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The Servants
Madeline assumed she was purchasing robots. NEVER assume ANYTHING. Madeline was rich and arrogant. She fired all her human servants. She saw an ad for "ServBots" and decided to purchase some to replace her human servants. All went well until one morning, her ServBot chef served her breakfast and one of her eggs had a broken yoke. It went downhill from there. Terribly downhill.
- GenresHorror
30 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 28, 2018
About the author
Janine R. Pestel
16 books47 followersBorn in Coledale, PA and raised in NJ. Lived in NYC for about 7 years. Met my husband in 1978 and married in 1985. Have been happily married ever since! Now, we live in beautiful Mesa AZ.
Author of "The Mons Connection" and "Infected and Other Short Stories" as well as short stories in the SciFi / Occult / Horror genre(s) and an upcoming paranormal / occult series.
I was always interested in science fiction, action adventure and comedy. Tried my hand at writing a book back in the 1970's but did not have the direction I needed in order to complete it. The story was going along great until one day while I was sitting at my typewriter (remember those?) and the thought suddenly struck me that I had no idea where I was going with the story or how it was going to end. Now, many years later, I do have the drive and direction to write a complete book. My only regret is that it took me this long.
A lot of my ideas come from "What if?" For example, "What if there were a mountain on another planet that wasn't exactly a mountain?" or "What if we could reanimate corpses and have them perform menial tasks?" The whole world is full of "What if?" we just have to explore it.
My favorite color is blue. I just love blue. Being from NJ, of course, my favorite food is a good, NY style pizza. Not much of a "ball sport" fan, but I love motor racing. Doesn't matter if it's cars, motorcycles or boats. I'm also a big nature and animal lover. My husband (who also writes, by the way), and I currently have 3 dogs and 1 cat. Love them all.
Author of "The Mons Connection" and "Infected and Other Short Stories" as well as short stories in the SciFi / Occult / Horror genre(s) and an upcoming paranormal / occult series.
I was always interested in science fiction, action adventure and comedy. Tried my hand at writing a book back in the 1970's but did not have the direction I needed in order to complete it. The story was going along great until one day while I was sitting at my typewriter (remember those?) and the thought suddenly struck me that I had no idea where I was going with the story or how it was going to end. Now, many years later, I do have the drive and direction to write a complete book. My only regret is that it took me this long.
A lot of my ideas come from "What if?" For example, "What if there were a mountain on another planet that wasn't exactly a mountain?" or "What if we could reanimate corpses and have them perform menial tasks?" The whole world is full of "What if?" we just have to explore it.
My favorite color is blue. I just love blue. Being from NJ, of course, my favorite food is a good, NY style pizza. Not much of a "ball sport" fan, but I love motor racing. Doesn't matter if it's cars, motorcycles or boats. I'm also a big nature and animal lover. My husband (who also writes, by the way), and I currently have 3 dogs and 1 cat. Love them all.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
July 21, 2016
AH! OMG I LOVE THIS! At the beginning, I was only to go with 4 stars due to a couple of tiny grammatical things, but the further I went on, I realized this was going to have to have ALL of the stars possible. It's a super short read, and a fantastic one! The very few characters were very well described, and the story went at just the right speed. While being short, you got all of the information you needed to hear the tale. Fast and fulfilling! A super fun little paranormal (I think? I'm not good with genres haha) and cautionary tale.
Bob says: All of the stars. ALL OF THEM.
Bob says: All of the stars. ALL OF THEM.
February 7, 2018
Wow! I enjoyed this book.
It was very entertaining.
It was very entertaining.
August 28, 2017
I loved this short horror story. It belongs in The Twilight Zone or Black Mirror series with it's sci-fi backbone and utterly irritating, stubborn, stuck in her snooty ways character. The truth of the servbots would be a wonderful sequel.... hint hint!
January 15, 2019
It was interesting i ennjoyed it but I would have liked to learn more about the robots.
The story was about a woman whose husband had passed away and left her with all his money. This woman was really a pain to work for and she was a penny pincher I guess, in order to save money and have someone who would do anything that was asked with no questions asked she hired Robots instead of people. And you can guess the rest something goes wrong.
The story was about a woman whose husband had passed away and left her with all his money. This woman was really a pain to work for and she was a penny pincher I guess, in order to save money and have someone who would do anything that was asked with no questions asked she hired Robots instead of people. And you can guess the rest something goes wrong.
April 22, 2019
Satisfyingly macabre.
‘The Servants’ is a short story about an obnoxious woman for whom things go horribly wrong when she forgets that good staff are not easily replaced.
Through her attitudes and actions, the reader is positioned to dislike Madeline from the very moment they meet her.
When things turn on her, the reader is left with a sense of smug satisfaction thar takes the edge off the quite macabre conclusion to the story.
‘The Servants’ is a short story about an obnoxious woman for whom things go horribly wrong when she forgets that good staff are not easily replaced.
Through her attitudes and actions, the reader is positioned to dislike Madeline from the very moment they meet her.
When things turn on her, the reader is left with a sense of smug satisfaction thar takes the edge off the quite macabre conclusion to the story.
March 14, 2018
Good Read
Short and nicely paced. A story that could make a good Twilight Zone episode.
