Short Story Saturday 4

 This is something that I decided to do to give the short stories some love. Why not? Most short stories are teasers for bigger novels and it's a great way to get to know authors as well as story lines. 

Wanted Dead or Alive by L.A. Banks

Here is my untold secret, I love books. Sometimes I go into a bookstore and I go crazy. Sometimes I purchase a book (or two, or a few) and I bring it/them home with me. More often that I will ever admit, that book(s) sit on my shelf for a very long time. More new books come in, school takes over my time and life happens. So sometimes that book I bought a year ago is still sitting on my shelf. But then there is prod, a prickle, something that tells me that I need to get on the ball and start reading said book. That is what this short story did-it reminded me that  I really needed to start Banks' Vampire Huntress series. I like Tanya, yea I know she's not the vampire huntress, but I like her.  This was a great introduction to Banks' writing and I hope to read more of Tanya in the future. 

Mist by Susan Krinard

To fair warn everyone this story will sound a lot like Greg Can Eekhout's Norse Code, but they are not connected. krinard didn't know about Norse Code until it was too late. Both are about the Norse myth Mist. Wow, there is clearly more to tell about this story. And I definitely want to read more. I don't know much about Norse myths, but will be looking into that as well. 

Beyond the Pale by Nancy Holder

To put it all out there, I am a huge Nancy Holder Fan. I am not sure if there is something she's written that I won't like. At least I have yet to discover it. I was really disappointed to learn that this was a stand alone short story. There definitely needs to be more with the way that this story ended. I really really like Meg. The story leaves wanting more, more of Meg's past to understand her better and more of her future to find out what else happens. It would be nice if this turned out to be a brand new series, but if not we need some more short stories. 

Superman by Jeanne  C. Stein

Another story about a vampire. She didn't ask for it and if there was a way to undo it I am sure she would take it. BUt she doesn't allow the promise of this possibility stop her from doing what is right. That's kind of nice for a change. Though I would not be opposed to reading more about Anna Strong, I have to say that I am quite content with only this story, this glimpse into her world.  She is tough and hardcore, she has regrets but nothing distracts her from her responsibilities, whether they were truly given to her or ones she took on herself. 

That's all from the Chicks Kick Butt anthology. Next week I'll start the  Welcome to Bordertown  anthology, edited by Holly Black and Ellen Kushner. See you next Saturday!!!

Always Shine, 

Starr K

Nancy Holder's Possessions

Possessions

This is the final one I forgot about, again I am truly sorry. 

Possessions by Nancy Holder

Book 1 of the Possessions series

Razorbill –September 3, 2009

www.nancyholder.com

Facebook: Yes

Rating: Absolutely loved it!!

Recommendations: YA fans, ghost stories, boarding school stories.

Lindsay has started Marlwood in the middle of the first semester. On her first day she manages to witness a strange ritual that she’s pretty sure she wasn’t supposed to see, irritate Dr. Ehrlenbach by not dressing appropriately. But she soon learns that this is the least of her problems. She wanted to come to Marlwood to leave the tragic events of her life and the vivid memory of her breakdown in the past, for a chance to reinvent herself. But she finds that hard to do when she is pulled into the popular crowd as a way to keep an eye on her roommate, who may be the only friend she has at school. Mandy, the leader of the popular crowd, insists on doing pranks as a way to initiate girls into the exclusive group. But the pranks become dangerous and the in-crowd becomes weirder. In her attempt to protect Julie, her roommate, she uncovers some secrets that will only convince people that she’s the one who’s crazy and manages to create a rift in her friendship. Lindsay isn’t sure she’s not the one going crazy when she starts to see a mysterious ghostly face in the reflections of mirrors and shower stalls, and when she starts to smell and hear things from events that had to happen in the past. But things don’t calm down, they escalate to the death of one of the popular kids; the same one that was trying to talk to –warn- Lindsay. Troy, Mandy’s boyfriend-soon to be ex-comes up missing.  To top off all the weirdness of her first semester at Marlwood, the ghostly face that followed Lindsay around campus has now followed her home.

This is a well-crafted ghost story that will have you jumping at all the things that go bump in the night, the strange images that your mind will create in the shadows around you. And the only thing you can do is let go and enjoy the scare. There are things that irritate me bout this book-but in the most positive way possible. The main thing is that you, as the reader, don’t know what’s going on. Nancy doesn’t give anything away, so at times I found myself getting freaked out. The entire story is told through the eyes of Lindsay, so there is nothing that you know that she doesn’t. In the back of my head I kept wondering what was really going on; either Mandy and the popular crowd were cruel and really going to great lengths just to scare people. Mandy seems to have the money to do just that, but there was nothing in the book that supported the idea that Mandy was behind the weirdness. In fact the more that I read, there wasn’t any real evidence that Mandy was even aware of the things that were going on that she didn’t directly control. Yes, she was participating in it, and she may have even initiated contact with the spirit world. But at some point, the spirits started taking over. Not knowing exactly what was going on, only made it that much easier for Holder to play on instinctual fears.

Though this part of the story ended in a way that absolutely irritates me , I have to admit that it absolutely works for this and it may have done more damage if a resolution was  forced into it. So my advice if you can’t stand for books to just stop, then get all three books together and read them straight through. ( I am not sure if there are only three or if there will be more. This is the first one and I didn’t get them altogether.) But the ending was a resting point for both Lindsay and the reader (at least it was for me). It’s the rest that comes when you’ve been scared to death and you need to take the time to relax and catch your breath, slow your heart down before it jumps out of your chest. Your mind is left with questions swirling around in your head and you find yourself wondering if you really just read what you did. The same feeling that Lindsay is left with as the story ends in this book. If I had been told that this book had a very open-ended conclusion before I started reading, I would have passed on reading it. ( I need closure in real life as well as in the fictional world.) But I would have missed out on something that has become my favorite read of the summer so far. I can only imagine what it would have been like to read this during Halloween.

Always Shine,

Starr K.