#Bookreview – Last Call and Other Short Fiction by Kaye Lynne Booth

What Amazon says

Six premium short stories by author Kaye Lynne Booth. Stories in this collection has something for everyone with a mixture of time travel, suspense, humor, origins and speculative fiction.

Last Call – (Time travel science fiction) – Things aren’t going too good for Derek and he thinks his life is over, until he stops in for a Last Call. Will a bar in the middle of nowhere turn out to be his curse or his salvation?

Terror on the Mountain Trail – (Suspense) – It’s a perfect spring day until Kellie and Randy are attacked by a crazed man in the wilderness.

Earth Mother – (Origin Story)

A Turn of the Tables – (Speculative fiction) – Are vampires really invincible? One vampire is about to find out.

A True Hero – (Humor) – Heroes come in all shapes and sizes. This one is heroic indeed.

Man of Her Dreams – (Speculative fiction) – Will what Aaron at first believes to be a curse, turn out to be a blessing? She won’t know until she finds  the man of her dreams.

A Woman’s World – (Humor) – Wouldn’t it be great if a woman could rule the U.S.? Or would it? – Satyrical comment on current affairs of days past.

My review

Last Call and other Short Fiction is a collection of 7 short stories for adults. The stories are varied as to themes and storylines and I thought a few of them were very unusual and clever.

Last Call, this was my favourite story in the collection and the one for which the book is named. Luke is a mild mannered man who is on the run from his bullying ex-partner, Vicky. Vicky’s stalking behaviour and tantrums have caused Luke to be fired from his job and also be requested to vacate his apartment. Luke is depressed and aimless, and having packed his meagre possessions into his truck, and set off on the highway towards and unknown destination. When he pulls into the ‘Last Call Tavern’ he doesn’t even know where he is. Luke’s life is about to change and it will be up to him to ride the wave of change or to continue with is existing dismal existence.

Terror on the Mountain Trail was a well written, tension filled short story about a couple who run into unexpected trouble in the mountain. Are they adequately prepared to defend themselves? You’ll have to read the story to find out.

Earth mother is an imaginative and interesting re-telling of the story of creation. There are some lovely descriptive passages in this story, my favourite being “Her coughing spasms caused hot spittle to fly across the expanse, sprinkling it with billions of tiny sparking orbs from one end to the other.”

A Turn of the Tables is a vampire tale which is quite different from any other I have read. This story has a strong sexual undertone, but it is cleverly done.

A True Hero is an interesting look at the differences in perspective between a mother and her older teenage son. It made me smile as the pair negotiated the minefield of misunderstandings between generations.

Man of Her Dreams is also a vampire story with an unusual twist. This story also has sexual undertones but it is tastefully done. This was another favourites story of mine, I enjoyed how the tables were turned in this tale.

A Woman’s World was a rather interesting idea and a bit bizarre from my perspective, as a mother of two sons. It was, however, an entertaining read and I was intrigued to read the author’s thoughts about a world dominated by women.

Purchase Last Call and Other Short Fiction by Kaye Lynne Booth

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