THE SERVANT'S SECRET STASH

Andreas presents a collection of modern fairy tales, set in a unique fantasyland in which elements of ancient Egyptian legends spill into the present time.

In a frame story, the unnamed narrator—the servant of the book’s tile—presents his situation to readers directly, in a tone that’s appealingly reminiscent of a Choose Your Own Adventure book. He’s stashed away a collection of jars containing souls yet to be “tried”; later, the servant says, his master will take them to a “sacred place,” where “they will each be given an equal chance to plead their innocence, clear their names, and live forever, unscathed. The guilty, alas, will not be so fortunate.” Readers meet each soul in the seven stories that follow—cautionary tales of humans meddling in ancient magic. In “The Apprentice,” Adom Mahmood is a priest’s apprentice in ancient Egypt who can’t ignore that the pyramid workers are being denied a safe passage into the afterlife. In this opening story, Andreas introduces readers to several terms and concepts referenced throughout the collection––most importantly, the Duat: the underworld. Although readers will know each protagonist’s fate before the stories begin, the author has an incredible ability to hook the audience. The tension and momentum never dwindle, and the frame story fades away as one reads of amateur bug collector Colin Stigman, whose collecting of specimens foreshadows his own destiny in “Dermestidae”; ill-fated couple Guinevere Nelson and Jared Alexander, who lead opposing armies into the kingdom of the gods in “Where Hallowed Horses Roam”; and little Theo, who makes a deal for a bag of chocolates in “Sleight of Hand.” Throughout, Andreas offers tales of gods (with explanatory notes at the end of the book), employing vivid imagery that effectively clarifies why ordinary people might leave the world behind for something more extraordinary: “The man’s onyx eyes flickered yellow as the ceiling fan above them cut through the room’s bright UV light, making them look like two buzzing bumble bees.”

Well-crafted horror-fantasy stories that ponder what could happen if one doesn’t let the dead rest in peace.