Book Review – Periapsis Christmas 2 By Katie Roome

Another fabulous anthology collection by the amazing Roomes of Periapsis Press. Believers in good stories, wanting readers to enjoy what they’re reading, and promoting the art found in authors of the indie publishing scene, you can trust that any book listed on the site is going to be worthy of being read. Just like this anthology collection!

– Fear Not by Frederick Gero Heimbach – A Twilight Zone-esk story about being careful what you pray for. It was an okay story but save for the ending there isn’t much to grab onto.

– Protector’s Gift by Blake Carpenter – This was an absolutely amazing story! A Western-like fantasy world with a protector character acting as a territory sheriff and the world comes crashing down around him. The only thing to help him is his stalwart conviction to help others – and a little gift from someone who bears a strong resemblance to a magical character who provides gifts for the good people in the world. There is not an ounce of story wasted here. The world is built up so I understood exactly what I needed to about the world. The action was enthralling. The characters are people who I wanted to root for and root against. I immediately went out and bought one of the author’s book that seemed similar to this story. This whole anthology would have been worth it for this story alone (but there were other good ones as well).

– The Shelter Most High by William Jeffrey Rankin – I’m not exactly sure what this story was about. Aliens or cryptids? I believe it took place around Christmas but that’s the only connection I can see here. I really must have missed something. I did enjoy Rankin’s story from the previous anthology though.

– Ember Knight (A Shade of Black Story) by Jonathan Shuerger – This story is helped by being part of a story the author has already established. This helps ground the character and the story in a wider world and story. The author provides enough background to give us the character and the setting is almost fantasy post-apocalyptic Earth. I’m interested in more of the stories because it does seem like Christianity is known in this world. Regardless, the action takes the front and center role and the tireless hero facing the horde of evil things is paced well. Action scenes are hard to get right in a story and it is done very well here. The whole story endeared the main character to me and I’m probably going to pick up the first book in the series.

– Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence by Kaylena Radcliff – Well, well, well. Bringing back the amazing story from last anthology and continuing the story while building out the world more in the way that I wanted it to happen? Touche’, author. Frost is back and now that he’s settled into his role the stakes have expanded. There is still some mystery here but the story adds to a great setting and makes it even better (with a better title this time around). I picked up one of the author’s series.

– Whiteout by Isaac Anderson – What would it be like is Stephen King didn’t hate half the country, it’d be something like this book. Kids vs. evil is a big thing these days but it’s not a new trope for a good reason. You come into the story at almost the very end and you know there is a good amount of story you missed out on that would have been a fun read. The main characters running into the military gets a little muddled and has a few issues for me. Getting past that gets you to the finish line of the story and ends the anthology well.

Another knockout anthology with a couple of amazing stories.