If You Go Into The Woods (edition 2011)

by David Gaughran

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Member:	Rosa_Saks
Title:	If You Go Into The Woods
Authors:	David Gaughran
Info:	Arriba Arriba Books (2011), Kindle Edition
Collections:	Read but unowned
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Tags:	Irish, short stories, ebook, member giveaway, 21st century

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If You Go Into the Woods by David Gaughran

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It's difficult to have an opinion of a story this short. (

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renrav | Sep 22, 2013 |

Free on Kindle today 1.19.12.

Lnatal | Mar 31, 2013 |

Free on Kindle today 1.19.12.

Lnatal | Mar 31, 2013 |

Free on Kindle today 1.19.12.

Lnatal | Mar 31, 2013 |

"Eight-year old Jiri Beranek is drawn to a nearby forest, captivated by birds hidden high in the trees. Each time he enters, his desire to see the mysterious creatures is checked by his fear of the dark. When he finally forces himself to go farther, he finds a new reason to be afraid." This description quite peaked my interest, this story I want to know more about, David Gaughran writes a compelling story for which I applude him, but I feel this isn't really the story I read. His short story reads more, to me, as a book synopsis, then actually a short story. There was more underdeveloped back story, and Jiri, doesn't actually repeatly enter, we are told that "each time he went into the forest, and tried to go deeper, he would panic and bolt for the trail". I want to experience these attempts not just be told about them. As well, towards the end I am disappointed that the story ends as it does. I think there is a terrific story,but this to me, reads more like a first draft. The second story, "The Reset Button", I enjoyed much better, but I feel at times it was a bit misdirected. The character here is descibed as being forgotten, which is carried through the story except till the end, we wishes he had a reset button, but my understanding, having read the story was more of the sci-fi feel as if his reset button was already pressed. So to me I didn't understand why we would want to press it. IT had that back and forth arguement for me of having it been half pressed. More thoughts can be found on my blog. (

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cespana | May 23, 2012 |

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If You Go Into the Woods

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Book description

If You Go Into The Woods is a collection of two unsettling short stories.

The title story is set in Caslav, a small town 60 miles west of Prague, Czech Republic. Jiri Beranek is drawn to a nearby forest, captivated by birds hidden high in the trees. Each time he enters, his desire to see the mysterious creatures is checked by his fear of the dark. When he finally forces himself to go farther, he finds a new reason to be afraid. This story was first published by The Delinquent (UK) then selected by Short Story America for inclusion in their anthology of their best stories of 2010.

The bonus story - The Reset Button - is set in Stockholm, Sweden in the depths of winter. Linus Eriksson, a divorced bachelor living alone in his small one-bedroom apartment, is a man with a memory problem: instead of not being able to remember anyone, nobody can remember him. This story is brand new, exclusively available in this e-book.

They have a combined length of 4,000 words, or around 16 book pages.

Praise For If You Go Into The Woods:

"There are definite shades of HP Lovecraft in both stories...punchy, entertaining reads with a bit of mental gymnastics thrown in, you can't go wrong with this one." -- Jenny Mounfield, The Compulsive Reader, author of The Ice-cream Man.

"This is the most professional design - both inside and out - that I have seen since I started reviewing at SIFT. The writing in this story is top-notch. The writer has a strong, clean voice. He's able to sustain an air of mystery and suspense without it feeling cheap." -- Sarah Nicolas, SIFT Book Reviews.

"Two very well-constructed and thought-provoking tales from an author I know I will be keeping my eyes on. 4.5 stars." --Heather L. Faville, Doubleshot Reviews

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