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Ragged Souls: 3 Tales of the Holy, the Strange, and the Bizarre
Plunge into the supernatural in the first tale, A Purveyor of Odd Things. Terrifying secrets are revealed to Detective Renner Branson – not just about the world, but about himself. What he finds may shatter his mind, or may salvage his wasted life.
Then visit Martha’s Kitchen, where gruesome horrors and the Sunday Special are served cold with a smile by the deliciously insane sisters Martha and Jillian.
Finally, the eternal battle for souls continues between the ancient forces of good and evil in Cactus Valley. Which one will claim victory over Bradley and Andrea?
In these pages, you’ll find angels, demons, doppelgangers, murderers, mummies, a healthy dose of the surreal, and a glimpse of the tantalizing world beyond human senses. This collection’s cold-blooded murderers, spirits made flesh, and characters teetering on the edge of reality are sure to entertain – and to haunt your dreams at night.
Praise for Ernesto’s work:
“A spoonful of horror and a dash of quirkiness” -JanJenn, online reviewer
“Ernesto San Giacomo has a wonderful way with words and a keen imagination that makes his readers delve past the surface to peer into what really makes people tick.” -D.J. McCrary, online reviewer
About the Author:
Ernesto San Giacomo was born and raised on Staten Island, the forgotten borough of New York City. He spent part of his working life in retail management, and the rest of it teaching high school – and surprisingly still has his sanity. Ernesto married a military woman and moved to San Antonio a few years ago, leaving behind his teaching career and everything he’s ever known. Having always been the creative type, he took up a new career as an author.
Ernesto’s short stories tend to focus on the dark side of American culture, but the underlying themes hold true for societies around the globe. As human beings, we all experience wants, joys, sorrows, and regrets, and have views of how things ought to be. Ernesto enjoys exploring what happens when the ways in which we deal with those emotions and worldviews are taken to extremes.
About the Editor:
Ruth Miller hails from New Jersey, where she spent her young life actually enjoying school and working with horses. She is an avid reader and die-hard traveler, having visited five continents and driven across the U.S. four times. She’s also a fanatic for the small details, and has put her soul into making Ernesto’s work shine for his readers.
Then visit Martha’s Kitchen, where gruesome horrors and the Sunday Special are served cold with a smile by the deliciously insane sisters Martha and Jillian.
Finally, the eternal battle for souls continues between the ancient forces of good and evil in Cactus Valley. Which one will claim victory over Bradley and Andrea?
In these pages, you’ll find angels, demons, doppelgangers, murderers, mummies, a healthy dose of the surreal, and a glimpse of the tantalizing world beyond human senses. This collection’s cold-blooded murderers, spirits made flesh, and characters teetering on the edge of reality are sure to entertain – and to haunt your dreams at night.
Praise for Ernesto’s work:
“A spoonful of horror and a dash of quirkiness” -JanJenn, online reviewer
“Ernesto San Giacomo has a wonderful way with words and a keen imagination that makes his readers delve past the surface to peer into what really makes people tick.” -D.J. McCrary, online reviewer
About the Author:
Ernesto San Giacomo was born and raised on Staten Island, the forgotten borough of New York City. He spent part of his working life in retail management, and the rest of it teaching high school – and surprisingly still has his sanity. Ernesto married a military woman and moved to San Antonio a few years ago, leaving behind his teaching career and everything he’s ever known. Having always been the creative type, he took up a new career as an author.
Ernesto’s short stories tend to focus on the dark side of American culture, but the underlying themes hold true for societies around the globe. As human beings, we all experience wants, joys, sorrows, and regrets, and have views of how things ought to be. Ernesto enjoys exploring what happens when the ways in which we deal with those emotions and worldviews are taken to extremes.
About the Editor:
Ruth Miller hails from New Jersey, where she spent her young life actually enjoying school and working with horses. She is an avid reader and die-hard traveler, having visited five continents and driven across the U.S. four times. She’s also a fanatic for the small details, and has put her soul into making Ernesto’s work shine for his readers.
