Peter Sutton (4)

A Tiding of Magpies by Pete Sutton is like taking a walk on the dark side and the stories are full of surprising twists and turns. One can sense a little of Neil Gaiman, a little of China Melville but there is also a whole lot of originality that makes this collection fresh and compelling.

The author cleverly uses the familiar counting rhyme, “One For Sorrow” based on magpies as both the inspiration for the title and as a theme that weaves through various stories. Of course some stories spoke to me a little louder than others and I suspect that everyone will have certain stories in this collection that will do this. I knew from the first story, “Roadkill” that I was embarking on an intriguing voyage and this was backed up with the weird and wonderful “An Unexpected Return” and the chilling “Ash, Blood and Snow. I also loved the final story “Latitude”.

Surreal, unsettling, and imaginative; Pete Sutton has a unique view and this book allows him to share his stylish and intriguing ideas with his readers. I will be looking for more from him in the future.… (meer)

A collection of fantastical stories themed by the nursery rhyme "One for sorrow..." I'm not a huge lover of short stories, so when I get to read a collection where not only each separate story excites me, but the overall progression is intriguing, it's a rare treat. I really enjoyed these stories, especially the ones that were on the creepier side of comfortable. But, importantly, along with the fantastic and the disturbing, there are some very thoughtful ponderings on the state of a human spirit in isolation, in this case mostly placed in potentially dystopian environments, but the ideas as certainly universal. The publisher has included a few extra stories, which was odd for me at first since they didn't match the theme, but the quality of those stories very much make up for it. Highly recommended to anyone who likes fantasy and short stories!… (meer)