A Book Review of Lighting the Dark Side

If you aren't already a fan of short stories, this book will change your opinion. In Lighting the Dark Side - Six Modern Tales, William Potter has written three novellas and three short stories that, as he says, "features leading characters that live their lives as normally as possible and then suddenly find themselves in extraordinary situations." These six stories cover almost every genre from thriller and suspense to mystery, detective and even romance. The character development in each story is amazing. All of the main characters are written superbly. The dialog never comes off as stilted or phony. Mr. Potter may well find himself in some extraordinary company with some of the best authors sooner than he ever expected.

The first story, Bent, Not Broken introduces us to Dwayne Johnson, a character who suffers from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, a disorder which obviously makes him very socially backward. As Dwayne drives by a certain bus stop every morning on his way to work he looks for someone very special. Someone he has named "Black-Coat Girl". The unexpected happens and Dwayne's life takes a dramatic turn when he finally gets to meet her face to face.

The next story, In the Gray is a very short tale where the reader gets to peek into the life of Michael Conner. Most of the story is a phone conversation with his mother, but from that one phone call we are able to learn everything we need to know about Michael, his family and his past. It is amazing how much information the author can squeeze into less than a dozen pages.

Prominent Couple Slain is a great old-fashioned detective/murder mystery. In this story, we are introduced to Detective Jack Staal, a burnt-out homicide detective who has just transferred from the stress of the big city only to be faced with a horrendous murder of his new small town's most prominent couple.

The premise of the next story is that May 18, 2010 will be the very last day of civilization. The comet, Ivan is on a collision course to destroy everything and it will be here soon, but all Trevor wants to do is get home to be with his girl, Kelly-Anne. For some reason it isn't the comet, Ivan that worries Trevor, but something else. He feels that he's already lived through this disaster many times before. Can he change the future?

Who hasn't dreamed of winning a multi-million dollar lottery? Lighting the Dark Side's fifth story, Blessing or Curse? deals with that exact topic. The main character, Brad Stewart has won 11 million dollars? Imagine all of the things that he can do with that money. Imagine what he'll buy. Imagine how much his life will change. Brad imagined all of this, but what he didn't plan for was that as a lottery winner he would become the target of an extortionist who has kidnapped his son!

The last story, Surviving the Fall is an exciting thriller that takes place a week or so before Christmas. In it, James Goodal witnesses a young woman being thrown out of a moving vehicle and takes her home to care for her. Unfortunately, Ashley has a very dangerous past that catches up to her and James. This story is fast-paced and keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Each and every one of the stories contains two of the most important elements in good story writing and that is believable characters and interesting situations. This book delivers much more than expected. I look forward to more of William Potter's works in the future.

For more information on Lighting The Dark Side-Six Modern Tales by William R. Potter, please view at The author's website or at Amazon.

by Leigh Ann Webster for EzineArticles.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Leigh_Ann_Webster

Lighting the Dark Side-Six Modern Tales

Lighting the Dark Side is an anthology of fiction featuring three novellas and three shorter works. They are about human nature and how our darker side can impede our ability to cope with hardships. The book opens with a novella called “Bent, Not Broken” where we meet Dwayne Johnson, a man beginning a new relationship even though he is plagued with severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).

A police procedural called “Prominent Couple Slain” is also included. Detective Jack Staal is disillusioned about his career after he takes a nosedive from big city homicide investigator to small town detective. Desperate to prove himself, he ignores protocol to work a case that is not his to solve.

In “Blessing or Curse?” Brad Stewart’s bloated ego strains lifelong friendships after an enormous lottery win. His millionaire lifestyle suddenly becomes a nightmare when his son is kidnapped for ransom.

