The Sea Was a Fair Master

Author: Calvin Demmer
Category: Horror Short Story Anthology, Thriller, Dystopian, Crime, Revenge, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Flash Fiction
Suitable for: Adults
My Rating: 4 Stars
Format Read for Review: Kindle copy provided for judgement in the Indie Horror Book Awards.
Pages: 83 (kindle) 130 (paperback)

Description:

This is a collection of 23 short stories/flash fictions of various genres, including horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and thrillers.

In Short:

This anthology features a big pile of super quick reads that I would recommend to anyone who likes short stories that are on the darker side. This book spans a huge variety of genres and feels and you will see everything from love to hate, and darkness to the light of hope. Overall I think this was a very creative collection that was quite entertaining, and I would recommend it and I would read more by the author.

Pros:

There was a great variety in genres, villains and stories. Some were eerie, some were sad, and some had just a little bit of light and hope to them. I did like the larger variety of emotions. Some of the stories were really original and I loved that. There were also some good twists and surprises. There were some really great 5* stories in here. I really liked THE GUESTS which was a story about aliens that I found it to be really funny. I also liked EVOLUTION = CRIME, the characters were great in this one and out of all of them this is the one I really felt bad for the victim. These stories are perfect for when you don’t have a lot of time, they also make great campfire stories!

Cons:

There could have been more ‘showing’ to give the characters, settings and monsters more realism. None of the stories with horror themes were scary because of the sort of matter-of-fact way they were told. In some of the stories a lot of plot is packed into very few words leaving the suspense and emotion out. Overall I did enjoy this book and the average stars I gave for all of the stories was closest to 4 stars.

Parent’s Guide:

Violence, murder, some strong language, most graphic content happens off-screen, blood and gore.

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I was given a free copy of this book in return for my honest review as a judge in the Indie Horror Book Awards.