Cursed

By Steven D. Bennett

Long before 'That 70's Show', there was the 70's. And the kids living then were no different from those living now. Lighter on technology, perhaps, as Facebook was a phone in a bedroom and the internet was a thousand books at the library. But the age-old need to be known and belong was the same; an awkward battle fought amidst low self-esteem, pimples and peer pressure. Some seemed to sail above it all. Or so we thought. This is the story of one who did, and one who didn't.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Steven D. Bennett
• Release date: Apr 26, 2011
• ISBN: 9781458191908

Steven D. Bennett

I was born in Boston and grew up in Connecticut and San Diego, which gave me a good background in both history and tanning. I have four children and six grand-children, remarkable in that I am only 35. The fact that I have been married for almost 36 years is the result of an in-utero wedding and honeymoon. I have published many short stories, poems, songs, and recently wrote and directed a musical melodrama that was performed in the San Diego area. With six books under my belt (THE PATH OF DAYS, TRACE THE DEAD EYE, HUMOR OF THE GOSPELS, HUMOR OF THE GOSPELS Daily Study, THRONE and THE CHUCK-IT LIST) I am looking for a bigger belt to stuff the seventh, which hopefully will be completed in time for the Christmas season. It is about a writer who finds to his horror that a mistake he made on page 47 completely invalidates the plot, forcing him to thus track down and kill anyone who has bought the book lest they spread the truth about his miniscule talent. It is titled DON'T READ THIS! and looks to be a best-seller, unless people take the title literally. Fortunately, nothing I write can be taken literally. It is also fortunate I did not stay with the working title: DON'T BUY THIS! Personally, I don't buy a word of it. I also have a blog, I Wandered Off the Tour: A Journey In Self-Publishing, which contains my thoughts and experiences through the tormenting process of creation. Other than writing, I like listening to the same dozen albums and re-runs of the same dozen TV shows I've heard and seen hundreds of times, to the endless delight of my wife.

Book preview

Cursed

by

Steven D. Bennett

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Smashwords Edition

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Copyright © 2011 by Steven D. Bennett

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He was cursed from the start.

He didn't think so. The guys didn't think so. The girls certainly didn't think so. And I was so jealous that to even consider he was cursed was a joke.

From the time I first saw him, way back in fifth grade, I knew he had it all. Looks--girls would lose their breath when he walked by. Brawn--he had a compact, strong body, not tall but dangerous. Rip your head off or lift two guys easy. Brains--well, he did okay. Good enough to get by. Cool--man, he was cool. The walk, the talk. Didn't strut, didn't fake. He was plain cool. The kind of cool that said, I'll let you alone to be whatever you want, but cross my path and you'll feel like the fox at the short end of the hunt. He'd hound you by his presence. You couldn't get away.

Cursed.

We'll call him Hank. Don't matter. What's a name, and that one ain't his. Hank.

Hank was cursed, God bless him. Waltzed

Reviews for Cursed

[aliceanna-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The writing and story are OK, but I hate the main character and honestly don't give a rat's ass (pun intended) what happened to him so I didn't finish it. Life is way too short to be reading books one doesn't connect with.

[c4ro · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Paranormal Romance. Brides of the Kindred 11. Tess is escaping her abusive husband. Garron is a Rai'ku kindred/ dragon. Good 

[hideandread · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Albert Shipway is just an ordinary guy, with a failed marriage, an alcohol problem, and a lackluster job under his belt. The last thing that he expects is a curse from an unknown woman and an attack from possessed mice, as well as various repercussions for poor life choices. As we find out more about his situation, it is difficult to decide whether he deserves pity or condemnation for being both selfish and clueless.Cursed! is a relatively quick read, one without extraneous scenes. It stays focused on Al's quest to get his curse removed and to rescue an innocent child from the hands of a killer, in that order. Yes, he is a self-centered individual with an overactive libido, though the situation, along with some prodding from his companion, forces him to act otherwise. In terms of personality, the authors make sure that these salient traits remain consistent throughout the novel, even when he is pushed to act contrary to his own nature. His estranged wife's psychological changes and the factors that caused them are also fascinating. They prompted me to do some cursory digging into her condition, and from what I can tell, the shoe fits.Some of the images created by the authors succeeded in making me shudder, specifically the ones involving mice or blood. Al's disgust and fear became my own, and I found myself anxiously reading through the scenes, hoping against hope that the repulsive sights would go away and everything would be fine. Childish? Perhaps, but it is a testament to the authors' ability to transport us into their world.This story is told from Al's point of view, and to some extent, that warrants leniency in terms of grammar. The terse, half-formed sentences matched the poor man's voice quite well, as did a habit of confusing direct objects with pronouns. Even so, the repetitious monologuing got to me after a while. In the first chapter, nearly every paragraph contained the word "booze". Yes, Shipway is overly fixated on alcohol, but it felt redundant and dulled my interest in the story itself. His thoughts also seemed to a bit formulaic: he would wonder at the strangeness of something-or-other, then make a reference to his need for alcohol, his overuse of alcohol, or the possibility that said strange occurrence may be reason enough to cut back on his alcohol consumption. Al Shipway's character was established enough that it didn't need this sort of gimmick to solidify his status as an alcoholic: the number of drinks that he imbibed over the course of the novel renders his thoughts about needing the beverages moot.While the plot is tight and cohesive, it felt too short. More interactions with various characters or an extension of several plot points would have given a richer experience. For instance, the final confrontation with the kidnapper was an adrenaline rush, but it felt as if it came too easily; the antagonist should have been more difficult to find. The lack of screen time for the golem was also dissatisfying. The concept held a great deal of potential, yet it was underutilized.Cursed! is a short, straightforward novel with interesting characters and intriguing ideas about dark magic and psychology. While I would have appreciated a bit more development, the conciseness may appeal to those who want a fast-paced, thrilling story that gets to the point.