Turning of the Seasons: A Dark Almanac

by Seb Doubinsky, J.S. Breukelaar

Seasons have always been connected with the passing of time and the changes of life, inspiring myths, folklore, poems, and songs. In this short collection award-winning J.S. Breukelaar and Seb Doubinsky have decided to pay tribute to the old tradition of yearly almanacs, which contained short pieces of lore and traditions. Keeping with the short format, they have renewed the genre by infusing it with a modern-day setting, pushing the boundaries of the folk-horror uncanny into the borders of our cities. A succession of disturbing stories and vignettes, sometimes poetic, sometimes funny, but always gruesome, Turning of The Seasons will surely be an almanac you will never forget.

166 pages, Paperback

Published November 1, 2022

About the author

I was born in Paris, in 1963, right in the middle of a western movie, of which my parents never saw the end. I have thereafter split my life between France and the USA, having spent most of my early childhood in Syracuse, and Seattle. After some studies, a lot of wandering and a few strange jobs, I have finally found myself teaching French literature in Denmark, where I have been living since 2007.

Reviews

[Jason Franks · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of weird fables, vignettes, fairy tales and poems true to the grisly traditions of the form. Each piece invites contemplation, but the pieces are so short and moreish its hard to stop until you've eaten them all up.

[Bandit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ah, I’m the first person to rate and review this book. Lovely.
So, then…I’m a fan of Seb Doubinsky’s work. His stories are consistently difficult to categorize and equally difficult to put down. Though, to his credit, they are often short enough to easy land themselves to a single sitting read.
Normally, Doubinsky writes a sort of oddball science fiction/dystopian/bizarro tales set in an interconnected universe. This is very much a new direction for him and I was excited to check it out.
It also stands to mention that I’d read his co-author Breukelaar’s short story collection, Collision, and liked it too.
Plus, I like few things more than a good scary story, so yeah…an easy choice all around.
And it doesn’t disappoint.
Beyond the creepy-ass cover, lies a procession of creepy-ass tales separated by seasons and more creepy-ass art.
These almanac-style entries read like a strange blend of folklore, fairy tales, and horror. Some in prose, some in verse, these stories are invariably, unsettlingly spooky.
Wherein Breukelaar seems to go for more poetic moody things, Doubinsky provides one subtle nightmare after another in his deceptively plain, marvelously effective style.
The overall effect is uneven, with one of the co-authors noticeable outshining the other. But otherwise, it’s oodles of eerie fun. I stayed up well into the night reading it with the lights off and was properly disturbed once the book was over and my Kindle screen turned off, leaving me in the darkness. Because who knows what lurks there…right?
And Seb Doubinsky’s terrific venture into the realm of all things horrific reminds us of that very thing.
Very good read. Recommended.

[A · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this odd little book over Christmas, classic ghost story reading time, second only to October. Imagine, if you will, a collection of fables, legends, poetry, ghost stories, visions, and vignettes all leaning toward the dark. Generally, it alternates stories and poems between the authors. All of the stories are thematically link by season, though only loosely. It’s tough to go into specifics about any particular story as the length varies from short poems to 5 or 6 pages at the longest, but they are all tasty nuggets worth your attention. To give a few examples there is a story about a haunted house, a story about a witch, a story about a ghost village, demons, curses, and many others. It was nice to read a bit of poetry too.

Even though it tends towards the dark, there was only one story that was a little too gruesome for me. To be fair, I’m not a big fan of body horror. That’s just a personal thing for me. Aside from that little bit I really enjoyed the book. Get this one if you’re a fan of strangely constructed books, the dark time of year, and small fictions.

If you like this review you can find more here: https://itgodp.libsyn.com/

[Runalong · Rating 4 out of 5]

A hugely enjoyable varied and entertaining set of horror and dark fantasy short fiction - well worth a look

Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...