Darkness and Bloodshed by Lennie Grace

Hello everyone.

Last time I was talking about my sisters being triplets. As we got older, my parents ruled on disputes mostly by majority rule, they wanted to keep the peace. So when I wanted to watch a television show with a teen idol on it, I was quickly over-ruled in favor of a kiddie show. One thing we could always agree on, especially as they got a bit older was a great movie. There were a couple of really spooky films we loved, like the movie Two on a Guillotine. I had some wild idea years ago that it would make a great surprise gift for the trips. I spent ages waiting for it to be released, stalking every movie seller. Finally Warner Brothers ended my search, putting it out on dvd.  It is the story of a daughter, Connie Stevens, who has just buried her father, a world renowned magician. She is about to inherit his not so magical mansion but she must live there first. To help her is a newspaper man, Dean Jones, yes of Disney fame. It is a great movie. I think you can see it on Amazon Prime and Turner Classic Movies runs it every once in a while.

I was in the second grade when I first saw Two on a Guillotine. How do I know?  Because we were asked to write a story, and I wrote about a haunted house after seeing this movie. My second grade teacher, Mrs. Schwartz, said my story was so creative I should think about becoming a writer. Producing a creepy book never happened for me, but it has for some. One of those people is Lennie Grace. Lennie wrote the book Darkness and Bloodshed, which I recently read. This is a collection of three short stories. The book itself is not very long at 170+ pages, double spaced.

The first of the stories is called Blood Moon. It is about a woman who gets attacked by a large dog, she survives and makes it home only to later start behaving strangely. Let me stop here. This book is self published. Some of my favorite books have been self published, so don't shy away from this alternative source of reading joy. What self publishing usually doesn't benefit from is professional proofreaders. (I could use one myself!) Darkness and Bloodshed has several typos, which the author says she is working to have fixed. Honestly, I really had to search for them. They did not distract from the stories at all. I think the opening scene of the book, where the woman is attacked by the dog is the roughest part of the whole thing. I really don't mean "rough" I just can't think of any way to describe it. The author is showing us an attack, naturally it doesn't flow like conversations or everyday life, and it shouldn't. So if you buy this collection, and I'd suggest you give it a whirl, don't stop there. Lennie Grace really excels at her reaction between people. In addition, there are little things that she notices and includes that really make the stories come alive. For example, kids trying to hear what their parents are saying, kneeling on the couch leaning over the back, that was so easy to picture and brought back many memories. Silly details like putting on shark slippers. These little observations may seem like nothing, but really add to the world this author is building.

As far as the three stories go, the first was plenty entertaining but not my favorite. I also really liked the third story, called They Came From The Sky. It is about weather gone amok and then odd beings descending from the sky, absolutely terrifying. I was reading this alone at two am and I literally started hearing all kinds of noises around the house.  I went and woke up hubby to go down and "check" the first floor.  I told him to blame the author! But, my hands down favorite was the second story called All That Glitters.  This tale really reminded me of The Heart Shaped Box, by Joe Hill, Stephen King's son. Only this is different. All That Glitters could so easily be expanded into a full 300 page novel and hold my attention the entire time. I loved it. I don't want to give it away but the plot idea is so good.  Overall, the writing is strong, all shorts feature interesting plots. The stories stay on topic and are well paced, making for very pleasant reading.

If you have a chance and you don't mind hearing every creek and groan in your house, give this book a go. If Lennie Grace ever turns the second story, All That Glitters, into a full book, I'll be one of her happy customers.