Dancing in Valhalla

by John West

13 twisted tales of music, magick, mayhem & murder.
Some torn from headlines in sunny South Africa where, for many, these are part of everyday life.
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Shop for shrunken heads in a village that time forgot.
Witness an ancient ritual passed down from the Aztecs through Jack the Ripper to modern day London.
Savour the sweet taste of revenge in a French restaurant.
Sit in on the Grim Reaper’s disciplinary hearing.
And experience life on the streets in 1980s Hillbrow as two teenagers struggle to survive a violent rollercoaster ride through Johannesburg’s underground club scene.
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Relax and enjoy an assortment of characters nearly as twisted as the endings of these 13 tales of psychological suspense.

180 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 21, 2019

About the author

We've all had those nights where drunken sex with a witch in a blood pentagram under a full moon on the roof of your favourite Johannesburg nightclub summons a hard-drinking demon who changes the fate of the human race forever.
Right?
No?
Just me, then?

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Now I spend my days managing client finances, writing novels and short stories, and growing old disgracefully.

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Enter my decadent twisted world of mystery, music, magick & mayhem at
♠ bit.ly/BurningBookLinks
♠ bit.ly/BurningFace (Book)
♠ bit.ly/BurningWords (WordPress)
♠ bit.ly/BurningBooksInstagram
♠ Twitter.com/BurningBooks1
♠ www.BurningBooksUpdates.Tumblr.com
​​​​​​​​​​​​​​♠ anchor.fm/burning-books-publishing (podcasts)
♠ and keep track of upcoming events at bit.ly/BurningEvents

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Download FREE previews of my books (and some complete short stories) from bit.ly/FreeBurning

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And find other retailers selling them at Books2Read.com/b/BurningRoses

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Check out 25 Gates of Hell - a new horror anthology launched at #1 on Amazon's new release list, containing one of my twisted tales. www.amazon.com/author/burning

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Thanks for visiting my author page. You can contact me at BurningBooksPublishing@gmail.com
Cheers.

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Here are some other Burning Books projects you might enjoy.
♠ bit.ly/BurningBooksPublished ♠​​​
⛥ Shorty's Poems - amazon.com/author/shorty
⛥ Al'iinsania, Shadows of the Street - bit.ly/Aliinsania
⛥ Six Poems - bit.ly/SixPoems
⛥ Got Change? - Books2Read.com/b/JPMyers
⛥ Incranium - Books2Read.com/b/JP

These anthologies contain one or more of my short stories.
⛥ 666 - bit.ly/666shorts
⛥ 25 Gates of Hell - amzn.to/3LxqTai
⛥ Beyond - getbook.at/tgvb_beyond
⛥ Flambé, A Silk Tie Murder, and The Rooibos Baby - bit.ly/FlambeRae
⛥ Fenechty Anthology of Short Stories - bit.ly/Fenechty

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Paperback ISBNs
9780620713276 - Burning Roses
9780620833035 - Valhalla
9780620846110 - Hard Money
9780639824802 - Crying Room
9780620882026 - Sleeping Gods
9780620882033 - Big Day Out
9798465170369 - 666
9798557703208 - 25 Gates of Hell
9798810511625 - Beyond
9781647134532 - Flambé
9798518460041 - Fenechty
9798201701987 - Got Change?
9798201736224 - Incranium
9780620872133 - Shorty's Poems
9780639719955 - Shorty's Prayer
9780620894531 - Al'iinsania

Reviews

[Sian Claven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let me first state, I hate reading short stories most of the time. People try to pack a lot of punch into a few words and they seldom get it right.

Dancing in Valhalla is one of the few exceptions.

The cover attracted me, as a horror author, quite a lot. I like spooky covers and this one intrigued me. It was one of the reasons I agreed to read this book so congrats to the author for choosing a good cover.

I delved into the short stories with little hope that I would enjoy them, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that they surpassed my every expectation. John West knows how to hold a readers attention and imagination while packing a serious punch in each story.

Things I liked were that some of the stories were more open-ended and your imagination could finish it off for you. While others wrapped up nicely, leaving you more than satisfied.

What I didn't like was that the last few stories were so interconnected they could have just as well have been a book on their own if they were fleshed out a little more. I would have preferred a story from each character's point of view rather than continuing the same story.

That being said I highly recommend this to everyone who enjoys quick, interesting reads especially if you're interested in Johannesburg back in the day.

Well done John West.

[Elsa Hoffmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my. He's not joking - very twisted and vengeful and even sad (the teenagers in Johannesburg).

I'm always happy to read South African writers' books. Good to see them anywhere!

The title is very interesting. Valhalla is a suburbish place near Pretoria, South Africa. And heaven to Nordic mythology. And hell, in this book.
My favourite story is Dancing in Valhalla, and it took me back many years with the slang of the 80's. I haven't heard "china" "bra" and "check me" for a very long time!

I found this story of love and drugs and teenagers trying to survive their bad choices incredibly sad and beautiful at the same time.
Please Mr West, write a novella like this?

The devil's disciplinary is quite unique, and I thoroughly enjoyed the revenge of the dessert. Overall a good read if you like twisted with bits of reality and horror thrown in for good measure.

I received a copy of this book from Vibe Reviews and I try to review every book I read.