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John Vikara is 73-years-old. He was born and raised in New York City, served in the Air Force during the Cold War, and retired from a career as an auto insurance adjuster. He is married, a grandfather of four and now lives in Pennsylvania.
He has been writing - off and on as frustration dictates - since his teens. Two third place short story placements mingle with the self-publishing of a trilogy of novels, with the titles of: The Vandals; Adjuster; and National Defense. A novella, Auld Lang Syne, is a supplement to the Vandal trilogy and has just been published.
Reviewed by Lorraine Carey for Readers' Favorite
"Auld Lang Syne" takes ringing in the new year to a whole new level! So what does a seventy year old writer have to fear about this special night? Well, quite a lot as he is trapped alone at his home in a paranormal blizzard as his wife is out on the road trying frantically to get home. You can almost sense the chill in the air as the white out is depicted so vividly. Seems the electrical charge from the thunder can change the atmospheric conditions making souls able to cross over. Jimmy does not know if he is hallucinating when he is caught in a world back in the fifties as his televisions set is only playing oldies, and he is visited by deceased friends of his old gang. Jimmy has a few dark secrets he has been hiding his whole life and his old friends have some personal reasons for the visit-ones that will ultimately try to steal his soul or that of his wife. Secrets are revealed to Jimmy about the Other Side and he must come to terms with this. There is a surprise ending which I never saw coming, so the reader needs to be aware of the hidden messages in the clues laid out. It has a feel good ending, one which will make you even reflect upon your own life.
John Vikara can create such a feeling tone of fear as it is entwined throughout the story as you feel fear along with Jimmy wondering how this all will end. It captures the mature audience with its love of the oldies and the real world that those of us in our Golden Years all face. It really kept me thinking about those who have passed on before me. This is a great short read, one that is a curl up under the blanket kind of story on a rainy day.
