When the Shadows are Hungry and Cold (A Milestone Story) - by Kealan Patrick Burke

No cover   4 of 5 Stars

When the Shadows are Hungry and Cold is another story in the growing mythos of Milestone.  So far, those stories include "The Palaver" (not yet published),  "When the Shadows are Hungry and Cold", "Currency of Souls" and "30 Miles South of Dry County."  All novellas, with the exception of Currency of Souls, which is more of a Novel which grew out of another novella, "Saturday Night at Eddie's".

Above is a good estimation of the chronology of the stories.  It really doesn't matter much which one you read first or what order you read them in, you can pretty much come and go as you like when visiting Milestone in story form.  If you lived there, you might not be given the same freedom...to come and go as you like.

Milestone is alive or at least concious in a way.  If you live there, it may never even make itself known, but it certain can if it decides to.  In When the Shadows are Hungry and Cold it does so with the occasional car wreck, at the same location and generally credited to the driver hitting a deer, although the deers are never found and the damage tends to be more than stiking a deer would allow.

The latest victim, survives the crash, but ends up muttering "take your child...follow the signs" before taking her own life in front of Officer Bryce Carrington.  BTW, there is an excellent payoff for this mystery at the end of the story.

Burke's decriptive narrative comes alive with lines like, "Buckwheat Prime Beer, a local brew that tasted like someone had wrung out their dirty socks into a dish of rainwater, but sure got your head spinning."  Yech.

I started my personal journey through Milestone with "Currency of Souls" and that includes, "The Palaver", which Kealan gave away online a few weeks back and I was lucky enough to win.  Needless to say, I look forward to my visits to Milestone.  I'm just happy I get to leave at the end of the day.

When the Shadows are Hungry and Cold is available for FREE online at Subterranean Press and is as good a place as any to begin your own personal visits to Milestone.