Title: Winter’s Chill
Author: J D Savage
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: January 18, 2025
Genres: Horror, Paranormal, Contemporary
Length: 61 pages
Source: I received a free copy from the author.
Rating: 3 Stars
Blurb:
Melinda Wilson receives news that her mother has died by suicide. Not believing that her mother committed suicide, she returns to her childhood home along with her best friend Greg Creston. As she digs into her mother’s death, strange things to start happen. As Melinda digs deeper to find the truth she finds her father’s diary. Inside she finds information that would destroy the family name and rock the town to its core. As things get dangerous who will survive winter?
Content Warning: Death. Discussion of suicide as a possible cause of death. Murder. Brief references to blood.
Review:
Winter is full of frights.
The atmosphere was well done. There’s something about old houses that can be a little eerie even if they don’t have anything malevolent hiding in the corner, and this only becomes a stronger feeling when reading about homes that do have a paranormal presence. I especially enjoyed the descriptions of the cold areas of the house as that could have easily been explained away by the fact that historical buildings can often be cold and drafty during the winter. To encourage the reader to continue to believe there was a less ordinary explanation for that was a smart decision and one that kept me reading.
This story would have benefited from another round of editing in my opinion. One of the characters was introduced with a last name but later referred to by a completely different last name. Had he been earlier shown to be a liar, I would have assumed that this was yet another example of him misleading others. He was always written as a truthful person, though, so I can only assume this was an error and not a hint about his moral character. There were some punctuation errors sprinkled through it as well that I found distracting. As much as I would have liked to choose a higher rating, I wasn’t able to do so due to these issues.
Not everyone is lucky enough to come from an upstanding family, especially when one digs more deeply into their heritage. Some of the most interesting scenes were the ones that explored Melinda’s feelings about the information she discovered about the past and how it could destroy the good name her family had in the community. No one should be held personally responsible for the actions of their ancestors, of course, but there is also something to be said for seeking out the truth and making amends as much as one possible can once they know what really happened.
Winter’s Chill was a scary read for a snowy night.
Title: Priye
Title: The Witch of Cromer
Title: I Wish, I Wish
Title: The Revenge
Title: The Reverse
Title: The Christmas Mourner
Title: 
Title: Christmas Inc.
A Review of A Divine Tale
Author: Jonathan Antony Strickland
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: September 8, 2012
Genres: Fantasy, Humour
Length: 13 pages
Source: I received a free copy from the author.
Rating: 3 Stars
Blurb:
This is a story about Seglaman the Snow God, and how other God’s use his sorry tale as a reminder to younger less experienced God’s as a warning to never become too comfortable when ruling over mortals who worship them.
Review:
Kindness matters.
While religion was discussed in this tale, this was not at all what I’d consider the inspirational genre. For one thing, the protagonist was a Snow God who, to be frank, was not the nicest deity around. Mr. Strickland also wasn’t shy about pointing out some of the dangers of blindly following any sort of belief whether it’s religious, political, ideological, or otherwise. My hope is that other readers will be intrigued by this approach to what can be a sensitive topic for some and willing to listen with an open mind regardless of your personal beliefs.
This came across to me as more of the first draft of a story than the finished product. There wasn’t much time spent on character or plot development, and that made it more difficult for me to remain interested in what was happening than I hoped I would be. A lot was going on here with Seglaman’s relationship with the mortals he ruled over that I wished had been explained in greater detail. As much as I wanted to give this tale a higher rating, I had too many lingering questions to do so.
With that being said, the ending made me smile. It veered off into the direction I was hoping it would head, so I was able to see Seglaman’s reaction to something he never saw coming in advance. My apologies for keeping this vague, but other readers should be pleasantly surprised by those moments like I was. It went a long way in tying up loose ends for a Snow God and the mortals he ruled over alike.
A Divine Tale was thought provoking.
2 Comments
Filed under Science Fiction and Fantasy
Tagged as 2010s, Book Reviews, Fantasy, Humour, Jonathan Antony Strickland, Self-Published, Short Story, Social Commentary