The new Death and others, by James Hutchings
Review by Julie
James Hutchings, “The New Death and others”, is a compilation of poems and short stories of the Dark Fantasy genre that focuses on the dark and often frightening side of human nature and our psyche. Many of the stories read like ancient parables, each with their own moral or statement of life that can be related to in our own modern day world — and that’s what makes some of them so frightening; the “what-if” possibilities, the plausible situations, and the occasional phrase that is definitely of our times.
While his stories are not filled with the gore of the horror genre, many are nonetheless chilling, and written with cynicism, irony, satire and some with genuine humor. Some of my favorites were: “Prince of the Howling Forest”, “Diamanda and the Isle of Wives”, and the short story, “The Bird and the Two Trees”. The book appropriately ends with the poem “Charon”, based on the story of the same name by Lord Dunsany, and inspired by the ferryman of Hades himself.
This is the first book of this particular genre I have read; and so I had no preconceptions of what to expect. But as a first-time reader, I was intrigued and drawn into some of the stories, and the interspersing of poetry throughout was a unique layout that this reader appreciated. Overall, I would rate this ebook with four stars.
‘The New Death and others’ is available on Amazon (for Kindle), Smashwords (several file formats) and Barnes & Noble (epub):http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-New-Death-others-ebook/dp/B005Q8Q8DY
James Hutchings, “The New Death and others”, is a compilation of poems and short stories of the Dark Fantasy genre that focuses on the dark and often frightening side of human nature and our psyche. Many of the stories read like ancient parables, each with their own moral or statement of life that can be related to in our own modern day world — and that’s what makes some of them so frightening; the “what-if” possibilities, the plausible situations, and the occasional phrase that is definitely of our times.
While his stories are not filled with the gore of the horror genre, many are nonetheless chilling, and written with cynicism, irony, satire and some with genuine humor. Some of my favorites were: “Prince of the Howling Forest”, “Diamanda and the Isle of Wives”, and the short story, “The Bird and the Two Trees”. The book appropriately ends with the poem “Charon”, based on the story of the same name by Lord Dunsany, and inspired by the ferryman of Hades himself.
This is the first book of this particular genre I have read; and so I had no preconceptions of what to expect. But as a first-time reader, I was intrigued and drawn into some of the stories, and the interspersing of poetry throughout was a unique layout that this reader appreciated. Overall, I would rate this ebook with four stars.
‘The New Death and others’ is available on Amazon (for Kindle), Smashwords (several file formats) and Barnes & Noble (epub):http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-New-Death-others-ebook/dp/B005Q8Q8DY