Mostly Human

by William Meikle

The English Lake District is a haven of tranquility, a place for hill walkers, mountain climbers and those in search of solitude. But when the rains arrive it becomes a desolate landscape where malevolence rises up from the depths and death is not far behind. It has struck before and this time it has to be stopped.

From the imaginations of four authors working as one comes a menace that is Mostly Human.

The Extended Version has bonus short stories from each of the four authors.

Still Priced at only 99 cents.

Genres: Horror

103 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 12, 2010

About the author

I'm a Scottish writer, now living in Canada, with more than thirty novels published in the genre press and over 300 short story credits in thirteen countries.

My work has appeared in a number of professional anthologies and I have recent short story sales to NATURE Futures and Galaxy's Edge. When I'm not writing I play guitar, drink beer and dream of fortune and glory.

For an intro to me, my writing and my accent see my Youtube channel

Reviews

[Kathryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love monster stories but the monster herein was the only thing I loved about this book. I did not like the main character, Jack. I did not sympathize with him. I am sure the authors wanted the reader to pity or understand the main character but I quickly became sick of his whining and incessant thoughts about drinking. I found it hard to believe that Jack could still work in his condition.

Further, when a young character was telling his story, he phrased everything in a way not meshing with someone who has suffered trauma. The phrase mostly human is memorable enough that I did not think it needed to be repeated as often as it was, besides the fact that a coroner would not state something like that without elaborating. I thought the story was bland and predictable, up until the very end but I did like the end.

This is a very short read and a collaboration between 4 different and seperately successful writers. As I said before, I love monster tales but this one overall fell short.

[Neal Hock · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve previously stated that I’m a little wary of collaborations because you never know how writers’ styles will mesh. And I was referring to collaborations between two authors. Throw two more authors into the mix and my wariness level exponentially increases. Such was the case with MOSTLY HUMAN by Steve Lockley, William Meikle, Scott Nicholson, and Steven Savile. I was intrigued by the premise of the story but was also wary about the number of authors, especially since I hadn’t read anything written by three of them (Lockley, Meikle, and Savile). However, I was curious how a collaboration between four authors in four different countries would work out.

To what extremes will loss drive a person? For Jack Spicer, the answer is not pretty. The small-town detective finds solace at the bottom of a bottle. After losing the love of his life to a brutal killer ten years earlier, Spicer has been in a downward spiral. Depending on alcohol to get through each day, Spicer has become a mere shadow of who he once was and the laughingstock of his department. When a body that has been savagely murdered turns up, Spicer is more than reminded of what happened to his love years before. He must summon the man he once was to track down the killer before more blood spills. What he finds is no normal human—just mostly human.

MOSTLY HUMAN was an enjoyable, fun read. The writing flowed seamlessly throughout the entire book and it made for fast reading. I really enjoyed the story itself and the writers did a great job describing the gloom, both inside Spicer and that which physically surrounded him. I would gladly read similar collaborations in the future. There are some typos throughout the Kindle edition, but nothing that is a major distraction from the story. It’s definitely a good buy, priced at only $0.99 right now.

[Shell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was SO much more than I expected it to be, the ending just blew me away. The only reason I'm not giving it 5 stars is because it could use a good editor, there are a few typos here and there and that's a pet peeve of mine, they tend to jolt me out of the story. But the story itself is amazing and I'm eager to read more by each of the authors.

[Josef · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gripping book that you can't put down. Draws you in to the mind of Jack Spicer and makes you feel his inner struggles. Well done!!

[Briga · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just didn't like it; perhaps it was the collaboration, but the story seemed disjointed to me.