Matthew C. Woodruff

I was very very impressed with Mr. Woodruff's ability to take 26 itty-bitty yarns and spin them into one spectacular, albeit grim, multicolored blanket with which to cover oneself on a cold night. But don't fret, dear reader, because the stories aren't quite as Gorey...er, gory, as you would suppose; they're actually handled with a lot of care and more often than not, intimated rather than grimly drawn out - perhaps 98% of the content of the tales was the lead-up with the final 2% being the actual denouement. To me, ironically, this is what really made the tales come alive. With every story, I was astonished as to how the author could take one little line and make a full-fledged, sometimes intricate, tale from it Best of all, though, was that all of these stores were told so casually, as if Mr. Woodruff was sitting in his rocker with a corncob pipe in his mouth, telling these macabre tales to his astounded audience.

If you're a fan of the outrageous and macabre, pick this tale up ASAP!… (més)