Customer Reviews

Fables And Other Oddities of The Imagination

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Review by Annette Gisby editor of Twisted Tales and author of Silent Screams, and Writing the Dream: Like any short story collection, there are some that you really love and some you're not so keen on and some that you find a little interesting. My favorite stories in this collection included 'The Magic Bicycle' about a young boy's yearning to escape his real life existence where his mother goes off with any man who will pay and a father who uses his fist and a raised voice to get what he wants in life. The boy dreams of a magic bicycle which will take him away from everything and when one day the bicycle magically appears, he gets taken away, but not in the way that he intended. It's very reminiscent of a fairy tale and you feel for the boy and his plight. 'The Confession' was excellent, about a man writing in his cell, convinced that he couldn't possibly have committed the crime he's been accused of and soon will die for. As his written confession goes on, you're invited into the mind of a madman, who even till the end professes his innocence. Did he do it or not? In 'The Village' a man searches for and thinks he has found paradise, but is he the one who has brought corruption to them? All in all, a good little collection of stories, tales to dip in and out of and read again.

Ron Dondiego's "Fables and Other Oddities of The Imagination",
is an extraordinary collection of short stories which have a
valuable teaching and message in them.
I was totally awestruck as I read each story.
He really opened my eyes and mind to a reality I'd never thought of.
Even though classified as fiction, this collection has so much truth in there.
His first story would make a wonderful children's book
and even a great show for the family.
I loved the way each was written, resembling a page in a diary.
They cover just about everything a mind can imagine;
from hauntings, to Hell, to Heaven, to love to hate,
to perfect worlds, to the everyday world.
Some bordering the apocalypse, some fantasy, while others
explore the world beyond.
Excellent book that I could not put down.
I highly recommend, "Fables and Other Oddities of The Imagination",
as a must read to all readers of sixteen and older.
Thank You so very much Ron for this intriguing look
inside your mind's eye and bringing so much forth to mine.
Exquisite!! Amazing!! Remarkable!!

Tracey L. O' Very

Ron is an author that knows how to capture the imagination and scare the reader out of their wits. The thing that makes him an amazing author for doing so is that he doesn't do it right away. The story he wrote in the style of Edgar Allan Poe is titled "The Ghost in the House" and this story for me is the one that I will say is Ron at his darkest. I've read his other collection, "The Face and Other Fantastic Tales" and this book picks up where that other one leaves off. I read more of the book on the publisher's website and making it an effort to pick up this book every chance I get. I hope Ron actually goes and does a full length novel at the level of horror he does when he writes these stories. I wished he put "The Demon In My Computer" in this collection because that one is one of his most haunting stories as some of the stories in this collection are.

This short story collection stands alone in today's market place. It transports one into another realm, the realm of the absurd, the whimsical, the improbable, and the other worldly. It defies the boundries that surround our ordinary reality, and takes us on a surreal journey through some very dark subject matter.

I definitely enjoyed reading this little offering... And would suggest it to all and sundry. Especially if you're in the market for something different, something along the lines of Kafka or perhaps H.G. Wells.

I just wanted readers to know that this writer can write excellent horror in the tradition of Poe - hard core new-gothic writing that will rock your socks off. I was especially impressed by his dark landscapes and incredible and chilling descriptions. My favorite story was "The Resurrection of James Mason." This was blood chilling to say the least as the protagonist is trapped in the tomb of an evil master of sorcery on the very night of his resurrection back into our everyday world of strange and weird encounters with spirits of evil.