Unearthly Fables: A short story collection by David Schembri - Softcover

Schembri, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0986030430 ISBN 13: 9780986030437

Publisher: David Schembri Studios, 2014

Synopsis

Within these parchments lie places hidden from the world. Where demons dance, hope is forsaken and fear is relished. Enter at your own risk . . . David Schembri's Unearthly Fables is a darkly evocative Pandora's box of a book. Made up of compact short-short stories of horror and dark fantasy, and a flash fiction collection.

About this title

Review:

"Unearthly Fables" is a book that every fan of short, sharp fiction must have on his bookshelf. David Schembri's fiction is dark and brutal, and although it cuts to the chase, it still manages to be eloquent and descriptive, giving his flash fiction a distinctly poetic edge. And, as the word 'fable' in the title suggests, there is a fairy tale feel to many of his stories. I'm looking forward to reading more of David's fables in the future. Cameron Trost, author and publisher of Black Beacon Books.

Unearthly Fables ranges from flash fiction to longer short stories and spans a wide range of creepy and at times disturbing moments. Desperate characters clash with dark forces in horror, thriller and sci-fi settings, interspersed with grim illustrations (like my favourite 'Hex'). 
I love collections for their variety and Unearthly Fables delivers but I think what sticks in my mind most was the way my expectations in many stories were subverted or fulfilled in a unexpected way, it was fun to read. 'The Seamstress' or 'Grandma' or 'A Way to Conquer Fear' come to mind in that respect, whereas the pleasure from other stories came from seeing how characters dealt with their powerlessness, such as 'Vow's Passage' or 'The Tuning of Hex' but my favourite piece was the novella 'Parhellion' which played out as a great futuristic revenge story - it stretched out and really built up tension and I can imagine more stories with Jeshan in his dark future.
Great collection, horror fans check it out! Ashely Capes, Author and publisher oat Close-Up Books.

About this edition

• Publisher: David Schembri Studios
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0986030430
• ISBN 13: 9780986030437
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 144