Edition Details:
Format : E-book
Publisher: Palmas Publishing
Page Count: 25
ASIN: B07ZRXVQGF
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| Odd tales and Other Stories by L E Prez |
Odd tales and other stories is a collection of 4 short stories by L E Perez. The stories in the collection are:
1) Phantom Ferris Wheel
First Sentence:
The lightning strike brought the carnival into stark relief.
It has been five years but Leia has not been able to forget the incident. How could she? It was her sister, Luisa.
And the Carnival is back in town. Leia is now 15 and wants some answers.
What had happened to Luisa?
Was Leia able to find all the answers?
What did she had to go through for that?
Carnivals or circuses, as we used to call them, have always been an enigmatic entity for me. These people come for sometime, they bring all kind of rides with them and then disappear only to return next year. As a child these carnivals fascinated me. I wanted to be a part of one. It looked like a sweet job. I would be among all the rides that i loved and would get to see different places. It was magical.
The carnival people are also so different from the regular folks and so it’s easy to assume that they are into some kind of evil magic. They even have some acts along those lines which would make the people more suspicious.
I think that is the reason why many authors in the west also associate some kind of magic with them. I have read a lot of stories by stalwarts that have been about carnivals and the wicked evil energy in them.
Most of the time these carnivals are happy places, full of positive vibes with people having the time of their life in them and so i think that this quality of it makes it ideal setting for a horror story. Who would want to associate horror lurking under all that positive vibes, right? But i guess that’s the part of attraction.
The Ferris wheel is written along those lines. A ferris wheel used to be one of the first thing that i wanted to ride as a child. It was scary but fun and the author has taken it and made it more evil.
The story grabs you from the start. You are with Leia and want to find out what had happened to her sister. You as a reader want to see how would Leia be able to find the truth and take her revenge. Will she be able to do that or not? You are rooting for her.
The story moves quickly. It doesn’t linger on but comes to the point directly. It’s a short, crisp and fun ride. The end is great too. There is an inkling of doubt whether the thing has ended or not.
I wanted to know who that old lady was and why were her eyes flaring red. I would love the author to make a big novella about this carnival. Who are the people living there? How did they come together? And what all they have been doing? It would really be a fun read.
2) Mow the Lawn
First Sentence:
I waited.
Debra had to mow the lawn but she didn’t want to. There was something weird about that lawn mower. She could feel it in her bones.
It didn’t help matter that her husband had died using that lawn mower.
Was there something really weird about the Lawn Mower or was it just the figment of Debra’s imagination?
Mow the Lawn was a intriguing read. It starts of creepily. You don’t really consider that inanimate objects would have feeling for you. And if they do then you’ll have a lot to think about. You would be having suspicions about every other object that you are using.
May be the laptop that i’m writing on is in love with me and if i refuse it’s advances it would electrocute me to death. Isn’t it a scary situation? This story is somewhat along that lines. I wanted to know how it would ends.
Mow the Lawn also deals with loss. If you loose someone you love it always leaves a big hole in your life and so people tend to believe that their loved one are with them in some form or another. This is where the thought of spirits really enters. It’s our wishful thinking. Debra too feels that loss.
Now, she was alone. With her husband Gabe’s passing, and the kids grown and gone, she finally got to experience it, adulthood, being alone. She didn’t like it.
Most people go through what Debra was going through and it makes you feel for her. The ending too was something that i liked but i don’t think it would be great for Debra in the long run. You need to let things go. Holding on to them would be bad not only for you but for other people. But as a story it the ending works.
It’s kind of weird to think how they would make love, though. Yeah, yeah i know i have a dirty mind.
3) Ser Quirrel
First Sentence:
The damned.
Ser Quirrel loved being a squirrel. He loved his new body. Ser Quirrel had been a human once a long long time ago but he didn’t remember much of it. He just remembered he had met a priest a long time ago and that priest had given him this opportunity and he had grabbed on to it.
And then he had run away. Away from the priest, away from the responsiblities that entails being a human. And he was loving every moment of it. Until now.
The Dark Priest was back and he wanted something from Ser Quirrel.
What did the Dark Priest want? Did Ser quirrel gave him what he want?
There are times when we loose something and we don’t even realise what we are losing. But when after sometime we encounter the same thing, then their loss hits you. You finally get what you lost and then you are so angry with yourself or with the people that made you loose it. But If you wouldn’t have encountered it then probably you would have been oblivious to that loss and hence may have been happy. The story too is along the same lines.
I enjoyed reading it. I liked the character of the Dark Priest a lot. I would love to read more about him. What kind of deals did he make before this one? It would make for a fun read.
4) La Leyenda de la Chupacabra
First Sentence:
The hurricane changed everything.
The hurricane had destoryed most of the Puerto Rico. The island was in need of help. But the people who came to help were more interested in the local girls. They were predators and the girls their prey.
But the island couldn’t take it. It protects it’s own and so the legends say.
Were the legends true?
La Leyenda de la Chupacabra is the fourth and the last story of the collection. It is also my favorite one in the collection. It’s gripping and as a reader you want to see where it would lead you.
I remember i had seen one episode in Supernatural that had featured Chupacabra. I had also seen it in another show but i don’t remember it’s name. May be it was Grimm or something like that.
What i mean to say that i know of the creature but i didn’t knew it belonged to Puerto Rico.
I enjoyed reading this story and would love to read a full length novel featuring a Chupacabra
The only think that was missing was the description of chupacabra. You get to know it’s growl resembles a dog but it would have been better if it could have been described in detail.
In the end i would say Odd tales and other stories is a good collection of stories that you’ll find worth your time. Each of the story is as different from the other as it can get. The spanish touch in the stories give them a kind of freshness which you often find missing from your run of the mill horror stories. I liked reading them. If you are into short stories do give it a read.
Rating: 3/5
You can get the book from the following link:
Kindle
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