Twisted Tails IV: Fantastic Flights of Fantasy

Twisted Tails #4

by J. Richard Jacobs

TWISTED TAILS Fantastic Flights of Fantasy is overflowing with some of the strangest fantasies you're likely to find on-or off this planet. So, watch yourself...there be dragons here. And vampires. And sorcerers bearing all sorts of mischief. Beasts, goblins and ghouls aplenty. And things that poke with sharpened sticks at the unprepared mind. They crouch in the recesses, ready to spring at the slightest provocation or opportunity. The sort of things that hide in deep shadows and lurk in the darkness of night...or cavort in the full light of day, trundle, creep, crawl and dance their way across the stage of your imagination. Some of the works presented here are fearsome, level five heart-stoppers and others are downright funny. All are twisted. Twisted in the manner that only our convoluted cogitators...our warped, wonderful word-workers can provide. "So? It's fantasy. Dark and light. Horrible and humorous. So, what else is new?" you ask. Well-l-l, it's not your ordinary, run-of-the-mill, Granny Gerty's fantasy...that's what. No formula fantasy written to restrictions even older than I. It tinkers with ideas in the here and now, perhaps a bit into the past or a brief, short hop into the near future and is free to fly in whatever direction and manner the author is advised by his or her muse. You see, London and other places of the dark and dreary sort still have streets drenched by fog and heavy mist. There remain places in the German forests and the hills of Transylvania, or in narrow alleyways in the outskirts of Chicago where an ordinary citizen just will not go after dark...or during the day. These places, and others, continue to have soggy forest floors smothered in a tight cluttering of moss covered trees with dead-gray, pealing bark smelling of mildew and rot, or perpetually shadowed back streets and thin slices between dingy buildings where dread can rear its ugly head and where surprises, bright and dim, await the unwary. There are jungles of darkness filled with sounds you don't want to hear. There are movements from the far corners of your vision you would rather not see. But hear them you will...and see them you must, if you value your life. What we prove in this collection is that it is not necessary to venture off the main road to make-believe worlds where weird, unpronounceable names or places surreal and pointed-ear little folk with big, flat feet inhabit the pages to get a heavy dose of fantastic fantasy. Here we take it to the streets of the everyday world, or close facsimiles of places we all live in...to locations and times familiar to all. No archaic and arcane language graces the pages here. No flowery narrative loaded with pollen and odd sounding word structures, either, except where they are fitting and necessary. Nope, here you'll find just plain good fun on bloodstained back-roads, in alleys and little dark corners where gore snakes its way down dark brick walls to puddle on wet stones, and where a talking barnyard rooster lays platinum eggs...um, not that there is an egg-laying rooster that talks to be found in here. That rooster thing was nothing but an example of what could be found, you know? But, as always in the TWISTED TAILS series, be mindful of your step, lest you get tripped into an out-of-control tumble on the last rung of the ladder. That, you see, is the way things work around here. That last rung is...treacherous...by design.

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

I am an author of Science Fiction (both soft and hard), and science fact. I occasionally play with Fantasy, Paranormal, and Horror. The Horror is usually darkly humorous. More rarely I dash off a little mainstream-ish stuff for the not-too-squeamish.

I have been an avid and active amateur astronomer since 1947. I began writing at the professional level in 1956 when, at 16, I went to work as a technical writer and illustrator for Butler Publications in West Los Angeles, CA.

A brief change in my writing habits occurred when I became a naval architect, though I continued to write articles for trade magazines and journals on such things as yacht design, creative mathematics in design, applied physics, etc. When I "retired", I moved to Mexico to teach some folks how to build small craft, English as a second language, physics and observational astronomy.

I moved to New Mexico in 1998 where I worked at our local high school teaching mathematics, English, journalism, science and, of course, astronomy to the interested.

I now live in the southeast corner of New Mexico with my wife, Julieta, our son, Oscar, daughter Alexandra, her husband, and their 4 children. To round out the menagerie, we also support an insanely beautiful dog named Mars, 3 other dogs and 3 cats.

Reviews

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Those not acquainted with J.Richard Jacobs short story anthologies have a treat coming...in fact more than a half dozen treats, as JR has just put out the call for submissions for Vol VIII. But, reader or writer, be aware of the wealth of sci fi, fantasy and horror that awaits you in the wonderful stories already published. It is a bit like pouring through an unrecorded batch file of hitherto unknown stories before they became Twilight Zone fare. Vol VIII offers you:
MEGAN'S BABY by Kim McDougall
ANTI-DIVER by David L. Kuzminski
OSCULATING BUFONIDAE by J. Richard Jacobs
REPO GIRL AND THE FORTUNE GFAERIE by marilyn Peake
THE MAN WHO WAS A FEW PIXELS OUT by Biff Mitchell
AND DANCE BY THE LIGHT OF THE MOON by Joyce K. Jensen
THE GUARDIAN by Todd R. Snow
LA NINA by Terrence West
CRIMSON DAWN by Margaret Whitley
ATYPICAL TRAITS by Ann Dulhanty
ROLLER DUCK by John Klawitter
BRUTUS AND THE PIG by J. Richard Jacobs
SPACE ACE by John Klawitter
LAST FLIGHT by Clay Rhett*
SEX AND THE EMERALD CITY by K.L.Nappier
EVIL WITCH by Ann Dulhanty
*pen name alias for yours truly