by Joshua Skye:
Once upon a time, there was a pale little boy named Spencer. He was very ill and one day, he died. On the other side of the threshold however, he met a mysterious Crooked Man who, for some mystifying reason, took Spencer’s mother in his stead. Returning to the land of the living, Spencer finds his mother dead.
Not exactly alive himself, Spencer continued to grow and go to school in spite of his useless heart. It was at school he acquired the nickname: Spooky. Four years after his “death,” Spooky finds himself beleaguered by shadowy creatures, minions of The Crooked Man. What does The Crooked Man want? And why is Spencer so important? Take a walk with Spooky and find out.
“The Spooky Chronicles: The Crooked Man” is a young child’s horror yarn, a gruesomely charming little tale told with all the delightful magic of a bedtime story. Aside from a few grammatical errors along the way, the story is easy to read, fast, and fun. I enjoyed the invoked images and the playful morbidity of the story. It could have easily been expanded and might have benefited from more detailed dialogue. Still, it was darkly cute and I look forward to the next installments of the series. If you are a fan of the “Cirque du Freak” series, this is right up your alley.
DarkMedia contributor Joshua Skye’s short stories have appeared in anthologies from STARbooks Press, Knightwatch Press, Sirens Call Publications, Rainstorm Press, JMS Books and periodicals such as Blood and Lullabies. He is the author of “The Singing Wind,” “Bareback: A Werewolf’s Tale,” “Midnight Rainbows,” the forthcoming “The Grigori,” and “The Angels of Autumn.” You can find him on his website.
The Spooky Chronicles: The Crooked Man can be found on Amazon.com, Lulu and Smashwords.
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