Problems In River Heights: Kurt Fawver
Reviewed By Steve Stred
Problems in River Heights is part of the Unnerving Chapbooks limited serious that Eddie Generous kindly sent to me for review. I was totally blown away to see that each book was signed and numbered – not expecting this at all. I typically only accept digital copies for review (as I know the cost associated with physical review copies – both production and shipping) but after chatting with Eddie (and buying four ebooks that Unnerving had released!) I agreed and they were shipped out.
I’ve not read any of Kurt Fawver’s releases before this, but his style of prose is right up my alley; smooth, flowing and extremely engaging.
Problems in River Heights is a very fast read – 25 pages total, but it is effective. We are thrown into a friendly neighbourhood, the kind where all folks say hello and the yards are maintained with pride.
The neighbourhood watch, while possibly overkill, takes its job seriously and works to make the community feel safe.
Then one day that all goes to hell. A watch member sees something ‘odd’ and while initially, the group believes he’s having a nervous breakdown when a video of another incident is produced pandemonium breaks out.
At first, I was very leery as I was certain this was going to fall into a zombie short story, but thankfully Fawver gives us a very unique and creepy-as-all-heck creature. Of course with such a short page count we get no answers regarding the where or why of the creatures, but in this case that works just fine.
I really dug this quick, violent read and have now added Fawver as another author to check out.
Problems In River Heights
The suburb of River Heights is a model neighborhood: low crime, good schools, no poverty, and seemingly friendly neighbors.
But a darkness lurks between the white picket fences, and it wants to remake River Heights in its own hate-filled image.
Though the people of River Heights may want a happy, peaceful community, they’ll find that not everyone—or everything—in their midst has the same idea, and, sometimes, you have to fight for a better world.
You can buy Problems In River Heights from UnnervingMagazine.com
Steve Stred
Steve Stred is an up-and-coming Dark, Bleak Horror author.
Steve is the author of the novel Invisible, the novellas Wagon Buddy, Yuri and Jane: the 816 Chronicles and two collections of short stories; Frostbitten: 12 Hymns of Misery and Left Hand Path: 13 More Tales of Black Magick, the dark poetry collection Dim the Sun and his most recent release was the coming-of-age, urban legend tale The Girl Who Hid in the Trees.
On June 1st, 2019 his second full-length novel, The Stranger will be welcomed to the world.
Steve is also a voracious reader, reviewing everything he reads and submitting the majority of his reviews to be featured on Kendall Reviews.
Steve Stred is based in Edmonton, AB, Canada and lives with his wife, his son and their dog OJ.
You can follow Steve on Twitter @stevestred
You can visit Steve’s Official website here
The Stranger
Ahhh… nothing like the annual summer family camping trip, right?
Malcolm, his wife Sam and their two kids have been staying at the same cabin, at the same campground for years now. Heck, Malcolm’s been coming to the campground since he was a kid.
Miles and miles of groomed trails, hiking, kayaking on the pristine lake. What’s not to like?
But this year… well this year’s different. You see, roof repairs have caused them to have to change their plans. Now they’re staying at the cabin at the end of season, in fact they’re the last campers before it closes for the winter.
While happy to be spending time with the family, Malcolm feels a shift.
The caretaker next door makes it known he hates him.
The trees… move and dance, as though calling him, beckoning him.
Then on a seemingly normal kayaking trip, the family makes a discovery.
YOU TAKE FROM ME
I TAKE FROM YOU
Something’s out there, just on the other side of the fence. Malcolm’s positive it’s just the caretaker trying to scare him, teach the family a lesson.
But what if it’s not…
What if there is something out there?
The Stranger is the second novel from Steve Stred and 9th release overall. The Stranger is another offering following in the footsteps of similar books Invisible, YURI and The Girl Who Hid in the Trees. As Steve describes his works; “dark, bleak horror.”
With this release, Steve has decided to look deeper into what makes humans tick. He confronts two key elements of mankind; bigotry and our environmental footprint.
Featuring stunning cover art by Chadwick St. John (www.inkshadows.com), The Stranger will be a story that will leave you feeling uneasy and have you looking at the trees differently.
Maybe it’s not the wind making the branches sway…
Maybe…
It’s…
The Stranger.
You can buy The Stranger from Amazon UK & Amazon US
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