Wednesday, 2 May 2018
Release Date: 8th October 2015
Genres: Short Stories, Mixed Genres
a Rafflecopter giveaway
The Lights Went out And Other Stories
is a quirky collection of flash fiction, short and longer stories. With themes
ranging from romantic to dark fairy tales, humour to horror there something for
every reader. At times humorous, eerie and poignant; a mother burdened by
financial troubles shares her problem with a stranger, a young couples' journey
to the airport takes a strange turn, a wedding anniversary in Dingle goes from
bad to worse, a small dog is forced to change his ways and a vampire hiding out
in suburbia just wants to be left alone.
“Quite Beautiful, Almost Poetic in its forms” Amazon Reviewer.
“Brilliant, Hilarious and Scary” Amazon Reviewer.
Awarded Chill with a Book Reader’s Award, April
2017.
Excerpt from Darkling,
The Lights Went Out and Other Stories.
“Unable
to take her eyes off the stranger, Emmeline moved from tree to tree until he
seemed close enough to touch until finally as if in a dream, she stepped out
from behind the cover of the trees to face him, a bird released from a trap
with no choice but to fly towards danger.
The
walker between the trees turned on his heel sensing her, he moved towards the
slight figure of the girl in the grey cloak whose wide eyes shone at his
approach. The stitching on his waistcoat glinted in the moons light as he
neared. Her eyes were drawn to a face of contradictions; ancient yet youthful.
His
skin was white as the light that the moon poured down.
White
as bone bleached in the sun.
Pale
as the ice in the village pond in midwinter.
Pale
and cold as death.”
I love books of short stories as I'm always fascinated by the writing style within these types of stories. Since joining a writing group I've been producing some short stories of my own for about a year now and if I ever get them to the standard half as good as those stories that Fiona Cooke Hogan has produced for this book then I will die happy! For me and my super hectic lifestyle this book worked so well. I was able to dip in and out of it during tea breaks and lunch hours in work. I became completely immersed in this wonderful book.
I really enjoyed the author's writing style and that all her stories were a little different and not restricted to one particular genre. Each story really captured my imagination and the characters in each were appealing, holding my attention throughout. Some were flawed and some so likeable. Evidence of a skilled storyteller shone through each character, creating some I liked and some I didn't which for me is entirely the point of a good book.
Fiona Cooke Hogan has a beautiful fluid writing style that meant each story was perfectly paced and gave just enough to satisfy this reader's need for a bit of escapism. Each story perfectly captivates what for most are every day aspects of life or observations and weaves the into something beautiful, interesting and at times gripping. I have no hesitation in highly recommending such a lovely piece of writing.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Fiona
Cooke Hogan is a writer, blogger and editor living in beautiful rural Ireland.
She has published four books on Amazon – The
Lights Went Out and Other Stories, and What
Happened in Dingle under the name Fiona Cooke Hogan and Death Comes Calling and The Nightmare under her horror name –
F.B. Hogan. She is a Tolkien obsessive, zombie enthusiast and Diana Gabaldon
addict. She refuses to be tied to any particular genre.
Her
latest novel – Martha’s Cottage is
currently with the publisher and she is writing its sequel, and half-way
through another novel - a psychological thriller. She hopes to publish another
collection of horror stories in time for Hallowe’en 2018.
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