Saturday, March 8, 2014

Till Death Do Us Part: A Collection of Short Stories - Edited by Scott Lefebvre

4 of 5 Stars    Review copy

I love it when I get a chance to read authors I'm not familiar with and come away with a sense of having discovered something valuable. Like it used to feel, back in the 80s, when my youngest son and I would buy a box of baseball cards and discover a Cal Ripkin, Jr rookie card mixed in with all the commons.

Till Death Do Us Part is such a find.  The only author I had read before was Kit Power whose debut novel, The Loving Husband and the Faithful Wife, was released earlier this year by Black Beacon Books. So, when Kit brought this collection to my attention I decided to take a chance.  I'm so glad I did.  Editor Scott Lefebvre has brought together 9 talented writers, each one telling a story that is 100% faithful to the anthology's theme which is evident in the title, Till Death Do Us Part.

All of the authors come at the subject matter from their own unique point of view.  Some of the tales are stronger than others, but there is not a clunker in the bunch.

"Thrall" by Christinna Viruet - A story of possession and eventual freedom, not necessarily in they way you might expect.

"Promises" by Marta Salek - Comes from grief and a deep sense of loss.

"LI" by Mark McAuliffe Stanley - A compelling tale of a man with OCD and an apt title, as you'll see if you read the story.

"Anniversary" by Tim Jeffreys - About the lengths one woman will go to to make sure her husband won't miss their Anniversary dinner.

"Cold Shock" by Kit Power - One of my favorites.  Great opening , "It takes twenty minutes fir a submerged car to fill with water.  Seth doesn't even wake up for the first four.

"Angie' s Change"  by Deb Eskie - First periods.  Forbidden love.  Murder.  Really creeped me out.

"Till Death Do Us Part" by Sean Douglas - A zombie love story.  Be sure to read Sean's author bio.  It's a hoot.

"Companionship As Solitude" by Lisamarie Lamb - You can't keep a bad man down...er, dead...you can't keep a bad man dead.

"Cadavres de Désir" by T. Fox Dunham - A mortician meets his screen idol in a professional capacity.  What would you do?

Published by Burnt Offerings Books, Till Death Do Us Part is available as a paperback and for the Kindle at Amazon.com.

Recommended.

1 comment:

  1. Thank your for reading the anthology!
    I'm glad that you thought it was worth your time and effort.
    Let me know if you would like to read anything else offered by Burnt Offerings Books.
    http://burntofferingsbooks.blogspot.com/2014/01/where-can-you-find-burnt-offerings-books.html

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