ghost story | CW Hawes

Beyond the Sea

This past Friday was the official launch of Beyond the Sea: Stories from the Underground.

The concept was simple: a picture of a boat beached on a spit of sand jutting out into a lake, or a bay, or maybe the sea. Then add the imaginations of a dozen authors. And what do you get? A superbly satisfying collection of short stories.

I’m proud to be one of the 12 Underground Authors contributing to this incredible collection of tales. My story “The Boat”, is my first return trip to the post-apocalyptic world of The Rocheport Saga in 4 years. I took the opportunity to coax out of Bill Arthur a story that took place before The Morning Star, which is Book 1 of the series.

Amazon reviewer J.S. wrote of “The Boat”:

C.W. Hawes wrote a compelling short story that I didn’t want to come to an end. His words came alive and I joined in with the characters in a hair-raising survival journey in a post-apocalyptic world. Great world-building and great writing!

I’m pleased and humbled by that comment. And very glad I wasn’t a drag on the group effort! 🙂

As a reader, I was impressed with the overall quality of the stories. As can’t be helped, some were more appealing to me than others. That’s just how it is in an anthology. Not everything will please everybody. Beauty is always in the eye of the beholder.

Nevertheless, the overall quality is high, and that should please any reader. I’m confident everyone will find a story they’ll fall in love with.

My personal favorites, the ones that especially caught my eye, were “Hemingway’s Boat” by Caleb Pirtle III, “The Encounter” by Ronald E Yates, and “Roses for Grant” by Richard Schwindt.

Pirtle’s story is a superb example of his ability to capture a time and place, people it with true to life characters, throw in a bit of mystery and romance, and come up with a story that grabs you and doesn’t let go. In the short time that I’ve known him, he’s become one of my favorite authors.

I enjoy a good science fiction yarn, and Ron Yates has uncorked a real goodie in “The Encounter”. And when it’s coupled with a touch of slowburn terror, it’s a keeper. His knowledge of Southeast Asia and history adds a strong sense of place and color to the tale.

Richard Schwindt, as readers of this blog know, is one of my favorite contemporary writers. I think I’d buy his grocery lists. His story, “Roses for Grant”, is a beautiful slice-of-life tale about an older middle-aged couple. Their memories and the mission they are on. In some ways, it reminded me of Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” in that the dialogue essentially carries the story. No narrator gets in the way of the couple on whom we are listening in.

Having written the above, I want to emphasize that there is something for everyone in Beyond the Sea — and what are my favorites may not be yours. Pick up a copy and see for yourself.

We the authors are donating the proceeds to Team Rubicon. A worthy organization. Check them out on their website.

You can pick up a copy of Beyond the Sea at Amazon. And when you do, you benefit yourself and the disaster relief efforts of Team Rubicon.

Comments are always welcome. And until next time, happy reading!

Share This!

A Bump In The Night

Good Books You Probably Never Heard Of – Part 9

A Bump in the Night by Crispian Thurlborn
https://amzn.to/2KBx666

We think life can be difficult. But being dead has its own problems.

Mr Snaggle and Mr Snuffle, those Arbitrators of the Quick and the Dead, have a new problem on their hands: their good friend, Mr Bump (that fellow who ferries folks across the river to the realm of the dead), is fading. Fading from being a ghost to being truly dead. And if Mr Bump goes, who’s going to do the ferrying?

This is a ginormous problem and Mr Snaggle and Mr Snuffle are doing their darnedest to help their friend. Seemingly, though, without success. That is, until little Penny shows up.

Crispian Thurlborn’s A Bump in the Night is a ghost story. It’s an urban fantasy tale. It’s a literary think about the meaning of life — and death. It’s a book that is at once humorous and serious.

In a style that would make Dickens envious, Thurlborn tells us a story we won’t soon forget. The tale lingers there on the edge of your mind, just like… Well, just like a ghost.

And while A Bump in the Night isn’t a Christmas story, it does have ghosts and the themes in the book go very well with “peace on earth, goodwill towards men”.

Crispian Thurlborn is one of my favorite authors. If you haven’t read anything by him, let me say his writing is on par with that of the best writers writing today.

Do yourself a favor and get a copy of A Bump in the Night. You won’t be sorry, and you may just find yourself putting the book in your pile to read again.

Comments are always welcome; and, until next time, happy reading!

Share This!

Book Review: Daddy’s Girl by Ben Willoughby

Horror tales come in all shapes and sizes. They can be visions of great cosmic terror or they can be the evil wishes of a child. The story can be one of psychological torment, or one of unfathomable gruesomeness. There are some who don’t see horror as a separate genre, but as a particular effect given to a story of dark fantasy, or science fiction, or slice of life.

And whether or not we like to read stories that frighten us, or listen to them told around a campfire, many of us do. Enough so that horror has gotten its own BISAC genre code and is exceedingly profitable to publisher and writer alike.

