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"The Skin Walkers"
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“Bullets alone not help”
Irving Fontaine was hired by the Robinson family as a hired gun to escort them while traveling to California. After regaining his consciousness to see a ransacked wagon, a missing family, and an unknown entity creeping closer from the shadows… facing his fear will be the only redemption for Irving Fontaine as he confronts the horrors of the Old West, in “The Skin Walkers”.
Irving Fontaine was hired by the Robinson family as a hired gun to escort them while traveling to California. After regaining his consciousness to see a ransacked wagon, a missing family, and an unknown entity creeping closer from the shadows… facing his fear will be the only redemption for Irving Fontaine as he confronts the horrors of the Old West, in “The Skin Walkers”.
Readability
Butler wastes no time cutting to the chase in this short story. The story starts off by introducing the reader to a couple different characters and then proceeds to filter the rest of the narrative through them using an A/B plot structure. The story moves very quickly but does not feel rushed, as plenty of information was provided to bring the whole scenario together. The writing is practically squeaky clean and formatted into compelling bite-sized chapters.
Creativity
The writing style in “The Skin Walkers” is very action oriented. Don’t expect any poetic lines or philosophical monologues, because this is not that kind of story. Although, where most horror is only skin deep, this short story includes some themes that scratch just below the surface. I appreciate the realistic but subtle approach to some of the more controversial topics included in the narrative, because I think a story resonates best when some ideas are left to reader interpretation rather than the author simply spoon feeding their moral stance. That being said, I would have liked to have seen more effort put into the prose. Aside from some detailed descriptions on each of the main characters, the story has a serious lack of imagery and because it is so action oriented - that made for some humdrum events that could have been really thrilling otherwise.
Delivery
“The Skin Walkers” is not your typical cowboys and Indians spaghetti western. The horror elements of this particular narrative are based on an actual Navajo legend about witches that possess the power to morph into feral beasts. Irving Fontaine is the main character that must face these horrors of the old west, in his first short story scenario. If this is Eric Butler’s recipe for creating a trademark character, then I’d say he’s found a formula that works. I think he should seriously consider continuing this series of short episodic type tales centered on Irving, because this one was easy to digest and felt too quick to get through. I was digging the narrative and wanted more out of the story, not only in terms of creative prose, but I wish the finale scene had lasted little longer with more close calls or perhaps even a cliffhanger (like perhaps one of the enemies could have gotten away so they can pop up by surprise in a later installment).
Butler wastes no time cutting to the chase in this short story. The story starts off by introducing the reader to a couple different characters and then proceeds to filter the rest of the narrative through them using an A/B plot structure. The story moves very quickly but does not feel rushed, as plenty of information was provided to bring the whole scenario together. The writing is practically squeaky clean and formatted into compelling bite-sized chapters.
Creativity
The writing style in “The Skin Walkers” is very action oriented. Don’t expect any poetic lines or philosophical monologues, because this is not that kind of story. Although, where most horror is only skin deep, this short story includes some themes that scratch just below the surface. I appreciate the realistic but subtle approach to some of the more controversial topics included in the narrative, because I think a story resonates best when some ideas are left to reader interpretation rather than the author simply spoon feeding their moral stance. That being said, I would have liked to have seen more effort put into the prose. Aside from some detailed descriptions on each of the main characters, the story has a serious lack of imagery and because it is so action oriented - that made for some humdrum events that could have been really thrilling otherwise.
Delivery
“The Skin Walkers” is not your typical cowboys and Indians spaghetti western. The horror elements of this particular narrative are based on an actual Navajo legend about witches that possess the power to morph into feral beasts. Irving Fontaine is the main character that must face these horrors of the old west, in his first short story scenario. If this is Eric Butler’s recipe for creating a trademark character, then I’d say he’s found a formula that works. I think he should seriously consider continuing this series of short episodic type tales centered on Irving, because this one was easy to digest and felt too quick to get through. I was digging the narrative and wanted more out of the story, not only in terms of creative prose, but I wish the finale scene had lasted little longer with more close calls or perhaps even a cliffhanger (like perhaps one of the enemies could have gotten away so they can pop up by surprise in a later installment).
#LFLR Indie Rating: 7/10
So long as you don’t easily become queasy, “The Skin Walkers” serves as an action horror combo to-go that may be consumed in one sitting. It’s what I would call a good lunchbreak story. I see the series was started in May of 2020, and was originally planned to be a monthly project, but so far there are only two installments. I don’t know if Eric Butler decided to shelf Irving Fontaine indefinitely or just while he switched gears to focus on his latest novel “The Sins of the Past”, which was published early 2021. Eric has written two other novels, also released under Naked Cat Press, as well as making contributions to three distinct author compilation anthologies.
So long as you don’t easily become queasy, “The Skin Walkers” serves as an action horror combo to-go that may be consumed in one sitting. It’s what I would call a good lunchbreak story. I see the series was started in May of 2020, and was originally planned to be a monthly project, but so far there are only two installments. I don’t know if Eric Butler decided to shelf Irving Fontaine indefinitely or just while he switched gears to focus on his latest novel “The Sins of the Past”, which was published early 2021. Eric has written two other novels, also released under Naked Cat Press, as well as making contributions to three distinct author compilation anthologies.
THIS BREAKDOWN IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE #LFLR NETWORK.
