Spooky Saturday Shorts!

Torquere Press released a bunch of Halloween shorts this past week. I know, I know. Halloween is over but I'm a sucker for not only shorts, but Halloween shorts in particular. So every now and then, (but I'll stop before Christmas, really LOL) I'll do a few.

It's been an up and down week at work. Thankfully a short week and next Thursday I am off for our Remembrance Day (but the kid has school, it's weird). It's been cold and wet the last two days which hasn't helped my mood, but on the upside, my kidlet got two awards at the school last night. She got Over 80% Honour Roll and Very Good Attendance. (We're not sure exactly what qualifies as "very good" but she'll take it. LOL) It was a nice ceremony for all the kids.

So let's get spooky.

Dance of the Zombies by Lorne Rodman (24 pages)
Donny is at a friend's Halloween party when he runs into another zombie, Perry. They start dancing and have a fun, but Donny knows he's hit it lucky when he finds out Perry is a fire fighter. Seems they both love zombie movies and have the same lame sense of zombie humour. This is just a little story of two guys who meet and think maybe there is something possible for them as a couple, with an abundance of goofy lame zombie humour. You really got the sense that they are total geeky horror nerds, perfect for each other. This line says it all,

"Thank God Perry seemed to speak dork."

Great when you are in the mood for something light and fun.

Haunting 101 by Amylea Lyn (23 pages)
Colby is a bit annoyed to find himself dead at the ripe old age of 19, and worse, he has to go to ghost school to learn how to haunt someone. He gets assigned Devon, sort of like an internship, although Devon's last intern didn't do so well. They get off to a rough start but soon Colby is getting the hang of this haunting thing, getting to know the real Devon, and falling for his charms. Maybe dying a virgin doesn't mean he's lost his chance. Okay, I laughed out loud while reading this. Colby is so funny and self-deprecating, but it's touching when Devon tell his story. The descriptions of the other people in class were funny. If you need a quick short to make you smile, I'd say this is the ticket.

Love Between Friends by Kiernan Kelly (23 pages)
This starts with someone telling you a story as you buy him a drink. He claims to be a monster and then as he tells his story, you realize he is the Frankenstein monster and his lover is Dracula. They met back in the time of Jack the Ripper where they both had decided to make amends for their previous bad behaviour, and started hunting bad guys who prey on humans. It was quite different and the tone is that of a storyteller so you feel a bit removed. However, I really enjoyed the affection between Vlad who is physically perfect, and Adam who is ... well, a monster, but Vlad didn't see that, he saw someone he loved. An interesting twist on two legends come together as one.

Precious Possession by Alexi Silversmith (29 pages)
Ben and Fletcher are total opposites, but fall in love, get married and buy their first house together. Sure they say it's haunted, but, phhhhhtttt. Yeah right. Things don't go well, Fletcher loses his job and soon is putting all his effort into starting his own business, and carpenter Ben gets a cute twinky assistant. Before they know it, resentment has built and a year later things are on the skids. Suddenly a female ghost offers to help Ben fix what has been mostly his fault in the relationship. I liked the relationship part because OMG, BTDT, exactly. Except the starting a business part. I won't say how the ghost helped them get past the hurt and resentment to avoid a spoiler, but it make me a bit uncomfortable. Except for that part, I thought it was a very realistic relationship story, whether gay or straight couples.

Reflection by Jamie Lowe (14 pages)
Alexander is an antiques dealer who, when cleaning up an old mirror his partner bought, found something surprising. There is a boy trapped in the mirror and they get to know each other and while they can't touch, they can both pleasure themselves while watching and fall in love. Yes, Alexander love Elias, but I found him very selfish and not very sympathetic. He kept Elias locked up in a room, he didn't want to even give him a clock because he liked the idea that Elias sat there all day just waiting for him. I was like "Jeez, give the guy a TV to watch or something" but Alexander didn't even own a TV. I think because I didn't find Alexander very sympathetic I didn't really feel his pain at not being able to touch or be with Elias in the flesh. A different concept though that was well done, I just didn't connect.