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Side Roads: A Dark Fiction Collection
Clockwork fairies, arachnid mothers, the Carnival Ghost...
The stories gathered here take the reader on a winding trip down a darkened road as the battery in your phone slowly dies. The threads of this collection weave a tale of wrong turns in the early morning hours, of faded photographs that don't quite fit one's memory, of dying monarchs and has-been superheroes.
In these pages, you will find the eerie, the grim, and the lost souls that wander the gloom. These stories were born of dark nights and cold drives and the certain knowledge that, as winter sets in and the nights grow longer, there's more out there in the darkness than the shadows let on...
Side Roads is a collection of short fiction from speculative fiction author Rachel A. Brune.
The stories gathered here take the reader on a winding trip down a darkened road as the battery in your phone slowly dies. The threads of this collection weave a tale of wrong turns in the early morning hours, of faded photographs that don't quite fit one's memory, of dying monarchs and has-been superheroes.
In these pages, you will find the eerie, the grim, and the lost souls that wander the gloom. These stories were born of dark nights and cold drives and the certain knowledge that, as winter sets in and the nights grow longer, there's more out there in the darkness than the shadows let on...
Side Roads is a collection of short fiction from speculative fiction author Rachel A. Brune.
147 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 30, 2021
About the author
Rachel A. Brune
33 books101 followersRachel A. Brune graduated from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts in May 2000, and was immediately plunged into the low-stakes world of entry-level executive assistant-ship. Her unexpected journey out of that world and into the military is chronicled in her self-published book Echoes and Premonitions.
Rachel served five years as a combat journalist, including two tours in Iraq, and a brief stint as a columnist for her hometown newspaper. After her second tour, she attended graduate school at the University at Albany in NY, where she earned her MA in Political Communication, and her commission as a second lieutenant in the military police corps.
Although her day job has taken in her in many strange, often twisted directions, Rachel continues to write and publish short fiction. She released her first novel, Soft Target, in early 2013. In addition to writing for the online military interest zine "Task & Purpose," she blogs her thoughts about reading and the writing life at The Infamous Scribbler. You can also follow her on Twitter, where she goes by the handle @rachelabrune.
Rachel served five years as a combat journalist, including two tours in Iraq, and a brief stint as a columnist for her hometown newspaper. After her second tour, she attended graduate school at the University at Albany in NY, where she earned her MA in Political Communication, and her commission as a second lieutenant in the military police corps.
Although her day job has taken in her in many strange, often twisted directions, Rachel continues to write and publish short fiction. She released her first novel, Soft Target, in early 2013. In addition to writing for the online military interest zine "Task & Purpose," she blogs her thoughts about reading and the writing life at The Infamous Scribbler. You can also follow her on Twitter, where she goes by the handle @rachelabrune.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 13, 2021
Review coming soon!
May 25, 2021
I was asked to blurb this, but also wanted to get something out here because I think some of you would really like the collection.
From my blurb:
Looking for dark fantasy and horror that’s beautifully written and full of memorable characters? Check out Rachel Brune’s single author collection, Side Roads, for stories that range across genres and time periods, from horror to post-apocalyptic and beyond. Creepy and absorbing, these stories will stick with you for awhile and make you hungry for more.
There’s a lot to mull over in this collection. My two favorite stories in this collection, “And Out Cone the Wolves” and “The Terrible, Vast Pyre of Chief Machinist Kirlisoveyitch” are post-apocalyptic military sf and alternate history steampunkish horror - very different stories, but plots and characters that jump off the page and make you want something longer. Some of the shorter pieces didn’t work for me but there’s so much variety in this collection, you’re bound to find something that does. Highly recommended!
From my blurb:
Looking for dark fantasy and horror that’s beautifully written and full of memorable characters? Check out Rachel Brune’s single author collection, Side Roads, for stories that range across genres and time periods, from horror to post-apocalyptic and beyond. Creepy and absorbing, these stories will stick with you for awhile and make you hungry for more.
