.
In The Ties That Bind... She's drawn to certain places and certain things, and they never fail to lead her somewhere interesting. It's a long drive through a clear night, and there's something waiting at the end, in the dark, biding it's time. It has a story to tell.
In Deathly Ever After... Three young high school girls live out the last day of their torture and murder over and over again. Lanie starts to realize that they have been caught in this nightmare, and she wonders if there's any way she can break free and save her friends.
In Whispers... After two life-altering tragedies, Katie finds herself alone. She returns to her childhood home to make a new start. But she has some unexpected and mysterious intrusions into her life awaiting her.
In The Ties That Bind... She's drawn to certain places and certain things, and they never fail to lead her somewhere interesting. It's a long drive through a clear night, and there's something waiting at the end, in the dark, biding it's time. It has a story to tell.
In Deathly Ever After... Three young high school girls live out the last day of their torture and murder over and over again. Lanie starts to realize that they have been caught in this nightmare, and she wonders if there's any way she can break free and save her friends.
In Whispers... After two life-altering tragedies, Katie finds herself alone. She returns to her childhood home to make a new start. But she has some unexpected and mysterious intrusions into her life awaiting her.
134 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 31, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
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April 10, 2022An indie anthology worth checking out, especially around Halloween! Drat me and my busy schedule reading this so late.
November 3, 2023
The Hitchhiker - KA Crittenden (2 stars)
Stuck outside town in the pouring rain, a girl hitches a ride back to her house with a mysterious man who may not be all that he seems. This opening story is a bit of a mess; the worldbuilding was muddled and the main character was hard to get a handle on. All I know for sure is that she curses a lot. Reading this feels like reading fanfic for a canon you're not familiar with - maybe other people can read it and understand immediately what's going on, but I couldn't.
The Ties That Bind - Tiffany Piel (4 stars)
Aisa is a wanderer, who returns special objects - and spirits - to the places they want to be. This story is much stronger than the opener, with better pacing and a better developed internal logic. This is very much a slice of life vignette type of read, with a well-shaped universe that hints at more stories to be told. I enjoyed this a lot.
Deathly Ever After - HK Rowe (4 stars)
A young teen with mediumistic dreams sets out to find a serial killer terrorizing her town. This is the most well-developed story of the bunch, and definitely matches the second in terms of strength and polish. I enjoyed the way it was written: gradually we are brought to the realization that the events at the beginning are ethereal, clues being passed along the spiritual plane to someone still living, who can avenge these deaths. The content is dark (sexual violence and murder), the ending is very YA (who needs adults when kids can solve cold case murders?), but this is very well written. I'm happy to see the author offering it as a standalone short.
Whispers... - Roxanne Solangi (2.5 stars)
A grieving young woman moves into her childhood home after her aunt's death and discovers she's pregnant - and that the house seems to be after her unborn baby. This story was a bit cheesy IMO, sort of like if Hallmark tried their hand at a haunted house Halloween movie. It's as if the author couldn't fully commit to the idea of the supernatural elements she was trying out here. The writing is readable, but not especially polished; the ending was telegraphed and quite abrupt.
I'm not sure if this collection would have benefitted from having the strongest stories bookend the weakest, but as is, it was a bit of a disappointing sequence (for me).
Stuck outside town in the pouring rain, a girl hitches a ride back to her house with a mysterious man who may not be all that he seems. This opening story is a bit of a mess; the worldbuilding was muddled and the main character was hard to get a handle on. All I know for sure is that she curses a lot. Reading this feels like reading fanfic for a canon you're not familiar with - maybe other people can read it and understand immediately what's going on, but I couldn't.
The Ties That Bind - Tiffany Piel (4 stars)
Aisa is a wanderer, who returns special objects - and spirits - to the places they want to be. This story is much stronger than the opener, with better pacing and a better developed internal logic. This is very much a slice of life vignette type of read, with a well-shaped universe that hints at more stories to be told. I enjoyed this a lot.
Deathly Ever After - HK Rowe (4 stars)
A young teen with mediumistic dreams sets out to find a serial killer terrorizing her town. This is the most well-developed story of the bunch, and definitely matches the second in terms of strength and polish. I enjoyed the way it was written: gradually we are brought to the realization that the events at the beginning are ethereal, clues being passed along the spiritual plane to someone still living, who can avenge these deaths. The content is dark (sexual violence and murder), the ending is very YA (who needs adults when kids can solve cold case murders?), but this is very well written. I'm happy to see the author offering it as a standalone short.
Whispers... - Roxanne Solangi (2.5 stars)
A grieving young woman moves into her childhood home after her aunt's death and discovers she's pregnant - and that the house seems to be after her unborn baby. This story was a bit cheesy IMO, sort of like if Hallmark tried their hand at a haunted house Halloween movie. It's as if the author couldn't fully commit to the idea of the supernatural elements she was trying out here. The writing is readable, but not especially polished; the ending was telegraphed and quite abrupt.
I'm not sure if this collection would have benefitted from having the strongest stories bookend the weakest, but as is, it was a bit of a disappointing sequence (for me).
January 1, 2020
This is a real page-turning collection of short ghost stories! Perfect for a cloudy day, add your favorite reading blanket and cup of tea.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews