Terror Time
Author
William P. Robertson
Publisher
Infinity Publishing
2 Review Copies Left
Terror Time is William P. Robertson s third collection of horror stories and his hardest hitting yet. The anthology kicks off with a second visit from femme fatale, Lauren Watson, as she returns from Dark Haunted Day to wreak havoc on another branch of her family. The author also experiments with historical horror by immersing his Bucktail characters, Bucky Culp and Jimmy Jewett, in two postbellum tales of adventure and intrigue. Robertson s first dark fantasy story appears here, too. It relates the trials of an aging Viking who s smitten with a witch.
Reviews
Terror time is a collection of poems and short stories put in a magnificant formated book that offers the reader a chance to embrace the power of poetry and stories behind it.
While compared to most of his books, this little over 100 page one was a different character or William Robertson. A collection of thrilling, intense, page turning stories that will keep you wanting more, and thinking to you self "What, thats it, I want to know more!"
Reviewed on 11/11/2010 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Michelle Lichtenfels
Terror Time
Within this book of a bit over 100 pages, lay fourteen suspense and horror themed stories and poems, beginning with a poem that brings to life for the reader, a style of personage that is so clear, one cannot but believe he is not speaking from personal experience. Or is he?
For you see, throughout this book, though toted as non-fiction the work within (poems especially) seem to have been dug from the place we all hide horrific and frightening thoughts such as these poems depict. They speak in few words what most cannot voice if pressed to, and many leave the reader wondering about what is to come after the poem is over, as if it is but a piece of life put upon the page and its story is still continuing.
The first story, “The Return of Laura Watson “left this reader with a chill that a woman, so refined, so on top of the world, could be anything but a woman upset because she has had to come home to take care of her mother. There is a great deal of change in the readers opinion of Lauren from the beginning to the end. Ben, Laura’s brother and mother to Mrs. Fairweather, whom Lauren had come home to help take care of as age overtook her vitality, is caught between trying to console his mother, not quite knowing how to console her in the presence of Laura and keep his sister calm in the world in which she has been tossed. The ending is a horrific one. An ending, will leave the reader speechless. In fact, the very nature of the ending was so disturbing, that I had to re-read it to make sure I was really reading what was on the pages and not imagining them.
With a book filled with seven different stories of suspense and horror, the reader is left time and again stunned, shocked or even sickened from what they find within its covers. From little old ladies desperately trying to get someone to listen to her but instead, being ignored, to Norseman, Andy the Hardy finding out what really makes his lady love, Shera tick, this book is one that once it has a hold of you, you will read it from cover and will most likely return to some parts and re-read them, not sure if you read correctly the first time, the horror and fright within it’s pages.
The poems are of a free form style, which adds a measure of unsettlement to the book. As most readers expect poetry to rhyme or at least tell in clear detail what it’s message is, William P. Robertson does not do that. He does not cater to putting his poems in a “neat little box” instead he oftentimes leaves his poems seemingly unfinished perhaps to leave the reader to fill in the blanks and make sense themselves of what they have just read.
His poem “In seeps your disease” though disturbing with the images it dredged up for myself, is in fact my favorite for if you read between the lines, it is all too clear that he is actually speaking to individuals exactly like myself. And what he has to say, simply said, made me very uncomfortable and uneasy with the way he captured a part of my everyday life.
And on it goes. This book is a book that has a mixture of horror, suspense and “I can’t believe it!” moments that are in and of themselves tales of which nightmares are made.
It is a good book in every sense of the suspenseful and horrific word, and one that sticks with the reader long after the last page is turned, the book finished and returned to it’s shelf. If Mr. Robertson’s intention was to linger within the readers mind long after the book has been finished, he has accomplished that well, and if his intention was to put out there for his readers unspeakable snippets of life that might be more than mere lore, he has once again accomplished his goal.
Read for yourself this entertaining, though at times disturbing, book of horror and suspense. But one word of caution, these stories are said to be fiction but the author has portrayed the characters in these stories so well, they could be living in your town, your neighborhood or two doors down. Who knows, you may have a neighbor just like Lauren living right next door and never know it. Unless of course, it’s too late.
Reviewed on 02/08/2010 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Susan Pettrone
I read this book on Halloween, and it was the perfect read for that day! William Robertson has taken a collection of his poetry and short stories and offers readers a book that is both thought-provoking and scary. A couple of the stories are written using characters from his previously published collections of stories, but they stand on their on as great stories too.
Several of the poems, while written simply, are haunting and will stay with the reader for some time. Robertson has a real talent for taking every day thoughts and events and adding a frightening twist.
I would be hard-pressed to pick a favorite story, I pretty much recommend them all....you won't be disappointed. If you enjoy cowboy/western type stories, there are a couple here you will enjoy. The author has written a series of books in that genre that I look forward to reading. They are added to my growing to be read list!
Reviewed on 11/02/2009 by ReviewTheBook.com Member LAURI COATES
