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His Cat and Other Strange Tales
A bounty of short stories featuring macabre or chilling content. A widow is terrorised by her dead husband's cat. An invasive plant eerily mimics the ex-gardener's fate. A stand-up comedian gets more than he wished for...Excellent for reading with the lights on and in front of a roaring fire.
- GenresHorror
166 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 18, 2019
3 people are currently reading
449 people want to read
About the author
David Pollard
3 books14 followersReleased from paid employment over ten years ago by 'retirement' David got involved with his life time passion for all aspects of the theatre.
'I just love an audience!'
Acting, directing and an immersion in theatre technology led naturally to writing for the stage - several plays and a couple of awards later a play just turned into a novel as he was writing it - that's how 'The Alienation of Ludovic Weiss' came to be written.
David is also a fan of short stories - especially the work of M R James, E F Benson and Algernon Blackwood. All of which led him to produce the stories which are collected in his second publication 'His Cat and Other Strange Tales'.
David remarks 'It seems I have a natural bent for writing the macabre.'
David now describes himself as a Teller of Tales in the vein of Robert Louis Stevenson - hence his website address Thetusitala.co.uk - from the Samoan word for Teller of Tales.
His plays are published by LazyBee Scripts.
David lives in Hereford.
'I just love an audience!'
Acting, directing and an immersion in theatre technology led naturally to writing for the stage - several plays and a couple of awards later a play just turned into a novel as he was writing it - that's how 'The Alienation of Ludovic Weiss' came to be written.
David is also a fan of short stories - especially the work of M R James, E F Benson and Algernon Blackwood. All of which led him to produce the stories which are collected in his second publication 'His Cat and Other Strange Tales'.
David remarks 'It seems I have a natural bent for writing the macabre.'
David now describes himself as a Teller of Tales in the vein of Robert Louis Stevenson - hence his website address Thetusitala.co.uk - from the Samoan word for Teller of Tales.
His plays are published by LazyBee Scripts.
David lives in Hereford.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 21, 2020
I purchased this book in February before all the craziness in the world began, and I'm so glad I did. I'm going to shout this to everyone who enjoyed watching "The Twilight Zone," or reading Lovecraft. You will genuinely enjoy this collection of short stories. I most enjoyed all the twists and turns along with the unexpected humor David Pollard laced throughout his stories.
When asked, which was my favorite, it was hard to choose as each tale was well written and pulled me in, holding my attention from beginning to end. However, I think my favorite would be "Stanley's Tiger," followed by "His Cat." This will be a book I read often.
When asked, which was my favorite, it was hard to choose as each tale was well written and pulled me in, holding my attention from beginning to end. However, I think my favorite would be "Stanley's Tiger," followed by "His Cat." This will be a book I read often.
August 7, 2020
**2.5 stars, rounding to 3**
I won His Cat and Other Strange Tales in a Goodreads giveaway and figured I’d actually write out a review for once.
With every collection of short stories, there are going to be a mix of ones that really hit the mark and ones that fall short. While there were some memorable and engaging tales in this collection, a lot tended to the latter for me.
Beginning with the positive, I really enjoyed “Stanley’s Tiger”, “The Pit”, and “The Candidate”. Each of these were unique stories that caught me off guard with their humor and absurdity (in the case of “Stanley’s Tiger”) and with their heart and twists. For most of the other stories, however, it was pretty apparent how they were going to play out after the first couple paragraphs. This didn’t stop them from offering entertainment, but they weren’t particularly memorable. The biggest issue I had with this collection wasn’t the stories themselves, though, but the writing. There were a lot of passages that were so awkward to read that I would get pulled out of the story because of the choppy cadence or repetitive word choices.
The following is an example from “In Her Image”:
“The boys had been good to him when he retired. His sons, his son the lawyer, his son the accountant. They’d made him chairman of the board. They’d let him come into the shops when he felt like it. He’d never interfered. It was their world now. His boys had plans. They’d take it forward. They’d build on what he’d established. He stopped dropping in on the shops. He hadn’t been by for, what, six months maybe.”
This is fine if used once in a while, but this style of writing is used through much of the book, and it just makes the reading seem tedious to me.
Overall, though, I liked His Cat and Other Strange Tales well enough, and there are some tales in here I really enjoyed and will come back to reread again.
I won His Cat and Other Strange Tales in a Goodreads giveaway and figured I’d actually write out a review for once.
With every collection of short stories, there are going to be a mix of ones that really hit the mark and ones that fall short. While there were some memorable and engaging tales in this collection, a lot tended to the latter for me.
Beginning with the positive, I really enjoyed “Stanley’s Tiger”, “The Pit”, and “The Candidate”. Each of these were unique stories that caught me off guard with their humor and absurdity (in the case of “Stanley’s Tiger”) and with their heart and twists. For most of the other stories, however, it was pretty apparent how they were going to play out after the first couple paragraphs. This didn’t stop them from offering entertainment, but they weren’t particularly memorable. The biggest issue I had with this collection wasn’t the stories themselves, though, but the writing. There were a lot of passages that were so awkward to read that I would get pulled out of the story because of the choppy cadence or repetitive word choices.
