Thursday, 25 December 2014

Holiday Wrappings anthology - Wrapped In.... series




UNTO THE EARTH by Patrick. C. Greene:
This little stunner of a story was in Wrapped in Black – so if you love Witches and the Occult this will be the book for you!

Landon and his beautiful wife, Agnes, who makes a wonderful Voodoo dinner, if only the dog would shut up, the cable wasn’t off and Aggy would stop ordering all the magazines in French!



DADDY’S GLASSES by Allison M. Dickson:

Wrapped in White is full of Ghostly goings on and this is the first to set you off with the shudders.

Loved the southern twang to the story. An early baby death sets the tone for this nightmare riddled story.

So much death in one family but AMD also manages to show what happens in “real” life as families stretch, change and lose contact.

However, when a blast from the past arrives in a little wooden box the narrator of this story gets a full front seat to the true horror of human nature.



MY BOSS IS A VAMPIRE by Michael David Matula:

From the Wrapped in Red (Vampires!) book this tale is my favourite combo – horror and humour.

From the first few lines I was treated to smirk worthy narrative; turkey Voodoo curses abound. Oh what a treat to end on, this left me with such a smile! Fantastic story with a real kick in the fangs!



HÄXENHAUS by Nick Kimbro:

Another scary short from the Wrapped in Black set, this is full on Witches so hold on to your britches (sorry I couldn’t help it!)
eeeek at the torturous instruments described and explained.


Our narrator, Kramer, is close to a house that is prison to witches, a place that has turned confession, torture and suffering into an art.



The witch that killed his child is now dead but what parting gift did she leave him. To say I really enjoyed this story would make me sound perverted, but then I love horror! And this has multiple elements to it.



To wish suffering on others, is that human nature? Whatever, it was brilliantly written and certainly deserves its place in this black anthology.




INSEPARABLE by Solomon Archer, Ph.D.:

The second treat from the Ghostly based book Wrapped in White.


The first paragraph left me feeling nauseated, such was the portrayal of devastation and lost come to physical being.



As you continue to be dragged down the rabbit hole of depression that has a dream like edge to it, I was wondering where the spooky would be in this well penned tale.


I need not have worried as the very last line sent such shivers down my spine I needed to stop reading for a while. Brilliant.



DADDY USED TO DRINK TOO MUCH by Michael G. Williams:

Wrapped in Red brings you another fabulous story but this is a tale so full of woe I was left a little bereft and the end.

Lots of blood and some fangs, but also tons of emotion. Such a sad way to start the book. The way MGW described the whole setting was also very corporeal.



BEAUTIFUL, BROKEN THINGS by Rose Blackthorn:

Back to the Witches with this little treat.

Trey with his mantra of clean now. Trey has done something that requires penance. He has lost much too, and he appears to be paying. The world he lives in miserable; dull, grey and dirty.

Ciara gives the illusion of colour, and such gorgeous descriptions of colour given by the author, I was mesmerized.

This is a sad tale, with the lesson of being careful what you wish for.  Wonderful.



THE CURSE OF KIRBY by Patrick C. Greene:

Ghosties strike again in this brilliant addition to the Wrapped in White set.

Poor Dawson he can’t seem to get any peace with Butthole the cat pooping everywhere or scratching him to hell, not to mention his wonderful party hard neighbours.

Mendelbaum, his only other sane neighbour, is also having a hard time sleeping. Then they meet Abigail and Kirby; a mischievous ghost! and a plan is hatched.

However, as is always with hauntings there are dark currents and secrets, and with PCG you can always expect some even darker comments, not forgetting the gore, always lots of gore! But funny gore!

A fantastic climactic and grin worthy ending.


VERMILION by Bryan W. Alaspa:

Vampires come back for another bite (Wrapped in Red) I know, sorry!

The back story is inspired in its telling, BWA does not think us readers are fools, instead he continues to be eloquent in his revealing of the story.

As the climax comes nothing is given away until the last moment, then it is final. Awesome story and fantastic writing style.



SHE MAKES MY SKIN CRAWL by Shenoa Carroll-Bradd:

Time for those Witches to freak you out again!

To take a common saying and place a story around it, awesome!!

“Her” small but powerful punishments result in bloody bags of stuff, stuff from Jaime, skin from Jaime, skin that goes crawling on its own!! Even Jaime’s own bath tub was gagging at the revolting descriptions and imagery.




AIN’T THEY BRIGHT by Cecilia Dockins:

The final Spectral entry in this bonus introduction for the Wrapped in series.

In the world of Nursing and Medicine I found myself nodding and understanding all the pressures that CD was portraying.

Even with a busy shift it seems Hell has followed our narrator into work.

I was left a little perplexed by this story, maybe it was too close to home.



NIGHTBOUND by Patrick C. Greene:

Sad to see the last in the Vampire themed set but PCG starts the story so well you can't help but want harm to come to these "bad" men, he continues to heap nastiness upon them but gives a sense of spook once in the house, you can feel the blood suckers coming. The first kill is amazing, it was so visual.

The criminals really get what they deserved, some smirking great humour.



HAIR SHIRT DRAG by Gordon White:

A brilliant finale to not only the Wrapped in Black but this Holiday Wrappings.

Jesse, or Sissy to his non-friends, is a backwoods, Southern, effeminate, cross-dressing Witch and is even a little strange even for each of those sub groups. He comes from a long line of Overhold women who have the “gift”, each use and supply it in various odd ways but the outcomes are all the same.



The town has come to Jesse’s Momma house to help her with some “medicine”, the initiation of her son, who should have been a girl.


However Jesse is splendid in his hand me down Hair Shirt and as the townsfolk turn upon him, his beauty explodes around them. Fantastic build-up, great finale and brilliant start to this anthology.


I could feel the atmosphere such is the writing skill of GW, he managed to spin, wind and wallow me in a tale so beautiful I almost did not notice the dark undertone.




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