Aaron PolsonReseñas

This is a short story collection featuring ghosts and many variations thereof. I didn't like all of the stories (I never like them ALL) but I did like most of them. The ones I liked the best were:

The Ox-Cart Man: an awesome piece of short fiction.

Special collections: You may want to rethink getting that tattoo!

Junk-Watch out for those old refrigerators!

Little Fingers-Playgrounds can also be dangerous.

Uncle Bobby-Maybe being a sex machine isn't that great?

The Sub-Basement-My favorite story in the collection. Why do people always go down into the basement? Especially when their child says they spoke to Grandpa there, even though Grandpa has been gone for 25 years?

Daddy's Touch-Beetles! Ewww! That's all I'm giving away on this one.

Aunt Tessie's Burden-You won't look at little glass jars the same way ever again.

All in all, I found this to be a great collection. There were very few typos or formatting issues. I'm looking forward to more offerings from this author, both on his own and in future issues of:[b:Introducing Penny Dreadnought, Insidious Indoctrination Engine of the Abominable Gentlemen|13181490|Introducing Penny Dreadnought, Insidious Indoctrination Engine of the Abominable Gentlemen|James Everington|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51JF9dWkb7L._SL75_.jpg|18361770]

I picked this book up over the summer when it was free.
Since I am a huge fan of the [b:Introducing Penny Dreadnought, Insidious Indoctrination Engine of the Abominable Gentlemen|13181490|Introducing Penny Dreadnought, Insidious Indoctrination Engine of the Abominable Gentlemen|James Everington|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51JF9dWkb7L._SL75_.jpg|18361770] issues and since Aaron Polson is one of the writers featured within, I figured this novel would be a shoe in to my favorites pile. I was disappointed.
The story itself would've been ok, if it were not for the misspellings, the missing words and some serious confusion trying to figure out who owned the Olds Cutlass. At first it was Ken and then later in the story it was Dan.
I had to struggle to finish this story. To be honest, I didn't care who lived or died. I really just wanted it to be over.

What a fascinating anthology of Aaron Polson’s short stories. Each one presented an interesting take on some rather dark horrible thought no doubt some of us have found in our minds at one time or another…and then again…some of the stories presented new terrible thoughts for my mind to contemplate! Mr. Polson is a great story teller with thought provoking stories to tell. Thank you, Library Thing and Aaron Polson, for making this collection of short stories available to me to read and review.

We Are the Monsters by Aaron Polson is an intelligent - and disturbing - psychological horror that captures the 90s high school zeitgeist of Small Town, USA. Set in Kansas and firmly grounded in the relational reality of dysfunctional families and strained friendships, the novel also explores the fantastical boundaries of the mind - including the lies, self-deceptions, and irrational fears we have all experienced at one time or another. This is a mature read but not explicitly graphic or gratuitously vulgar. The horror is in the haunting images, ghosts, and, yes, monsters that inhabit the town...and our minds. I'd rate this 7 of 10 stars.

Aaron Polson's The House Eaters is a tight and trim YA horror novel that, in first person POV, captures that teenage voice wonderfully well. Nick, our protag, and his sister Tabby have moved from the Kansas City suburbs into a new development near a small town and are creeped out by a local abandoned House that seems to call to them, speak to them. They know the House means trouble, but are nevertheless drawn to explore it. This, along with a mysterious neighbor, some teenage shenanigans, and a bit of budding romance, make for a compelling read.

Polson is from Kansas, where the story is set, and his writing reflects the city-kid-in-the-country angst that makes this a realistic high school novel fraught with tension and suspense and a surreal story scenario. Some slight, high school appropriate vulgarities makes this, in my opinion, a recommended read for 8th grade or older.

I wanted to like this book. Really. Small Magic is a collection of shirt stories, and this term, "short" is true. A couple stories are nothing more than two paragraphs. Too short to really consider it a story. The problem that I had was with the stories is that some are really good and really messed up, but the order or the way they were strung together, is too disjointed to make sense. I think it's a weird way of putting together a collection of short stories, but maybe some better connections between each stories.

I didn't really enjoy this collection of stories too much and I think the main reason behind that was the length. Each story was just too short to actually be scary, or even creepy. I think some of the stories would make great stand alone fiction novels, if they were expanded upon (such as Pieces of Lisa and the one with the tattoos) and the author has more than enough talent to do this. It's just a shame that these weren't long and creepy enough to scare me!

This is the first flash fiction I have ever read, I will say it was a little frustrating at first but I got into it. I have read other books by Aaron Polson and this was writeen as well as all the others. I would of course continue reading his work

I have not read a lot of flash fiction, but I find that, at least in this case, it is quite enjoyable. Aaron Polson has created a platter of deletable appetizers to tempt our imaginations. I found that each vignette made me consider the "what next". In the past I have felt unsatisfied by the nibble of story that flash fiction provides, but in this case, each tidbit was well-sculpted to feel complete, yet enticing.

