Literary Review - Reckonings by Gail Husch

Someone Wicked, a Written Remains anthology, was released by Smart Rhino Publications on November 25, 2013. Edited by Weldon Burge and JM Reinbold, Someone Wicked contains twenty-one tales of wickedness sure to please the most discerning reader.

Over the next few weeks, my plan is to read and review many, if not all, of the stories contained in Someone Wicked. I have not historically been a big anthology reader but having had the opportunity to get to know many of the authors through the Written Remains Writers Guild, I am excited at the prospect of discovering each  of their unique and individual writing styles.

Have you ever had the urge to get back at someone? We've all been cut off in traffic, had to wait behind that clown with a full buggy in front of us in the grocer's express line, or watched out of a window while the neighbor's dog used our front yard as its personal bio space, and so on. Daily life has many frustrations and even the nicest of us will occasionally have that fantasy in which the object of our ire receives their just desserts.

In literary terms Gail Husch refers to those moments as Reckonings. And her story in the Someone Wicked anthology allows the protagonist to not only engage in these fantasies but to cross the line into reality - to actually act upon her vengeful desires.  We don't ever learn the name of this person but I felt an immediate kinship from the opening lines:

The first thing you need to know: I don't own a single cat. Not one. I don't even like them, selfish, arrogant creatures.

I know that all the cat lovers will howl in despair and hate me but Reckonings, after all, is a work of fiction. And I'm a dog person...so please allow me my own guilty pleasure.

Also, this tells us almost all we need to know about her: Bossy, superior, opinionated. Gosh...that sounds nearly...catlike. Still, the story moves on from there with each annoyance in the protagonist's life becoming an opportunity to get even with another careless perpetrator.

Reckonings feels good. But it also feels like something else. It feels a little guilty. Almost as if we, the readers, were the ones acting on those dark thoughts; acting out those carefully crafted plans. I'm sure you'll enjoy reading Reckonings but be careful; the line between fantasy and reality can be quite slippery.

Content disclosure: To prepare any potential reader for what they will encounter, I would point out that there are a couple of mild expletives in Reckonings. It is not a violent story per se, but the themes and actions convey a sense of contained violence that might not be well understood by young children. Hopefully this is to be expected in an anthology entitled Someone Wicked. If I were to give it any sort of rating that might guide parents, I would lean toward a mild PG. There is nothing here that one won't find on network television - and I'm not even talking late night cable. Please bear with me, as some readers of this blog are more conservative in nature, and it is important to me to provide this information for them.

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Literary Review - Sisters: A Fairy Tale by Liz DeJesus

Someone Wicked, a Written Remains anthology, was released by Smart Rhino Publications on November 25, 2013. Edited by Weldon Burge and JM Reinbold, Someone Wicked contains twenty-one tales of wickedness sure to please the most discerning reader.

Over the next few weeks, my plan is to read and review many, if not all, of the stories contained in Someone Wicked. I have not historically been a big anthology reader but having had the opportunity to get to know many of the authors through the Written Remains Writers Guild, I am excited at the prospect of discovering each of their unique and individual writing styles.

Being contrary, and a bit of a scaredy-cat, I began with a story that was somewhat familiar to me. That's not to say that I had read Sisters: A Fairy Tale before; however, I knew some of the characters from the second novel in the author's Frost series: Glass Frost.

Fanny and Elda are sisters. But they are as different as night and day. And they live in a world quite different from ours, a world rich in magic, both light and dark. And this particular peek into their lives is not like any fairy tale I read growing up. In fact, I have only lately discovered that fairy tales can be dark and frightening places.

Liz DeJesus has written a compelling story that draws the reader into the lives of her characters. The fourteen pages of Sisters deliver a fully realized slice of life in this incredible world. Fanny and Elda have both been given a gift by Titania, the Fairy Queen. I won't reveal the nature of these gifts for therein lies the foundation of the story.

It's difficult to write a review that would help one fully appreciate the depth of DeJesus' characters. As I was reading Sisters I tried not to rely too heavily on my foreknowledge. Fanny and Elda are complete, three-dimensional inhabitants of their world; I was drawn into their conflicts, their emotions, and their pain, as if I traveled along with them on their journey to the Fairy Realm.

The narrative and dialogue are excellent and, in my opinion, this is a top-drawer short story. Ms. DeJesus has a gift for writing and clearly loves the world that she has crafted both here and in other, longer works. That love shines through and makes Sisters a clean, crisp read. But be warned, if you linger over long in the Enchanted Wood, you may find yourselves undone by its magic.

Content disclosure: To prepare any potential reader for what they will encounter, I would point out that there is one expletive near the beginning of Sisters and there are some violent confrontations. Hopefully this is to be expected in an anthology entitled Someone Wicked. I would also say this is not a fairy tale for young children.  If I were to give it any sort of rating that might guide parents, I would lean toward PG. There is certainly nothing here that one won't find on network television, but being somewhat conservative, and knowing that some readers of this blog will likewise be conservative, it is important to me to provide this information.

If you choose to read Sisters I believe you will enjoy the brief, but rich glimpse DeJesus has provided into her most magical of realms.

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Someone Wicked Released Today!

Greetings of the Season to riders on The Stream...

More blogging to come over the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday but I wanted to take a moment and give a shout-out to Weldon Burge and J. M. Reinbold, the editors of the short story anthology, Someone Wicked.

Someone Wicked, published by Smart Rhino Publications is released in paperback today, November 25, 2013 - with a Kindle version to follow shortly! There are twenty-one stories included in this anthology, all focusing on some aspect of human wickedness. Smart Rhino was launched specifically with an eye toward the horror and suspense genres, but is by no means exclusive to that genesis.

One interesting thing that binds these stories together is that most, if not all, are penned by members of the Written Remains Writer's Guild. Please be sure and check out other published works from the Guild - this is a very talented bunch and I am humbled to be a part of their august society.

I hope you enjoy my dark Arabian fantasy The Fire of Iblis and all of the other choice tales from Someone Wicked. And I might suggest you sleep with the light on...

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