Review by Lacceyy -- Tales from the Gray Area
-
Lacceyy
- Posts: 7
- Joined: 18 Dec 2020, 20:06
- Currently Reading:
- Bookshelf Size: 5
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-lacceyy.html
- Latest Review: The Eve Code by Mariett Ramm
Review by Lacceyy -- Tales from the Gray Area
[Following is a volunteer review of "Tales from the Gray Area" by Curtis Stephen Burdick.]
Tales from the Gray Area is a compilation of seven short stories written by Curtis Stephen Burdick. The titles of the fictional stories are Reincarnated, Bottom Dwellers, Vacation from Hell, Discoveries at River View, Sorceress, Alien Addiction, and Sanctuary. Reincarnation features a team of educated professionals who joined forces in an effort to discover the meaning behind unusual birthmarks, possessed by numerous babies worldwide, by deciphering an ancient language. Bottom Dwellers involved a group of people aboard a ship who encountered something mysterious and life-threatening that eventually became a threat to human life worldwide. In vacation from hell, fallen angels, who grew weary of their job of ensuring eternal torment of souls condemned to hell, request a vacation on earth from Lucifer; a request which was granted. However, Lucifer’s attempt at providing his fallen angels with a vacation didn’t work out in his favor.
Discoveries at River View tells the story of how an 87-year-old’s attempt at preserving an old bridge in his village leads to a startling discovery that ultimately prevents him from accomplishing his goal. In Sorceress, the wife of the count of a group a people known as Romadu secretly takes her daughter out of Romania to prevent her from suffering the same fate as she did, which was being a slave to the Romadu people as a consequence of their ability to see into a person’s past, present and future. In adulthood, her daughter then had to work hard to offer protection to her own daughter who was believed to be the most powerful of the family line. In Alien Addiction, two aliens travel to earth in an attempt to register their emperor at the Katherine C. Ward Addiction Recovery Campus. While at rehab recovering from an alien substance, the emperor makes an unlikely friend and also faces outside threats. The final story, Sanctuary, is about a Sergeant who discovers a remarkable, hidden village while on a mission to locate a pass that would be utilized in building a road known as the ALCAN.
In my opinion, the best feature of this book is the fact that the descriptions are extremely vivid allowing you to picture the scenes and even the characters. The stories are also very interesting and unique, and it is almost impossible to predict where they are headed. The unforeseeable nature of the stories makes them more exciting and encourages the reader to continue reading rather than putting the book down constantly due to boredom. All in all, this is definitely a must-read for science fiction lovers.
There aren’t many negative aspects of the book. However, one of the few was that the names Zutzka and Katherine are spelt two different ways in the book when referring to the same person. There were also a few grammatical errors but not so much to say the book was poorly edited.
I award Tales from the Gray Area a total of three out of four stars. This is because I felt as though some stories, such as Sorceress and Reincarnated, needed additional information as they would most likely leave the reader with numerous questions at the end. I believe a lot of these short stories would actually make great novels. The grammatical errors and misspelled names are also a part of the reason I deducted a star.
The seven short stories that make up the book do not all target the same audience. Bottom Dwellers and Vacation from Hell are for readers who like or do not mind graphic, gruesome scenes, whereas Sorceress and Reincarnation target those individuals who enjoy supernatural stories. Sanctuary, Alien Addiction, and Discoveries at River View target general science fiction lovers. Some of the stories, such as Discoveries at River View, are suitable for teens; however, I would recommend that this book be read only by adults due to the level of profanity and the sexual content in some stories.
******
Tales from the Gray Area
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Tales from the Gray Area is a compilation of seven short stories written by Curtis Stephen Burdick. The titles of the fictional stories are Reincarnated, Bottom Dwellers, Vacation from Hell, Discoveries at River View, Sorceress, Alien Addiction, and Sanctuary. Reincarnation features a team of educated professionals who joined forces in an effort to discover the meaning behind unusual birthmarks, possessed by numerous babies worldwide, by deciphering an ancient language. Bottom Dwellers involved a group of people aboard a ship who encountered something mysterious and life-threatening that eventually became a threat to human life worldwide. In vacation from hell, fallen angels, who grew weary of their job of ensuring eternal torment of souls condemned to hell, request a vacation on earth from Lucifer; a request which was granted. However, Lucifer’s attempt at providing his fallen angels with a vacation didn’t work out in his favor.
Discoveries at River View tells the story of how an 87-year-old’s attempt at preserving an old bridge in his village leads to a startling discovery that ultimately prevents him from accomplishing his goal. In Sorceress, the wife of the count of a group a people known as Romadu secretly takes her daughter out of Romania to prevent her from suffering the same fate as she did, which was being a slave to the Romadu people as a consequence of their ability to see into a person’s past, present and future. In adulthood, her daughter then had to work hard to offer protection to her own daughter who was believed to be the most powerful of the family line. In Alien Addiction, two aliens travel to earth in an attempt to register their emperor at the Katherine C. Ward Addiction Recovery Campus. While at rehab recovering from an alien substance, the emperor makes an unlikely friend and also faces outside threats. The final story, Sanctuary, is about a Sergeant who discovers a remarkable, hidden village while on a mission to locate a pass that would be utilized in building a road known as the ALCAN.
In my opinion, the best feature of this book is the fact that the descriptions are extremely vivid allowing you to picture the scenes and even the characters. The stories are also very interesting and unique, and it is almost impossible to predict where they are headed. The unforeseeable nature of the stories makes them more exciting and encourages the reader to continue reading rather than putting the book down constantly due to boredom. All in all, this is definitely a must-read for science fiction lovers.
There aren’t many negative aspects of the book. However, one of the few was that the names Zutzka and Katherine are spelt two different ways in the book when referring to the same person. There were also a few grammatical errors but not so much to say the book was poorly edited.
I award Tales from the Gray Area a total of three out of four stars. This is because I felt as though some stories, such as Sorceress and Reincarnated, needed additional information as they would most likely leave the reader with numerous questions at the end. I believe a lot of these short stories would actually make great novels. The grammatical errors and misspelled names are also a part of the reason I deducted a star.
The seven short stories that make up the book do not all target the same audience. Bottom Dwellers and Vacation from Hell are for readers who like or do not mind graphic, gruesome scenes, whereas Sorceress and Reincarnation target those individuals who enjoy supernatural stories. Sanctuary, Alien Addiction, and Discoveries at River View target general science fiction lovers. Some of the stories, such as Discoveries at River View, are suitable for teens; however, I would recommend that this book be read only by adults due to the level of profanity and the sexual content in some stories.
******
Tales from the Gray Area
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: The Eve Code by Mariett Ramm
