Guest post: The wait, short story review
Today’s guest post comes from Bethany Smith.
In a society where books like “50 Shades of Grey” and “Twilight” are making the bestseller list it becomes increasingly frustrating to find the new JK Rowlings and 
Stephen King’s of the writing world. As much as I love to crack open my old books and reread the same stories over and over, new quality and enthralling writing seems harder and harder to come by.
A while back I was lucky enough to come upon a talented local to Cincinnati author, Matthew Ashcraft, that continuously captivated me with each story. Some pulled my interest more than others, but overall I found his writing to be a breath of fresh air and incredibly varied in dynamic.
My first introduction to his literary works was through a collection of short stories with a horror/ thriller theme that carried through the entire collection while each story still held its own individual sense. Honestly had I been presented with this full collection of works unknowing the single author I would have assumed it was a collection from different writers. I have since followed his works from kids books to dramas. He recently has been releasing the original short stories I fell in love with as single Ebook downloads on amazon, which leaves me excited to re read them and review them this time on an individual basis instead of a collective and just in time for Halloween!
One of the first to be released was my absolute Favorite of the entire collection, which made me more excited than ever. “The Wait” which was originally titled “Heat Wave” made such a huge impact on my uneasy relationship with life and death. When an earth destroying wave of heat begins to slowly swallow the earth “The Wait” delves into how we will react to knowing the end is nearing and unstoppable. It scared me so badly that it sent me immediately into a full on panic attack as soon as I put it down. The terror I felt from this story still resonates with me today and leaves me consciously thinking about how to make each day count.
The subject of the story (inevitable death) took on such realism in just 16 pages. The writing quality still leaves me speechless and has paved the way for me to look at each day and value what short time we get to make an impact as humans.
I highly recommend it 5 out of 5 stars on my list
If you have any kind of existential anxiety (like me) I urge you to tread with caution on this one as it will suck you in and make you face every bit of that fear.
If you’re interested in reading it is available on kindle here
