The Final Days: Terence Hannum
Reviewed By Steve Stred
The Final Days by Terence Hannum is the second of the four Unnerving Chapbooks Eddie Generous sent to me for review.
This one lives up to its name. The story follows Candace as she travels with her father to their family’s camp. The only difference here is it’s December 1999. Only a few days remain in the year and Candace’s father is ensuring her safety at the camp grounds, where they’ve prepped for the end of the world.
When 1999 rolled around, I remember the fear and the worry on many folks minds. I remember the hysteria growing as the year went from Spring, Summer to Fall and when November arrived a large amount of society really began to stress and remove themselves from society, ready for the end to arrive.
I didn’t believe the world was going to end, but I won’t lie – a part of my 18-year-old brain at the time was a bit worried. What if the world ended?
Hannum crafts a deft tale as we meet the crazy, religious preppers and Candace starts to put some of the pieces together about what’s to come.
This is part survival tale, part religious cult tale but both meld together masterfully and had me riveted from page one.
I really enjoyed this one and while sometimes a 32-page story can feel as though not enough was explained or expanded upon, in this case, the format works perfectly.
The Final Days
Taking place during the last week of the year 1999, ‘The Final Days’ follows the rebellious teenager, Candace who is trapped with her father during the Y2K hysteria with his religious friends at the remote family camp to wait out the coming tribulation. Every day is a descent into religious fervour, extreme fasting, gun worship, paranoia, and terror that will test Candace and her father’s relationship.
You can buy The Final Days from Unnervingmagazine
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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