Genre: Horror / Collection
Publisher: Creativia Publishing
Publication Date: 18th May 2016
Pages: 63
MY REVIEW:
A copy of Amaranthine and Other Stories was sent
to Confessions of a Reviewer by the author, Erik Hofstatter, in exchange for an
honest review. This is said review. This book is published by Creativia
Publishing.
Erik Hofstatter.
The most wonderful name in writing. I love when someone asks what I’m reading
and I get the chance to say Hofstatter over and over. No idea why. It’s the
little things I suppose. I have read a couple of other things by Mr Hofstatter
in the past. The Pariahs and Katerina. You can read my reviews of both
at the bottom of this review. Whilst The
Pariahs blew me away, Katerina
was more of a pop than a bang with me but there is just something about his
writing that keeps me coming back for more. He has a talent for writing that I
think will take him to all of the places he wants to go.
So when he asked
if I would like a look at Amaranthine,
how could I refuse?
This is what I
thought.
THE BIRTHING TUB
Sean is struggling to get over his break up with Magda.
She left him feeling abandoned and empty. The only thing he has to keep him
going is his love for his son, Eli.
This tale is not what you think and will certainly not be
what you're expecting.
A lonely man trying to mend his broken heart by giving all
his love to......something.
This is gross. More than once I found myself nearly being
sick reading this. You know it is building up to something strange. Something
unusual. When you find out what it is you will be disgusted.
★★★★★ for general.
★★★ for horror.
TRISTAN’S
EQUATION
Tristan is eight years old. He is all alone. He
needs to solve the puzzle but doesn't know how. If he doesn't, he won't
get out.
This is very short but extremely powerful stuff. You can
almost smell the fear in this one. Fear of so many different types. Despair.
Loneliness. Abandonment. Hopelessness.
This story literally gets you right into Tristan’s head
and it's a scary place to be.
★★★★★ for general.
★★★★★ for horror.
AMARANTHINE
Welcome to the emporium of odd curiosities. A book shop
with a difference. It has a unique clientele and an even more unique method of
binding your books.
Flash fiction at its best. Again, you know something is
coming and you know it's going to be bad but you don't know what it is going to
be.
Excellent stuff. It's not until you finish this story
that you realise just how horrific it is. It also leaves you wondering does it
actually happened.
★★★★★ for general.
★★★★ for horror.
THE WANDERING
PILGRIM
An even shorter flash fiction piece.
Sorry, no idea what this was about or what it was trying
to achieve.
Didn't understand it all.
★★ for general.
0 for horror.
THE DEEP END
Eva is from
Bulgaria. She has come to the UK as an au pair and is currently employed by
Gerard to look after his daughter Sophie.
They go swimming
every Saturday but Sophie doesn’t want to go anymore. She is scared of Morgen.
He might do something bad.
This is more like
it. I don’t know why but this story creeped me out from the very start. It’s an
old plot about a lonely child jealous of someone else coming into her life and
thinking evil thoughts but this is so beautifully crafted and put together that
you forget you might have read this type of story before.
This had the
hairs on my arms standing to attention from beginning to end.
★★★★★ for general.
★★★★★ for horror.
EUCALYPTUS GROVE
Jason, James and
Randy are in a metal band. They love all things dark and demonic and are
convinced if they make a sacrifice to the devil they will become better
musicians and hit the big time.
The most extreme
of the stories so far, this one will expect you to have a strong stomach. Devil
worshipping and human sacrifice is the name of the game with this one. You know
the scariest part? This probably does happen around the world.
The writing felt
a little disjointed in places in this one. Didn’t flow as well as others but
definitely had the scare factor.
★★★★ for general.
★★★★ for horror.
AKONA
Another flash
fiction piece that I’m afraid did nothing for me at all but make me scrunch my
face up.
A little
unbelievable for me and not really my favourite kind of subject matter.
★★.5 for general.
★★.5 for horror.
THE GREEN TIDE
Another flash
fiction piece about a man scorned. He has hidden talents and knowledge about
all things to do with deadly plants. His girlfriend is about to gain some
knowledge too.
Again this didn’t
do much for me. A bit too short with hardly any build up. It left me wanting
more from the story.
★★★ for general.
★★ for horror.
PINS AND NEEDLES
Andy, John and
Mike work as mechanics in a factory. They get a new supervisor, Imamu who is
hell bent on stamping his authority in the place.
This is something
the three colleagues do not lightly.
This is one of
the longer stories in this collection. The longer ones have been better but
this one was a bit weird again. I just couldn’t pick up what it was really
about and what it was trying to achieve.
It has a
fantastic use of the fear of old voodoo but again just felt a little disjointed
to me.
★★★ for general.
★★★ for horror.
So there you have
it. My thoughts on Amaranthine and Other Stories. This is a real mixed bag of
short stories and even shorter flash fiction pieces. I enjoyed some and just
didn’t get the point of others.
Another thing
that irked me was the length of the book. Coming in at around sixty-three pages
with nine stories, it doesn’t leave an awful lot of room to develop the stories
early and give you the true feeling of them and what they were really about.
This, for me, is
extremely important in making a short story effective. It has to tell you the
story in a very short space of time, make it believable and entertain you,
leaving you wanting much much more from it. Only a couple of tales did that for
me in this collection.
To summarise: a
collection of shorts that you will probably read in double quick time. Some
enjoyable, some not so. This will not stop me reading Erik Hofstatter again but
I have a request for you Mr Hofstatter; please give me something in the style
of The Pariahs again. That, for me,
is your true style and your most enjoyable to read.
General rating:
★★★.8 would have like it longer.
Horror rating:
★★★ and scarier.
If you would like to help support Confessions of a
Reviewer, then please consider using the links below to buy Amaranthine and Other Stories or any
other books from Erik. This not only supports me but also lets me know how many
people actually like to buy books after reading my reviews.
Thanks.
Book Synopsis:
"This collection will worm its way into your
nightmares." -Sèphera Girón, author of A Penny Saved and the Witch Upon a
Star
Amaranthine and Other Stories serves up nine schlock
horror slices, sprinkled with quirk and humour.
Forget vampires. Forget werewolves. Forget ghosts. Humans
are the ultimate grotesques. Variant flavours of woe sift through these pages.
The results are sometimes hilarious, sometimes outright hair-raising!
As a bonus, the collection also includes story notes,
offering the reader a rare glimpse into the inspiration behind each tale.
CONFESSIONS REVIEWS OF BOOKS BY ERIK HOFSTATTER
Erik Hofstatter's debut collection 'Moribund Tales' peaked at #2 on Amazon bestseller chart in horror anthologies. Several of these tales have been recorded for a podcast (Wicked Library, Tales To Terrify & Manor House Show) and printed in various magazines and anthologies around the world such as The Literary Hatchet (PearTree Press) Morpheus Tales and Sanitarium Magazine. His novella 'The Pariahs' is available from Creativia Publishing.
He dwells in a beauteous and serenading Garden of England where he can be frequently encountered consuming reckless amounts of mead and tyrannizing local peasantry.
And for more about Erik, visit his site or find him on social media:
Website - Facebook - Twitter - Goodreads - Amazon Page
Website - Facebook - Twitter - Goodreads - Amazon Page
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