Anthony J. Rapino

Thank you for the ARC from LibraryThing Early Reviewers.

Tommy is finishing elementary school and starting middle school in the 80s. His (former) best friend is now hanging out with someone else. While Tommy is dealing with bullies and his parents marriage falling apart he retreats into his favorite show/comic world.

I enjoyed this story for the most part. I thought it would be more in the fantasy arc but I wasn't disappointed that it was more reality. It was actually the fantasy moments that threw me off. Was he hallucinating or were characters from the show really showing themselves on this universe only to him. It was weird. I didn't mind the "imaginary friend" part of it but the fight scenes were off putting.

I do appreciate that after the climactic moment, everything wasn't suddenly better. There were still problems in Tommys life but he had grown and was able to handle them better.

The other thing that felt off was that Tommy's new friends dad seems to hate his dad but we never know why. This isn't a huge plot point but it does feel dropped a bit.… (meer)

Thank you to the authors for sending me an ARC in exchange for my review. I wanted to love it but I just couldn’t get there.

This was a mixed bag of coming of age, family drama, and a child’s fantasy with late 80’s nostalgia sprinkled in. I found myself skipping through several chapters just to get past the “what the F is going on” moments. The story of a family dealing with a divorce was pretty decent. But, it couldn’t save the book.

The fact that the kid was having a hard time and started have hallucinations was unnecessary. And, maybe the fight scenes and imaginary friend conversations were supposed to actually be happening, which makes it even worse.… (meer)

Review copy

I wanted to love Greetings from Moon Hill and I can't quite put a finger on what went wrong. Conceptually, it's a great idea. A small town "tucked into the folds of the Pennsylvania countryside." A place of "Unseen things that are all around us. Impossible flowers, witches, interdimensional beings, murder coverups" and more. These are all things I love, so what went wrong?

Once I finished the book and checked the copyright, I discovered the stories where written over the last decade. This could very well account for the disconnect I felt and the seeming unevenness between some of the stories. Ten years is a long time and I'm sure the writer has honed his skills significantly over that time. Some of the stories felt incomplete yet others were as good as anything I've read this year.

I was nearly 20% into the collection before finding a story I found satisfying on all levels. Camera Obscura about a Junior High Science Fair leading to an obsession with one student's project. That and a bit of a drinking problem lead to some interesting results.

Others winners in the collection included From Your Body They Rise, Morning Espresso at the Church of Me, and Loosely Enforced Rules, the later about an unorthodox gang of miscreants, with plenty of gore, and took a stand on how french fries should be prepared (I couldn't agree more).

No Touching at All was very clever and Struck by Golden Lightning introduced us to Ewan, a wonderfully complex character who would show up occasionally throughout the collection.

Just Once More, Little Sister was a truly demented story and one of my favorites, as was A Very Large Bird.

As you can see, there are some gems in Greetings From Moon Hill, just not enough for me to fully recommend.

Most of these stories have appeared elsewhere, but are collected here for the first time.

Greetings from Moon Hill is currently available for the Kindle. If you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited you can read it at no additional charge. Also, if you are an Amazon Prime member you can read it for FREE using the Kindle Owners Lending Library.

From the author's bio - Anthony J. Rapino is a horror writer and sculptor. He's also a teacher, and somehow that makes more sense than it should. He spends his days among people and things that demand shaping: Words, clay , or minds, it all amounts to the same job.… (meer)

Greetings from Moon Hill is a collection of short stories that are all set within the town of Moon Hill. I liked the idea behind the book, but I really struggled with it. I am now at the 50% mark and I've decided it's time to DNF it. I just can't face the thought of picking it up again.

The stories didn't tie into each other like was expecting them to. They felt random and unconnected and the vast majority of them felt incomplete. It feels to me like the author came across a folder full of ideas and random short stories that he had written previously and planned to return to at a later date, but instead decided to put them in a collection and use the gimmick of them all being set in Moon Hill to try and make something of them.

This is of course only my own opinion, many others seem to have loved the collection, but I am extremely fussy when it comes to short story collections and I'm just not feeling this one at all.… (meer)