After this short piece there's a sample chapter of another of this author's books, Bucktown Babies. That seems off to a good start with an emotional hook.
Have gun.
Short and nicely paced. A story that could make a good Twilight Zone episode.
After this short piece there's a sample chapter of another of this author's books, Bucktown Babies. That seems off to a good start with an emotional hook.
Have gun.
July 23, 2017
Neat storyline.
Its a good read for sure. Kept my interest. It's kind of predictable but it also does have a twist.
Its a good read for sure. Kept my interest. It's kind of predictable but it also does have a twist.
August 29, 2017
fantastic little horror story. i would've liked if it were a couple chapters longer, but i still enjoyed it.
January 6, 2018
Arrogance has its reward in this cautionary tale.
A well-written short story with perfect characters that fitted the genre.
Remember the instructions at your peril.
Worth a look.
A well-written short story with perfect characters that fitted the genre.
Remember the instructions at your peril.
Worth a look.
March 12, 2018
Good short story.
September 10, 2018
Short but not sweet !!
This is one of the creepiest short stories I have read lately.Read this book,meanwhile I am going in search of more by this author.
This is one of the creepiest short stories I have read lately.Read this book,meanwhile I am going in search of more by this author.
November 25, 2022
I was expecting so much more... 49 pages of "suspense". I do get the idea, pretty much like Detroit: Become Human, but if everything went wrong. There were a couple grammar and spelling errors, bit it's still readable. It was supposed to be horror but didn't feel anything like that, not many details about the gruesome actions were shared but several details of how obnoxious Madeline is were not enough.
Wouldn't recommend it if horror is what you're looking for. However, if you just want to have a quick read and get something to entertaining yourself with, this book might do. It did entertain me.
Wouldn't recommend it if horror is what you're looking for. However, if you just want to have a quick read and get something to entertaining yourself with, this book might do. It did entertain me.
January 5, 2017
This, to me, is in the vein of an episode of the Twilight Zone. I could even hear the music at the climax of the story! A wealthy, lonely, angry widower who doesn't want to deal with human imperfections (and who also is somewhat cheap) buys new domestic servants to tend to her daily needs. She soon finds out the robots are not what they seem!
For me, the writing was a little stilted and choppy and the story didn't flow that well. Every mundane action was described which detracted from the macabre experiences and suspense I believe the author was trying to capture. The scene when Madeline walks in on the robots lubricating themselves could have been much more detailed and suspenseful but it was rushed through. The description of how the robots face was just a little off could have been more fully described and created a foreshadowing moment but it was also sort of glossed over. In contrast, the robot parking of the car and practicing driving was dwelt on in a way that made me think later that it should have been much more significant to the story.
The best character, in my opinion, was the butler that Madeline fired. He was rendered perfectly and his dialogue was realistic as well as the inner voice which showed us his true feelings for Madeline.
Did it keep my attention? Yes. Did I listen to it in one sitting? Yes, at 46 minutes this was easy to do. Was the narration good? It was serviceable. Not great, but it also didn't detract from the story in a serious way. I felt that Sheree could have voiced Madeline in a more regal, ringing way which would have matched the tone the author set.
I received this audiobook for free through Audiobook Boom! in exchange for an honest review.
For me, the writing was a little stilted and choppy and the story didn't flow that well. Every mundane action was described which detracted from the macabre experiences and suspense I believe the author was trying to capture. The scene when Madeline walks in on the robots lubricating themselves could have been much more detailed and suspenseful but it was rushed through. The description of how the robots face was just a little off could have been more fully described and created a foreshadowing moment but it was also sort of glossed over. In contrast, the robot parking of the car and practicing driving was dwelt on in a way that made me think later that it should have been much more significant to the story.
The best character, in my opinion, was the butler that Madeline fired. He was rendered perfectly and his dialogue was realistic as well as the inner voice which showed us his true feelings for Madeline.
Did it keep my attention? Yes. Did I listen to it in one sitting? Yes, at 46 minutes this was easy to do. Was the narration good? It was serviceable. Not great, but it also didn't detract from the story in a serious way. I felt that Sheree could have voiced Madeline in a more regal, ringing way which would have matched the tone the author set.
I received this audiobook for free through Audiobook Boom! in exchange for an honest review.
August 31, 2016
This story could be -- should be -- longer, as it ends too soon! It's quite fun, and an interesting read. I would've given 5 stars if not for all the grammatical and punctuation errors, but all in all, it's a great story that I very much enjoyed.
January 1, 2017
A short creepy story of a cranky woman who decides to buy robots to do housework,gardening etc.She becomes enraged with them and pulls the plug...which lead to more problems.Sheree Wichard was a fine narrator.I was given this book free by the author,narrator or publisher.
January 20, 2017
“This audiobook was given by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review via Audiobook Boom.”
It was a cool short story. Not my favorite, but I enjoyed the twist at the end.
It was a cool short story. Not my favorite, but I enjoyed the twist at the end.
April 24, 2017
The Servants by Janine R. Pestel was a good quick read. Madeline is a very rich but arrogant woman. When she fires one of her servants she decides to replace him with robots. This turns out to be a deadly decision.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews