100 Candles by Sara Sakana

100 Candles follows the adventures of Jeff and Kenny, the former a run-of-the-mill kind of guy, the latter a professional ghost-buster.  Of course, it’s not just about killing ghosts and demons: there are numerous subplots (particularly romantic ones) to keep you interested.

I am generally not a big fan of horror, but one glimpse at the first few paragraphs and I was hooked. I read all 11 chapters in one sitting.

The stories are creepy, perhaps not flat-out scary but definitely disturbing.  The writing is conversational, light and entertaining to read. The main characters are likeable, and often humorous, when they’re not fighting for their lives.  While the various demons are creepy, there is very little gore, which is great as I squick easily.

What I truly enjoy in 100 candles is the impression that the author has put a lot of research into every story. The demons are well-rounded, intriguing mythological entities, each one unique, with its own history, strengths, and weaknesses.

As for the website itself, it has an RSS & lj feed, as well as character sketches, and bonus stories (omake), and since Morgan’s review, a comment capability has been added.  The website layout adds to the overall creepy atmosphere, with the blue-flamed candles and the weird ghost man in the background.

However, while I generally don’t mind light writing on dark backgrounds, this background is not a uniform colour, meaning I found it a little difficult on the eyes.  Furthermore, the website feels a little cluttered to me: I think it would benefit from a table of contents page that does not include excerpts, and perhaps there could be a cleaner division between story content and the links/comments part (even something like a horizontal dividing bar).  But that’s me being a little picky.

If you want something light-hearted, occasionally sexy, often times funny, and frequently worrying, then 100 candles is the story for you. 

I found this story in the listings, and just read a paragraph or two to see what it was all about.  I very quickly got drawn into the story.

The first story is The Fortune-Telling Doll.  Jeff, a casual surfer guy, finds a Japanese doll washed up on the beach.  He takes it home, hoping to make some money from it, but then it starts talking to him, making eerily accurate predictions. 

It’s a quixotic piece; the writing is casual, almost conversational.  The writer’s voice is strong and very entertaining.  The protagonist is likable, and the situations he gets into made me smile while I read.  And at the same time, the story scared the pants off me.

The gore was minimal, but the sex was quite frequent and explicit.  If you can deal with that, the story around the sex is gripping and well done. 

The rest of the stories follow Jeff and Ken as they hunt ghosts, spirits, demons and anything else odd.  The humour is rife throughout the tale and that, combined with the scary, makes this a very interesting read.