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Captured Within Waking Moments
Magic and fantasy, gods and goddess of old, slash their way through our modern world in this short story collection by debut author, Alan Allinger. Selkies and Artemis, Santa and Aphrodite, wind their way through these pages, creating a world we wish could be.
178 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 4, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 29, 2023
This is a chocolate cake of a book: rich, delicious and satisfying, with a longing for more. Yet, this book is complete in and of itself and I can’t imagine that anything could possibly be added to make it more perfect.
Allinger’s collection of short stories are a triumph of magical realism. The author deftly blends mythology and reality to show gods walking the earth and magical creatures interacting with humans. The Olympic pantheon is represented, and so are selkies, dryads, sylphs, and other fae. Even Santa appears, demonstrating the importance of doing good things when there is no other reward than having done them. Themes range from environmental awareness to the power of love, the need for belief and the line between madness and true sight. In between these stories are vignettes of a mother and son, each based on a photograph illustrating the story. These are particularly delightful; mother shows son the magical within the mundane.
These stories are filled with a sense of wonder that never fails throughout the book. I’m a big fan of faerie tale and folklore retellings as well as mythology. I was excited to see that Charles de Lint wrote the Foreword (I’m a fangirl). Each story illustrates the magic that can be found if you look closely, and makes me want to keep looking.
I received a review copy for free and am leaving this honest review voluntarily.
Allinger’s collection of short stories are a triumph of magical realism. The author deftly blends mythology and reality to show gods walking the earth and magical creatures interacting with humans. The Olympic pantheon is represented, and so are selkies, dryads, sylphs, and other fae. Even Santa appears, demonstrating the importance of doing good things when there is no other reward than having done them. Themes range from environmental awareness to the power of love, the need for belief and the line between madness and true sight. In between these stories are vignettes of a mother and son, each based on a photograph illustrating the story. These are particularly delightful; mother shows son the magical within the mundane.
These stories are filled with a sense of wonder that never fails throughout the book. I’m a big fan of faerie tale and folklore retellings as well as mythology. I was excited to see that Charles de Lint wrote the Foreword (I’m a fangirl). Each story illustrates the magic that can be found if you look closely, and makes me want to keep looking.
I received a review copy for free and am leaving this honest review voluntarily.
March 9, 2021
I wanted to love it, but I just didn't. There were a couple of 5 star stories in it, and some interesting concepts related to Gods, but they just didn't fully work for me.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews