A Book of Tales by Annette Gisby. Twelve tales to delight and terrify you. Out now from Double Dragon. Are you sitting comfortably? Good, then, let us begin...
Here is just a taster to whet your appetite:
In "The Witch Hunter" the trial does not go according to plan...
Baby Blues: A dark future where family planning is controlled by the state and making love is illegal...
Free Falling: Aliens have discovered the cure for most diseases, except for the one you have...
The Glass Guitar: Megan thinks a haunted guitar would make an interesting birthday present...
Shadows of the Rose: A lover’s tryst, but something is not quite right...
What’s that, there in the shadows of the rose?
Excerpt
Extract from story "The Witch Hunter"
They'd come for her in the night, Sir Robert and his men, the moon glinting off their armour, almost dazzling her. She closed her eyes as she remembered the humiliation she suffered at their hands, being stripped right down to her shift and being tied up like an animal. Led through the streets like a commoner, with insults coming from all sides.
Insults from people she thought were her friends, people she'd helped. Worse than the insults, were the accusations.
Witch.
Sorceress...
Professional Reviews
A Multitude of Worlds
Annette Gisby has created a multitude of fantastic worlds in her book of short stories, Shadows of the Rose. The writing is suburb and flows so effortlessly that you are drawn into the stories and hooked before you know it.
Although the stories may be short, Ms. Gisby's characters are exquisitely created and fully developed to the point that you could imagine inviting some of the more sympathetic characters over for dinner.
The stories that comprise Shadows of the Rose take place in a variety of settings--from medieval times to a hi-tech, almost cyborgic future-but each draws you in and creates a tantalizing, and very realistic universe, that is yours to escape to when you need a break from real life.
One thing all of Ms. Gisby's stories have in common is a little twist of plot at the end that makes you go, "Ah, I never would have thought of that."
Ms Gisby is a truly talented writer who, when discovered, will give the great authors of our time a run for their money.
Reviewed by Lori Enos, author of "The Portable Coach."
A Journey Like No Other
Shadows of the Rose is a collection of short tales by Annette Gisby in which she takes the reader on a journey like no other.
From medieval witch trials, to futuristic methods of reproducing, each story is a trip to a different time and place.
Each tale has its own little twist landing you somewhere you'd never expect to be. Ms. Gisby showcases her talents brilliantly in Shadows of the Rose and I look forward to seeing more from her.
Reviewed by Tim Miller, author of "Without a Trace"
Enjoyment and Suspense
SHADOWS OF THE ROSE
by Annette Gisby
I'm not fond of short stories, but every now and then I come across a writer who handles this format so well that my enjoyment surprises me. Annette Gisby is such a writer, because her soon-to-be-released collection of suspense tales (whose endings I could NOT see coming the proverbial "mile away") had me gulping it down in a single evening.
Most of the tales, like opener "Emily's Angel," run between 1,000 and 2,000 words. Their settings vary from contemporary England, to the 17th Century, to the future on Earth and in space. The closing story, a paranormal romance entitled "Leonae," reaches the lower limits of novella length without giving the reader any sense that it's gone on too long.
My personal favorite from this collection, "Witch Hunter," opens in a 17th Century dungeon. Katherine, a young noblewoman without male relatives to protect her, is confined there under horrific conditions-supposedly for practicing the black arts. In reality, her crime is refusing Sir Robert's marriage proposal. Sir Robert (a man whom no woman with a choice would be likely to accept!) sends for the noted "witch hunter" Lord William Alden, even after Katherine's herbal healing skills have saved his life, so that he can force her to stand trial by ordeal. Lady Katherine is doomed, like so many other women of her era, to die by the means she has always feared most... and more than that, I wouldn't dream of telling you.
The writing in these tales is frank. I found its handling of sensitive subjects (both positive-a few sensual love scenes, and negative-the aftereffects of rape) appropriate, and the scenes themselves not at all gratuitous. If you enjoy irony, and strong heroines whose lives you can live right along with them as you read, then I heartily recommend "Shadows of the Rose."
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