The subject of these fictions range from the mystical to the macabre, the delightful to the disturbing. A few of them were a bit more gory than I like, but on the whole, especially reading this around Halloween, the level of darkness was well-tempered. Even the darkest stories seemed to be written with glee. The overall tone of the collection reminds me of a 19th century museum - wandering creaky narrow halls within a dimly lit room created by rows of bright display cases of odd and unusual curiosities from around the world - from butterfly collections to shrunken heads, Ming vases to two-headed calves.

I thoroughly enjoyed this collection, and recommend it to anyone who enjoys dark humor, horror, and the original versions of Grimm's Fairy Tales.

I received a copy of this book through a LibraryThing giveaway.

This as an excellent story . Tucker and his siter Phoepe move to a small town in Kansas after the death of their parents. SOmething seems somehow wrong eith the town Will Tucker and his siter figure out beofre its too late? Decentent story and I doulcnt put it down . Nicely done and a great way to spend an afternoon in the sun.

Very interesting tale told from a teenagers point of view of several deaths over the course of several months. Aaron and his friends are out riding around one night hitting mailboxes with a baseball bat and one of the boys accidentally kills a man and from then on the kids slowly start to mentally unravel. Well done and very nice writing style kept me interested all the way through. Not a bad way to spend and afternoon on the sunn

I'll hold my hands up to never previously being a fan of flash fiction. The ultra-short story tended to leave me more frustrated than fulfilled; like having someone wave a bit of your favourite treat under your nose and then yank it away from you.

And then I got this.

Every now and then you come across writing that makes you turn green with envy, simply because you never wrote it.
This little book of magic is one of those. From the funny to the outright disturbing, not a single one of these pieces of flash fiction is boring. Some of them are pure delight. Most of them are not for the squeamish, and the ability to make me flinch in the space of a paragraph is pretty impressive.

The best part of all, though, is the sense that Aaron Polson just had an absolute blast writing these; even the darkest of them have the overtone of the author rattling them out with one major grin on his face.

I still prefer longer fiction, but missing out on these would have been my distinct loss; I'll be hunting down more from this author.

Recommended for : horror fans and short commutes.

Aaron Polson's flash fiction collection, Small Magic, is composed of brilliant, bite sized, dark short stories, ranging from slightly-off-kilter to downright macabre. The stories do not rely on shock tactics for their effectiveness; instead, the writing is subtle, cleverly and tightly written, all the more impressive considering the length of the stories. He uses touches of black humour and little nudges to prick up the reader's senses to the realisation that something is ever so slightly out of place. A few of the stories revolve around words or writing; a guide to writing horror fiction is deliciously tongue in cheek, while in another, the words themselves take action. Others revolve around normal daily occurrences that veer towards the hideously wrong, or are focused on children's interactions. All in all, a wonderful collection of weird tales covering a wide variety of themes.

Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys well written short, dark fiction.

Review copy supplied by the author as part of LibraryThing's Member Giveaway program.
Overall rating: 5 stars

As always I love Aaron Polson's work. From the first set of short stories I had the privilege of reading to this collection as well. They are all well written and thought out even the poetry was good and gets your imagination going as you finish the stories within your mind. It's the time of year that we all look for a good scary story to share and to enjoy. This was by far no let down.

From Cargo to the very last page of Down There. I kept turning the page and feeling those eerie creepy feelings when it's late at night and your the only one up in your house even the feeling that your not alone. It was wonderful fear tempting read and I think on a rainy night or a good campfire these tails would be some of the best to share with family and friends if you want a nice fright.

If you like stories of Zombies and stories of horror and undead this is the short story collection for you. Although there are only 10 stories they are well written and they did not take the blood and gore over the top. So curl up on the sofa on a cold rainy night and have a good read.

Short(60 pages), short horror story collection with a main focus on zombies (though there are other horrors as well.) Though all ten stories are good, I would call these four the best and most polished: Tesoro's Magic; The Distillery; Sea of Green, Sea of Gold; and Down There. They remind me of some of Stephen King's early short stories in that they are well paced, tightly written and allow an eerie sense of dread to seep into your bones.

In Cargo, we see a glimpse of the life of a man who hauls the corpses of the "ruined ones" to a pit for his keep in a settlement;
Tesoro's Magic depicts a soldier home after surviving what should have been a fatal shooting; The Way of Things in Fly Over Country is a coming of age tale in a post-zombie agricultural community; Former Vocations is a poem examining the relationship between career in life and... after; The Distillery recounts a live child born in a "grey man" over-run slum tenement; In the Primal Library shows why imaginative boys should be supervised when reading National Geographic; Familiar Faces a zombie tale of the ever-hungry dead; Sea of Green, Sea of Gold is a tale like the Irish féar gortach with a twist; Bona Fide King of His Realm is a creeping horror featuring that nightcrawling favourite of fisherman; and Down There is an excellent dreadful about the desire to be whole again.

All in all a great, collection of horror that doesn't veer to the extraneous gore or unsubtle shock tactics of lesser writers.

Review copy supplied to me by the author as part of LibraryThing's Member Giveaway program.

This was a great story of a small town, friendship, and the "monster" beneath the surface. The story really draws you in right away, and keeps you turning those pages right up until the end. I really enjoyed Aaron's style of writing as well as the tale itself.

