Casting Shadows By Joleen Kuyper, E.J. Tett and Jo Robertson Review

by Joleen Kuyper, E.J. Tett and Jo Robertson
Lulu Press
ISBN: 978-1409284154
Review by: Rob Walter
Review posted 03/17/2011

Casting Shadows is a collection of dark poetry and short stories written by three authors, Joleen Kuyper, E.J. Tett and Jo Robertson and published by Lulu Press. Each of the authors contributes four short stories and four poems and it is organized in a unique way. The twelve short stories and twelve poems alternate throughout the collection, starting with the short story, Just the Dust and ending with the poem Under the Lake.

The mix of the short stories and the poetry take the reader on a bit of a dark emotional roller coaster starting with the apocalyptic Just the Dust by Joleen Kuyper. In the story a woman awakens in the dark, alone, trying to understand who she is, what she is doing, when it is, where she is laying and why she is there. Monsters, by E.J. Tett, is a dark poem about a 15 year old girl coping with the darkness and the very real monsters in her life the only way she can. Roses by Jo Robertson, tells a cautionary tale that one should listen and be aware to the warnings of Déjà vu for they may save your life.

I am not a big fan of poetry, but the poetry in this collection works for the most part because of the way it is interspersed with the short stories and helps to twist the emotion of the reader into different directions improving the reading experience.

Wretched Moments Edited by T.L. Perry and Jessy Marie Roberts Review

Edited by T.L. Perry and Jessy Marie Roberts
Pill Hill Press
ISBN: 978-1617060458
Review by: Gina Desory
Review posted 03/15/2011



Wretched Moments is a collection of 22 stories that are strange and yet want to make you at least take a look.

The collection was what I thought to be stories on the bizarre or even more extreme horror. What I ended up finding out, at least for myself, was some confusion and some stories lacking the pull to want me to read more, leaving me disappointed.

Out of the 22 stories that filtered this anthology, the best of the 22 was Carly is Dead by Shane McKenzie. The story brought some of the bizarre into it by having Carly dead in the forest and her friend a fly who lays eggs in her tear ducks so that she can see them when they hatch. McKenzie wowed me with just the idea of something of this situation. The telling of the story was intriguing and with a certain darkness I did not feel while reading the other stories in this collection.

Wretched Moments is a collection for a certain acquired taste. I would not give up on it to try it at least once, you may feel differently than I did.