SHORT AND TWISTED 2008:  Stories and Poems With a Twist.

Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

This is the second anthology of short (sometimes longer) and sharp, well-crafted stories with twisted endings that shock or surprise. There are quite a few stories with a suspense or crime element, which creep up on the reader, and then deliver their clever twist like a blow to the gut.

Making a Killing at the Pokies, is a clever murder/mystery about an unemployed writer struggling to recover his life. In the process of making a documentary on the effects of gambling, the orchestrated murder becomes reality when his main character dies at her Poker machine during a power blackout. Then comes the twist.

Blind Date is a suspenseful, smooth-flowing story: brief and precise, full of questions and innuendoes. One Scream is the exact opposite. It is like milk coming to the boil. It’s every parent’s nightmare. A lurking predator is trying to abduct a child as the parent watches on in frozen horror. All this is portrayed so realistically that the reader holds their breath. Then the knot twisted and tied.

In Deep Freeze, a dog inadvertently takes revenge for animal cruelty, while A Day on the Footpath is a crime story that so totally twisted it will make you shudder. Two Sides to Every Story sees a bank robbery turn into a case of coincidence, serendipity, and heroism.

The Picnic is a horror/crime; murder with a twist in its tale. But in Romeo, a burglar receives an unexpected reception when he climbs over a parapet to rob a house. It’s all excellent writing and entertaining reading. Expect the unexpected!