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#StrangeLit: Fateful Turns
Maybe once upon a time we all were ordinary, until the day life took a fateful turn. Do we accept this, or run from it? Explore the path of extraordinary choices in these stories.
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First published September 1, 2015
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About the author
Justine Camacho-Tajonera
19 books30 followersJustine Camacho-Tajonera was born and grew up in Cebu City, Philippines. Despite starting a corporate career in telecommunications, she pursued an M.A. in English Literature to keep her close to her first love of writing.
She has had her poetry published in several anthologies and local publications and she has published two books: Artemis Lets Go, a novel, and Gift: Poems, her first collection of poetry. She maintains a poetry blog, Claiming Alexandria.
She is a marketing professional in the Philippines, is married and has two children.
She has had her poetry published in several anthologies and local publications and she has published two books: Artemis Lets Go, a novel, and Gift: Poems, her first collection of poetry. She maintains a poetry blog, Claiming Alexandria.
She is a marketing professional in the Philippines, is married and has two children.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
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November 8, 2015I attempted to read three of the short stories/novella's and just basically couldn't get into them
October 23, 2015
1.The Mermaid from Siquijor: ★ ★ ★
The story follows Lorie, a web editor and freelance writer who went to Siquijor on a mission to find out the real reason of her mother's death.
She met two dashing male characters, Marceau, the French marine ecologist and Vince, her mother's ex-boyfriend-merman-reason-of-her-death.
At first I was thrown off because of the prologue. I was never a fan of prologues. I rather wish the author had not used it as a prologue, but simply inserted it as the first chapter of the story where it belonged.
The amount of research was splendid but Elena's history, the mysterious town healer and a mermaid, was narrated in between and way back from the Spanish era, which is in my opinion, wasn't deemed necessary.
History and culture are important to immerse the reader on a story but not too much or else it'll feel like reading a historical documentary from national geographic.
To be honest, I only skimmed through those parts, like the story of that Esteban and the three mermaids. I find the backstory of the main character's mother Chato and Vince interesting but the author need not elaborate it that much for it was revealed and explained by Vince during the confrontation scene.
The info-dump about the bearers off the light really made me want to stop reading but I cared enough about Lorie so I decided to power through it.
Overall, it was an interesting read. The story could've flow seamless and moved forward without the added side stories.
2. Lady in Pink: ★ ★ ★ ★
The story is about Martha Ford who can see ghost of dead painters. She was hired by the aloof but charming Henri Beaugiron as a secretary/maid to clean an old house and inventory items to be auctioned only to be possessed by a lady in pink whose soul was trapped in a painting, she was a demimonde named Marthe de Florian.
I'd appreciate it more and may have given it five stars if the lead female character wasn't named Martha, if only she will be possessed by a ghost named Marthe. I found myself reading back and forth just to make sure I know who's who.
The female lead for a moment envied the ghost for being cool, collected and herself. I think that is one of the reasons why she became a vessel. She's weak. A while later she does a little better. Martha helped the ghost Marthe to find peace and she found herself in the process. She found her match, Henri, a ghost whisperer too.
Being a super Les Misérables nerd, I enjoyed this story. With lots of interesting little tidbits about Parisian history. I was taken to landmarks that increase my knowledge and seduce my interests.
I recommended it to everyone interested in the history of arts in the "City of Lights", they will find something in its pages to entertain and inform them.
3. The Eternal Harmony Funeral Home: ★ ★
The story is about Pit who attended a funeral and found himself haunted by the caretaker of the funeral home.
Not much to say about this short story because there's really not much that happened. The writing felt amateur, the dialogue stilted and the characters were almost wooden.
Even what happened in the urinal was elaborated.
"Think of any movie with witches and then try to remember their hair. That was it."
I don't have time to think. I'm reading! Can you just describe it? The author was telling us stuff, not showing us, so there is no fear and not much strangeness factor developed.
Towards the end of the story, the author switched from first person to third person. That's it, I'm done with it.
My review may seem harsh, but it really seems that way. If no one will tell the author, reviewers will.
4. Fate: ★ ★ ★
Fate is a story about the virgin superhero Dan who is destined to find his ONE true love, who is the villain Felicity.
The story shows that when you are destined for something or to someone no matter what is thrown your way it will always work out in the end. Quite a bit cheesy.
It was a fun, simple and delightful read.
But above all things, I wanted to know what happened to Ka Asyong. The author left out that part.
5. Glimmer:
The chapter title shows switching POVs. Not my cup of tea. It's an auto turn off for me.
6. Rite of Passage: ★ ★ ★
The story follows Karla and her quest to save her town from the ferocious Bakunawa who killed her parents and to fulfill her destiny as the village champion.
The POV switched back and forth to 1st person to 3rd person is very amateurish and quite confusing for readers. There was a little info-dumping when the backstory was narrated. The author could have sprinkled that info throughout the story or through dialogues.
The whole premise of this book is really interesting and gives you something to think about. In terms of execution, this one didn't go too far as I felt like there was so much unexplored potential.
7. The Warrior's Dilemma: ★ ★ ★
The story follows Tristan, a guy cursed to die at the hands of the woman he'll love for denying a love child and Nicolla, a Binukot, destined to marry a strong warrior in accordance to their tribe's law. Tristan served as her guide and protector on her journey back to Anqanth to fight for her rightful place rather marrying anybody. Tristan helped her win the challenge by giving up a powerful crystal to heal her though he knew that crystal could lift the curse.
She came out victorious and became the first Daughter of Sumakwel.
The story itself is too fast-paced. Details that are vital to setting a scene were left off. The author rushed through in the parts I felt deserved more attention, but I have to give the author some credit; the minuscule amount of plot that did exist was intriguing enough to make me think maybe it would be worth it to trudge through all those pages.
