Member Reviews
This is a short story collection.
As with all collections, there were some stories that I enjoyed more than others.
I was expecting them to be more festive than they were.
It does what it sets out to, these well written short sharp stories featuring established beloved characters are a lovely Christmas treat!
An interesting collection of strange, dark and spooky short stories! They were cleverly written and I enjoyed working out what was going on. They made me think and some were quite amusing, some were rather bizarre and some a bit disturbing! I particularly liked the story about the social workers and the cats (Easily Made) and Death Becomes Her about a policewoman was good too! Overall, an entertaining, intriguing selection of stories, though not all were very festive, and I liked some more than others!
The Twelve Strange Days of Christmas is a diverse short story collection, all with a supernatural flavour, which is perfect for the festive season.
The stories varied in length and were all very different. There was some humour, and some of the stories were quite weird, and I liked some more than others, but this is always the case with a short story collection.
An entertaining read just in time for Christmas!
A bit of an odd collection - some completely confused me and I gave up, others were ok. Most not Christmassy!
Recap: A collection of short stories
Review: As with all short story collections there are some you really like and some you don't. I had a little difficulty placing some of the characters but that just my atrocious memory lol. The first story worried me as whilst I enjoyed the tale, I didn't like the stylistic dialogue very much and it was a slow ponderous intro but there were other gems and I particularly liked the spring-heeled Jack Christmas story.
This was just the right read for me this holiday season - I really enjoy ghost stories during the holidays, it helps offset the relentless merriment everywhere. This year I read a lot of Christmas romances for escape, and so this was a great little break from those too. These stories were fantastical, not too dark but definitely mysterious and a little spooky. Each story has a nastly little twist that thrills and chills. I enjoyed the otherworldly tone, which, though dark, also felt like a nice escape from the real world. I found myself neatly swept up in each of these little gems. I will recommend this to patrons looking for something a little different during the holidays. Thank you!
An interesting mix of short stories, more hit the mark than not. I've not read anything by this author before but dont think that detracted from my enjoyment.
I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of short stories. Syd Moore's writing is so evocative that it lends a magical quality to the tales. The characters throughout this collection are so vibrant they seem real. I haven't read her work before but am eager to now. I would also love to hear "The Twelve Strange Days Of Christmas" in audio format.
An anthology of 12 short stories and this is a new to me author.....When I go into an anthology, I know that there are some stories that I like better than others and this book was no different. Some of my favourites were: Death Becomes Her, a story about a female police officer and her views on death. She Saw Three Ships. The experience that Ethel-Rose had when she rented a holiday cottage for Christmas. Christmas Eve at the Witch Museum a humourous tale of the staff's Christmas Party and the final story a retelling of a Christmas Carol.
As a horror lover, I found this to be a gentle read, so for non horror lover this is a good book to read. Whilst not all Christmas themed, there were sometimes set in a cold winter environment so a good book to read on a dark night in a warm room.
I am interested to read more of this series so will check out the books.
I was excited for this book based on the title alone; the cover convinced me even more! I didn't realize this was a follow up to a series of books, and that these were short stories not necessarily connected. Wasn't for me.
Nice easy read, quick stories which are great if you just want to read a little each day. Good stories, enjoyable read, give it a go
A great selection of short stories full of ghosts and spirits that I have loved reading in the lead up to Christmas.
The stories all held a little something different and the more I read the more I wanted to keep reading to see where my imagination would take me next.
I love a good short story as you dive straight in and you never know what is going to come next and nothing beats a good ghost story this time of year.
My thanks to Netgalley for a copy of The twelve strange days of Christmas.
I chose to read this book purely due to the title, wanting something seasonal to read .I havent read anything by this author before..
I found the short stories, as I find most collections of short stories , a bit hit and miss...
Some I enjoyed but some, I must confess to skipping through, therefore I have given this title an average score .
I haven’t read anything else by this author yet so I guess I missed some of the references to established characters but a couple of the stories gave me a taste of the Strange series and I’ll give it a try, it looks right up my alley.
The other stories range from darkly funny to disturbingly weird, a good mix and a very enjoyable read. Most of them don’t really have that much to do with Christmas, but it’s a great collection for a cold and rainy winter evening.
Well there is no merry Christmas in this collection of short stories full of horror and terror. This is a mixed up bag of stories all set around the dark side of Christmas and the old camp style stories we would tell each other to give our friends nightmares in the dark. They are fun and varied and dark and twisted Merry Christmas
I had high hopes for this collection, but alas, it hit on a huge pet peeve of mine regarding its misleading title and marketing: Mentioning the word Christmas or casually stating in a story that it is Christmastime does not make the piece a Christmas story. This is the case with almost every tale in this collection.
I might have been able to forgive that had the material been better in a general sense, but the stories largely lack originality and display very little of the creepiness they attempt to claim.
Moore writes well from a technical standpoint, but the material was flat and the premise it is being marketed under is misleading.
A final warning to readers: Several of the stories here are duplicates from other Moore collections.
Great collection of short stories, a nice little addition to the collection.
Would recommend to any fan
When I chose to read this short story collection featuring Rosie Strange, partner Sam Stone, Adders Fork and the Essex Witch Museum, I was unaware that I had already read and reviewed many of the stories in The Strange Casebook, published in 2018. These include Snowy, Death Becomes Her, She Saw Three Ships, Madness in A Coruna and The House on Savage Lane. So I read the remaining stories, of the odd, the strange, the ghostly, the supernatural, and the mayhem in the festive season.
Septimus, inspired by an Icelandic headress, recounts his war time trip to Reykjavik, and his experiences with a shaman on a volcano. Cliff felt a sense of relief when his mother in law passed away, but an accident with an urn with her ashes has him desperately trying to rid himself of the hoover, but can he really be free of her? Errors are easily made, something Janet is forced to concede when on Boxing Day, she and Matt, the social worker, visit Norah's home after her death, and endeavour to deal with the cats. Christmas festivities at the Witch Museum result in mayhem, the destruction of the sleigh that Rosie had put together, and a demon or is Springheeled Jack? A mother walks barefoot in the snow to see her children, Edmund and Christabel. Carole Christmas is a miserly and mean woman, with not a bone of generosity in her, not for her staff and not even for her son, Benjamin. She is visited by the recently deceased at Christmas and begins to see the error of her ways.
If you have read none of the Strange short stories previously, this is a great collection to read this time of the year. Syd Moore weaves a engaging story with ease, I particularly enjoyed Septimus and his encounters with an Icelandic shaman, poor Cliff's efforts to be free of his mother in law, and the echoes of Dicken's A Christmas Carol, with Carole seeing her future, the specially reserved place in hell awaiting her, and finding the inner resources to shift direction. The story of the cats is a little in the macabre side. If you are looking for the spooky, weird, ghosts and more for the festive season, then this just might fit the bill. Many thanks to Oneworld Publications for an ARC.