Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Oddities & Entities

Just in time for Halloween, lambs!

Oddities & Entities - Roland Allnach
Oddities and Entities
Oddities & Entities is a surreal, provocative anthology of six tales within the supernatural/paranormal/horror genres, exploring a definition of life beyond the fragile vessel of the human body. The stories are: ‘Boneview’, in which a young woman struggles to balance her ability to see through people with the presence of a supernatural creature in her life; ‘Shift/Change’, in which a hospital worker struggles to regain his memory as he is confronted by a series of desperate people; ‘My Other Me’, in which a lonely college student finds himself displaced from his body by his alter ego; ‘Gray’, in which a frustrated man is stunned to discover a little creature has been living in his head; ‘Elmer Phelps’, in which a brother and sister find themselves linked in a strange reality by a bat bite in their youth; and lastly, ‘Appendage’, in which a cynical mercenary is hired by his son to protect a research lab on the verge of a stunning discovery.

If you are looking for a slightly creepy book that fits every definition of different? Bam. Pick this up. This also would make a really kick ass Christmas present for someone who likes really weird things and you find yourself trolling the aisles of Spencer's Gifts looking for something bizarre but still cool. Now you won't have to wander that store wondering the appeal of fart pills and nipple clamps- you can buy this online and never leave your couch. 

Win for everyone. 

Basically, it's a collection of short stories that are all weird. And by weird? I mean, do not read this before bed. I read right before bed and I'm telling you what- I had 3 days (I read two stories per night) of the most whacked out dreams. Boneview and Gray are probably my favorites. Boneview is where this poor girl can see through people, but she can also tell when they are going to die. Which, if you think about it- how horrible would that be? Can you imagine if just say, you lived in a large city? Every day, all day you would inundated with people and you'd be able to tell who was going to die? What a horrible existence. And Gray was good because the first thing I thought of was another book I recently read (review coming soon) about schizophrenia and that reminded me of that right away. My Other Me kind of reminded me of the movie Fight Club, except it's not nearly as violent but some of the passages reminded me of that. 

I'm not even a big fan of short stories, but this one was so bizarre I couldn't put it down. Granted, some of the stories were a bit stranger than others, but it was a pretty fun read for the month of October. And I do know a few friends who would adore this book so that's fun too. If you are into odd, into a little bit different, want to try something new, like short stories and the ability to fly through a book- this one is definitely for you. 

2 comments:

Roland Allnach said...

Thank you, Sara, for the great review of 'Oddities & Entities'. I'm happy to hear you couldn't put it down, though I have to apologize for the stories disrupting your sleep - although I'm flattered they lingered in your dreams (nightmares?). For those who wish to read more about the book, I've been posting essays regarding each story at my blog, http://www.rafictionzone.blogspot.com/
In the meantime, happy reading!
Roland Allnach
fiction@rolandallnach.com

Anonymous said...

Definitely NOT a before bed or home alone kind of book!

Thanks for being on the tour.