My first foray into the realm of the horror story was by means of the tales of Edgar Allan Poe. Not much later came the stories of Saki. And then those two gothic adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Hound of the Baskervilles and “The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb”. From there I read Dracula and Carmilla and discovered the work of HP Lovecraft and Robert E Howard’s weird fiction.

I’ve even ventured into the realm of the weird and terrible with a few tales of my own. However, there are a few writers today who write doggone good horror stories and unfortunately remain for the most part unseen. One of those writers is Ben Willoughby and I hope this review, and upcoming reviews of his work, will help to bring him a broader audience.

Mr Willoughby has five books out now in the horror genre. I’ve purchased them all and read two. (He’s writing them faster than I can read them!) Today I want to talk a bit about his novella Daddy’s Girl, which is a ghost story that is very well done.

The ghost story is perhaps the most venerable form of the supernatural horror tale. Certainly it is one of the oldest, if not the oldest within this category. The ghost story plays into our beliefs about life after death. Even today, where the Western world has moved beyond Christianity and pretty much any traditional religion, the ghost story still works. Still plays upon our imagination. I think this is because it’s primal. It taps into the core of our hopes and fears surrounding the greatest of all mysteries — death. And no matter how materialistic we’ve become, few of us want to die. Even believing in an afterlife, few of us want to end our existence here. It is what we know. We fear the unknown.

Mr Willoughby’s tale, Daddy’s Girl, plays on our emotions from two directions. The first is the child’s need for and love of his or her parents. We children may dislike our parents telling us what to do, but when they aren’t there we crave for someone to step in and take over that role. Many of us don’t ever grow out of that need for someone to watch over us. Politicians and demagogues use this to gain control. They feel our pain and tell us lies so we feel good. The bond of child to parent is ever with us.

The other bond is that of parent to child. We as parents will do anything to spare our children at the very least the hardest knocks of life. We teach them and guide them and support them. Children a visible form of eternal life. Through them we in a sense live forever.

Mr Willoughby has combined these two powerful bonds into a tale of parent-child love. The parent’s watchful eye, ever present, protecting his little girl.

I don’t want to spoil the story and so I will leave the storyline alone. Do, though, get yourself a copy of Daddy’s Girl. The book will tug your heartstrings and give you something to think about. As well as scare you into the realization your determination may be stronger than you even realize.

What I like about Ben Willoughby’s writing is that he has a simple and straightforward way to tell a story. It unfolds before us on the page and does so without a mass of purple prose. There is an economy of words in his style and to my mind that allows me the reader to participate in the story. He isn’t telling me everything. Just what I need to know. Which means he is able to paint the atmosphere and mood and generate empathy for the characters without excess verbiage. And that is the hallmark of a good writer.

I very much recommend Daddy’s Girl. I also recommend Raw Head, which I hope to review in a future post. And I look forward to reading his other offerings in the realm of terror.

Ben Willoughby is a fine example of the good things the indie revolution has to offer. If only we take a chance and are willing to read widely.

Comments are always welcome! Until next time, happy reading!

Share This!

Book Review: A Bump In The Night

Fantasy is a genre I no longer find very interesting. To be honest, I don’t like magic and I’m very much tired of trolls, elves, dwarves, and the whole passel of Tolkienesque rip-offs. Having written that, I recently ran across two works of fantasy I very much enjoyed. They are by Crispian Thurlborn: The Chalice and A Bump in the Night.

Today, I’m going to review A Bump in the Night. It is a ghost story, but unlike any I’ve read. I bought the book on Amazon, where the Kindle version may be purchased for $2.99. This review is unsolicited. As I explained in last week’s post “Reading”, I’m intending to post at least one review a month. My purpose is to share books I’ve read that I think need a wider audience or that I consider to be memorable reads.

Ghosts. Who doesn’t love a good ghost story? I know I do. With Mr Snaggle and Mr Snuffle, we have two ghosts on a mission to save their friend, Mr Bump from fading to oblivion. I shan’t say more about the storyline, as I don’t wish to give too much away. Suffice it to say, Crispian Thurlborn has given us a delightfully satisfying and whimsical tale where Mr Bump ends up getting help from a most unlikely source. And one which ends up helping us as well.

All of the characters are well-drawn and even though Mr Snaggle and Mr Snuffle are very often mischievous imps, they are a pair one is hard pressed not to love. Mr Bump is in many ways an example of modern, urban human beings. We, who in this age of luxury and plenty, find ourselves to have lost our sense of meaning and purpose. Mr Bump’s journey is our journey. A quest to find ourselves.

Mr Thurlborn’s writing style is superbly magical. The text flows effortlessly and carries you along, as a river a boat. Here we find an eloquence not often seen today.

This book’s entertainment value is top drawer. The tale is delightful and wonderful. Superbly rich. It is frozen custard in book form. Mr Thurlborn gives us a story with humor, sadness, philosophy, and a satisfying ending. I don’t often re-read books. This one, however, is a candidate for re-reading. Very highly recommended!!

Crispian Thurlborn is a phenomenal writer. I hope he gives us more treasure. Much, much more.

Share This!