There is nothing more powerful than the imagination. As children we use it to pass the time playing cops and robbers or planing fairytale weddings. As adults we use it in different ways, we design websites, create video games, or even make up bedtime stories for our little ones. It’s a quality that will never fail us. We are always in control of our own imaginations, we decide how we want things to be and then *poof* that bite sized movie screen you have in the back of your brain comes to life, filling in the blanks.
Stephen James Price wrote a prime example of “use-your-imagination- literature.”
“Pages of Promises” is comprised of 15 “dark fiction” short stories boasting anything from a confirmed (*ahem*) hatred of Stephen King to the more literal “You are what you eat.” All are unique in there own way and (I’ll admit) kept me VERY entertained, (and sometimes laughing) but none of these attributes are what caught my eye. Nope, it was Price’s amazing way of letting the READER finish the story. Each of his tales were detailed without actually being detailed. (Ok… that was a ridiculous statement so let me explain.) Price gives his readers the set up, he gives the characters, and tells the story, but then… right when you are sucked in, and your mind is running a million miles a minute… BAM! He throws a wrench into the plot line, and then stops writing completely. Normally this would annoy me, (I have thrown my Kindle on more than 1 occasion for this very thing) but for some reason this was the clincher for me. This is what made me appreciate and love these sometimes quippy, sometimes creepy stories.
On a side note: the horror that was so eloquently expressed in each and every story was only made better with the explanation of their matriculation at the end of the collection. Knowing the thought process of such off beat stories was almost as entertaining as the stories themselves, and the introduction Price threw as an his preface made me belly laugh. Nice bonus.
Overall: HUGE success, and… (pay attention, this is the important part) a collection that even the newest of horror fans can appreciate.
Happy reading my fellow Kindle-ites and remember: Sometimes all you need is a “pretty kitty” to solve all of your problems.
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[Rating:4.5/5]
