Flaws and Claws
CreateSpace, 2012
ISBN-13: 978-1478218685
Available: Paperback, Kindle edition
Flaws and Claws is a self-published collection of humor and horror, consisting of three short stories and a novella. “Green Peppers”starts this work off with a humorous look at the start of a new job. Just before his first day on the job begins, he accidentally eats green peppers on a breakfast burrito. Unfortunately, green peppers give him gas– clear the room kind of gas. It is a long, slow ride up 38 floors in a crowded elevator.
“Not So Dearly Departed”, the second story, tells the tale of Clancy Fillenbaum as he buries his aunt, who raised him after his parents were killed in a car accident. She was an abusive bully who always had a plan in place to keep him under her thumb, and left him feeling inadequate in every way. He is glad to be rid of her. Freedom at last! Unfortunately for Clancy his aunt’s plans are not over yet.
“Opening Day” is the third short story,and follows the adventures of a group of hunters as they go on an annual hunting trip: a week of hanging out with the boys and hunting deer. With tree stands in place, bright orange vests on, and shotguns locked and loaded, they head out into the wilderness. Suddenly a dark blur of fur and teeth slams into them, taking them unawares. One of the hunters is bitten and carried off. The hunters have become the prey.
Milton Dixon Has A Bad Day is the novella in this collection. Milton Dixon is a published freelance news columnist with multiple credits to his name. Times are tough, and Milton finds himself covering a county fair in rural Hilltower, Kentucky. As the fair is finally coming to a close, Milton plans to interview the sheriff and leave, but the sheriff is late. The sheriff’s deputy informs Milton that there has been an outbreak of sorts: people are going crazy and biting each other. Rather than turning in a dull account of a county fair, Milton is reporting on a zombie attack!
This was a lot of fun to read! “Green Peppers” and Milton Dixon Has A Bad Day were hilarious! “Not So Dearly Departed” and “Opening Day” were good scary stories. All of the works established their settings well using descriptions that told enough without going overboard. The pacing throughout was good and flowed quickly. The characters were well defined and it was easy to follow their voices. The plot in each story was good and I had no trouble following the unfolding tales. The only real complaint I have is that there were a lot of typographical errors of various types. If the editing had corrected these issues then I would have given a higher rating. That being said this was a very entertaining read. I have not read any of this author’s work in the past. Recommended for adult readers.
Contains: Graphic gore, sexual situations, swearing
Reviewed by Aaron Fletcher
author of the article was really talking about “realist” literary fiction. I don’t read huge quantities of that, but I can certainly find stories there that have the ability to shock. And I really love to read them, because I can pick them up and put them back down without feeling like I need just one more chapter. You read a lot of short stories of all kinds in high school and college, because they’re required reading, and I read huge numbers of short story anthologies as a middle schooler.
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