Sunday, November 30, 2008

Tainted


Okay, I admit and have before that I am a slow reader. I have no clue why but I am. I make no apologies for this. It is just the way I am. Having said that I just finished reading Tainted, edited by Aaron Polson and I have to say that is possibly one of the best, overall collections of short fiction that I have read in a while. I am not saying this just because I am sure Aaron will read this post because there is a good chance we will never run into one another and the worst he could do to me, aside from driving up from Kansas to punch me in the nose is put nasty things on my blog. He won't have to though because it is very good.

I loved the dicotomy of the stories, the new and the old. Jodi Lee versus Algeron Blackwood, Natalie Sin versus E.F. Benson. You get the idea. In most cases I enjoyed the retelling or the interpretation much more than the original (and I really forgot that you shouldn't read Blackwood at night right before bed) If I were a thumbs up-thumbs down type of guy I would give it two thumbs up. On the good old fashioned star system scale of one to five it would get a 4.5 stars. I really look forward to seeing what else this little publisher can do in the future.
Tainted: Tales of Terror and the Supernatural. Strange Publications.

3 comments:

Aaron Polson said...

Thank you for the thumbs, sir, and there will be no punching of anyone in the nose. I'm glad you enjoyed the book. It was a quirky idea (new tales inspired by old, and so forth) and I'm glad it worked for you.

Jamie Eyberg said...

The cover did kick ass. I should have mentioned that.

Carrie Harris said...

Nothing wrong with reading slow. It means (at least theoretically) that you're writing fast.