The following is an example from “In Her Image”:
“The boys had been good to him when he retired. His sons, his son the lawyer, his son the accountant. They’d made him chairman of the board. They’d let him come into the shops when he felt like it. He’d never interfered. It was their world now. His boys had plans. They’d take it forward. They’d build on what he’d established. He stopped dropping in on the shops. He hadn’t been by for, what, six months maybe.”
This is fine if used once in a while, but this style of writing is used through much of the book, and it just makes the reading seem tedious to me.
Overall, though, I liked His Cat and Other Strange Tales well enough, and there are some tales in here I really enjoyed and will come back to reread again.
August 24, 2020
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway.
This book is well-titled...the stories were definitely strange. Odd, even. More than a bit perplexing in some places . As mentioned in other reviews, some of the stories hit better than others; probably a preference thing. There were a couple that just felt unfinished, but I suspect that was intentional. Being a short story collection, these are more about getting a glimpse into different worlds rather than taking a full-on trip there. So go in knowing that not everything ties up neatly here; you will walk away still wondering in a number of cases.
Overall, not a bad read. "At The Crossroads" and "The Candidate" were particularly intriguing for me . While "His Cat" left me frustrated . If you're a fan of strange, sometimes unpleasant and often unexplained things happening to otherwise ordinary people, this is probably in your wheelhouse. If you're looking for something along the lines of Alvin Schwartz's Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark this probably won't hit the spot. Those were largely a cross of urban legends and morality tales designed to be easily read and understood for sharing with children...that you for some reason wanted to give nightmares to, lol. The language and style of writing here were definitely designed for a more adult understanding.
This book is well-titled...the stories were definitely strange. Odd, even. More than a bit perplexing in some places . As mentioned in other reviews, some of the stories hit better than others; probably a preference thing. There were a couple that just felt unfinished, but I suspect that was intentional. Being a short story collection, these are more about getting a glimpse into different worlds rather than taking a full-on trip there. So go in knowing that not everything ties up neatly here; you will walk away still wondering in a number of cases.
Overall, not a bad read. "At The Crossroads" and "The Candidate" were particularly intriguing for me . While "His Cat" left me frustrated . If you're a fan of strange, sometimes unpleasant and often unexplained things happening to otherwise ordinary people, this is probably in your wheelhouse. If you're looking for something along the lines of Alvin Schwartz's Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark this probably won't hit the spot. Those were largely a cross of urban legends and morality tales designed to be easily read and understood for sharing with children...that you for some reason wanted to give nightmares to, lol. The language and style of writing here were definitely designed for a more adult understanding.
August 22, 2020
"Then, softly at first, it began. The sound of sharp feline claws scratching at the door, scratch, scratch, scratch."
I can't say I found this collection particularly enjoyable to read.
The Candidate is, I think, the most original story of the bunch and the plot twist was satisfying.
An Ugly Plant was predictable but I enjoyed the way it was written.
Other than these stories, nothing very surprising comes from the others, and they are so very short that the twist is barely (obviously) set up in a few paragraphs and then resolved on the next page. I don't mind when a story's twist doesn't necessarily have a big pay off when the story is enjoyable and well written, but in these stories' cases, it felt like the twist was all they had to offer.
Also, I felt like I had read better versions of some of them. A Trick of The Light is directly inspired by Algernon Blackwood's The Man Whom The Trees Loved, and in some instances the inspiration is so flagrant that I'm not even sure it can be called mere inspiration, His Cat is reminiscent of Edgar Allan Poe's The Black Cat and The Fellow of St Agnes by referencing the Old Gods invites comparison with H.P. Lovecraft's works. These influences seemed too obvious to me and the short stories in this collection are not of the same caliber, so the parallels they draw are unfavorable to them.
I can't say I found this collection particularly enjoyable to read.
The Candidate is, I think, the most original story of the bunch and the plot twist was satisfying.
An Ugly Plant was predictable but I enjoyed the way it was written.
Other than these stories, nothing very surprising comes from the others, and they are so very short that the twist is barely (obviously) set up in a few paragraphs and then resolved on the next page. I don't mind when a story's twist doesn't necessarily have a big pay off when the story is enjoyable and well written, but in these stories' cases, it felt like the twist was all they had to offer.
Also, I felt like I had read better versions of some of them. A Trick of The Light is directly inspired by Algernon Blackwood's The Man Whom The Trees Loved, and in some instances the inspiration is so flagrant that I'm not even sure it can be called mere inspiration, His Cat is reminiscent of Edgar Allan Poe's The Black Cat and The Fellow of St Agnes by referencing the Old Gods invites comparison with H.P. Lovecraft's works. These influences seemed too obvious to me and the short stories in this collection are not of the same caliber, so the parallels they draw are unfavorable to them.
July 6, 2020
Ok, I loved this book!!! So many amazing tales!! They were entertaining, intriguing, thought provoking, but all in a great way!! Loved all the twists in such short tales! If you love the strange and unusual you will love all the tales in this book! I highly recommend this book to any and all!!
July 11, 2020
Fun collection of stories. There is a variety of styles which makes the overall collection more entertaining. One tale even reminded me of an eerie Lovecraft adventure with ancient gods and an abandoned church.
September 18, 2022
I won this e-book in a goodreads giveaway
October 22, 2022
A great set of stories. My favorite is the first story "His Cat".
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews