J.R. Hamantaschen’s third collection of short stories delivers more inimitable dark fiction. These are eleven tales of macabre horror, filled with estrangement, honor, wonder, terror, delusion, pity, desperation and perseverance.
The third collection by J. R. Hamantaschen. If you’ve read the others you know what to expect more of, if not start at the first, or quickly turn the other way and think happy thoughts.
He continues his great character work, always wanting to know what makes people tick, how they think, everything. You get to know them, and enjoy them, then remember, oh yes, something terrible is sure to happen to them, or by them.
The stories have a fair bit of variety, ghosts, psychic powers, various mental issues, hints of Lovecraftian monsters lurking in the background, and something that will make you fear public restrooms if you didn’t already! Throughout it all is dark humor and fun imagination.
I want to be able to talk more about the stories themselves, but it is rather difficult as they are more about the character’s thoughts, and observations then mere plot. For example, Rococo Veins and Lurid Stains is about Kristen, a young woman who wants to kill herself, finds her suicidal thoughts attract ghosts who want to trade her life for their own, so they may come back. That is the plot, sure, but it’s not really that simple. Summaries won’t do most of the stories justice, it’s more about getting inside the character’s heads, experiencing it for yourself, seeing how you relate to what is going on and thinking about the implications of everything. That being said though, plenty of it is dark and violent, so don’t relate too much!
He says in his introduction “For fans of mine, I view this collection as a fitting endpoint and an encapsulation of the themes and motifs I’ve explored in my short fiction (particularly with the last story in this collection: hopefully that’s enough of an impetus to get you to read the whole book!)” I really couldn’t put it better. No really, he’s very wordy, did I forget to mention that? But don’t worry, your kindle doesn’t judge you when you look up definitions.
He is right when he mocks “hyperbolic introductions”, this won’t blow your mind or cure cancer, but it’s just well written, and worth your time.
Author
sumisbooks
3 years ago
Okay I admit…
When I first picked up this book I read the title and I honestly had no idea what this book had in store for me. At first glance I thought the title was a bit cheesy. But then after having read the introduction and the copyright page I found that this was no ordinary book. This was a book written in the Lovecraftian style.
A total of 11 short stories that will invoke more than inner thoughts and fears… they will invoke the very horror of the human psyche!
Although the author writes some of the stories in a Lovecraftian format, it is very much updated to make for very thoughtful yet horrific reads throughout the collection of short stories. The author does lack the word usage and sentence structure that Lovecraft penned himself but I do think this is all for the better in order to write more comprehensive stories for the current day and age. Still keeping to the bones of the matter however, this author does a brilliant job of following his mentor’s outline.
Not all of the stories are written this way however and the author obviously toys with different writing styles. I personally like this because it keeps the reader guessing. Short story compilations that do not follow the same format each and every time are good for the reader to keep them on their toes. Most authors cannot pull this off but this author did beautifully.
Like most collections of short stories, some I liked and some not so much but all were written with the same style and panache that this author is able to pull off and very well indeed. For the most part I enjoyed the entire collection. It harkened me back to my younger days when I used to read horror short stories in between classes and during lunch to inspire my own short stories. I would like to thank this author personally for bringing such wonderful memories back to me. I had nearly forgotten
This book is on my list of books to recommend to those who like horror and appreciate the Lovecraftian style done well.
The third collection by J. R. Hamantaschen. If you’ve read the others you know what to expect more of, if not start at the first, or quickly turn the other way and think happy thoughts.
He continues his great character work, always wanting to know what makes people tick, how they think, everything. You get to know them, and enjoy them, then remember, oh yes, something terrible is sure to happen to them, or by them.
The stories have a fair bit of variety, ghosts, psychic powers, various mental issues, hints of Lovecraftian monsters lurking in the background, and something that will make you fear public restrooms if you didn’t already! Throughout it all is dark humor and fun imagination.
I want to be able to talk more about the stories themselves, but it is rather difficult as they are more about the character’s thoughts, and observations then mere plot. For example, Rococo Veins and Lurid Stains is about Kristen, a young woman who wants to kill herself, finds her suicidal thoughts attract ghosts who want to trade her life for their own, so they may come back. That is the plot, sure, but it’s not really that simple. Summaries won’t do most of the stories justice, it’s more about getting inside the character’s heads, experiencing it for yourself, seeing how you relate to what is going on and thinking about the implications of everything. That being said though, plenty of it is dark and violent, so don’t relate too much!
He says in his introduction “For fans of mine, I view this collection as a fitting endpoint and an encapsulation of the themes and motifs I’ve explored in my short fiction (particularly with the last story in this collection: hopefully that’s enough of an impetus to get you to read the whole book!)” I really couldn’t put it better. No really, he’s very wordy, did I forget to mention that? But don’t worry, your kindle doesn’t judge you when you look up definitions.
He is right when he mocks “hyperbolic introductions”, this won’t blow your mind or cure cancer, but it’s just well written, and worth your time.
Okay I admit…
When I first picked up this book I read the title and I honestly had no idea what this book had in store for me. At first glance I thought the title was a bit cheesy. But then after having read the introduction and the copyright page I found that this was no ordinary book. This was a book written in the Lovecraftian style.
A total of 11 short stories that will invoke more than inner thoughts and fears… they will invoke the very horror of the human psyche!
Although the author writes some of the stories in a Lovecraftian format, it is very much updated to make for very thoughtful yet horrific reads throughout the collection of short stories. The author does lack the word usage and sentence structure that Lovecraft penned himself but I do think this is all for the better in order to write more comprehensive stories for the current day and age. Still keeping to the bones of the matter however, this author does a brilliant job of following his mentor’s outline.
Not all of the stories are written this way however and the author obviously toys with different writing styles. I personally like this because it keeps the reader guessing. Short story compilations that do not follow the same format each and every time are good for the reader to keep them on their toes. Most authors cannot pull this off but this author did beautifully.
Like most collections of short stories, some I liked and some not so much but all were written with the same style and panache that this author is able to pull off and very well indeed. For the most part I enjoyed the entire collection. It harkened me back to my younger days when I used to read horror short stories in between classes and during lunch to inspire my own short stories. I would like to thank this author personally for bringing such wonderful memories back to me. I had nearly forgotten
This book is on my list of books to recommend to those who like horror and appreciate the Lovecraftian style done well.