So I’ve recently joined Netgalley as a book reviewer (can I just say if you love to read and review books check this out!) and I came across a fun book and interesting book that caught my eye, Ten Short Tales About Ghosts by K.C. Parton.
Ten Short Tales Synopsis
Author: K.C. Parton
Genre: Horror, Supernatural
‘Ten Short Tales about Ghosts is a haunting read that will interest fans of gothic literature at any age. Characteristics of both Edwardian and Victorian ghost stories are present in this collection. Residents of the county areas mentioned in the stories may also be interested to explore the paranormal potential at their local landmarks’
Rating
I know what your thinking cats, ‘It’s not Halloween, why the hell are you reading a book about ghost stories?’ Well Here’s something you all may not know about me. I love horror stories, there’s just something about them that just tickles my fancy and I remember the first book that got me addicted to the horror genre and it was a collection of stories by Edgar Allen Poe. Since then I’ve been pretty hooked.
So I settled down with a cup of tea and turned my ereader on and settled down for a long read. Let me first talk about Parton’s writing style, it felt intimate as if I was sitting down at a table with him while he was talking to me, I didn’t feel like I was just reading a book. I loved this! It made me want to check out Parton’s other works as well to see if he invoked the same feeling as this book had.
I had three favorite stories out of the total ten stories (and a little extra) that were included in the book. The first story ‘The Black Dog of Heysham Wood‘ was about a man named George Little who was being haunted by a black dog during his afternoon bike rides when he was coming back home from work. This story was a great pick for the first story as it really did set the mood for the entire book. The second story ‘The Last Train’ about Arthur Wilberforce Jenkins an old man who lived a routine and mundane life takes a train that changes his life forever was also another favorite of mine. My Absolute favorite story, however, was ‘The Heinkel‘ which was about a 12-year-old boy named Peter during World War Two who visited a German crash site and may have taken something that he shouldn’t have. I wished those three stories were a bit longer as I didn’t want to stop reading them!
There were a couple of things I had gripes about. The first was that a couple of stories seemed to be a bit repetitive, the same story structure; Man finds myth/ghost becomes obsessed and then investigates. I found myself thinking I already read the story when I haven’t and it was a bit frustrating at times because I felt I knew what was going to happen and sure enough it did. Another thing was the lack of females in the stories, most were cast as the supporting wife or mother who thought the husband/son was crazy. I would have liked to see some females in a larger role.
Overall I really did enjoy ‘Ten Short Tales about Ghosts’ by K.C. Parton. If you would like to read the book you can purchase from Amazon HERE
Favorite Quotes
‘George Little arrived home, locked his bicycle away in the garage, and strode into the house. Everything looked normal, and he tried to shrug off the slight feeling of disquiet that had come over him during his two-mile journey home’
-First two lines in the first storie ‘The Black Dog of Heysham Wood’
About The Author
Born in Sussex, K. C. PARTON studied at Southampton University and joined GEC as an apprentice in Birmingham in 1949. He remained there for 21 years, finishing as a senior manager. He then held similar posts in Plessey Telecomms and ICL before retiring in 1993 to become a specialist electrical consultant. His book, Tales from the Toolbox (Matador, 2013) is an amusing account of his time at GEC. His previously published work also includes Peace and War (Matador, 2013) and The Digital Computer (Pergamon Press, 1964). He finally retired in 2005 and now lives in Worcester, where he continues to write more short stories
No comments:
Post a Comment