This enjoyable collection of short stories that the author refers to as “dark fantasy tales” which I have just read, turned out to be very enjoyable. Generally I am not fond of the Gothic genre, vampires and similar do not really engage my interest to be honest, so I approached this collection with some doubts. In the event I was very pleasantly surprised by the stories though.
The stories in this ebook cover the entire range of this genre, we have vampires, ghosts galore, mysterious creatures going bump in the night, murders, elves who create mayhem in a garden and so on. But all written with a strangely gentle approach, so whilst I read a number of these tales at night, I wasn’t frightened by them, or felt the need to check under my bed for long legged beasties or any such things. Somehow they were not scary.
At Smashwords it is described as follows:
An unsolved murder on a seductive resort island with brooding secrets….a mechanical movie prop intended to help create a dream on film, but instead becomes part of a nightmare for those involved….an odd alliance between a priest and a vampire….a modern day meeting with the Phantom of the Opera….tales of ghosts and monsters and otherworldly encounters. This collection of stories by science fiction, fantasy and mystery author Gary Alan Ruse explores fantasy realms and the dark side of human…and non-human…nature with thrills and chills, and in some cases a touch of humor.
A pretty accurate description I feel.
It is this aspect of these stories that makes me like this ebook, as somehow even the worst monsters he dreamed up had a feeling of humanity, and motives that I could sympathize with. Odd really.
I particularly liked the tale of a vampire who worked hand in glove with the narrator of one of these stories to solve a murder. A very civilized and urbain vampire indeed.
Several of these tales were written in a splendidly Victorian style, but not too wordy, I am happy to say, but somehow managed to get the feel of books of this genre written in the 19th Century
I shan’t go into any details about the individual stories, as I have no wish to spoil them for you but simply recommend that if such tales are to your taste, and as I said, even if normally you wouldn’t dream of reading such fantasy types of ebooks, you will probably enjoy this collection.
So, nip along to Smashwords and buy this ebook collection at once… and then sit back and have an enjoyable read in the darkness of the night…. Ha!
Where to get it: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/151486
Price: $2.99
