Liquid Silver Books, $3.99, ISBN 978-1-59578-729-3
Fantasy Romance, 2010

We are back in Strange Hollow, the town populated spooks who are seeking sanctuary from the scary world out there. Simon’s Fate pairs Moira Angelopoulos, who can tell your entire future just by touching you, with Simon Crux, a vampire who suffers from the phobia of blood. Simon sneaks into town hoping to escape those naughty people who want him dead, and little does he know that he has found sanctuary in the one and only place where he will feel right at home.

You know, this story may be fine to read if the author had exercised some effort to make the characters’ actions believable. One moment Moira is telling Simon that she needs to alert her boss of his, uh, unexpected presence in the store where she works, but the next thing I know, she is chatting him up as if they are speed-dating before he collapses in her arms and she gushes to him that he is the most wonderful person she has ever held in her arms. Maybe some readers will be touched by how our dear girl is finally going to get laid at long last, but my reaction after reading that opening scene is to wonder whether Moira is high on something she shouldn’t be taking.

This is a short story and it’s not packed with sex scenes, so basically it’s the story of a vampire who stumbles into the arms of a creepy girl who promptly bursts into tears and declares that he’s the best thing ever. He finds such behavior wonderful, I guess, because he proceeds to call her an angel. And they live happily ever after, the end.

I can only what a reader is supposed to get from this short and practically conflict-free story. Simon’s Fate feels like a filler between stories in this Strange Hollow series, something better suited to be given away for free on the author’s website.