42 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 22, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 29, 2014
Of the three stories which Ernesto has included in Ragged Souls, I enjoyed the final one, Cactus Valley, the most. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy the first two, though I felt that with regards to the first story in particular, A Purveyor of Odd Things, there is actually a much better, bigger story in there, fighting to get out. There's a sense of the plot and the character development having been 'squeezed' into a short story, resulting in some elements of the narrative (particularly the burgeoning relationship between the two main characters) feeling rushed. I also felt that this story, perhaps more than the second and third ones, needed the 'bizarre' element to be more fully explained.
Story number two, Martha's Kitchen, is quite heavy on dialogue, which may not be to everyone's taste. However, the backstory and the two main characters, Martha and Jillian, are developed to a more satisfyingly level. The plot twist, when it arrives, is pleasingly sudden. The final scene, in my humble opinion, would have more impact if it were considerably shorter, but that doesn't really detract from the overall tale.
Story number three, Cactus Valley, as I mentioned earlier, is my favourite. Ernesto creates two interesting, though not entirely likeable, main characters and engenders a good sense of isolation and peril around them. There is an almost comedic element to this tale, based on a clash of ideologies, which is the most satisfying of the three 'bizarre' twists.
Overall, three very readable short stories that I'd certainly encourage people to have a look at.
Story number two, Martha's Kitchen, is quite heavy on dialogue, which may not be to everyone's taste. However, the backstory and the two main characters, Martha and Jillian, are developed to a more satisfyingly level. The plot twist, when it arrives, is pleasingly sudden. The final scene, in my humble opinion, would have more impact if it were considerably shorter, but that doesn't really detract from the overall tale.
Story number three, Cactus Valley, as I mentioned earlier, is my favourite. Ernesto creates two interesting, though not entirely likeable, main characters and engenders a good sense of isolation and peril around them. There is an almost comedic element to this tale, based on a clash of ideologies, which is the most satisfying of the three 'bizarre' twists.
Overall, three very readable short stories that I'd certainly encourage people to have a look at.
December 28, 2017
A collection of quirky, supernatural tales that explore the dark side of the human psyche. In ‘A Purveyor of Odd Things’, we meet a plodding but hard-working detective who sets out to solve a puzzling phenomenon. Then there’s the two sisters in ‘Martha’s Kitchen’ who long for the old days when the members of their community stayed together. Finally, an argumentative couple make a classic mistake that leads to a strange meeting on a lonely road.
This book of stories has been on my to-read list for a long time, so I’m happy to have finally found time to enjoy it. Ernesto San Giacomo’s tales are varied and interesting in style and language. His characters in the first tale (my favourite), were lovingly created and well-drawn, though it felt a little as though they’d been cut-off-in-their-prime, as I’d hoped to see more of them before the denouement. However, I loved the simple observations and details of the story and the ingenuity of the author’s ideas. The other two tales were equally well crafted, and I couldn’t help wonder what delights this writer might serve up on a longer piece of work.
An excellent collection that promises well for the future.
This book of stories has been on my to-read list for a long time, so I’m happy to have finally found time to enjoy it. Ernesto San Giacomo’s tales are varied and interesting in style and language. His characters in the first tale (my favourite), were lovingly created and well-drawn, though it felt a little as though they’d been cut-off-in-their-prime, as I’d hoped to see more of them before the denouement. However, I loved the simple observations and details of the story and the ingenuity of the author’s ideas. The other two tales were equally well crafted, and I couldn’t help wonder what delights this writer might serve up on a longer piece of work.
An excellent collection that promises well for the future.
June 26, 2014
With the ever-increasing dominance of the internet, short stories are becoming something of a lost art. Fortunately, the practice is alive an well in Ernesto San Giacomo's Ragged Soul's: 3 Tales of the Holy, the Strange and the Bizarre. The collection consists of the plus-sized short "A Purveyor of Odd Things," (5 stars) and the much shorter "Martha's Kitchen" (3 stars) and "Cactus Valley." (4 stars). All are enjoyable in their own way; San Giacomo has an easy style that presents free of the typographical or grammatical errors that seems to plague too many Kindle ebooks. His narrative voice is that of a professional writer who has paid a lot of attention to how his prose sounds. I personally can't get engaged in stories that are riddled with too much passive voice, and San Giacomo didn't create that problem for me here.
