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K is for Klutz
Iain Rob Wright blows me away - J.A. Konrath
Fireman, Mark Gunn, is a hero. That’s what sends him racing into a burning building to save an old man.
But it might have been better if Mark had left the old man to his fate, because people have a strange way of dying whenever he is around.
A Short Story by Bestselling Author, Iain Rob Wright.
Fireman, Mark Gunn, is a hero. That’s what sends him racing into a burning building to save an old man.
But it might have been better if Mark had left the old man to his fate, because people have a strange way of dying whenever he is around.
A Short Story by Bestselling Author, Iain Rob Wright.
- GenresHorrorShort Stories
25 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 5, 2015
4 people are currently reading
67 people want to read
About the author
Iain Rob Wright
181 books1,840 followersOne of Horror's most respected authors, Iain Rob Wright is the writer of more than forty books, many of them bestsellers. A previous Kindle All-Star and a mainstay in the horror charts, he is a prolific producer of unique and original stories. From his apocalyptic saga The Gates to his claustrophobic revenge thriller ASBO, Iain writes across a broad spectrum of sub genres, creating both beloved series and standalone titles.
With work available in several languages and in audio, Iain Rob Wright is one of the fastest rising stars in horror, but when not writing he is a dedicated family man. Father to Jack and Molly, and husband to Sally, he is often seen sharing his family memories with his fans on Facebook.
To get 6 of his books for free (no strings), just visit: www.iainrobwright.com
With work available in several languages and in audio, Iain Rob Wright is one of the fastest rising stars in horror, but when not writing he is a dedicated family man. Father to Jack and Molly, and husband to Sally, he is often seen sharing his family memories with his fans on Facebook.
To get 6 of his books for free (no strings), just visit: www.iainrobwright.com
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 11 reviews
May 22, 2015
Iain Rob Wright is hammering his way through the alphabet with a short tale of horror for every letter, not sure if he's already done this but he should run a competition and let some of the readers pick a title for him. My votes N for Nail gun or S for Scythe, this will keep me good for twenty minutes. What about N is for Nunchucks, hang on these are all potential weapons, that's a worrying thought pattern better stop now.
Next up is K and K is for Klutz, I always thought a Klutz was a clumsy idiot or a bumbling fool but not in this prosopopoeia, no a Klutz is a blood curse and David for his sins is the recipient. Whomever David comes into contact with, dies pretty much straight away and generally by some sort of bizarre accident. His family, everybody and he can't even kill himself to escape the curse. Death follows him relentlessly and there's no escape until a doctor tries to help him.
Also posted at http://paulnelson.booklikes.com/post/...
Next up is K and K is for Klutz, I always thought a Klutz was a clumsy idiot or a bumbling fool but not in this prosopopoeia, no a Klutz is a blood curse and David for his sins is the recipient. Whomever David comes into contact with, dies pretty much straight away and generally by some sort of bizarre accident. His family, everybody and he can't even kill himself to escape the curse. Death follows him relentlessly and there's no escape until a doctor tries to help him.
Also posted at http://paulnelson.booklikes.com/post/...
June 17, 2015
Definitely the best one in the series so far. Just brilliant, it had me gripped from the beginning. You knew what was going to happen, it was just a case of when. I think this short could actually be made into a very, very good movie
July 2, 2015
Review: K is for Klutz (A-Z of Horror #11) by Iain Rob Wright Publication Date: 5th May 2015
Publisher: SalGad Publishing Group
ASIN: B00X7XGNNU
Rating: 5*
Synopsis:
Fireman, Mark Gunn, is a hero. That’s what sends him racing into a burning building to save an old man. But it might have been better if Mark had left the old man to his fate, because people have a strange way of dying whenever he is around.
Review:
I really like the plot of this latest instalment of the A-Z of Horror. David, the old man, is a great character too. Everyone who touches him succumbs to a horrible death, as he was given the curse of the Klutz many years ago.
When a fireman pulls David out of his burning home, he ends up in hospital and tells a Dr his story. She vows to track down the person that cursed him to try to get the curse lifted. An interesting story, the best in this story yet.
Publisher: SalGad Publishing Group
ASIN: B00X7XGNNU
Rating: 5*
Synopsis:
Fireman, Mark Gunn, is a hero. That’s what sends him racing into a burning building to save an old man. But it might have been better if Mark had left the old man to his fate, because people have a strange way of dying whenever he is around.
Review:
I really like the plot of this latest instalment of the A-Z of Horror. David, the old man, is a great character too. Everyone who touches him succumbs to a horrible death, as he was given the curse of the Klutz many years ago.
When a fireman pulls David out of his burning home, he ends up in hospital and tells a Dr his story. She vows to track down the person that cursed him to try to get the curse lifted. An interesting story, the best in this story yet.
