Once Upon a Dark and EerieHere is a woman who loves words.  A.F. Stewart’s dark gem of a book, Once Upon a Dark and Eerie is full of lovely word play.  Stewart plays with words like a cat plays with prey, taunting the reader with delicate threats and keeping them held with the invisible, but irresistable, thread of a spider.

The variety of her tales keeps the reader’s interest piqued, each tale is a jewel giving a taste and a tease, leaving readers hungry for more and their imagination running wild. 

From disturbing recounts of horror to wry retellings of classic fairy stories, Stewart will hold you entranced.  My favorite stories were Invasion and Rendevouz on the Moor.  Her imagery is haunting, she gives just enough to start my inner musings and I find myself lost in thought thinking of where Stewart’s words may lead me. 

Her unplugged fairy tales spark with acidic wit and her darker stories are crafted with elegance and style, but it is her poetry that really moves me.  Tapestries woven with gilded phrases and adorned with shimmering ideas that hang in the air, folded between your thoughts to return to you when the shadows lengthen like echos of whispers.

Once Upon a Dark and Eerie is not a book to devour in one gulp… it is a book to savor.  Like wine, the scent must be inhaled and held in the lungs before letting it roll across the senses.  I recommend this book as a reading experience not to be missed.  Available on Smashwords in a variety of formats, it is a book you will return to whenever you have a craving for… something dark.

Other books by A.F. Stewart

Killers & Demons

Inside Realms

The Incomplete List of Action Movie Clichés

Tears of Poetry

Chronicles of the Undead

The Incomplete Guide to Action Movies

Passing Fancies

Shadows of Poetry

By Angela Yuriko Smith

Angela Yuriko Smith is a third-generation Ryukyuan-American, award-winning poet, author, and publisher with 20+ years in newspapers. Publisher of Space & Time magazine (est. 1966), two-time Bram Stoker Awards® Winner, and HWA Mentor of the Year, she shares Authortunities, a free weekly calendar of author opportunities at authortunities.substack.com.

3 thoughts on “Once Upon a Dark & Eerie: A Review”
    1. Hahahaha! Thank you Barbara! Yes, my interest was definately enticed rather than sprouting gables ;p I’m glad you stopped by – always nice to find a word aficianado.

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