(fiction, short stories) Thank you to the author for giving me this e-book through LibraryThing's Member Giveaway.

I love a good, scary story, and some of the storylines in this book are deliciously creepy. The author has talent, no doubt. One of the stories contains a really, really good reason for not getting a tattoo. Pay attention if you are contemplating your first one.

Some of the stories seemed a little simplistic for me, some a little too predictable. Perhaps part of that is due to the short story format or only because of my reading tastes. They didn't make me double-check the locks on the doors or pull the covers over my head. Still, they were fun, entertaining stories, nice to dip into a few pages before going to sleep and dreaming of monsters.½

This book took me back to a time when I was a kid. When we all use to hide under the covers from the boogyman, listen for the monster under the bed, or in our closets. When you would gather with your family on a camping trip, or just spend the night outside with your sister or brother camping in the back yard and telling ghost stories trying to scare each other more. It's a fond and fun memory and so this book is a fond and fun read. Definately neat to know and hear some of the old and some of the new ghost stories.

I suggest getting a copy and reading it if nothing but for nostalgia and the fun memories of nights and youth past. Who knows maybe you really could be reading about yourself. kidding. But it's a blast to give yourself that little bit of a scare.

Thirteen Shadows: Ghost Stories was one of those “Can’t put it down until finished reading” books. I really enjoyed this one. My favorites were “Pieces of Lisa” and “Little Fingers”. This is the first time I have read any of Aaron Polson’s work. I will definitely try out some of his other works.

If you like scary thought provoking reads… This one’s for you… Highly Recommend.

(LT member giveaway review)½

Imagine witnessing a horrible death. Now, imagine being a party to that death in a small town where everyone knows everyone else and no secret is safe. Seventeen year old Aaron has experienced his share of tragedy in his life and while attending high school and working part-time as a grocery bagger he tries to go on with his life while watching things fall apart around him as a consequence of one night of joy riding.

That brief synopses does not do justice to this beautifully written tale. While it may be a bit dark, this is an insightful examination of the nature of guilt and consequences of action/inaction and the very real monsters this can create.

I cannot say enough about the language of the book. Some passages resonate with me still and Aaron is not the only one haunted by the choices made in this tale. Included in this novel for Kindle was a teaser for his next novel…it is already placed high on my wish list as I hope to continue following Mr. Polson’s works

Typical kid-moves-to-new-town haunted house story. I liked the main character and enjoyed reading it. The ending was a bit anti-climactic. I was expecting more than a divorce to happen to the parents, but that's probably the result of too much Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I wasn't sure if the house caused their problems, or if those were just present to distract the parents from what the kids were doing.

The evil house scenes were sufficiently creepy. If I were a teenager, it would have freaked me out. I'm too jaded to get scared; however, the creepy parts were enjoyably uncomfortable. Maybe I WON'T go poking around in an old dwelling next time I see one. o_0

There were a few editing nitpicks, which I noticed because I'm editing my own work and I'm hypersensitive to some things, like eye-rolling, some unnecessary italics and word repetition. But the narrative smooths out about halfway through, and then I just enjoyed the rest. A fun read. :)

Two teens move to a new school after the death of their parents, but there's more to the town than meets the eye. Tucker and Phoebe are both sensitive to the presence of echoes or ghosts, and something doesn't want them there.

I was initially put off by the first chapter where Tucker describes some of his classmates in what I thought at the time was a particularly vile way - until I realized that the reason I felt so uncomfortable with it was because it was so familiar.The characters are in many ways very alive and believable that remind me a lot of people I knew at that age in their interactions. Phoebe in particular I think could really resonate with people who have felt the same dark urges at some point in their lives.

The plot builds at a fairly nice pace but stumbles a little at the ending. I felt like they didn't do very much to bring about resolution, and it left me wondering if it's meant to be open-ended to leave it open for a continuation of the story.

After the death of their parents Tucker and Phoebe move to a town in Kansas to live with their uncle. In addition to coping with the death of their parents and adjusting to a new life and school they start to get the feeling that some this is not quite right in their new town. Strange smells and people lead Tucker and Phoebe to uncover some of the tragic events in the towns past. The books seems to wrap up a little too quickly but overall a good read and in intriguing story.

Tucker and his sister Phoebe moved to a small town to live with thier uncle after thier parents died in car crash. Tucker was starting his senior year, phoebe was a freshman. Tucker liked to draw but didnt like his art teacher. Ellen was in his art class and showed hime a ghost train. Haley was the rich girl and snob and was interested in tucker. was making life hard on Phoebe always being rude. Charlie was trying to prove that thier was ghosts even had some equipment. He also wanted to be charlies friend.
Tucker felt somthing was wrong with the town after feeling and seeing weird at Haley party and than later when Ellen shows him the ghost train. When tucker tried to show it to Charlie and he could not see it. He realized he was senstive to seeing more than most people. Phoebe was hearing voices in her head to cut herself.
Thier was somthing missing it seamed like in one spot. also the ending I wasn't happy with. It left some things up in the air. Maybe another book with these characters in. If so I will read it. I was given the ebook in exchange of honest review.

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