Tag Archives: Short story

Sunday Shorts is a new meme started by the CabinGoddess.com. The rules are easy, a short story, an anthology of short stories, a novella, or a quick weekend read that is also short on your wallet!

Thanks to a goodreads group I was able to read another of Tony Bertauski’s books. It’s 99cents on amazon so you’d be crazy not to snag this awesome little read. At 44 pages it rocks in a major way. I’ve already read it so here is my review on Drayton, The Taker copied from goodreads.

Drayton once believed he was a vampire. He doesn’t know what he is. Or why he has lived for thousands of years. He takes not his victim’s blood but the silky essence of their soul during their last breath. Often mistaken for the Angel of Death, his victims sometimes ask for forgiveness. Sometimes he delivers. After all, he is not without sin.

Blake Barnes commits suicide by freezing on Mt. Hood. As his life fades, he assumes Death has come to him in the form of a young man. In his last moments, he asks Death to find his family, to tell them he’s sorry. Drayton honors this last request as he absorbs Blake Barnes’ waning essence. He travels to the Lowcountry of South Carolina to find his family. But saying sorry is not always as easy as the words imply. Drayton seeks to unravel the mess Blake Barnes has left behind and the predator he’s unleashed on his family.

 

I take part regularly in a meme called Sunday Shorts. It’s about sharing short stories ones you may not even have read but just ones that sound interesting and you want to try out. Short stories don’t get nearly enough credit I think, people may think you can’t cram all that story into so few pages. Not true I’ve found.

I am amazed in fact about how much story and depth some writers can fit in a story. Tony Bertauski is an author who hooked me with Annihilation of Foreverland. When I had the chance to review another of his books this one a short story I raised my hand and said please Sir, I want some more. Tony is super nice and sent more my way in the form of Drayton a character who doesn’t know who or what he is or remembers where he is from simply knows that he is old and takes the soul of people about to die. The Angel of Death perhaps? Whoever or whatever Drayton is I became fascinated with him and his story.

This is a much more adult story than Annihilation but then that was YA so it’s great to see an author being versatile. I was pleased to find out that Drayton is a series and will make an effort to read the others in it as Drayton is a character that I want to know more about and see where Tony takes him. See if we find out where he came from who and what he is.

Totally worth the read in fact all of Tony’s books should be on every good readers radar.

Posted by Jessica ( frellathon ) in Books, Ebooks, Meme, Sunday Shorts Tags: Short story, Sunday Shorts, Tony Bertauski