I was offered a digital copy of The Sea Was a Fair Master for review and it’s a collection worth reading. I don’t publicly review every book I’m offered, so pay attention.
The Sea Was a Fair Master is currently on pre-order for just under $3, a generous price you can afford. Anyway, you can’t afford to miss this title…unless you’re a younger reader, who shouldn’t be reading books laced with curse words and murder, anyway. Curse words are light, FYI.
After reading the first 3 stories, I knew that this collection was going to be a winner. It’s a collection of 23 short, thought- provoking stories that have one thing in common: they’re all dark and twisted somehow. If you thought I was going to say that the common thread is the sea, don’t worry, I thought it would be, too. But, no. The subjects in the stories extend past, just ocean references.
Short stories aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I think it’s appropriate for today’s instant-gratification generation, or for anyone caught up in the daily hustles of life who can’t commit to reading a full-length novel. The stories are short (just a few pages or less) and well-written enough that it would be worth to spend a few minutes every night to read one story. It’s the kind of book to keep on your nightstand.
My favorite story in the collection is, “Underneath,” because of the twist at the end. A married couple end up burying a secret over another secret–literally. “Graves,” a story about a ghost is a sad one to consider, too.
My least favorite was, “Trashcan Sam,” a short about a garbage society members–think hobos gone wild or deranged–who compete to one-up each other. I think it was still good, but felt it paled in comparison to the others.
Very excellent! And recommended!
-E
Though the cover of my copy–a ragged thing I found at a library sale a few months ago– boasts that it is an “incredible, bestselling true story,” there’s no real and consistent evidence to support anything the Lutz family claims. But even if the family told their truth, there would naturally be both skeptics and believers. And well, honestly, no one who didn’t live in the house during the Lutz family’s crazy 28 days in the house, will ever really know the truth. But, maybe–just maybe–we aren’t supposed to! I mean, some of the events that supposedly take place according to Anson and the Lutz family are a bit over the top for a non-fiction if it is one; a house is essentially physically destroyed without anyone ever hearing the damage being done, a woman’s face molds into an old stranger’s, phantom welts appear, secret unmapped rooms are found, a burial ground compounds the problem, levitation, unbearable temperatures, invisible marching bands, a Catholic priest, a well-known local story about a boy who murders his family, giant pig demons, and more. That’s a whole lot of nope to deal with.