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The Patient in Hospital Zero
TALES FROM BETWEEN WORLDS
Tales that explore the dark side of humanity and the shadows between worlds
A deadly virus leaves a hospital patient cut off from the outside world, as increasingly strange happenings make her question her sanity.
An unlikely good luck charm comes with sinister strings attached, while a wealthy socialite discovers that the biggest danger lies closer than the preternatural creatures laying siege to the city.
A young woman’s propensity for lying spirals out of control, leading to a tragic twist of fate, while recurring night terrors reveal a terrifying experiment taking place in a small town.
Award-winning journalist Ramona Depares digs deep into the darkness of the human psyche in this collection of chilling stories that manifest the dichotomies of human nature, with lust, greed and obsession variously driving each protagonist.
The stories unfold within alternative realms that feature urban magic, psychological horror, dystopian societies, sci-fi elements, and even a post-pandemic parallel Malta. The result is a genre-bending collection that will intrigue readers who appreciate a sense of the uncanny.
Tales that explore the dark side of humanity and the shadows between worlds
A deadly virus leaves a hospital patient cut off from the outside world, as increasingly strange happenings make her question her sanity.
An unlikely good luck charm comes with sinister strings attached, while a wealthy socialite discovers that the biggest danger lies closer than the preternatural creatures laying siege to the city.
A young woman’s propensity for lying spirals out of control, leading to a tragic twist of fate, while recurring night terrors reveal a terrifying experiment taking place in a small town.
Award-winning journalist Ramona Depares digs deep into the darkness of the human psyche in this collection of chilling stories that manifest the dichotomies of human nature, with lust, greed and obsession variously driving each protagonist.
The stories unfold within alternative realms that feature urban magic, psychological horror, dystopian societies, sci-fi elements, and even a post-pandemic parallel Malta. The result is a genre-bending collection that will intrigue readers who appreciate a sense of the uncanny.
- GenresShort Stories
240 pages, Paperback
Published July 24, 2021
2 people are currently reading
27 people want to read
About the author
Ramona Depares
3 books31 followersRamona Depares is an author & journalist based in Malta. She has edited several local publications and magazines, including the lifestyle magazine Sunday Circle and the cultural quarterly Encore.
She joined The Times of Malta as a legal reporter soon after graduating in law. She was eventually appointed features editor, culture editor and - later - news editor at The Times of Malta.
Today she runs a website that specialises in culture related features and reviews - https://www.ramonadepares.com. She also runs an SEO content-writing project at https://contentculture.mt while working on new creative writing projects.
She joined The Times of Malta as a legal reporter soon after graduating in law. She was eventually appointed features editor, culture editor and - later - news editor at The Times of Malta.
Today she runs a website that specialises in culture related features and reviews - https://www.ramonadepares.com. She also runs an SEO content-writing project at https://contentculture.mt while working on new creative writing projects.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 30, 2021
Dawn l-istejjer intrigawni. Ibda biex, it-titlu huwa wieħed li jintrigak, le? Lili hekk għamilli. U mbagħad bdejt naqra u naqra u sibtni bil-ktieb f'idi li ma jistax jingħalaq. Forsi effett tal-kumbinazzjonijiet strambi li hemm fih? Jew forsi Carla kantatli xi ħaġa u l-ktieb ma stajtx nagħlqu? Ħeqq kollox jista' jiġri f'dawn iż-żminijiet strambi li qed ngħixu fihom.
Dawn huma stejjer li ħadd gost ħafna naqra. Fakkruni fil-kotba ta' Chuck Palahniuk, speċjalment l-aħħar storja. Palahniuk għandu rumanz li jismu Lullaby li fih imutu t-trabi jekk taqralhom jew tkantalhom ċerti taħniniet. U apparti hekk, ċertu koinċidenzi u stramberiji fakkruni f'Dahl. Dawn ta' Ramona Depares kien jonqoshom ftit iktar maġija fil-kitba nnifisha, forsi ftit iktar editjar, kemm kemm iktar irfinezza fl-għażla tal-kelma. Imma mill-bqija nista' ngħid li din hija ġabra tassew sabiħa u ta' min jaqraha. B'mod partikolari l-istorja li għaliha msemmi dal-ktieb, bikkietni u kkommovietni. Nixtieq iktar bħalha. U iva, ġa bdejt nistenna l-ġabra l-ġdida ta' Ramona Depares.
Inħeġġiġkom taqrawh jekk jogħġbukom l-affarijiet ftit strambi, ftit misterjużi, ftit tal-biża', ftit ta' barra minn hawn.
