Cuentos is a surprisingly good collection of short stories of the horror variety. I say surprising because I’m usually not much of a short story fan, but many of the stories in this collection were “complete” enough to entertain me.
The ebook is devided in sections, the first is stories about vampires, then there are a few apocalyptic/zombie stories, and then the last part contains several science fiction stories involving artificial intelligence.
My favorite was probably one of the vampire stories, "The Recycling Kid," where a 15-year-old kid gets stuck in a sewer with a vampire. I liked how the story unfolded and was resolved.
I find that too many short stories are just an event or just describe a situation. I like any story, whether short or novel length, to have a beginning, a plot, a build up of tension, and an ending. And like I said, most of Stark’s stories had this. The writing is very good. The vocabulary was rich and the descriptions were vivid. The plots are imaginative, believable, and scary. One story is a bit gruesome, and I found myself doing some skimming. There are some grammar and typographical errors which some good editing could easily take care of.
Edwin Stark speaks to the reader between most of the stories, and I think this helps set the stage and added to my enjoyment of the stories. It took me a while to get through these stories. I enjoyed just picking this one up and reading a story or two in between other full-length works. It was a nice change of pace.
If you are a horror fan and are interested in some intriguing short stories, this book is definitely worth your time.
Kindle edition self-published.
217 KB
Copy obtained from the author for review
Rating: 3/5
I'm not a big fan of horror, but I do love reading short stories! I think the ability to write a truly good short story is a dying art.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't sure if you were going to post a Monday Memory today, but I posted one very early this morning!
It's nice reading out of your comfort zone every now and again, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteI like horror, so I'll keep an eye out for this one :)