Imaginary Beasts Book #05 Review

[brigdh]

imaginarybeasts is "a bi-monthly webzine dedicated to original fiction of the oneshot variety". The theme for this book was "ghost story", and I think it turned out some particularly excellent stories. My favorites:

The Haunting of the Hell House on the Hill by hazard_us. OMG! So funny! I usually do not think of ghost stories as making me howl with laughter, but this one did. I'm always terribly impressed with people who can write humor well anyway, as I can't.

The Tiger's Name by shirasakura. Also not a ghost story in the usual sense of the word, but a lovely and delicate story nonetheless, and one that really seems to get the details about grief and growing up just right.

Love and Hunting by thornsmoke (an author who also has some wonderful Swordspoint stories, so I was glad to see her participating in this). A sci-fi ghost story, which may seem like a weird combination, but works brilliantly here. The characters are vivid and fully-detailed, and the relationship between them is so beleiveable and subtle and well-written. This story went places that I didn't expect it to go, but I like it all the better for that. This one wins my 'if you only read one story' for this issue.

The Silent City by tarigwaemir. A story set in historical China, with the ghost of the city. I love the style of this one; it feels faint as watercolors and soft as distant music, which is really the perfect tone for its story.

That's the Way It Is by rei_kurasaki. This one's set in historical Japan, and tells a fairly basic ghost story. It's very well-written, and incredibly enjoyable to read. But the real appeal of this one, is in how it makes the everyday the horror of the story, and the ghost the escape from it. That twist has really made it linger in my mind after I'd read it.

The art this time was also very good. I recommend:
Skulls by vivaldi. Scary!
redredred by rakugaking. Creepy!
The Park by le_gris. Cute!

You can read all of the stories and look at all of the art here and, as always, my best recommendation is that you do so. The next book's theme will be Fairy Tales, and you can sign up at this post (locked to members of the community).

Comments

[childofatlantis.livejournal.com]

Dammit, I absolutely banned myself from signing up for any competitions or challenges this year, but I've already given in to Yuletide and I am so, so tempted by this one...

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Hee. Do it! Do it! You can write two stories! You've got months. *tempts*

[chiasmus.livejournal.com]

Heyy, would you be available to have some sort of meal on Saturday between the hours of uhh, 12 to 8 or so? I think that's when I'm going to be in the city. :D

Accidents

[(Anonymous)]

Somehow time I climbed on is not present and, asking questions, found interesting and not so interesting answers. One of which was - « FailureAccident on the Chernobyl atomic power station, 4 power unit ». I became interesting and thumbing through sites was simply horrified. One I the fellow worker, in the past the meter man, has told about the friend which was the liquidator of consequences of this failureaccident, the truth or not I do not know. But spoke that - « firemen which extinguished a fire there, by turns washed in a showersoul groups, and muzhiks because of an irradiation were shone in darkness, but to live ithim remains few hours ».