I am not sure if was the app or it wasn't properly edited before publishing because there were punctuation mistakes throughout that somehow made it into the final copy.
This book had the potential to be very good given the subject matter. I thought the story line was interesting in some aspects, but it definitely needs a lot work.
The story follows Lorie, a web editor and freelance writer who went to Siquijor on a mission to find out the real reason of her mother's death.
She met two dashing male characters, Marceau, the French marine ecologist and Vince, her mother's ex-boyfriend-merman-reason-of-her-death.
At first I was thrown off because of the prologue. I was never a fan of prologues. I rather wish the author had not used it as a prologue, but simply inserted it as the first chapter of the story where it belonged.
The amount of research was splendid but Elena's history, the mysterious town healer and a mermaid, was narrated in between and way back from the Spanish era, which is in my opinion, wasn't deemed necessary.
History and culture are important to immerse the reader on a story but not too much or else it'll feel like reading a historical documentary from national geographic.
To be honest, I only skimmed through those parts, like the story of that Esteban and the three mermaids. I find the backstory of the main character's mother Chato and Vince interesting but the author need not elaborate it that much for it was revealed and explained by Vince during the confrontation scene.
The info-dump about the bearers off the light really made me want to stop reading but I cared enough about Lorie so I decided to power through it.
Overall, it was an interesting read. The story could've flow seamless and moved forward without the added side stories.
2. Lady in Pink: ★ ★ ★ ★
The story is about Martha Ford who can see ghost of dead painters. She was hired by the aloof but charming Henri Beaugiron as a secretary/maid to clean an old house and inventory items to be auctioned only to be possessed by a lady in pink whose soul was trapped in a painting, she was a demimonde named Marthe de Florian.
I'd appreciate it more and may have given it five stars if the lead female character wasn't named Martha, if only she will be possessed by a ghost named Marthe. I found myself reading back and forth just to make sure I know who's who.
The female lead for a moment envied the ghost for being cool, collected and herself. I think that is one of the reasons why she became a vessel. She's weak. A while later she does a little better. Martha helped the ghost Marthe to find peace and she found herself in the process. She found her match, Henri, a ghost whisperer too.
Being a super Les Misérables nerd, I enjoyed this story. With lots of interesting little tidbits about Parisian history. I was taken to landmarks that increase my knowledge and seduce my interests.
I recommended it to everyone interested in the history of arts in the "City of Lights", they will find something in its pages to entertain and inform them.
3. The Eternal Harmony Funeral Home: ★ ★
The story is about Pit who attended a funeral and found himself haunted by the caretaker of the funeral home.
Not much to say about this short story because there's really not much that happened. The writing felt amateur, the dialogue stilted and the characters were almost wooden.
Even what happened in the urinal was elaborated.
"Think of any movie with witches and then try to remember their hair. That was it."
I don't have time to think. I'm reading! Can you just describe it? The author was telling us stuff, not showing us, so there is no fear and not much strangeness factor developed.
Towards the end of the story, the author switched from first person to third person. That's it, I'm done with it.
My review may seem harsh, but it really seems that way. If no one will tell the author, reviewers will.
4. Fate: ★ ★ ★
Fate is a story about the virgin superhero Dan who is destined to find his ONE true love, who is the villain Felicity.
The story shows that when you are destined for something or to someone no matter what is thrown your way it will always work out in the end. Quite a bit cheesy.
It was a fun, simple and delightful read.
But above all things, I wanted to know what happened to Ka Asyong. The author left out that part.
5. Glimmer:
The chapter title shows switching POVs. Not my cup of tea. It's an auto turn off for me.
6. Rite of Passage: ★ ★ ★
The story follows Karla and her quest to save her town from the ferocious Bakunawa who killed her parents and to fulfill her destiny as the village champion.
The POV switched back and forth to 1st person to 3rd person is very amateurish and quite confusing for readers. There was a little info-dumping when the backstory was narrated. The author could have sprinkled that info throughout the story or through dialogues.
The whole premise of this book is really interesting and gives you something to think about. In terms of execution, this one didn't go too far as I felt like there was so much unexplored potential.
7. The Warrior's Dilemma: ★ ★ ★
The story follows Tristan, a guy cursed to die at the hands of the woman he'll love for denying a love child and Nicolla, a Binukot, destined to marry a strong warrior in accordance to their tribe's law. Tristan served as her guide and protector on her journey back to Anqanth to fight for her rightful place rather marrying anybody. Tristan helped her win the challenge by giving up a powerful crystal to heal her though he knew that crystal could lift the curse.
She came out victorious and became the first Daughter of Sumakwel.
The story itself is too fast-paced. Details that are vital to setting a scene were left off. The author rushed through in the parts I felt deserved more attention, but I have to give the author some credit; the minuscule amount of plot that did exist was intriguing enough to make me think maybe it would be worth it to trudge through all those pages.
I am not sure if was the app or it wasn't properly edited before publishing because there were punctuation mistakes throughout that somehow made it into the final copy.
This book had the potential to be very good given the subject matter. I thought the story line was interesting in some aspects, but it definitely needs a lot work.
April 29, 2016
the best story in this bundle is "Harvesting Nightblooms by Will J. Sarm" . you should expect chick lit sprinkled with fantasy and the paranormal. the characters are strong and likeable. (i hate whiny and overly emotional leads). best parts are the dialogue which was witty and funny, and the action/adventure which was fast-paced with unexpected turns.
like any bundle with various authors, there are good stories mixed with the bad. there are a few here which were obviously unfinished (easy to find as they are extremely short, and abrupt)
like any bundle with various authors, there are good stories mixed with the bad. there are a few here which were obviously unfinished (easy to find as they are extremely short, and abrupt)
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews