Ékleipsis the Abyss by Tamel Wino

​  Tamel Wino had sufficiently impressed me with his debut collection of the same (minus the abyss) title and so I downloaded this book as soon as I noticed it on Netgalley. Indie authors are usually a mixed bag, but Wino has that organic storyteller quality so many strive for and so few arrive at, which was amply demonstrated in his first collection and, once again, in this one.
   It isn’t perfect, sometimes the endings don’t quite land as was the case with the first story (and the author really utilizes the final twist formula, so this is important), but overall, it’s really quite good. The stories are uniformly dark in tone and themes, psychologically terrifying, though it stands to mention that all of the monsters within these pages are of carbonbased bipedal variety. In fact, it’s what makes it so scary. The fact that every story is an everyday situation that takes a terrible turn.
     Wino’s protagonists encounter serial killers, perverted abductors and other charming individuals, including themselves, and find the strength to fight back…or not. In fact, objectively, I’d say even his final twists have improved in quality and surprise element. But mostly it’s the writing…very good, very natural, very authentic, from descriptions to dialogue, it works well, reads quickly, entertains plenty. So nice to find an indie writer who can. And consistently.
     Fans of dark psychological fiction should enjoy this one. Recommended.