If you read Glenn's guest post on my blog yesterday, you are likely already aware that Land of Bones is a collection which deals primarily with loss.
And it all begins with a flash fiction piece set in a graveyard,. The title story, Land of Bones.
Ghost of Spears Corner - Wow! This coming of age short will definitely reach out and grab you.
"We weren’t perfect, but I’d say we managed to be relatively normal. All that changed, at least for me, the last week of summer vacation in ’57."
Simon - Little Ally has a fascination with worms, especially Simon.
"Her worm, as she liked to lovingly think of him, was not like the worms in Katy's, or Michael's yards."
Not Kansas Anymore - Another killer story about a series of deaths in Kansas, Maine.
"On the news, they were telling us we had a murderer in our town. In the halls between classes, we were talking about vampires. We were all wrong."
Fire - Thus far, I have thoroughly enjoyed every story in this collection. How would you deal with a world suddenly aflame?
Welcome to Paradise - This story may be short on words, but what it lacks in size, it makes up for in violence.
"She loved damage. She loved scars. She loved anything beautiful and broken. The Lucky Lounge Motel served as the feeding ground for her biggest passion...murder."
Wish - All I can say about this story is one really needs to be careful what they wish for.
Avenging Kitten - Love the title. Another story of loss and in this case revenge. This is one of those tales where I couldn't wait to see where it would go.
Charley Sings the World Away - A heartbreaking story of the end times.
The Fixer - A tale of horrible loss. A story that moved me to tears and then made me angry. Well done.
The Rooster - "That Alice in Chains record is one we both loved."
Too Much of a Dead Thing - A novella-length story with a zombie-like event where the survivors are far worse than the monsters.
Little Bunny - Brenner's Woods were off limits. A haunted place with snakes, spiders, and ghosts, but that didn't stop Tommy Schafer from venturing in.
"While he came back each and every time, poor Tommy never came out quite the same."
Death Lights (A Lee Buhl Story) - If you read The Haunted Halls, you are already familiar with Glenn's demon-fighting urban shaman.
"Years after his showdown at the Burton Inn, Lee is going back to work and finds himself at an old farmhouse. What he finds might be more than he is ready for."
A singular voice in speculative fiction, Rolfe is able to tell complete stories in his shorts, something some novelists fail to accomplish in 300 pages. Some of these tales can be difficult to read, particularly if you've experienced a similar loss. But, overall I found Land of Bones to be a worthwhile collection.
Recommended.
Land of Bones is currently available for the Kindle. If you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited you can read it at no additional charge. Also, if you are an Amazon Prime member you can read it for FREE using the Kindle Owners Lending Library.
From the author's bio - "A vital part of this generation." - Brian Keene, author of The Complex and The Rising. Glenn Rolfe is an author/singer/songwriter from the haunted woods of New England. He has studied Creative Writing at Southern New Hampshire University and continues his education in the world of horror by devouring the novels of Stephen King, Ronald Malfi, Jack Ketchum, and many others. He and his wife, Meghan, have three children, Ruby, Ramona, and Axl. He is grateful to be loved despite his weirdness. Glenn is the author of Becoming, Blood and Rain, The Haunted Halls, Chasing Ghosts, Abram's Bridge, Things We Fear, and the collections, Out of Range, Slush. and Land of Bones. He is hard at work on many more. Stay tuned!
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