There’s a lot to mull over in this collection. My two favorite stories in this collection, “And Out Cone the Wolves” and “The Terrible, Vast Pyre of Chief Machinist Kirlisoveyitch” are post-apocalyptic military sf and alternate history steampunkish horror - very different stories, but plots and characters that jump off the page and make you want something longer. Some of the shorter pieces didn’t work for me but there’s so much variety in this collection, you’re bound to find something that does. Highly recommended!
April 9, 2024
Fantastic collection with something for everyone who enjoys their fiction on the dark side.
October 16, 2021
This is a great collection that explores a wide gamut of dark fiction. I particularly enjoyed how any story could vary so widely from the next in terms of genre, but they always maintain a subtle underlying theme. In each one, we encounter broken people who are trying to hold things together through some terrible ordeal, while past trauma haunts their every step.
To speak about some of the standouts of the collection, I’ll start with the title story, “Side Roads.” It concerns a duo of monster hunters traveling the back the back-routes of America putting down nests of supernatural entities. I was immediately taken in by the love-hate partner dynamic and delighted when it took off in a wild and unexpected direction.
The unsettling tale, “Readers,” had some serious Farenhieght 451 vibes, and takes us to an unsettling near future where physical books are viewed as archaic detritus, not good for anything but disposal. Curtain to give anyone with a book collection the chills.
In “Terminal Leave,” Brune grounds the story in the here and now with not a trace of the supernatural, but the horror is thick and savage as it deals with grief, PTSD, spousal abuse, and racism. But what elevates it is how the two women characters form a fragile friendship bridging their differences in spite of or perhaps because of their own inner pain.
The final story in the collection takes on a more poignant tone but packs plenty of terror. “And Out Come the Wolves” is a novella-length story (or almost so) and depicts a post-apocalypse civilization collapsing under the weight of its own dogma, leaving a troop of soldiers in need of a more unusual means of survival in the hostile wilderness.
This is only a small selection, but be assured, every story possesses a strong, clear writing style and is as full as compassion as they are dread. Highly recommended.
To speak about some of the standouts of the collection, I’ll start with the title story, “Side Roads.” It concerns a duo of monster hunters traveling the back the back-routes of America putting down nests of supernatural entities. I was immediately taken in by the love-hate partner dynamic and delighted when it took off in a wild and unexpected direction.
The unsettling tale, “Readers,” had some serious Farenhieght 451 vibes, and takes us to an unsettling near future where physical books are viewed as archaic detritus, not good for anything but disposal. Curtain to give anyone with a book collection the chills.
In “Terminal Leave,” Brune grounds the story in the here and now with not a trace of the supernatural, but the horror is thick and savage as it deals with grief, PTSD, spousal abuse, and racism. But what elevates it is how the two women characters form a fragile friendship bridging their differences in spite of or perhaps because of their own inner pain.
The final story in the collection takes on a more poignant tone but packs plenty of terror. “And Out Come the Wolves” is a novella-length story (or almost so) and depicts a post-apocalypse civilization collapsing under the weight of its own dogma, leaving a troop of soldiers in need of a more unusual means of survival in the hostile wilderness.
This is only a small selection, but be assured, every story possesses a strong, clear writing style and is as full as compassion as they are dread. Highly recommended.
July 9, 2021
Leaving The Highway
Rachel Brune is not only a great writer, she’s a helluva storyteller. This collection of short, mostly dark, fiction is a delight. There’s not a bad story in the lot, and there are several among them - “The Terrible, Vast Pyre of Chief Machinist Kirlisoveyitch” and “Out Come the Wolves” - that are as good as stories get. Highly Recommended.
Rachel Brune is not only a great writer, she’s a helluva storyteller. This collection of short, mostly dark, fiction is a delight. There’s not a bad story in the lot, and there are several among them - “The Terrible, Vast Pyre of Chief Machinist Kirlisoveyitch” and “Out Come the Wolves” - that are as good as stories get. Highly Recommended.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews