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Post by dem on Jul 10, 2020 9:05:27 GMT
Jack O'Donnell - Land of Fright VII: Ten More Weird Tales (O'Donnell, 2019) Garage Sale Secrets
Thief’s Reward
Open Up a Can of Whoop Ass
Staring Contest
Penny for Your Thoughts
The Candy Jar
Perils of Poorism
Night Watchman
Me, Myself, and Me Again
Ghosts of Castle LongShadow
A Note from Jack O'Donnell
More Land of Fright
More Jack O'Donnell
About Jack O'Donnell Blurb: The Land of Fright™ opens its gates once again
A man finds a mysterious item in a neighborhood garage sale that threatens to reveal the dark secrets of his past.
A down-on-his-luck thief vows revenge on the wizard who has cursed his manhood.
What if enough people thinking about something made it true? What if enough people thinking about something made it happen? And what if those thoughts were up for sale?
The gift of a candy jar excites three siblings. Until they see what horrors come out of the jar…
The shadow-infecting blight that thrives on the cursed lands of Castle LongShadow threatens the lives of two young treasure-hunters. They must find a cure before their infected shadows turn them into ghosts…
You'll also take a hair-raising adventure into the slums of India, take a tour of a creepy wax museum, enter a parallel dimension, and fight alongside a homeless man who really does open up a can of whoop-ass!
Come, journey forward into the Land of Fright™ and .... step into fear! "The past can never be destroyed." One-man-industry's seventh collection gets off to promising start: Garage Sale Secrets: Mike Klint browses a stall at a garage sale. Attracted by the lurid lingerie-babe-in-bondage cover photo and ace strap-line, I Stripped Her and Made Love to Her - After I Killed Her, he hands a sweet old lady 25 cents for a decades old copy of True Life Detective Tales magazine. "Lots of good stories in that one. All true." she assures him. Imagine Mike's incredulity on returning home to discover the magazine contains a deadly accurate account of his own unpunished crime of twenty-five years ago - a murder no-one else living could possibly know of. Next customer. Shannon Donnelly, English tutor, can't resist a bargain bundle of assorted DVD's. Some years ago she had a passionate fling with a sixteen-year-old pupil. She defaulted on her side of their suicide pact. Thomas Cavendish hung himself. Now she learns someone, somehow, captured everything to film. Mike and Shannon join forces to prevent the old girl distributing further incriminating material should she have any - and she does. For each item she sells, its twin mysteriously replaces it. A copy of the magazine falls into the arthritic hand of Bill Callaghan, an octogenarian ex-cop who retains several friends on the force. Klint must retrieve it before the old busybody gets nosey. Staring Contest: Jimmy MacGilliott pays a tidy sum to secure a private afternoon tour of Rifault's Wax Museum for he and Patti. His girlfriend could use some cheering up, having recently lost her sister in a car accident. The models sure are impressive: "Don't stare at them too long. Because you'll swear they blink at you," warns the proprietor. Patti puts it to the test by attempting to out-squizz Cleopatra. Jimmy feels uncomfortable, even more so when Adolph Hitler, Julius Caesar, Marilyn Monroe and Ghengis Khan take it upon themselves to join in.
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Post by helrunar on Jul 10, 2020 11:59:13 GMT
Are the stories comic in tone? The titles and the presentation of the cover seem to point to horror comedy. I looked for entries about the preceding six volumes but the search engine failed to find any of them for me.
I have a feeling that there's more than meets the eye with that sweet old lady in the story Dem described... she actually reminded me of a character in one of the original Mary Poppins stories, by P. L. Travers (which are a bit different than those who only know the Disney version might expect--there's a reason why Travers was ready to pole-axe Disney when he went after her work).
H.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Jul 10, 2020 12:54:28 GMT
"Garage Sale Secrets" can be read for free on Amazon.
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Post by Swampirella on Jul 10, 2020 14:30:52 GMT
"Garage Sale Secrets" can be read for free on Amazon. Sadly not on my Amazon, I would have to fork over $1.32. I'm sure it's worth it. |
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Jul 10, 2020 14:56:07 GMT
"Garage Sale Secrets" can be read for free on Amazon. Sadly not on my Amazon, I would have to fork over $1.32. I'm sure it's worth it. I am pretty sure that even on your Amazon you can "look inside" or download a free Kindle sample. |
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Post by Swampirella on Jul 10, 2020 16:47:37 GMT
Sadly not on my Amazon, I would have to fork over $1.32. I'm sure it's worth it. I am pretty sure that even on your Amazon you can "look inside" or download a free Kindle sample.  A free "sample" isn't the whole short story or book, is it? I'll buy it one of these days.... |
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Jul 10, 2020 17:05:55 GMT
I am pretty sure that even on your Amazon you can "look inside" or download a free Kindle sample. A free "sample" isn't the whole short story or book, is it? I'll buy it one of these days.... This will be my final word on this matter. The free sample contains "Garage Sale Secrets" in its entirety. I should point out, though, that it is perhaps not quite the sensation it has been made out to be. |
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Post by Swampirella on Jul 10, 2020 17:43:56 GMT
A free "sample" isn't the whole short story or book, is it? I'll buy it one of these days.... This will be my final word on this matter. The free sample contains "Garage Sale Secrets" in its entirety. I should point out, though, that it is perhaps not quite the sensation it has been made out to be. By George you're right! Thanks for letting me know. Usually the shorter the book, the shorter the sample; some "samples" contain none of the story at all. I must see if this works with other Land of Fright stories. Even if unsensational, I'm sure it'll provide a few minutes of entertainment. |
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Post by Swampirella on Jul 10, 2020 21:50:58 GMT
A free "sample" isn't the whole short story or book, is it? I'll buy it one of these days.... This will be my final word on this matter. The free sample contains "Garage Sale Secrets" in its entirety. I should point out, though, that it is perhaps not quite the sensation it has been made out to be. When I first downloaded the sample, it seemed to be the whole story, about 112pgs. But when I actually read it, it stopped after about 8-10 pages. Thanks for your input, though. |
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Post by helrunar on Jul 10, 2020 22:06:54 GMT
Hi Swampi, I read the sample using the "look inside" feature on the site. It was hard to tell if the story continued or if the end of the sample was also the end of the tale.
It was not my cup of tea--but interesting to read. I do not get exposed to very many current horror writers.
H.
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Post by Swampirella on Jul 10, 2020 22:10:41 GMT
Hi Swampi, I read the sample using the "look inside" feature on the site. It was hard to tell if the story continued or if the end of the sample was also the end of the tale. It was not my cup of tea--but interesting to read. I do not get exposed to very many current horror writers. H. Thanks Steve, I'll try that. When I checked the end of my sample right after downloading, the last few sentences made me wonder too if that was the end. It's probably close enough. Sorry it wasn't for you, I enjoyed what I read so far. |
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Post by helrunar on Jul 10, 2020 23:37:14 GMT
It bored me, to be honest. I started to doze off and began skimming paragraphs. But again... interesting to see.
H.
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Post by Swampirella on Jul 11, 2020 0:01:02 GMT
It bored me, to be honest. I started to doze off and began skimming paragraphs. But again... interesting to see. H. The "look inside" feature was no better than the sample, unfortunately.... |
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Post by dem on Jul 11, 2020 5:13:37 GMT
So I checked it in Am*z*n UK. You get a far lengthier sample if you select paperback/ 'look inside,' as opposed to kindle, but even this version lops off the final paragraphs (It continues after the magazine headline). Are the stories comic in tone? The titles and the presentation of the cover seem to point to horror comedy. The Packaging is perhaps misleading. My initial impression was of a YA selection. It's more like a sweary EC comic minus the morality lessons. 'Evil' often triumphs. Open Up a Can of Whoop Ass: To prove himself worthy of gang membership, Salamander Smith must kill a man. He opts for a vagrant, Ellis Taggart, sleeping beside a green dumpster at back of Delacourt's restaurant. After all, who will miss a stinking heap of man junk? Egged on by witness Haudie Johnson, Salamander douses the old man in petrol and sets him ablaze, pelting his head with coins as he writhes. But Ellis doesn't die. Charred and stinking, he collects the coins once they've gone, and hits the liquor store. The proprietor accepts fifty cents in exchange for something from the bargain bucket just to be rid of him. Ellis pulls out a can so grimy as to make the label unreadable. He's made an ideal choice. Whoop Ass is the demon drink for sure. |
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Jul 11, 2020 11:16:07 GMT
I was only trying to be helpful! It will not happen again.
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A free "sample" isn't the whole short story or book, is it? I'll buy it one of these days....