- austrianspencer
We will find a place for you -Elford Alley
This book took way too long to get around to on my TBR list. It had been sitting on my kindle giving me the evil eye (quite rightly) for too long, and I decided (as it is a compilation of shorts) that I would read it as my “book to read in bed” before I crashed for the night. The real question was, how was the writing?
The book kicks off with “My Child”, which is a short taken from the Ghost Orchard Press’s Drabble release “Beneath”, in which I also have a drabble – “9/11”, which makes us Book Brothers, so I started off reading in a warm fuzzy glow. But Elford was only just getting started.
I think it’s the scope on show in this collection that impresses the most. I very quickly realized that I was in very competent hands – The editing is great, and the stories flow smoothly, Elford’s voice is very easy to devour. Each story differed in tone, presentation, and horror. There were two scripts included (stage plays) which were not really my thing – I studied theatre – I took it as my degree – so scripts are a known format to me, but a lot of the action and tension from a script comes from the performance of the actors. The script is kept to format, but obviously, in doing so, descriptions of the room, mood, and “selling” the background were bare – as they should be in a script. But it had the knock-on effect of reducing the appreciation of the stories to an appreciation of the dialogue. I liked the scripts, but I didn’t love them.
Highlights for me were “They wait underground”, “What we recovered” and “The Piasa”, where Alley’s storytelling really hits home, my favorite being “They wait underground” simply because I loved the whole concept of it all. Given that it’s the second story in the collection, it made a massive impression and paved the way for the other stories to follow suit, which they happily did.
There’s no doubt Elford can write, he scuttles from Alien abduction to cursed child, from radioactive poisoning to haunted houses, and ends the novel on an extended novelette that is part crime part horror, and eminently readable. He plays the reader’s expectations, has you chasing something to then reveal it’s your own tail, he has you running to his tune and delightedly so.
This is a very impressive introduction to (for me) a new writer. So, I’m glad I snapped up more of his books. I believe Mr. Alley will become a regular bedside companion.
I’m giving this 5 out of 5 ⭐ ‘s even though I didn’t really dig the scripts, the breadth of storytelling here is very impressive and more than compensates for anything lacking elsewhere, especially if that lack is tied to the format it is presented in - hardly a fault of the author.
Lovely to meet you, Elford. “Find us and other stories” is next up. Until then.
You can buy "We will find a place for you" by clicking on the appropriate Amazon link below:
You can visit Elford's website, HERE.
You can find Elford on Twitter, HERE.
You can find Elford on Instagram, HERE.
You can find Elford on Facebook, HERE.
You can find Elford on Wattpad, HERE.
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