One perfect word quickly comes to mind when trying to distill the effect of Theodore Jerome Cohen’s collection of short (truly short) stories in The Road Less Taken. The word is: Gripping. And I do not use that word lightly. I mean, utterly, sometimes devastatingly,...

Beginning with the collection title, When Dolls Talk, Joel R. Dennstedt sets the stage for his macabre and thoughtfully arranged set of stories. With the preconceived notion of horror in the concept of talking dolls, the author swings from a common childhood notion to one...

The Great War by Dawn Knox is an ambitious undertaking that recounts 100 stories, each told in exactly 100 words, on the 100th anniversary of WWI. At precisely 10,000 words, the book is a quick read, but the scenes that Ms. Knox’s sparse, yet vividly...

Mailman Tales by Jess Thornton was a pleasant little read. In the book, Thornton tells about his experiences as a mailman in a little town. This book made me long for the days when everyone respected each other and neighbors looked out for each other....

It started with a storm. Qadir, Uffe, and Ewe had been out on their raft, minding their own business, fishing, relaxing, bonding as three friends would. Ewe had wanted to bring home a gift for Isla's father, to prove himself worthy of her hand, but...

This latest collection, Tales From Alternate Earths, from Inklings Press contains the sort of high quality science fiction stories that have made this small group of writers a success. The anthology consists of eight alternative histories for our planet, which start with September 26th, 1983...

Expect the unexpected while reading Wilful Misunderstandings, a collection of short stories by Richard Foreman. The House Where Jack Lived has an eerie aura that mesmerizes its occupants. In Jonathan and the Extraordinary Drawer, a child discovers magical things a drawer produces, but ignores the...

Love Letters to a Ghost Named C is a short story in verse written by Adam Levon Brown. It would have been a day like any other school day for him. He was late, having ignored his alarm, and, after lunch and a smoke, he...

Little Guilt by M.M. Bygrove is a short story that draws the reader in bit by bit, just as if caught on a hook. It starts out sounding a lot like my life; a writer who doesn’t sell as much as would be desired. His...

Apocryphal of Julie (Aquarius Ascending) is a short story by author G.W. Miller II. Julie arrived at Teotihuacan, the City of the Gods, a place said to be where men went to become immortal. Elbow deep in blood, she had held on as long as...