Blurb:
‘
Oddities &
Entities’ is a surreal, provocative anthology of six tales
within the supernatural/ paranormal/horror genres, exploring a definition of
life beyond the fragile vessel of the human body. The stories are: ‘Boneview’,
in which a young woman struggles to balance her ability to see through people
with the presence of a supernatural creature in her life; ‘Shift/Change’, in
which a hospital worker struggles to regain his memory as he is confronted by a
series of desperate people; ‘My Other Me’, in which a lonely college student
finds himself displaced from his body by his alter ego; ‘Gray’, in which a
frustrated man is stunned to discover a little creature has been living in his
head; ‘Elmer Phelps’, in which a brother and sister find themselves linked in a
strange reality by a bat bite in their youth; and lastly, ‘Appendage’, in which
a cynical mercenary is hired by his son to protect a research lab on the verge
of a stunning discovery.
Roland Allnach has been writing since his early teens, first as a hobby, but
as the years passed, more as a serious creative pursuit. He is an avid reader,
with his main interests residing in history, mythology, and literary classics,
along with some fantasy and science fiction in his earlier years. Although his
college years were focused on a technical education, he always fostered his
interest in literature, and has sought to fill every gap on his bookshelves.
By nature a do-it-yourself type of personality, his creative inclinations
started with art and evolved to the written word. The process of creativity is
a source of fascination for him, and the notion of bringing something to being
that would not exist without personal effort and commitment serves not only as
inspiration but as fulfillment as well. So whether it is writing, woodwork, or
landscaping, his hands and mind are not often at rest.
Over the years he accumulated a dust laden catalog of his written works,
with his reading audience limited to family and friends. After deciding to
approach his writing as a profession, and not a hobby, the first glimmers of
success came along. Since making the decision to move forward, he has secured publication
for a number of short stories, has received a nomination for inclusion in the
Pushcart
Anthology, built his own website, and in November 2010 realized
publication for an anthology of three novellas, titled
Remnant, from
All Things That Matter Press. Remnant has gone on to favorable critical review
and placed as Finalist/Sci-fi, 2011 National Indie Excellence Awards; Bronze
Medalist, Sci-Fi, 2012 Readers Favorite Book of the Year Awards; and Award
Winner-Finalist, Sci-Fi, 2012 USA Book News Best Book Awards. Roland’s second
publication,
Oddities
& Entities, also from All Things That Matter Press, followed in
March 2012. It, too, has received favorable critical review, and is the
recipient of four awards: Bronze Medalist, Horror, and Finalist, Paranormal,
2012 Readers Favorite Book of the Year Awards; Award Winner-Finalist,
Fiction/Horror and Fiction/Anthologies, 2012 USA Book News Best Book Awards.
His writing can best be described as depicting strange people involved in
perhaps stranger situations. He is not devoted to any one genre of writing.
Instead, he prefers to let his stories follow their own path. Classification
can follow after the fact, but if one is looking for labels, one would find his
stories in several categories. Sometimes speculative, other times supernatural,
at times horror, with journeys into mainstream fiction, and even some humor- or
perhaps the bizarre. Despite the category, he aims to depict characters as real
on the page as they are in his head, with prose of literary quality. His
literary inspirations are as eclectic as his written works- from Poe to Kate
Chopin, from Homer to Tolkien, from Flaubert to William Gibson, from
Shakespeare to Tolstoy, as long as a piece is true to itself, he is willing to
go along for the ride. He hopes to bring the same to his own fiction.
My Thoughts:
I love a good creepy tale, and this one has six! Each and every one of them is enough to make even the biggest horror fan/creepy person (like me!) happy! "Boneview" was my favorite. Not because it was the first, but because it got me more right in the feels! Allison was a great character. I secretly (or not so secretly now I guess) wished her story was a bit longer!
The writing in this anthology is pretty tight! Each story brings on just the right amount of unsettling atmosphere to get the reader at that stage of either nail biting suspense, or queasy tummied uneasiness! I can't remember the last time a book effected me in such a way!
I definitely recommend this to anyone that loved a good scare mixed in with a good mind screw! This will definitely leave you with a fiendishly wide grin!
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(Probaby won't finish this one this week)
