I love reading short stories, especially the ones that blend seamlessly within our daily lives, flooding us with emotions beyond our wildest dreams. Recently, I took a ride on Jean Seale’s newest short story collection – Train Spirits. From ravaging, angry ghosts that are ready to devour your soul to subtle, luring phantoms lurking in the shadows.
The collection opens with a mystery thriller featuring a detective spirit whose goal is to stop The Train Berkshire from exploding. As readers hang on to the edge of their seats, the plot unfolds a hidden bomb that will destroy an entire family including two children. Reading minds and listening to conversations, the being pushes all his efforts to save the passengers, the family, and his train. As his frustration mounts, the plot drags us into greater suspense even as the spirit utters, “How do I save her, or them? Where was the bomber and the spy?”
Readers will adore the vast display of not just the spirits but also their abilities and characters. For instance, The Paris Train presents a teen spirit trapped with her train where she serves a friend of those in need of help. Sadly, she can only change places with someone who receives a gift and shares it with someone else. Armed with psychic abilities, she offers selfless wishes to unsuspecting young travelers.
Another spirit featured in The Train to Pasadina is a traveler between the land of the living and the underworld. Focusing on helping two lonely people enjoy their last moments, the creature acts as a guide in overcoming their despair and loneliness. At first, it’s hard to notice that this is the angel of death sitting alongside two helpless humans about to be dragged into a world of doom. The contrast is breathtaking and what follows next comes like a tsunami as the plot unfolds into romance, freedom, and death.
Although Seale is great at crafting characters, his deliberate rejection of prejudice creates conflicts in each story. While I cannot deny the joy it brings at times, we find angels making mistakes, ghosts being overcome by human persistence, and phantoms that drink souls. One good example is the spirit that killed a social worker whom he was convinced was a human trafficker.
Train Spirits is a great addition to any short story collection more so for those of us who like traveling. The book is available on most online bookstore
PopGeeks runs on reader support. We are not backed by corporate media, driven by algorithms, or overloaded with invasive ads. We are an independently run site created by fans, for fans, and we cover what we love: movies, TV, video games, comics, and tabletop RPGs.
Support PopGeeks for just $1/month and help keep our content free and ad-light. Your support covers hosting, pays our writers, and helps sustain independent coverage of movies, games, TV, and geek culture. Every dollar makes a difference.
This is a voluntary support payment. No physical goods or exclusive digital content are provided. PopGeeks content remains freely accessible to all. Sales tax does not apply.
Thank you for reading. Thank you for caring. And thank you for helping PopGeeks stay fan-run, freely accessible, and fully independent.
