Customer Reviews

The Lake and 17 Other Stories

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

So you stumbled across this book. Maybe you've never heard of David McAfee. You're thinking: should I chance a buck on this or buy one-tenth of something famouser? First of all, "famouser" isn't a word. Second, stop thinking and click the buy button. I guarantee you won't be sorry.

I've been reading and writing horror most of my life, and I've paid for a lot of stinkers. This isn't one of them. McAfee's flash fiction is expertly honed, and the longer stories rank right up there with the works of Richard Laymon and Brian Keene. The tales are fun, disgustingly delicious, and unforgettable.

This is big-time horror for a small-time price. Do yourself a favor and give McAfee a try. Then go read everything else he's written. That's my plan anyway.

The Lake and 17 Other Stories contained fourteen 100-word (exactly!) stories that were fun to read - and must've been quite a challenge to write, given the word count limitation. But they were fun little bites to chew on between the three longer stories. My favorite of these longer tales was "The Spider and the Fly" about an old man leading a boy into a rather creepy trap while the boy's mother is dying of the plague. McAfee's stories here are full of some wonderful atmospheric touches. Also included in this collection as a bonus is a fantastic story by David Dalglish, called "One Last Dinner Party," about a handful of older couples gathering for one last meal before catastrophe strikes. This story really made me want to seek out more of Dalglish's work. Recommended!

Joel Arnold

author of BEDTIME STORIES FOR THE APOCALYPSE

After venturing into the dark historical fantasy 33 A.D., I was eager to get a broader sample of McAfee's work. I was pleasantly surprised by the diversity here, with taut psychological horror balanced by occasional humor and wicked insight. Microfiction is a challenge because every word matters, and McAfee proves himself an attentive student of the language. He's flown onto my radar as a must-read, and he has a companionable, humble personality, which is always a plus in an author.

I liked this book very much. Last weekend I read this book from cover-to-cover, and then went back to reread a few of the stories I particularly liked: One Last Dinner Party, Exhibit A, The Lake, The Spider and the Fly, and Bothers. This book is a mix of short and micro stories, a wonderful mix of scary, creepy, funny, and shocking - somewhere between the style of Tales From the Crypt and Stephen King. If this sounds like your kind of thing, then I bet you'll love this book.

One noteworthy thing about this book is that my favorite story was not written by the author! Not to say that David McAfee's stories weren't great, but One Last Dinner Party by David Dalglish is included as a bonus - and really, REALLY stands out. It's a poignant, contemplative piece, and one of the better short stories that I've read in quite some time. I would have been perfectly happy paying my $0.99 for that story alone!

The Lake and 17 Other Stories is a very small collection of work predominantly by David McAfee. 13 of the stories are 100-word short-shorts. They are minorly intriguing, but nothing that will stick with you for long after having finished them. 3 stories are longer, regular horror tales, of which the sole stand-out was "The Lake." Each of McAfee's tales follows the same format of setting the scene, then ending with a hard turn twist. While that works for some, such as the short-shorts that are otherwise plot free, it becames a tired pattern quickly. Not every horror story has to have a final twist to be effective, and throwing one in doesn't make the story better, as evidenced here. "The Lake" works, as it builds the horror off of an entertaining plot device, and gives itself space to grow.

The best story in the collection, however, was the one story by David Dalglish, "One Last Dinner Party." Dalglish leaves the twist-end McAfee runs into the ground, and builds a tale with strong, believable characters, an interesting plot, and a horror that is off-scene most of the tale. The story flows along well, is smooth to digest, and has made this reader be on the look out for other works by this writer. For the price, the two stories are worth a read, but don't keep your hopes up for more than those.

Writing a short story isn't the easiest of tasks. Try writing one that is EXACTLY 100 words--no more, no less. Well, that's what David McAfee accomplishes with "The Lake and 17 Other Stories," with the 100-word bites being 14 of the 17. What you get from this collection is terror, menace and twisted dark humor.

Some of the stories involve the supernatural while others dish out the horror through acts of cruelty, violence and murder perpetrated by human beings--which can sometimes be the most terrifying of them all. Still, even with some of the gruesome imagery and twisted situations, McAfee is still able to add subtle and dark humor where you can't help but smile after you finish a story--even if you're afraid to admit it!

While I enjoy the shorter stories, I think McAfee shines with his longer pieces. Through these stories he creates memorable and fleshed out characters and nail-biting tension. "Exhibit A" is one of my favorites, which involves a talkative killer explaining to his first victim why he feels the need to murder. Unsettling? Sure, but it is also darkly comic at the same time. "The Lake" is an eerie tale that'll make you never want to explore in the woods ever again. "The Spider and the Fly" is another fine tale with a neat little twist to it. While I think this is where this author's true talent is displayed, the bites are still very entertaining and well written. This collection also features a guest writer/author, David Dalglish, who wrote the last story, "One Last Dinner Party." A great story to finish the collection.

"The Lake and 17 Other Stories" by David McAfee is a fine read, especially if you're looking for something quick. It's worth every penny, and then some! It also works as a fine intro if you've never read anything by McAfee. I look forward to checking out his other works. Terrifying and darkly humorous at the same time, this is an excellent collection of stories. Highly recommended! - Michael Crane

I am not really a fan of flash fiction so I am not going to comment on those but I wanted to mention that the short stories in this collection (Exhibit A, The Spider and the Fly, The Lake and One Last Dinner Party). Are all very good reads.

Exhibit A is a look into the mind of a very twisted (but remarkably lucid) killer. Entirely one sided and evocative we learn so much we want to look away... Pretty scary and its only six pages!

The Spider and the Fly introduces us to Beakle and The Boy. While the title of the piece tells us exactly what part each will play the author really draws you in and still manages go shock the he'll out of us at the end.

The Lake is more standard fare than the others by David McAfee as it is a strait up "The college students are gonna die" horror story but it certainly is well done. More than once I was almost yelling at page "You idiot that is going to get you killed" just as one would when watching a goofy B picture.

I feel guilty saying this but the stand out piece of the book is the short story by David Dalglish. And end of the world piece you could feel the weight these people were under. Every sentence brought you closer and closer to "the end" for these people and you REALLY felt it... The characters, the dialog, the pacing... The ending... AAA all the way.

I bought this book because I liked the idea of 100 word stories, I must admit 100 words are less than I imagined when I first bought this books, still I liked most of the stories, but there was some I thought was just lame, there was also a sense of humour I found refreshing. It is a quickly read book so if you have a few hours to kill this book could keep you company.

I love flash fiction. The writer must adhere to a strict formula because he has only a few words with which to tell his story. Because of that, flash can be done really wrong. I've read many volumes of flash and believe me, there is some real bad flash out there. McAfee has mastered the formula.

Strangely, the only story I didn't really like was the title story (and it's not a flash story, but a short story), "The Lake". It was still a good story, but not great like the rest.

I stumbled upon this collection as an "Amazon Recommends for You" when I bought a J.A. Konrath Kindle book. I'm so glad I found it. It was a super collection of great flash stories. Some made me laugh, some surprised me, some were gross as all get-out. It comes with my highest recommendation.

David's writing amuses me LOL! Let me explain...this is an anthology of little horror stories and a super quick read but well worth the .99!

The author is writing a really gross story one minute and mixes it up with a stupid campy horror story next. (I say stupid in a good way!)

I liked that because I never knew what was coming. There are several that I'd love to see as longer tales or full length horrors. David has a great imagination so I hope to see more work like this.