Dawn huma stejjer li ħadd gost ħafna naqra. Fakkruni fil-kotba ta' Chuck Palahniuk, speċjalment l-aħħar storja. Palahniuk għandu rumanz li jismu Lullaby li fih imutu t-trabi jekk taqralhom jew tkantalhom ċerti taħniniet. U apparti hekk, ċertu koinċidenzi u stramberiji fakkruni f'Dahl. Dawn ta' Ramona Depares kien jonqoshom ftit iktar maġija fil-kitba nnifisha, forsi ftit iktar editjar, kemm kemm iktar irfinezza fl-għażla tal-kelma. Imma mill-bqija nista' ngħid li din hija ġabra tassew sabiħa u ta' min jaqraha. B'mod partikolari l-istorja li għaliha msemmi dal-ktieb, bikkietni u kkommovietni. Nixtieq iktar bħalha. U iva, ġa bdejt nistenna l-ġabra l-ġdida ta' Ramona Depares.
Inħeġġiġkom taqrawh jekk jogħġbukom l-affarijiet ftit strambi, ftit misterjużi, ftit tal-biża', ftit ta' barra minn hawn.
August 23, 2021
A thoroughly enjoyable read if the darker side of human nature is your thing, which it is in my case. A few of these stories could even be developed further into full length novels. The book itself is professionally published, with an attractive front cover depicting a scene from one of the stories in the book (which had me smiling and turning the pages until my smiles were interrupted 😉) I also particularly liked the story which lends its title to the whole book - that sure packed a punch at the end showing sleight of pen-hand by Ramona Depares.
October 11, 2021
In her foreword to this debut short story collection, Ramona Depares lays out clearly her influences and processes behind these nine stories, which is a love for alternative realities mixed with the grotesqueness of Roald Dahl and the surrealism of Neil Gaiman and flawed characters. Thankfully this is exactly what we readers get.
Within The Patient in Hospital Zero there are stories about a woman who falls upon good luck every time a certain person crashes into her car, a girl who has a strange talent with music, a flipped vision of COVID-19 Malta and a person who hears voices from an odd source. Elsewhere there are robots, nightmares and … rooms with flowers (don’t ask, you’ll find out when you read the story)
There’s a lot of good stuff here ; The stories are well constructed , the characters are good and the twists are the kind that make one reflect. I also did like the world building on the more dystopic leaning pieces. As someone who has a hard time with short stories, I was pleased to like all of them, something that , for me, is rare. Having been brought up on Roald Dahl, I do appreciate stories with unconventional endings or strange set ups, Ramona Depares’ does manage this.
I do have a major complaint though and it lies within the writing. Way too many cliched expressions litter the text and it did ruin my enjoyment of the actual stories. In fact I did wish that the writing style was more in the vein of the foreword as I did feel that was Ramona Depares’ actual voice. To use a cliche – it’s a bugbear.
As a debut work of fiction, though this is solid and Ramona Depares’ imagination can break boundaries. I’ll be eagerly waiting for what will be forthcoming.
Within The Patient in Hospital Zero there are stories about a woman who falls upon good luck every time a certain person crashes into her car, a girl who has a strange talent with music, a flipped vision of COVID-19 Malta and a person who hears voices from an odd source. Elsewhere there are robots, nightmares and … rooms with flowers (don’t ask, you’ll find out when you read the story)
There’s a lot of good stuff here ; The stories are well constructed , the characters are good and the twists are the kind that make one reflect. I also did like the world building on the more dystopic leaning pieces. As someone who has a hard time with short stories, I was pleased to like all of them, something that , for me, is rare. Having been brought up on Roald Dahl, I do appreciate stories with unconventional endings or strange set ups, Ramona Depares’ does manage this.
I do have a major complaint though and it lies within the writing. Way too many cliched expressions litter the text and it did ruin my enjoyment of the actual stories. In fact I did wish that the writing style was more in the vein of the foreword as I did feel that was Ramona Depares’ actual voice. To use a cliche – it’s a bugbear.
As a debut work of fiction, though this is solid and Ramona Depares’ imagination can break boundaries. I’ll be eagerly waiting for what will be forthcoming.
August 20, 2021
What I truly enjoyed about Ramona Depares' black mirror-esque short stories is how she created a different voice for each protagonist. I appreciated her economy with words to create stories that leave you thinking (or rather, overthinking) about other near-realities. I didn't feel like I knew how any of the stories would finish. I kind of want to ask where she got her ideas from, but I'd rather not know. Recommended.
September 5, 2021
3 stories intrigued me. Others I simply could not finish!
April 24, 2022
I'd like to start off by thanking merlin publishers for sending me a copy of this and Amazing Maltese Women to read and review as part of an instagram promotion experiment. Unfortunately, this one, as opposed to the latter copy, didn't much resonate with me and I found myself hating on it for various reasons. I've read a lot of short stories and essays. Very few came as close to making me cringe as much as these did. I could physically feel my soul shrivelling with every piece as silly or stupid phrases dared cease brain cells to multiply. At least, some laughs consequently ensued.
Perhaps one of the most pretentious books I've read this year so far. Phrases such as boringly predictable and to finish my morning toilet somehow made it in. There's plenty to complain regarding syntax, grammar, various typos and even the stories themselves which are void of consistency, have very little conflict, if any at all, in either case underwhelming, and also reads as though Depares was directly translating her thoughts from Maltese to English. There isn't much I'd call creative in this anthology to be honest and most seem to share the same concept. Taking into account the fact that most of these are set in Malta makes the aspects I didn't enjoy even more hilarious. Would have loved for a few of these to be explored better. They are tales any intermediate student could come up with through less than a handful of prompts. The readers aren't meant to bond with the characters, they are malicious and manipulative, however, they still aren't written well... Below, I will rate, summarise, and review each tale individually.
Her good luck charm, 2 stars, a girl takes advantage of a man who is susceptible to being involved with her in traffic accidents and then manifests when her next meeting with him would be, planning how she'd use this to better her life, ultimately leading to tragedy.
The Patient in Hospital Zero, 1 star, no resolution, didn't much appreciate the open ending. There wasn't much to dwell on. People too don't behave in such a manner regardless of the situation. Pathetic at best.
The Girl, 2 stars, can't remember a thing. Was there an author stalking a victim of domestic violence? Was the irony the highlight of this tale?
The Marauders, 2 stars, what even was the point? Your relative was a caring and charitable individual, plotting to kill her as opposed to eliminating the main issue, the marauders, was futile.
A smidgeon of confidence, 2 stars, brilliant, she has a voice in her head. What a coincidence that I do too. This one truly hit hard. I am grateful that talents such as premonition, intuition and glorified self esteem, which cropped up out of nowhere, vanished the second the protagonist thought she'd become special or some form of entity.
The Hit, 3 stars, the sci fi element was fun yet not delved into rendering the story to be rather dull. Not much happened regardless, or perhaps too much in a very short span of pages :(
Experiments with trauma in Maldavia, 2 stars, the plot twist was very poorly executed and the story itself held no real or further potential which hadn't already been explored in previous tales such as a smidgeon of confidence.
The Lie, 1 star, not a clue of how this was even published to begin with. Nothing, literally nothing happened, except for a woman who decided to sleep on a pillow balanced on a man's head and suffocated him.
The music in her head, 1 star, became too repetitive, the protagonist messes with the psyche of others using lyrics which she hums in her head. Apart from the fact that this idea was also evident in a smidgeon of confidence and experiments with trauma in Maldavia, despite its evident potential, it never really took off.
If you're here from insta, leave a like and a comment. If not, follow me there, https://www.instagram.com/thepoetryco... thank you :)
Perhaps one of the most pretentious books I've read this year so far. Phrases such as boringly predictable and to finish my morning toilet somehow made it in. There's plenty to complain regarding syntax, grammar, various typos and even the stories themselves which are void of consistency, have very little conflict, if any at all, in either case underwhelming, and also reads as though Depares was directly translating her thoughts from Maltese to English. There isn't much I'd call creative in this anthology to be honest and most seem to share the same concept. Taking into account the fact that most of these are set in Malta makes the aspects I didn't enjoy even more hilarious. Would have loved for a few of these to be explored better. They are tales any intermediate student could come up with through less than a handful of prompts. The readers aren't meant to bond with the characters, they are malicious and manipulative, however, they still aren't written well... Below, I will rate, summarise, and review each tale individually.
Her good luck charm, 2 stars, a girl takes advantage of a man who is susceptible to being involved with her in traffic accidents and then manifests when her next meeting with him would be, planning how she'd use this to better her life, ultimately leading to tragedy.
The Patient in Hospital Zero, 1 star, no resolution, didn't much appreciate the open ending. There wasn't much to dwell on. People too don't behave in such a manner regardless of the situation. Pathetic at best.
The Girl, 2 stars, can't remember a thing. Was there an author stalking a victim of domestic violence? Was the irony the highlight of this tale?
The Marauders, 2 stars, what even was the point? Your relative was a caring and charitable individual, plotting to kill her as opposed to eliminating the main issue, the marauders, was futile.
A smidgeon of confidence, 2 stars, brilliant, she has a voice in her head. What a coincidence that I do too. This one truly hit hard. I am grateful that talents such as premonition, intuition and glorified self esteem, which cropped up out of nowhere, vanished the second the protagonist thought she'd become special or some form of entity.
The Hit, 3 stars, the sci fi element was fun yet not delved into rendering the story to be rather dull. Not much happened regardless, or perhaps too much in a very short span of pages :(
Experiments with trauma in Maldavia, 2 stars, the plot twist was very poorly executed and the story itself held no real or further potential which hadn't already been explored in previous tales such as a smidgeon of confidence.
The Lie, 1 star, not a clue of how this was even published to begin with. Nothing, literally nothing happened, except for a woman who decided to sleep on a pillow balanced on a man's head and suffocated him.
The music in her head, 1 star, became too repetitive, the protagonist messes with the psyche of others using lyrics which she hums in her head. Apart from the fact that this idea was also evident in a smidgeon of confidence and experiments with trauma in Maldavia, despite its evident potential, it never really took off.
If you're here from insta, leave a like and a comment. If not, follow me there, https://www.instagram.com/thepoetryco... thank you :)
January 19, 2022
The Patient in Hospital Zero by Ramona Depares is one of a kind.
Nine different stories, all with a dark yet interesting touch. I am not quite familiar with Maltese writers experimenting with this genre, however Depares’ experiment was a successful one. Stories like The Marauders or The Music in Her Head kept me on my toes, trying to figure out what will eventually happen to the characters in question.
Give this book a try and you will understand.
Nine different stories, all with a dark yet interesting touch. I am not quite familiar with Maltese writers experimenting with this genre, however Depares’ experiment was a successful one. Stories like The Marauders or The Music in Her Head kept me on my toes, trying to figure out what will eventually happen to the characters in question.
Give this book a try and you will understand.
January 9, 2022
You can tell that Depares has clear inspiration from Roald Dahl's adult short stories in the way that she crafts her twists and turns. Some, like in 'The Music in her Head', are last minute and devasating to the main character. Others, like 'A Smidgeon of Confidence', are also last minute but absolutely heart warming. I loved this collection and I'm glad I got to read it. It's rare to see a Maltese born writer doing something as interesting as this - dark short stories with a sci-fi/fantasy twist. Maybe I'm a bit biased because Depares and I are actually related but I know that those who with similar reading tastes to mine will probably enjoy it.
September 1, 2021
These short stories kept me wanting for more! It’s truly a sin that they’re not longer. Ramona created wonderful worlds which I wanted to know more of, and that dark touch definitely gives you a unique taste of them. Some stories had unexpected endings which had me gasping at the pages - truly a lovely read.
December 2, 2021
"But today, it felt like everyone was the enemy."
From the book 'The Patient in Hospital Zero' by Ramona Depares .
That sentence struck me as when such days happen, they feel the worst and I only long to be home alone, away from all humanity. 🖤
Definitely it's a must read! Short stories with touching moments. Moments that one may feel related to some of the protagonists, with some extra spice 😉 If I had to be truthful, they made me feel less lonely and lost in this crazy, messed up world 🖤 My favourite one being 'The Lie' 😲
From the book 'The Patient in Hospital Zero' by Ramona Depares .
That sentence struck me as when such days happen, they feel the worst and I only long to be home alone, away from all humanity. 🖤
Definitely it's a must read! Short stories with touching moments. Moments that one may feel related to some of the protagonists, with some extra spice 😉 If I had to be truthful, they made me feel less lonely and lost in this crazy, messed up world 🖤 My favourite one being 'The Lie' 😲
September 23, 2023
I chanced upon this book in the (extremely limited) English language section of my local library and was fascinated. A short story compilation from a Maltese author (/journalist) and publisher I had never heard of? Alright, I'll try anything once.
It is indeed a very eclectic collection of strange tales, from horror to scifi. A few stories were interesting enough, but some were fairly pointless, and the common writing style quickly wore out its welcome. Potentially interesting plot developments are glossed over, important characters or locations are never given names or any personality (a scifi story refers to the planet where the story takes place as "the planet". World building at its finest).
There were also quite a few spelling mistakes and it seemed like the whole book could have benefited from a few more rounds of drafts and editing.
It is indeed a very eclectic collection of strange tales, from horror to scifi. A few stories were interesting enough, but some were fairly pointless, and the common writing style quickly wore out its welcome. Potentially interesting plot developments are glossed over, important characters or locations are never given names or any personality (a scifi story refers to the planet where the story takes place as "the planet". World building at its finest).
There were also quite a few spelling mistakes and it seemed like the whole book could have benefited from a few more rounds of drafts and editing.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews