We all love a good google

I googled myself. All writers do this, even if like masturbation they tend to do it when no-one's looking (or maybe some writers do it loud and proud, what do I know?).

It's far too soon for any reaction to Burying Brian, but I found many reviews relating to Haunted Legends, and my story "The Spring Heel" therein. Perhaps I should also mention the anthology has been nominated for the Black Quill awards and was deemed anthology of the year by the Chicago Sun Times. Which is all jolly nice.

Of "The Spring heel", jawasreadtoo.com says:

Steven Pirie’s “The Spring Heel” (a Spring-Heeled Jack tale) is a fascinating reclamation where the legendary figure once rumored to haunt the streets of Victorian-era England (romanticized in the extreme by Pirie’s desperate protagonist) turns savior for a woman eager to escape the reality of her world.

Black Abyss says:

The Spring Heel by Steven Pirie is set in Liverpool and introduces us to Ruth a homeless prostitute and the mysterious Spring Heeled Jack. It’s a deeply emotional story which brings the traditional legend, kicking and screaming, into a modern world of drugs, violence and tragedy.

Of course, not all reviewers heaped glowing praise on my story. Some pretty much ignored it, and others were lukewarm.

From Sffworld

The remaining tales, including… "The Spring Heel" by Steven Pirie… tend to walk the line between the two genres, generally channeling local legends through the psyches of the stories' central characters. While I found these meldings to be interesting, the psychological element tended to dominate the narrative so much they were virtually indistinguishable from many of the ghost stories.

Skulls in the Stars didn't mention me at all. Which is perfectly fine, of course.

Read All Over says:

Anthologies are also hard to review because it’s hard to give full attention to every single story in a collection. Because, while I really enjoyed this entire anthology, there were definitely some I loved more than others:

The Spring Heel by Steven Pirie — from the title one can see that this is a tale about the English legend, The Spring Heeled Jack. I loved how this story was both eerie but had me almost rooting, in a way, for Jack.

From the Apex Book Company

The Spring Heel by Steven Pirie – This is the retelling of Spring Heel Jack as told through the experiences of Ruth, a down-on-her-luck prostitute. She fears seeing the Spring Heel means death or worse for her. In the end, joining the creature supposed to be the devil results in the most unexpected of things. This story is told well enough to make it timeless. It could be set in the modern day as well as London in the 1800s. I finished the story with a smile on my face.