Folded Steel: More Tales of the Weird and Woeful

By: Aaron Hollingsworth

Narrated by: Danny Montooth

Length: 2 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's Summary

What secrets lie beneath the many layers of Folded Steel? What impurities remain like ink on pages to tell tales of miseries endured and hardships faced? What cruel ironies can be fashioned from crude iron torn from a scorched earth? The answers are sheathed within this horrid collection of demented fantasy! 

1. The New Madrid Horror

 2. Altar of Alternative 

3. The Laws of Sýnkrousi 

4. For the Hand of Kimbra 

5. Young Goat and Wise Walrus 

6. The General and the Spy

©2017 Aaron Hollingsworth (P)2017 Aaron Hollingsworth

A great followup to Tainted Steel

Folded Steel, the sequel to Tainted steel is a collection of 6 short stories, one is really short, and another takes up most of the audio, but this doesn't detract from either tale. I can tell you that they are exactly as long as they need to be.Hollingsworth is in his element with the short story. He takes a premise, builds around it, and hits you like a hammer at the end. He doesn't need to fluff a story out by an extra two or three thousand words. In fact, you'll be impressed with what he can do with only a few. Only one story in the book falls a little short, and I think it is hard to convey the concept. This only takes away a little from the tle itself. The best had to be, in my opinion, the one that dealt with the letter of the law. You'll see where strict adherence to rules will get you.

Montooth is just as great as the first time around. His melodious voice drives home the tales as if from a veteran story teller around a campfire in ancient times.

I eagerly look forward to the next book in this series.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Great mix of weird tales excellently narrated

Contained with his book are six stories, all varied and interesting showing the ability of the author to provide great variety in the short form.

The shortest (Altar of Alternative) clocks in at less than a minute, and is a fun little story/poem playing on alternative bands and artists. The longest (For the Hand of Kimbra) takes up more than half the book and clocks in at 1:30 hours. It tells the story of a princess fallen in love with her guard and the King wanting to separate the two.

Some (Young Goat and Wise Walrus) are better in the concept than the actual telling, with the punchline/final twist falling flat in delivery. It is a good idea, but the actual words come across awkward and thus lose some import.

My favourite would be The Laws of Sýnkrousi, which is a humorous look at a nation and it's obsession with following the letter of the law, even if the law results in some silly things.

Narration by Danny Montooth is great. He provides a great number of voices and accents. The first story is told in a African accent, so when it changed to a British one for the rest (and not always the same type of British accent) I was surprised. The voices work is great. He is also well paced and has great timing for the humour in the stories. Certainly a narrator I shall look out for in the future.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

6 short stories ✌

a very good short audiobook the stories are well written the narrator is quite good a nice enough listen if you like horror combined with fantasy

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review."

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

short but very interesting

I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

As with the first volume, this was definitely a weird collection of short fantasy stories that were oddly intriguing and very entertaining. The narrator really makes it for me.

A good collection...

This is a good solid offering of short stories by Aaron Hollingsworth!
I listened to the audio version narrated by Danny Montooth... this book has an interesting mix of horror and fantastical stories... ranging from very short flash-fiction to some longer pieces... I particularly liked  For the Hand of Kimbra. This is a relatively short book, consisting of 6 stories and you could easily listen to it in one session or take your time and save it for short commutes.

Interesting tales

This audiobook is a collection of three longer stories, with some poetry and shorter stories in between. Of the three longer stories, I found the first one to be a little too odd for me with a rather abrupt and unsatisfactory ending. A lot of it just didn't make sense. However, I liked the other two longer stories and the short story. There is a sense of justice to the endings of the other stories and they felt much more complete to me. The description of the stories as weird and woeful is appropriate, but they is also romance, action, adventure, and suspense.

The narration was very good. The stories flowed smoothly and were easy to get into.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.