December 6, 2017
Iain Rob Wright's A to Z of Horror is a compendium of short stories, each one devoted to a separate letter of the alphabet, with the unifying theme of the collection being common fears that many people share. While earlier stories have dealt with such things as bugs, clowns, and giant sea creatures, "K Is for Klutz" goes for something very different. For those who might be unaware, a "klutz" is a term for a clumsy or awkward person, and you might think that would be a tough subject to write a genuinely creepy story about. In this case, you'd be correct, and the result is a rare misfire in this horror collection.
When an elderly man is admitted to a hospital after nearly dying in a fire, he tells his treating doctor a horrifying story. According to the man, who calls himself David, he’s been afflicted with the “curse of the Klutz” since he was a young man working as a traveling salesman selling vacuum cleaners door-to-door. While on his route one day, he happened to meet an attractive young woman who told him she was being kept a virtual prisoner in her home by her overly protective father. One thing led to another and the couple had a romp in the hay, followed unsurprisingly by the father’s discovery of the two of them together. The enraged father told David that his daughter was only 15 and then inflicted the curse of the Klutz on the salesman. From that moment on, anyone who came into close contact with David died, often in bizarre accidents. The doctor, of course, is quite skeptical of this story, but, since the fireman who rescued David and the two treating nurses at the hospital were already dead, she decides to investigate further, visiting the now-middle-aged woman David seduced years earlier.
They say a good horror writer can make virtually anything scary, and Wright gives that theory a major test in “K is for Klutz.” Unfortunately, he falls a bit short, beginning with the crucial factor of credibility. All supernatural horror stories require a major suspension of disbelief on the part of the reader, requiring him or her to accept the existence of vampires or zombies or demons or other such entities for the course of the story. And we readers willingly go along with the writer’s premise, but, in order to keep buying into the illusion, the story must make sense within the framework the author has created. Here, I just never could accept the premise. I just don’t see how a man could survive over thirty years, much of that in the pre-internet era, with an ever-growing string of bodies around him. Of course, as the story suggests, David lived a hermetic existence during that time, but hermits need to eat and pay the rent, and it’s hard to see him earning a living for decades given his “handicap.”
I’m sure that I’ve probably bought weirder horror premises over the years, but the premise of “K is for Klutz” isn’t just implausible, it’s silly as well. A klutzy person is not scary; and a story about someone being inflicted with the “curse of the klutz” sounds more like the set-up for an old vaudeville comic joke (including the bit about the door-to-door salesman) than a horror story. To be sure, author Wright tells this as a straight horror story, down to the method in which the curse is passed down to David as part of a quasi-religious ritual, but I was never able to accept the story as serious horror. Instead, my thoughts went back to Joe Bftsplk, not a typo on my part, but a character from the old comic strip who perpetually walked around with a storm cloud over his hand and who similarly caused bad (albeit less gruesome) things to happen to those around him. As a result, “Klutz” came off as a lengthy, failed attempt at humor.
Although Iain Rob Wright can’t make his premise work here, “K is for Klutz" still showcases the author’s skill. The writing is quite professional, with the description of the fire rescue and a couple of rather gruesome deaths being quite vivid given the rather short length of the story. Wright keeps his tale moving, which is a good thing, given its premise, and the caliber of the writing is at the same high level as that in the other stories in the collection I’ve read.
I have been reading the A to Z of Horror collection in sequence and can strongly recommend the collection in general. However, collections like this have their high and low points, and “K is for Klutz” is definitely the low point of this collection by far. I would definitely recommend the story collection, but, as a standalone story, “K is for Klutz” stumbles early and never recovers.
When an elderly man is admitted to a hospital after nearly dying in a fire, he tells his treating doctor a horrifying story. According to the man, who calls himself David, he’s been afflicted with the “curse of the Klutz” since he was a young man working as a traveling salesman selling vacuum cleaners door-to-door. While on his route one day, he happened to meet an attractive young woman who told him she was being kept a virtual prisoner in her home by her overly protective father. One thing led to another and the couple had a romp in the hay, followed unsurprisingly by the father’s discovery of the two of them together. The enraged father told David that his daughter was only 15 and then inflicted the curse of the Klutz on the salesman. From that moment on, anyone who came into close contact with David died, often in bizarre accidents. The doctor, of course, is quite skeptical of this story, but, since the fireman who rescued David and the two treating nurses at the hospital were already dead, she decides to investigate further, visiting the now-middle-aged woman David seduced years earlier.
They say a good horror writer can make virtually anything scary, and Wright gives that theory a major test in “K is for Klutz.” Unfortunately, he falls a bit short, beginning with the crucial factor of credibility. All supernatural horror stories require a major suspension of disbelief on the part of the reader, requiring him or her to accept the existence of vampires or zombies or demons or other such entities for the course of the story. And we readers willingly go along with the writer’s premise, but, in order to keep buying into the illusion, the story must make sense within the framework the author has created. Here, I just never could accept the premise. I just don’t see how a man could survive over thirty years, much of that in the pre-internet era, with an ever-growing string of bodies around him. Of course, as the story suggests, David lived a hermetic existence during that time, but hermits need to eat and pay the rent, and it’s hard to see him earning a living for decades given his “handicap.”
