Home for the Holidays by Randee Dawn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This slim volume acts as a highly enjoyable sampler of author and journalist Randee Dawn’s prose and poetry. There’s something for everyone in the six stories in HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS, which run the gamut from horror to a Jane Austenish comedy of manners to a deeply emotional autobiographical vignette. My favorite story in the bunch is “Trap Doors,” a somewhat surreal, Robert Aickmanesque “strange story” about the holes in our lives, some left behind by absent friends, some offering a place to hide, and some as invasive as surgery. I was also fond of the title story, a tale of ironic comeuppance right out of EC Comics in which two neighbors angrily and obsessively try to outdo each other’s Christmas decorations every year. Dawn’s poetry is accomplished as well, with eight selections rounding out the volume. HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS is recommended for anyone looking for a new and versatile author to read. Meanwhile, I eagerly await Dawn’s next publication.
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