Prism by Roland Allnach

Hi, readers! Today I'm a stop on the TLC book tour for Roland Allnach's latest collection, Prism.

It was another busy, busy weekend here, which meant short stories were again perfect reading to fill the few spare moments. Allnach's previous collection, Oddities & Entities, was a truly chilling collection and I'd been looking forward to more from him, so Prism really landed in my lap at the perfect moment.

This new collection is an odd blend to be sure. The pieces run the gamut in terms of genre and even in terms of type - there are two poems included, one in the style of a grand, epic poem and one that's a bit of a ballad. A few of the tales - "Titalis" and "After the Empire" - even took on a mythic tone with the former broken into multiple acts.

A couple of my favorites included "Dissociated," which offered a glimpse into the mind of a writer, and "Creep," a really excellent bedtime chiller (that one earned Allnach a Pushcart nomination).

I didn't really detect an overall theme to the collection (which does make the title particularly appropriate), but all in all Prism is a nice showcase of Allnach's abilities.

To see more stops on the tour be sure to check out the official TLC tour page here.

For more on Roland and his work, you can visit his website here. You can also friend him on Facebook.

Oddities and Entities by Roland Allnach

Morning, readers! Today I'm a stop on the TLC book tour for Roland Allnach's Oddities and Entities.

More creepy short story reads for this so far colder than I'd like October! The collection kicks off with a tale called "Boneview," which is probably the most chilling story in the book. In this tale, a young girl possesses a strange ability and an odd friend she calls the Curmudgeon. Then we move on to "Shift/Change" in which a new morgue employee turns out to be something unexpected. Next is "My Other Me," kind of a play on multiple personalities. In "Gray" one man learns that odd product warnings are sometimes very important. "Elmer Phelps" is Allnach's own version of a vampire tale. Finally, in "Appendage" a man is hired for a job he should never have taken. 

Each of the stories in this collection is creepy and completely odd - "Gray" probably more so than the rest! They're all pretty excellent though. Everyone seems to agree that "Boneview" is the true stand out and I won't argue (it's definitely my favorite) but overall this is a really worthwhile set of shorts. Fans of quirky horror should definitely give it a try and I'm sure they'll be with me in hoping to see more from Allnach very soon indeed.

To see more stops on the tour, check out the official TLC tour page here.

For more on Roland Allnach and his work, you can visit his website here. You can also check out his blog, Out of the Horizon, friend him on Facebook, and become a fan on Goodreads.