The Best of Tom Slemen

Volume 1

By: Tom Slemen

Narrated by: Nicholas Patrella

Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

Ghosts, ghouls, witches, spectres, demons, the Grim Reaper, vampires, leprechauns, the Devil, as well as a host of other supernatural beings - along with the odd unsolved murder thrown in for good measure – all to be found within the pages of this unique first volume of Tom Slemen's work. Thirty-six stories that will haunt your mind and delight your dark side, all from the pen of one of England's greatest writers on the supernatural – Tom Slemen. Read about the baffling mystery of Old Swan's Mass Grave – was it a cover-up by the authorities? Be thrilled by the creepy history of Springheeled Jack, and dwell morbidly on the nature of the real-life vampires such as Golgon, Araminta and Manilu. Learn about the elusive but deadly enchanting Elvi of Sefton Park, and of the murderess who danced with her hangman at a Victorian ball. Savour the exciting witchcraft wars that centred on the Swan Inn, and unravel the identity of the mastercriminal who killed Julia Wallace in 1931 and left generations of professional and armchair detectives perplexed by his method of slaying without a trace. Just some of the eerie stories to be found in The Best of Tom Slemen – Volume 1.

©2011 Tom Slemen (P)2014 Tom Slemen

Good very Short Horror Stories

I did enjoy listening to this book. It has a wide variety of horror (ghosts, werewolves, vampires, etc). I really liked some of the stories and wanted them to continue (loved the ghost ones), a few were just ok. Recommend to anyone who loves horror short stories. I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher. THANK YOU

Unique ghost stories.

You will enjoy these stories. Presenter is lively and eager to deliver them. Give this one a try.

This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of Audiobook Blast.

Would be better edited down to the actual "best"

From the moment I heard the narrator spend minutes rattling off the loooong table of contents of this book, I was worried. I think I was right to be.

This collection features more stories than I can remember, but the ones that bear rememberance were few and far between. Most of the "stories" are anecdotes read as if from a newspaper clipping. They tend not to be very interesting, beleivable and usually have no real resolution or make much sense at all.

There are, however, a few tales mixed in that are genuinely interesting, thought-provoking and/or creepy. Those carried the book for me.

As for the narrator, he did a fine job, but it would seem the editing was poor. There were many times where there were odd gaps in the audio (including during the insufferable table of contents) that distracted you from the tale (or woke you up :P ). The narrator also tried harder than the author did to make the tales extra spooky, so he ended up sounding as if he were telling a tale to kids by campfire or under a blanket with a flashlight.

Honestly, if this book were pared down to the stronger tales that were actual stories, this could have easily been 4, maybe 4.5 stars. As it stands, the hours of mundane anecdotes makes this an easy pass.

I was provided this book free of charge in exchange for my honest review.

great book

"I was provided this audiobook at no charge by the author, publisher and/or narrator in exchange for an unbiased review via AudiobookBlast dot com.”

i love ghost stories and weird stuff likr this. the book was wonderful

amazing creepy tales

I received this book from the narrator of my own frew will foe an honest review.

I really liked the tales, since they were told as it happened to me or to a friend or someone I knew, they made me pretty curious they were well narrated too.

Patrella really immersed me on this one, I liked his voices they were pretty fun and interesting and so accurate with the characters.

a good book of horror tales to pick up.

Good Scary Tales for Kids

What did you love best about The Best of Tom Slemen?

It combines good story telling, broad vocabulary and eerie tales. This book provides an enjoyable way to encourage literacy.

What other book might you compare The Best of Tom Slemen to and why?

It is best compared to a cross between Grimm's Fairly Tales and the Goosebumps series by R.L. Stine. The stories have a slightly fantastic fairly tale feel, but are also modern and genuinely eerie.

Have you listened to any of Nicholas Patrella’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, but I certainly will in the future. He gave an excellent performance. His Irish accent and children's voices were amazing. He gave each character in this series of short stories a different and unique voice. Terrific!

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Go To Bed!

Any additional comments?

I received this book free in exchange for an honest review.

Paranormal tales of the 1800s

As with all anthologies the stories are either hit or miss. I liked the premise of a lot of them but the story themselves didn’t quite engage me the way I wanted them to. They primarily take place during the 1800's and early 1900's so it doesn’t take much to spook the characters. I wouldn’t call them so much horror but more like a historical account of paranormal happenings. Not sure if they are based on actual events but they play out that way.
Nicholas does a good job narrating this and I enjoyed his voices for the different characters. The one thing I would say about this book with respect to narration is that it was more like someone was telling you a story as if you were sitting around a campfire.
I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

3.5* - Some compelling stories worth listening to

Any additional comments?

Some of the stories in this collection were very compelling, in my opinion. They included: 'Somewhere Only We Know', 'The Devil in the Cavern', 'The Wind From Hell', 'Duke Street's Weeping Widow', 'A Dance With Death', 'Strange Bird of Passage', 'The Waterfront Ghoul', and a few others. I felt that the stories in the second half of the book were generally stronger than the stories in the first half of the book. Short stories aren't my usual cup of tea, so if there are a few stories in a collection that I enjoy, then I have no regrets about investing the time to read/listen to the book. Mission accomplished for this book, then!

On the other hand, some of the stories were frustrating to listen to, usually for one of the following three reasons: First, they weren't what I'd consider to be ghost or paranormal stories. 'Who Killed Julia Wallace' and 'The Man of the Streets' are examples. They're crime stories and doesn't fit into a ghost/paranormal collection. Others sound more like essays (e.g., 'The Summer of the Leprechaun' and 'The Old Swan Mass Grave'), rather than stories because they were so commentary-heavy. These entries weren't necessarily bad, but they didn't fit with the overall theme of the book - my opinion is that they might fit better in a different themed book. The front cover image associated with this audiobook implies (!) that these are ghost-type stories - so my expectation is that I'll be reading spooky stories. I have different mental expectations when I read crime mysteries, so the non-ghost/paranormal stories clashed mentally/emotionally with the rest of the book.

Second, the author seems to be better at setting up stories than concluding them, and for some stories the writing style was almost juvenile ('Marriage Made in Hell' and 'A Picture of Evil' come to mind.). These stories maybe should have been edited more? The tone of the narration didn't help, which leads me to my third point....

Third, the narration didn't really work for me. Sometimes, the narrator spoke so excitedly/ quickly/ enthusiastically/ suspensefully that it disengaged me from the story. Some reviewers here seemed to like the narrator, while others didn't, so I suppose it's a matter of preference. For me, I don't necessarily think a narrator is bad, it's more like the narrator's style doesn't fit the genre or writing style of the book itself (like a 'right person-wrong time' bad romance). My personal opinion is that a narration for ghost paranormal books shouldn't be overly dramatic (unless it's a book meant for youngsters). I enjoy ghost/paranormal stories because of the 'scare jump' factor of some stories (e.g., face suddenly transforms into a demon), or because of the mystery and wonder of encountering something that defies rational explanation, followed by fear or disquiet. I think that maybe some of these stories would have resonated more with me if the narrator had tweaked his style a wee bit and let the words pack the punch rather than the tone of voice. I won't totally blame the narrator, though. Short stories can be challenging for readers like me to emotionally engage with, because there's no time for character or plot development. Some of my favourite audiobooks (see my other reviews here on audible) are ones where I perceive a synergy between the narrator and the author - the words and the voice align with the mental imagery that I'm building in my mind as I listen to an audiobook. For some of the better stories here, I was able to get into that zone. For some of the other stories, not so much.

Anyway, those are my two cents. I provided this review in exchange for a free copy of the audiobook, and I thank the author and the narrator (or whoever) for giving me an opportunity to listen to it free of charge.

A mixed bag of spooky stories

I had the advantage of listening to this book the week before and during Halloween, so the mood of seeing all the houses decorated and all the Jack-o-Lanterns lit as I was driving and listening in my car probably added atmosphere to this book that wouldn't have been there on a bright, cheerful day.

One or two things I should mention. First, this book seems to have been written by a British author. I could tell because of certain vocabulary giveaways, like using the word Torch when we Americans use the word Flashlight. And mentioning cities in England such as Liverpool and others were also a dead giveaway.

And I didn't mind that so much, but then it struck me so oddly that for stories that are centered in England, written by a British author, why choose an American narrator?

That being said, this American narrator, Nicholas Patrella, did a heck of a good job with the stories, and I enjoyed his narration. He put the suspense right where it needed to be, and the drama and pauses in all the right places. A good writer and a great storyteller are a rare find. Not all the stories were complete in terms of a start, middle and end, so they left me feeling unsatisfied at times.

This book would be great to listen to at a sleepover for girl scouts, or at a campfire, where anything could creep out of the woods at any time. I'm not saying that the stories were for children, per se, but some had that urban legend sort of flavor, which made them more fun to listen to in my opinion.

I liked that most of the stories were short because if one of them didn't thrill me, another one was right around the corner, and this collection was generous in its length, so it kept me company for a whole week of driving around.

Listen to a sample and see if you like what you hear. I was offered a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, and I'm thrilled with what I got to listen to. I hope they come out with Volume II soon.

A lot of sick people in our world

There are a lot of sick people in our world. Thank you Tom for putting this in writing. Some of yhe stories were very believeable but in turn there were also some unbelievable.
I received this free for an honest review.