guest review by Steve Johnson.
Another very solid anthology from Whortleberry Press in the USA. As usual since Lyn has a story in this I’m reviewing and can say what I like without anyone blaming her. In this case there isn’t much blame likely. There was only one story that I really didn’t like, and several that weren’t badly written but didn’t have that much of an impact. However a lot of the stories I really enjoyed. Arthur Carey’s, The More Things Change, I found poignant, amusing, and fun. I loved Lyn’s story, Arafel. But then I too am a cat lover and enjoy a good ghost tale so this one hit both my buttons. Elf in the Attic by Ray Rebbman and Dead People’s Stuff by Dianne Arrelle, both had all the right ingredients too. I liked Best Gift and it’s nice to see a Christmas other than on earth. And finally A Legend of Christmas Past was a very well-written and gentle ghost story with a perfect ending.
Six out of 19 stories were tales that I really enjoyed. That’s a pretty good average for an anthology. So let’s look at some of the others. I found A Seabolt Family Christmas a little plotless. A New Tattoo For Christmas relied on a punny ending, apart from which it too didn’t have much of a plot. The Stellar Snowstorm, Death of Santa Claus, and A Christmas Tail were all pleasant enough but not outstanding. Proof didn’t impress me a lot, although it was readable, ditto Trees, and all of the other stories unmentioned for that description, save The Christmas Collection. Yes, I know people still do awful things at Christmas, the same as they do at other times. This story was well-written, but frankly I don’t need to be reminded that there are serial killers out there, not in a collection of Christmas stories. Okay, maybe that’s unreasonable but I can only write as I find and for me, this particular story almost put me off continuing to read the anthology. However when you consider the numbers this is a good anthology. I really liked six stories, found twelve pleasant and readable, and only disliked one. And that one is the victim of personal preference, other readers may love it – my wife did. Lyn tells me that she has work in the next anthology from this publisher and I look forward to borrowing it.