Lori R. LopezBesprekingen

I read this short story last night and I thought it was entertaining. As with every story though, there were things I enjoyed and things I did not.

I enjoyed the imagination and creativity that went into this tale. It's not exactly an original premise, but how many original premises are left? The prose was a bit dense and took a bit more from the reader than your usual horror story. I liked that too-somewhat. I also thought the character development was very good. That's something some authors cannot create in a short tale like this one. I enjoyed the opening scenes on stage and in the bookshop as well.

Now, for what I did not like. I felt that that the relationship between the bookseller and the young woman accelerated too quickly-it didn't ring true for me at all.(I realize that it was more of an older geeky "guy is smitten" with a young woman type thing, but it still didn't work for me.)

Regarding the dense prose I mentioned above-it did slow down the pacing. I'm a fast reader, but with dense prose, I need to slow down and make sure I'm getting all that the author intended. When it's a fast paced tale,(as this one becomes towards the end), I'm reluctant to do that. This author uses some words that aren't real words (and I'm fine with that), but also uses alternate spellings for words-like loth for loathe. I have no problem with that either, but it did contribute to slowing the pacing down a bit. I don't think all of that was needed and I don't think it contributed much to the story, to be honest. I would have preferred to rip right through that portion of the story without slowing down or being tossed out of it by a strangely spelled or made up word.

I received this story free with a promise to review honestly, and that is what I have done. I will probably look for more stories from this author in the future because I did enjoy this one.
**This review also appears at the Ravenous Reads blog here: http://ravenousreads.blogspot.com/

Reminiscent of the cyclone in the land of Oz, An Ill Wind Blows takes you a step higher, as if on steroids... As the ghoulishly dark cover suggests, this is no children's story but rather, it is dedicated to the child in all of us.

Recounted by Arletta Trimble, the story sweeps us into a whirlwind of whimsy, mixing up fantasy and reality, creating quirky characters such as zombie piranhas, ghosts, an alien, a witch, an axe-wielding elf, mad stalkers, a root monster, and a the ill wind itself, and bringing them to life in the most delightful, fun ways. Here is how Arletta introduces herself: "It isn't that I'm Snoopy like some people think. I'm just naturally curious. Which tends to make me prone to an abundance of problems, because following your nose can be a dangerous proposition."

I found it fascinating that the story was written in response to a challenge to draft a novel in thirty days, for which the author, Lori R. Lopez, won the Vicious Novel Writing Month award. The frenzy with which she conjured things up lends itself to the theme of the book, and makes An Ill Wind Blows a dynamic read.

Five Stars.

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this review, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)

I've already reviewed something by horror writer Lori R. Lopez before, the wispy story collection Chocolate-Covered Eyes, and mentioned at that point that I was looking forward to seeing something a little longer and heftier from her; and now here it is, an "Author's Draft" version (think "Director's Cut") of a full-length horror tale, a sweeping story that takes place over multiple periods of human history among a whole host of different Latin communities around the world. But I have to confess, I'm not much of a horror fan, which means that even a bit of the usual tropes of this genre is usually too much for me, of which there are lots here in this example -- the overly flowery prose style, the melodramatic plot, the 'BWOO-HAA-HAA' tone of the entire thing. But I never think it fair for a genre book to get penalized just for displaying the traits of its genre, simply because the reviewer isn't much of a fan of that genre; and so that's why I'm giving it at least a middle-of-the-road score here, and am humbly suggesting that you get the opinion of a more dedicated horror reviewer if you're truly interested in learning more about this book.

Out of 10: 7.5

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)

This sampler of short horror pieces (both stories and gothic poems) by Lori R. Lopez just barely qualified in length to get reviewed here, with a reading experience to match -- it is certainly competently done, but with very traditional pieces that leave not much of an impression, the whole thing over and done before most people will even have a chance to let the work soak in. And while that's not bad, it's not that great either, a wispy collection that I don't have much to say about precisely because there's not a lot to say; and so I will instead give it a standard middle-of-the-road score, encourage horror fans to pick it up if they have a chance, and mention how much I'm looking forward to Lopez giving all of us something more substantial in the near future.

Out of 10: 7.5