When the Clock Strikes Thirteen edited by Astrid Ohletz

When the Clock Strikes Thirteen
edited by Astrid Ohletz
Pages: 204
Date: October 13 2013
Publisher: Ylva Publishing
Series: None

Review
Rating: Overall - 3.703
Read: October 21 to 25 2016

Oddly, despite the book title, this collection only has 7 stories in it (yeah, I know that they were 'going for something' by using 13, but the last collection I read had 16 stories in it, so 13 isn't impossible.

Midnight Messages by Lois Cloarec Hart

This is one of those stories wherein it is hard to mention what exactly the paranormal nature of the story might be. The other two stories I've read so far are fairly straight forward in that regard. The vampire and werewolf nature of those stories was known more or less immediately and neither was exactly a twist. Here? I can't mention it - it is in fact a twist. There are some things I can mention though.

It is unfortunate that I do not know the age of the main character for one specific reason - I have a strong suspicion that she falls into an age range I do not normally get to read. I suspect that she is somewhere between the ages of 40 and 70, and likely somewhere around 55 or so - at a guess based on certain factors. She could be older, she could be younger, but not a lot younger.

That main character, Luce Sheppard, has had a long 'think' recently based on her circumstances. And she has come to a specific conclusion. Having reached said conclusion, she is able to have a relatively peaceful sleep that night - that is until she's startled awake by some noise around 4:44 am. At first she thinks it's her inconsiderate neighbor who is known for having parties nonstop at all hours, but then she realizes that the sound she hears is crying. So she springs into action.

Luce finds a young woman of about 16 years of age outside - soaking wet (it had been raining. She offers that woman, Keira, a temporary abode of safety. They have a long talk - much discussed, a good serious talk. Luce likes Keira, and her dog Ferron likes Keira as well. After offering Keira the use of some sweats and the guest room, Luce heads off to sleep. When she awakens, Keira - after having left a note - is gone.

And now I can't mention anything else (though I've probably already said to much, though there is a ton of good stuff I haven't mentioned), though the story doesn't end here.

I'd give this story a rating of 4.66

October 23 2016

Batteries not Included by L.T. Smith

This is one of those stories that needs to be read/felt/experienced by the reader - anything/most things I could write/explain would just be in the way.

All I can really say is that there's this house with more than 1 floor, a woman in it working late at night, noises heard, and a building tension. Building . . . building . . . building . . .

Rating: 5.0

October 24 2016

Lost and Found by Emma Weimann
Fae, Ireland

A woman, a month after finding her girlfriend in bed with her brother (the woman's brother with the woman's girlfriend), is attempting to 'relax' in her grandparents old cabin. She's having trouble sleeping, though, do to nightmares involving a forest.

Then she meets a particular woman, briefly.

Then she finds that her dog went missing, and searches for the dog. Ending up in a forest. Stuff happens.

This was a frustrating story for me. Not really sure why, exactly, but it was.

Rating: 2

October 25 2016

Chrysalis by Joan Arling

Not sure why this story is in the collection. All the other stories involve adults and lesbians. This one focuses on a kid. And while there is a moment when the young girl says something like 'I don't like boys', she is also at the age when no one likes boys. Something like 5 or so.

I think there supposed to be something like a light breezy feel to this story, but I was just sad. And confused. There needed more to the story to allow the story to make any sense. If I understand correctly . . . well, I can't actually say because that'd be spoiler. Let's just leave it at 'I've no clue why this story is in here, it's not what I'd call paranormal, does not involve adults, and - as far as I can tell, doesn't involve lesbians.'

Rating: ? 2.7

Sisters of the Moon by Diane Marina
Nurse, waitress, Annapolis, Maryland, Halloween

This is another one wherein I can't exactly say what's going on. Though I can give certain information.

A woman (Nicole), who has a dog named Tater, has worked a long week as a nurse at a hospital. Wanting nothing more than to spend her time off lazing around, she is, instead, 'forced' by her friend (Dani) to drive her, her friend (Stephanie), and her friends date to a pub crawl. Or, I guess I should call it, bar crawl. One tied to a Halloween tour of Annapolis and the various haunted houses/ghosts of the area.

Once in Annapolis, Nicole is immediately made to feel like a third wheel as Dani and Stephanie fondle each other and stuff. Meanwhile, all three, along with a smallish crowd, follow a man around as he points at things and says spooky stuff.

Eventually the tour makes it to the first bar, and people are allowed to drink and stuff. Nicole immediately breaks off and heads to the bathroom. While there she encounters a rather attractive looking woman. Who, somewhere along the way, thrusts herself forward and kisses Nicole. Nicole becomes enraged and leaves the bathroom.

Later, she realizes that part of her anger is connected to how she actually was, in fact, aroused by that woman in the bathroom. She further interacts with that woman, then returns to work and works. While still thinking of Liz.

Interesting enough story, and yeah, more happens, but I can't mention as it'd be spoilery.

Rating: 3.7

Wolf Moon by Erzabet Bishop
Crime, Police, FF, Werewolf, Fantasy, Erotica

A woman is talked - begged - into going to see a band at a concert. She arrives to find that the band is apparently actually performing at something like a mix comic-con/halloween party at a convention center. Well, it is halloween . . .. Half the attendees are wearing costumes, the other half are wearing 'geek apparel' (whatever that means).

The woman is grumpily wandering along - grumpy because she doesn't get much time off and she'd rather be at home with a good drink and a smutty book. Then two people plow into her and knock her into stuff. Somewhere in the process something about 'he has a gun' is mentioned. She grumbles more. Before she is fully able to resume her forward progress, she's almost hit again by more running people. More mention of 'a gun'. Now she hears sounds and what might be gunshots. She still continues forward.

Meanwhile - in a separate point of view - another woman enters the scene - a police officer in bullet-proof vest and stuff (slightly confusing visualization here, as she is described as being both protected by police stuff and undercover).

Both women end up in a back side hallway with a window onto the scene. One literally backs into the other. They meet nice. Then they meet even nicer. Gunshots going off. Still, in this tense situation, lust erupts.

Quite a neat little story. There's a hint of a backstory for the civilian - as in a hint that there's more to her backstory, but whatever that hint was getting at wasn't revealed and probably will never be revealed (there was mention that she hadn't been touched in a very long time - tossing off that she works inconvienent hours is something of an excuse, but there seemed to be more there that wasn't fully explored).

The other, the cop, recently-ish became a) divored, b) a werewolf (becoming such caused the divorce).

Rating: 4.56

October 21 2016

Love Bites by R.G. Emanuelle
Vampire, New Orleans, Straight-to-lesbian

A vaguely creepy vibe, vaguely annoying irritating vibe to this story.

A woman who has never felt 'complete', and is straight, feels called to New Orleans, and always feels 'something' when she visits the place. The story starts with that woman in an airport bar (if I've got that right) waiting to go to New Orleans, beside her is her friend. The friend makes some annoying comments, like 'you should fuck a woman, I have' - in a 'I'm creepy and I like to use women as sex objects' way.

They get to New Orleans. The woman spots someone up on a balcony. Feels drawn to them. Spends hours in a bar that has a window that looks upon the house the woman is at. Stalks the woman when she leaves the house. One thing leads to another and they end up together somewhere else.

I do not particularly like anyone in this story, and the story itself is kind of icky feeling.

Regardless, I've read it, it's done. I'll rate this . . . . 3.3 stars.

October 22 2016

Overall

Midnight Messages by Lois Cloarec Hart - 4.66
Batteries not Included by L.T. Smith - 5.0
Lost and Found by Emma Weimann - 2
Chrysalis by Joan Arling - 2.7
Sisters of the Moon by Diane Marina - 3.7
Wolf Moon by Erzabet Bishop - 4.56
Love Bites by R.G. Emanuelle - 3.3


Overall: 3.703

October 25 2016