Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “Tales From the Aether: Extraordinary Tales of Dark Fiction, Dark Humor & Horror” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

Tales From the Aether: Extraordinary Tales of Dark Fiction, Dark Humor & Horror

Matthew C. Woodruff (Goodreads Author)

it was amazing 5.00 · Rating details · 5 ratings · 3 reviews

In this extraordinary collection of 'dark' short stories, Matthew C. Woodruff explores the timeless questions of Joy, Fear, Love, Loss, Foreboding and Incomprehension. All set around particular holidays, the characters in these twelve stories experience things we can only imagine. These stories will make the reader stop to wonder if anyone ever really knows those closest ...more

Get A Copy

Kindle Edition, 161 pages

Published December 1st 2019 by Matthew C. Woodruff

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about Tales From the Aether, please sign up.

Be the first to ask a question about Tales From the Aether

Lists with This Book

This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Add this book to your favorite list »

Community Reviews

Showing 1-8

it was amazing Average rating 5.00 ·

Rating details

· 5 ratings · 3 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of Tales From the Aether: Extraordinary Tales of Dark Fiction, Dark Humor & Horror

Dec 18, 2019 Booksiren rated it it was amazing

Award-winning Woodruff’s panache for writing shines in his second collection of short stories with the wildly imagined worlds, powerfully drawn realistic characters, and an unsettling portrayal of various happenings in his protagonists’ lives.

Merging the profound emotions of joy, fear, loss, love, foreboding, and incomprehension, Woodruff’s twelve stories are set around particular holidays of the year.

“The Alban Eiler” is a story of two women and their adolescent daughters, who despite being Award-winning Woodruff’s panache for writing shines in his second collection of short stories with the wildly imagined worlds, powerfully drawn realistic characters, and an unsettling portrayal of various happenings in his protagonists’ lives.

Merging the profound emotions of joy, fear, loss, love, foreboding, and incomprehension, Woodruff’s twelve stories are set around particular holidays of the year.

“The Alban Eiler” is a story of two women and their adolescent daughters, who despite being born thousands of years apart, share the same fate on Easter. Woodruff’s enlivening imagination runs wild in “My After Life,” a lighthearted story of a person whose life was always mundane, but the afterlife was nothing like he expected. In “Amy’s Valentine,” the protagonist is struggling to move forward after her daughter’s death when a handsome stranger arrives at her door on valentine’s day and reunites her with her daughter. The protagonist’s ‘monumental sorrow’ is the story’s dominant tone, but it changes to ‘chillingly scary’ suddenly with a single scene in the finale.

In “The Shadow People,” the protagonist arrives in an isolated Northern Canadian town to attend a wedding unaware of a strange twist of fate awaiting her. “Boxed in by Fate,” is a heartening tale that takes place in a strange universe where life unfolds one fateful box at a time, and a couple receives a pleasant surprise. In “The Color of the Soul,” a police sergeant with the unusual ability of seeing a person's soul gets a chance to see what his own soul looks like on a Halloween night. “A Christmas Tale,” is an unsettling story in which the protagonist with a strange sense of foreboding when destiny was about to take tragic turn in her life realizes this year’s Christmas season was no different.

Some stories are funny with lighter moments (“Lenny the Djinn”), but the major chunk is dark and chillingly unsettling (The Dark New Year, Just Desert). Woodruff’s best skill is examining the depth of the fear in the human mind, and that’s what stays at the heart of the book’s theme.

The powerful illustrations perfectly match the collection’s ominous mood, making an immediate impact on readers’ minds. This haunting collection draws on the deepest emotions of love, grief, fear, foreboding, and hope and will stay at readers’ minds long after they finish the book.

This is a marvelous collection from a very talented writer. ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Dec 16, 2019 Amy Shannon rated it it was amazing

Uniquely dark and creepy! A must read!

Woodruff pens magnificently dark stories in TALES from the AETHER: Extraodinary Tales of Dark Fiction, Dark Humor and Horror. This collection makes you wonder what goes on in the mind of this author, and that you're so glad he put it on paper. I liked each story, and enjoy Woodruff's writing style, and his story style. The stories are either, dark, horror, dark and humorous or all of the above. I read this cover to cover, and even went back and read a few ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Dec 02, 2019 Linda mccann rated it it was amazing

Wild ride

These stories immediately hook you. You want the answers to the questions posed. Highly enjoyable and engaging! I finished in one night.

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Adedayo Adewunmi-Missa rated it it was amazing
Jan 08, 2020

Nov 04, 2019 Matthew Woodruff rated it it was amazing · (Review from the author)

Roxanne marked it as to-read
Nov 05, 2019

Eric R Niemietz added it
Dec 02, 2019

Kaitlin marked it as to-read
Dec 17, 2019

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Goodreads Librari...: Please add my book cover	2	13	Jan 15, 2020 10:32AM

Readers also enjoyed

See similar books…

About Matthew C. Woodruff

Matthew C. Woodruff

5 followers

Matthew grew up in upstate NY surrounded by books. At age 7, after reading one of the Brains Benton mysteries he was forever hooked on reading.

A former magazine features writer, editor and publisher, Matthew is glad to share his first short story collection, 26 Absurdities which was inspired by Edward Gorey's illustrations in The Gashlycrumb Tinies.

These are tales you will never forget.

Matthew is ...more