The Books of Matthew Rowe

The author was kind enough to send me a free review copy of this, his first book. It's a collection of eleven short stories from across the fantasy, science fiction and horror genres, each written with unusual insight and wit. One thing that I greatly enjoyed with this book is the fact that the Introduction features a short breakdown of the themes and inspirations for each of the stories, giving a delightful little window into the author's mind. Although all the stories make for interesting and/or amusing reads, a couple deserve a special mention. The first being 'The Happily Ever After', in which we see the later adventures of Little Red Riding Hood. What I enjoyed most about this story was the fact that Rowe manages to perfectly capture the tone of the old cautionary fairy tales. The other stand-out story is called 'Harry', in which a nervous man focuses all of his anxiety into the form of a werewolf which hunts him for three nights every month, but which leaves him free of fear the rest of the time. Although there are a few disappointing elements to the book (such as the one that actually is about zombies), the biggest disappointment here is the fact that some of the stories could easily work as novels but here they end just when you're desperate to read more.