Title: A Quick Spell
Author: Patricia Josephine
Publication Date: 2021
Format: Kindle Edition|119 pages
Patricia Josephine sent me her upcoming book in exchange for an honest review. As some of you might remember, few months ago I reviewed A Quick Bite, an engaging short story collection depicting supernatural creatures in different situations and from different and multiple points of view. A Quick Spell is part of the A Quick Tale series, more specifically the second book in the series (but it can be read independently) and it is a collection of short tales – short as in 200 words – about witchcraft, myths and magic. Although I had a (healthy) dose of scepticism regarding the contents of the book, I have been once again pleasantly surprised by the author’s writing style and originality.
Every story has a different feel to it, some of them might make you smile, some of them might make you shiver, but certainly all of them will give you something to think about. Patricia Josephine approaches traditional themes from a different perspective, building meaningful and entertaining stories with precisely 200 words. The book has three sections containing either otherworldly stories, tales about monsters or narratives tackling witchcraft and magic. I enjoyed each tale but some of my favourites were The Bird, The House on the Corner and The Magic of Baking and, if I had to choose a favourite tale, Void would be the one I would remember for a long time. Not only Void made rethink the whole concept of who – or rather what – we love, but why love is necessary for every creature and entity and nonentity. Although I tend to avoid short stories, I found A Quick Spell to be a short escape for when reality is just too much (and sometimes it can be). However, if I were to play the devil’s advocate, I would only mention the fact that there are not enough stories.
I highly recommend it to everyone, especially for people who don’t have too much time on their hands and are looking for short but meaningful stories. Weather you read the book in one sitting or one story at a time, you cannot finish it without finding at least one story that will make you feel something (and some of you might attempt moving things around with magic after reading the book). A Quick Spell will be released in May, but you can pre-order it now on Amazon and for more information you can visit the book’s page on Patricia Josephine’s website.
Török J. Sándor 