Time’s Mistress

by Steven Savile

Steven Savile's popular fantasy stories embrace all aspects of the fantastic. Be it the wonder of magical realism, the darkness of the macabre, or the mythological, these stories have one thing in common: faith.

Savile offers up tales of hope and wonder in equal measure, whilst treating sadness as a long lost friend. Nothing in his world is quite as it seems. The world you think you know isn't the world you're about to enter. Everything you think you've learned about life is about to be unlearned. These are stories of love. These are stories of loss. In some you will find redemption, in others the simple act of memory is treacherous and cannot be trusted. But in all of them there is an aching sense of loss and love. Savile's stories here speak to the part in all of us who still dares to fall in love again after a broken heart.
"Savile packs more imagination into a short story than many writers manage in a full novel." Hellnotes
“Stories about life and death by a man who has clearly consorted with devils.” TM Wright, bestselling author of A Manhattan Ghost Story
"One of the most seriously creepy pieces it has been my pleasure to read in a long time." -- Charles de Lint, on Remember Me Yesterday.
"A modern fantasist of the first order. Watch as Savile carves a niche for himself in the literature of the new millennium." -- Tim Lebbon
"Troubling, moving, curiously gentle, and a pleasure to read all the way through." -- Ed Gorman.
"Lyrical, passionate and poignant." -- Tom Piccirilli.
"Savile manages to successfully evoke a wonderful sense of atmosphere and place, while contemporaneously managing to constantly build the conflict and tension, and swiftly move the action forward"-- Fear Zone

Genres: Fantasy

229 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 22, 2014

About the author

Steven Savile (born October 12, 1969, in Newcastle, England) is a British fantasy, horror and thriller writer, and editor living in Sala, Sweden.

Under the Ronan Frost penname (inspired by the hero of his bestselling novel, Silver) he has also written the action thriller White Peak, and as Matt Langley was a finalist for the People's Book Prize.

Reviews

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I started reading this book, I really didn't know what to expect. I loved the cover, which is what drew me in. For a collection of short stories I wasn't expecting it to take long to read but then, I also wasn't expecting to get dragged (willingly) into each and every story, to be so fully immersed that I didn't want to leave and after each finished I had to take an hour....a day just to digest and move on. This book is special, I'm a big fan of thrillers and Steven Savile does them well, but they also didn't have the effect this book did. It feels like the author put a lot of himself in this book, baring his soul so to speak. Like all collections, some stories appealed more than others but I can honestly say I enjoyed every one. Please do yourself a favour and read this book, you won't be sorry.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely not a "fast" read. While the short stories contained within vary from morsel to major snack in length, Savile doesn't skimp on the emotional calories. I first read his work in World's Collider: A Shared-World Anthology, and I have more tagged Want To Read.