The book closes with the largest piece, “Surviving the Fall,” a tale about James Goodal, a man who spent his entire life avoiding uncomfortable situations. This safe and easy existence has left James lonely and facing divorce. Everything changes when he takes in a young street girl named Ashley. The pair finds comfort in their unorthodox friendship until her violent world returns forcing James to fight for Ashley and for his very survival. The two remaining stories find average, but flawed, people struggling to overcome their weaknesses in order to escape extraordinary situations.

http://www.lightingthedarkside.com

First Five Stops on the Tour!

Visit me on any of the first five blog stops for interviews and guest posts!

3/11/08 - The Writer's Life - http://www.thewriterslife.blogspot.com/

3/11/08 - The Plot - http://theplotline.wordpress.com

4/11/08 - The Plot - http://theplotline.wordpress.com

5/11/08 - The Book Stacks - http://www.thebookstacks.com

6/11/08 - Fiction Scribe - http://www.fictionscribe.com

Six Refreshingly Different Short Stories

Lighting the Dark Side: Six Modern Tales

William R. Potter

Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views

“Lighting the Dark Side” contains a collection of six refreshingly different short stories. Each one is very unique and cannot be compared to the others. I really enjoyed reading the stories. They are about human nature and how we deal with hardships. Sometimes we overcome them, sometimes we obliterate them and sometimes we just make adjustments in ourselves to live with them.

What I discovered really interesting is that in almost every story, I found aspects of myself in the characters. This allowed me to feel like I could relate to what they had going on inside themselves. Some of these aspects ranged from a desire for vigilantism in situations with no other way out; a desire to help others by going way beyond what is expected; and that need to ask myself why I allow things to happen when I know the outcome ahead of time. Kind of like, why did I do that again? The examples in the stories are so much more interesting than any story that I have possibly lived.

Each short story or novella is very complete within itself, however, I found myself wishing that the stories would go on longer. I wasn’t ready to leave the lives of these interesting characters. This is what made the book even more fun because I found myself thinking about the stories later on, wondering what happened to people that never even existed. The characters are very well developed and intricately woven into their plots that they seem very real. Their humanity is expressed through their shortcomings, and their need to change their situations.

This book, “Lighting the Dark Side,” by William R. Potter, will definitely be enjoyed by all fans of fiction. I think that it would make an excellent selection for a reader’s group or for a college course. I would love to hear the interesting discussions that will be held about these stories.

http://www.readerviews.com/ReviewPotterLightingDarkSide.html

Virtual Book Tour November 2008

William Potter and his book LIGHTING THE DARK SIDE will be on a Virtual Book Tour starting November 3/08. More than twenty blog stops over the month visiting blogs across North America and as far away as Australia and Japan.

Reviews

Interviews.

Guest posts.

And much more!

Just some of the more than twenty tour stops.

3/11/08 - The Writer's Life - http://www.thewriterslife.blogspot.com/
3/11/08 - The Plot - http://theplotline.wordpress.com
4/11/08 - The Plot - http://theplotline.wordpress.com
5/11/08 - The Book Stacks - http://www.thebookstacks.com
6/11/08 - Fiction Scribe - http://www.fictionscribe.com
7/11/08 - The Book Connection - http://thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com
10/11/08 - Café at the END of the Universe - http://bookwormsballroom.blogspot.com/
11/11/08 - Café at the END of the Universe - http://bookwormsballroom.blogspot.com/
12/11/08 - Beyond the Books - http://beyondthebooks.wordpress.com/
14/11/08 - Fiction Scribe - http://www.fictionscribe.com
14/11/08 - The Book Stacks - http://www.thebookstacks.com
17/11/08 – Zensanity - http://zensanity.blogspot.com/
18/11/08 - The Book Czar - http://www.thebookczar.blogspot.com/
19/11/08 - The First Page - http://the1stpage.blogspot.com/
20/11/08 - Scribe Vibe - http://www.scribevibe.blogspot.com/
21/11/08 - Paperback Writer -
24/11/08 - BlogCritics –Link coming soon!
25/11/08 - The Blue Stockings - http://thebluestockings.com
26/11/08 - The Blue Stockings - http://the1stpage.blogspot.com/