K R

Overall, I would rate this short collection of stories 3.5/5. I enjoyed the absurdity and fantastical concepts of the tales. The writer's voice has a mystical quality, bordering on a philosophical tone. It felt as if I had been invited to a secret club meeting in a college after dark and allowed to listen in on shared occult, ancient tales from another time by the club leader. This is a compliment. Born to Be Weird details stories of Elvis Presley's shadow-like spirit, an apathetic Lovecraft-Aztecan god-beast from the depths of the Earth, and a gauntlet in both senses of the word; an ordeal where schools fight each other to the death in bloody combat using a pulsating glove that makes their opponents explode, to name a few. I enjoyed the concepts of each story, in particular the storyline and black humour in The School of Necromancy. I loved the twist with the school captains and their descriptions in The Gauntlet of Gore and would love to read more. I enjoyed The Half School which actually managed to capture the ethereal feeling of being in a dream so I definitely applaud the author for that. Also, if I can be taught new words then I am definitely happy. The few negatives for me were the multiple grammatical and spelling errors, especially present in The Gauntlet of Gore. I feel like the stories could have been lengthened to explore more of the potential plot and major conflicts, or explain the aspects of horror/fantasy that instead taunted me and left me feeling curious. Tell me more! In terms of personal expectations, I was perhaps hoping for more quirky horror and gory tales of terror dappled with sardonic humour. However I was satisfied with what I read. Each story was unique in its own way and surprised me as I could not always anticipate the plot or twists. I will also add that Keep it Clean, the tale of the public toilet from hell took the cake. It was so wonderfully disgusting and foul that it made me mildly hesitant the following day as the call of nature beckoned and I slowly shut the door of the public restroom...