Saturday Shorts

The Pirate's Gamble by Eden Winters
I was attracted to this story because I love pirates and time-travel stories so what could be better than a time-travelling pirate? The book begins with hero, Ian, on his pirate ship. However, Ian is no ordinary pirate captain. He travels backwards and forwards in time between the present day and the 18th Century Caribbean islands using a special stone which was found in an archaeological dig where he also met his lover David. As a pirate he 'rescues' important artifacts from ships which are known to sink without a trace whereupon he hides the treasure in a special place for David to find in the 21st century. He then travels back to the present time to fame and fortune. There were quite a number of things I liked about this short story: I felt that the author had done a good job in showing the differences in Ian between the past and the present; I also liked that David is much older than Ian, but that aspect wasn't the cause of the friction within their relationship, but rather David's unwillingness to bring their relationship out into the open; finally, I liked how David was Jamaican in origin but that their interracial romance was not held up to be a big deal apart from Ian citing it as a possible reason as to why David won't be open about him. If I have one criticism of the story it is that there were a number of things which were either glossed over and not explained fully or could have been expanded upon. This would have made the story longer, but I felt that maybe the story would have been better for it. However, these are just slight niggles in an overall interesting and well written love story and how it pays to take a chance on love rather than let it slip away. Rating: 'Very Good

Aniseed and Juniper by GS Wiley
I was attracted to this short story not only because it is written by the consistently excellent GS Wiley (I’ve not read a bad story from her yet) but also because the setting – Roman Britain – seemed fresh and interesting. It turns out that the first part of the story is actually mostly set in Rome, where out hero Marcus is the spoiled and indolent son of a celebrated Roman hostess. His mother is marrying for money and political alliance for the third time. Normally the men his mother marries have little or no impact on Marcus’ life but this time the senator is determined to make a man of Marcus by sending him to Britannia to stay with Marcus’ uncle Falconius. On the whole I enjoyed the story which was well researched and included a lot of accurate detail about life in Ancient Rome and Britain. The contrast between the two settings was done well and Marcus was a likable main character. I was slightly disappointed with the abrupt end to the story which began just as the romance plot was starting to take off, but that wasn't enough to spoil the story too much. Rating: Very Good.

Sympathy by Jordan Castillo Price
This short was a bit of a surprise. I was expecting something paranormal and creepy for Halloween, but what I actually got was a lovely contemporary about a man coming to terms with a horrific accident where he was badly injured and how that has affected his self confidence and body image. Tony, who part owns a landscape gardening business with his two brothers, delivers some hazel trees to a creepy old house known as the 'Hook House' where he and his brothers used to scare each other. The house now has a new owner, David, an artist who creates little clay sculptures of himself and other people. The story follows Tony and David through a tentative first meeting through to the beginnings of a HEA and along the way we discover more about Tony and the accident which has changed his life. This is quite a deceptively simple story made up mostly of verbal and non-verbal interaction between Tony and his brothers and Tony and David. This led to a number of emotionally intense scenes where more is said in a few words or gestures than some authors take pages to produce. The story wasn't your classic horror by any stretch of the imagination, but did have a slightly uneasy feel to it - created mostly by Tony's superstition. Overall this was an extremely enjoyable story of fate and love and relationships which gets a grade of 'Excellent' from me.