Book Reviews and More: A Very Jurassic Hallowtide - Corinna Turner

A Very Jurassic Hallowtide

An unSPARKed Story

Corinna Turner

Unseen Books

eISBN 9781917628044

ASIN B0FY3TYHBC

A Very Jurassic Hallowtide - Corinna Turner - An unSPARKed Story

I read this story in the anthology Shadows Visible & Invisible from the Catholic Teen Books Anthology. When writing a review of that anthology I wrote a paragraph for each story. For this story I wrote:

“Anytime there is a new story in the unSPARKed world my son and I get terribly excited. I have read unSPARKed stories 39 times not counting a number of times for each anthology they appear in. This was a deeply moving story about friends, a tragedy from long ago, and maybe surprising repentance. Harry has a surprising dream and a vision. This Hallowtide will not soon be forgot.”

The description of this volume states:

“Trapped in the mountains by a blizzard and a pack of T. rex, Darryl, Joshua, and Harry's All Hallows' Eve is looking dangerous enough, even before things take an eerie turn.

An unSPARKed short story about a future halloween that does not go according to plan!”

And hear more than a year later and rereading the story as a standalone short I still completely agree. And the author chose to use that blurb when marketing the volume which is a great honour. This is really a very moving story. Over the last several years Hallowtide and purgatory have both been themes in my reading and my personal devotional practices. And even though this is a fictional story, it really had a lasting impact upon me. I have never had an encounter with a soul visiting from purgatory, and to be honest hope I never do. But this story written based on a true event is moving and challenging.

It is a story that will move you to have a deeper appreciation for how God can work in mysterious ways, and it will challenge you to pray more for holy souls in purgatory. Turner states in the author’s note:

“Aspects of this story are based on real events. A lady from my church lives in a manor house that has a priest hole dating back to the Elizabethan penal times, when Catholics were persecuted in Britain. One day, two guests staying in the room with the priest hole woke up in the night to find a figure standing at the end of the bed, staring silently at them. They said that there was nothing at all frightening about the experience, despite the figure’s sunken, red-rimmed eyes and general emaciation. When they told the lady who owned the house, she was shocked, because she knew what the couple did not: that during the penal times, a priest had starved to death in the priest hole after the lord of the manor was arrested. The figure described had all the physical symptoms of someone who had died of starvation, and a modern-day priest explained to her that the dead priest’s soul was probably seeking prayers from purgatory.

The interesting things about this are:

· The couple both saw the figure, so they weren’t asleep.

· Neither of them knew the history of the house or the priest.

· Neither of them found the apparition frightening.

All these things are included in this story.”

It is a great little story. If you are fans of the unSPARKed stories it is a must read. And if you want a great story to read over Hallowtide or to be honest at any point in the year, it is worth picking up. I first read a story by Turner in 2015, and read the first in this series in 2017. Since then, I have read books by her a total of 77 times, and unSPARKed stories 42 of them. I have also read a number of the unSPARKed stores in Anthologies. This story is available in the Anthology, Shadows Visible & Invisible, or as a standalone eBook. This story and series are excellent for teens, young adults and adults. The series keeps getting better and better! It has real staying power. My son and I have read most volumes at least three times each.

When I am recommending this series, which happens often, I frequently describe it as a mashup of Mad Max, Lost World, and Jurassic Park, and I have recommended it to many, all who have enjoyed them. In many ways it is like 50 years after Jurassic World Dominion. We have even bought a full set for my son’s school library and know from the Librarian that they are very popular.

unSPARKed is a series set in a not-too-distant future. Dinosaurs once again roam the earth. Just because a scientist could do something, did not mean they should have done it. Most people live SPARKed, in cities with walls and electrified fences. There are two groups of people who live unSPARKed, farmers who have electric fences around their farms and live in community with their close neighbours. The other are Hunters who live most of the time out on the road or off road in HabVI’s Habitat Vehicles.

If you want an excellent short story I can easily recommend this story! And to be honest anything from Turner’s masterful pen.

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2025 Catholic Reading Plan!