Dancing in Valhalla

13 twisted tales of music, magick, mayhem & murder.

Some torn from headlines in sunny South Africa where, for many, these are part of everyday life.

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Shop for shrunken heads in a village that time forgot.

Witness an ancient ritual passed down from the Aztecs through Jack the Ripper to modern-day London.

Savour the sweet taste of revenge in a French restaurant.

Sit in on the Grim Reaper’s disciplinary hearing.

And experience life on the streets in 1980s Hillbrow as two teenagers struggle to survive a violent rollercoaster ride through Johannesburg’s underground club scene.

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John West has won awards and even small amounts of money for his scribblings over the years. One of his stories was recently longlisted in the top 200 entries out of 5 000 submitted to the international Commonwealth Short Story Prize.

His first novel – Burning Roses, a decadent tale of sex, drugs, rock n roll & magick – is available online.

Elsa Hoffman rated it 5 Stars

Oh my. He's not joking - very twisted and vengeful and even sad (the teenagers in Johannesburg).

I'm always happy to read South African writers' books. Good to see them anywhere!

The title is very interesting. Valhalla is a suburbish place near Pretoria, South Africa. And heaven to Nordic mythology. And hell, in this book.
My favourite story is Dancing in Valhalla, and it took me back many years with the slang of the 80's. I haven't heard "china" "bra" and "check me" for a very long time!

I found this story of love and drugs and teenagers trying to survive their bad choices incredibly sad and beautiful at the same time.
Please Mr West, write a novella like this?

The devil's disciplinary is quite unique, and I thoroughly enjoyed the revenge of the dessert. Overall a good read if you like twisted with bits of reality and horror thrown in for good measure.

I received a copy of this book from Vibe Reviews and I try to review every book I read.

*****

Sian Claven rated it 5 Stars

Let me first state, I hate reading short stories most of the time. People try to pack a lot of punch into a few words and they seldom get it right.

Dancing in Valhalla is one of the few exceptions.

The cover attracted me, as a horror author, quite a lot. I like spooky covers and this one intrigued me. It was one of the reasons I agreed to read this book so congrats to the author for choosing a good cover.

I delved into the short stories with little hope that I would enjoy them, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that they surpassed my every expectation. John West knows how to hold a readers attention and imagination while packing a serious punch in each story.

Things I liked were that some of the stories were more open-ended and your imagination could finish it off for you. While others wrapped up nicely, leaving you more than satisfied.

What I didn't like was that the last few stories were so interconnected they could have just as well have been a book on their own if they were fleshed out a little more. I would have preferred a story from each character's point of view rather than continuing the same story.

That being said I highly recommend this to everyone who enjoys quick, interesting reads especially if you're interested in Johannesburg back in the day.

Well done John West.