It’s when they creep out of the shadows that you should beware. The good ones will hold your hand when you’re having a nightmare; the bad ones BECOME your nightmare, seeping into your very soul and burrowing in the darkness until they’ve completely taken over.Ten authors. Ten stories. Many supernatural beings you’ve come to know and love.Once you plunge into these pages, you won’t want to leave.
Once you plunge into these pages, you won’t want to leave.
And I could stop here!
Writing a (good) short story is, in my opinion, harder than writing a full-length novel. The rules are stricter, space is definitely restricted. The author has to give all needed background information, to build the set and the tension, reach the climax and give the (unexpected) denouement in just a few pages. I was happy to discover not one, but ten authors who did a good to a great job, even if some rules were not respected.
My favourites are Can You Keep a Secret and Broken Promises. I also really liked the Life and Death (and the approached issues) but I would say that it is more of a poem than a short story. Given the differences between how we define the literary genres, maybe I should have said, instead of poem, dramatic poetry? With regard the Broken Promises, I would have not added the final part. Without it, this story will have ended with a bum, “drop the mic” effect. The reason for the last part should have been satisfied at the same time with the discovery of the truth. If these are my favourites, it doesn’t mean that the rest of the stories are not interesting. I’m sure that they will be somebody else’s favourites especially if we remember one of Kurt Vonnegut’s short story rules: “Write to please just one person…”.
In addition to the challenge of writing a short story, it comes the mastership of putting together an anthology. From Ashes to Magic contains stories which, while united by the central theme, are different and cover different genre(s), styles and supernatural creatures increasing this way the range of their future well-pleased readers.
So, yeah, even if you don’t like what I like is still very probable that “Once you plunge into these pages, you won’t want to leave.”
This anthology are full of great fantasy stories from various authors. Each stories in this book has its own charms. I find most of the stories are unique, and a few are not.
Each stories in this book shows the difference in the authors’ writing styles. I loved seeing the difference in their writing, and how they delivered their stories. Some authors are pretty smooth and some are a bit rough when it comes to writing and delivering their stories. I do appreciate the efforts they put in their writing to make their stories as good as it can be.
This is my first time ever to read an anthology book that focuses on the Fantasy genre. There are various types of fantasy stories in this book, and I’m sure a lot of readers will find it enjoyable.
The stories are fun, fascinating, and easy to read. If you want to have a quick fantasy reads, I’ll suggest you to pick this one up. It isn’t just easy to read, but also easy to understand too. Although all the stories are pretty simple, I still enjoyed it.
A fantastic mix of anthologies. A wonderful smorgasbord of stories, each by a different author. I loved the difference in each one and really liked them all. The doors to their imaginations are just awesome! Loved this book!