I’m sure that I’ve probably bought weirder horror premises over the years, but the premise of “K is for Klutz” isn’t just implausible, it’s silly as well. A klutzy person is not scary; and a story about someone being inflicted with the “curse of the klutz” sounds more like the set-up for an old vaudeville comic joke (including the bit about the door-to-door salesman) than a horror story. To be sure, author Wright tells this as a straight horror story, down to the method in which the curse is passed down to David as part of a quasi-religious ritual, but I was never able to accept the story as serious horror. Instead, my thoughts went back to Joe Bftsplk, not a typo on my part, but a character from the old comic strip who perpetually walked around with a storm cloud over his hand and who similarly caused bad (albeit less gruesome) things to happen to those around him. As a result, “Klutz” came off as a lengthy, failed attempt at humor.
Although Iain Rob Wright can’t make his premise work here, “K is for Klutz" still showcases the author’s skill. The writing is quite professional, with the description of the fire rescue and a couple of rather gruesome deaths being quite vivid given the rather short length of the story. Wright keeps his tale moving, which is a good thing, given its premise, and the caliber of the writing is at the same high level as that in the other stories in the collection I’ve read.
I have been reading the A to Z of Horror collection in sequence and can strongly recommend the collection in general. However, collections like this have their high and low points, and “K is for Klutz” is definitely the low point of this collection by far. I would definitely recommend the story collection, but, as a standalone story, “K is for Klutz” stumbles early and never recovers.
July 10, 2023
I really enjoyed K is for Klutz (A-Z of Horror book 11) by Iain Rob Wright.
David an elderly man is rescued by a fireman and he warns him that he should not touch him otherwise something bad will happen.
David is a ticking time bomb due to a dalliance thirty years ago with an underage Jewish daughter when he was working as a salesman who claimed she was of age but in matter of fact she was a teenager.
The girl's Father puts an evil curse on David and it is known as the Klutz. Anyone who touches him won't know what hits them.
David an elderly man is rescued by a fireman and he warns him that he should not touch him otherwise something bad will happen.
David is a ticking time bomb due to a dalliance thirty years ago with an underage Jewish daughter when he was working as a salesman who claimed she was of age but in matter of fact she was a teenager.
The girl's Father puts an evil curse on David and it is known as the Klutz. Anyone who touches him won't know what hits them.
July 19, 2018
Would make an amazing full-length story
November 22, 2022
Pretty good. Cursed man gets revenge.
November 8, 2023
One of the best things about jumping into a story or a book without reading the summary beforehand is being pleasantly surprised by the twists and turns. This is definitely one of those cleverly written stories.
'K is for Klutz' introduces us to the main protagonist with a chilling death. One so sudden that it legitimately took me by surprise. That immediately creates the impact that the curse around the protagonist is real. People really tend to have a way of dying around him. Through the eyes of another character in the story - with the same level of curiosity as I was at that point - the author again successfully creates a well-paced way of delivering exposition that'll lead us to the answers surrounding our mysterious old, man. And just as I thought the resolution was on the horizon, the ending again delivers a delectable twist.
There are only two minor things I disliked about this work. First is the usage of the term klutz. I'm not sure if there's a deeper meaning behind it but the idea of it being attached to an ancient or old practice seems odd. Second is the inconsistency in Lilith's character. She had been described as someone with black hair twice yet the old man sees her and says she has a golden one. I hope this was just an editorial mistake. Whatever the case, these two minor errors don't take away from the experience; not majorly, at least.
'K is for Klutz' introduces us to the main protagonist with a chilling death. One so sudden that it legitimately took me by surprise. That immediately creates the impact that the curse around the protagonist is real. People really tend to have a way of dying around him. Through the eyes of another character in the story - with the same level of curiosity as I was at that point - the author again successfully creates a well-paced way of delivering exposition that'll lead us to the answers surrounding our mysterious old, man. And just as I thought the resolution was on the horizon, the ending again delivers a delectable twist.
There are only two minor things I disliked about this work. First is the usage of the term klutz. I'm not sure if there's a deeper meaning behind it but the idea of it being attached to an ancient or old practice seems odd. Second is the inconsistency in Lilith's character. She had been described as someone with black hair twice yet the old man sees her and says she has a golden one. I hope this was just an editorial mistake. Whatever the case, these two minor errors don't take away from the experience; not majorly, at least.
June 18, 2015
This short horror story is about a blood curse, and it's a really good story until the end, which confused me slightly. It has a twist ending but it wasn't the usual sort of twist. Still very impressed with Mr. Wright's work!
May 21, 2015
Creepy
Imagine a curse haunting you your whole life...this was a well written short story. Very creepy and wonderful ending. Kudos!!
Imagine a curse haunting you your whole life...this was a well written short story. Very creepy and wonderful ending. Kudos!!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 11 reviews