"A Purveyor of Odd Things" was my hands-down favorite. Written in the style of a police procedural--complete with the attractive sidekick--it begins with a detective on the night shift who is assigned two new missing-person files. The same oddly-named witness makes an appearance in each file. In the first, he's an older white man.
And in the second, he's a young black man. How can this be?
Read the story. This one alone is worth the purchase price. I can see it as a movie someday.
I would have rated the whole collection as a five star on the strength of "Purveyor" alone, but since there are three stories here, you need to know about all of them. "Martha's Kitchen" drew a three from me not because of any problem with San Giacomo's writing, but because it presented more like a horror vignette than a horror story. In this second story, two old ladies from a small town are running a diner in the big city and they're having a slow night. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but just so you'll give it a fair chance, they're NOT cooking their customers. It's an interesting idea, but I had a hard time identifying a plot--perhaps because the first story had such a strong one.
"Cactus Valley" drew a four on my scorecard, because while it doesn't rise to the level of "Purveyor," it's still enjoyable. In this one, two liberals from Manhattan on a cross-country drive run out of gas in the desert. Complicating matters, there's something larger going on that they don't know about. More than that, I can't say without ruining it. I couldn't add a fifth star because I tasted politics in there, and that's a flavor that usually spoils a story for me. Fortunately, the politics didn't leak out until fairly late in the story, so even with that dynamic going on, it was a fun read.
Others may have a different reaction, but there's a certain element that's probably going to rate the whole collection as a one-star just because they disagree with a perceived political slant in the third story. If there are any one or two star reviews for this title, keep in mind what I just said. This is NOT a one or two star collection. Although you may or may not appreciate the author's political views, this collection offers things that people on both sides of the aisle can enjoy. This kind of reading experience is hard to come by at this price point, and I'm glad I didn't pass it up. I will probably be reading more of this author's work in the future.
"A Purveyor of Odd Things" was my hands-down favorite. Written in the style of a police procedural--complete with the attractive sidekick--it begins with a detective on the night shift who is assigned two new missing-person files. The same oddly-named witness makes an appearance in each file. In the first, he's an older white man.
And in the second, he's a young black man. How can this be?
Read the story. This one alone is worth the purchase price. I can see it as a movie someday.
I would have rated the whole collection as a five star on the strength of "Purveyor" alone, but since there are three stories here, you need to know about all of them. "Martha's Kitchen" drew a three from me not because of any problem with San Giacomo's writing, but because it presented more like a horror vignette than a horror story. In this second story, two old ladies from a small town are running a diner in the big city and they're having a slow night. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but just so you'll give it a fair chance, they're NOT cooking their customers. It's an interesting idea, but I had a hard time identifying a plot--perhaps because the first story had such a strong one.
"Cactus Valley" drew a four on my scorecard, because while it doesn't rise to the level of "Purveyor," it's still enjoyable. In this one, two liberals from Manhattan on a cross-country drive run out of gas in the desert. Complicating matters, there's something larger going on that they don't know about. More than that, I can't say without ruining it. I couldn't add a fifth star because I tasted politics in there, and that's a flavor that usually spoils a story for me. Fortunately, the politics didn't leak out until fairly late in the story, so even with that dynamic going on, it was a fun read.
Others may have a different reaction, but there's a certain element that's probably going to rate the whole collection as a one-star just because they disagree with a perceived political slant in the third story. If there are any one or two star reviews for this title, keep in mind what I just said. This is NOT a one or two star collection. Although you may or may not appreciate the author's political views, this collection offers things that people on both sides of the aisle can enjoy. This kind of reading experience is hard to come by at this price point, and I'm glad I didn't pass it up. I will probably be reading more of this author's work in the future.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews