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Jill Vance worked as a ghost writer for many years before deciding the constraints of only writing about plots and characters chosen by others was too limiting. In 2013 she wrote the first book under her own name, The Other Side of the Door which is a collection of short stories with a twist in the tale.
Towards the end of 2014 Jill published her second book of short stories with a twist, Dark between Shadows.
This was closely followed, (1st January 2015), by a longer single short story called Wrapped With Thorns. This started life as a short story to be included in Dark between Shadows. However, as she wrote it, the story took on a life all its own and kept growing. It grew to the point it was too long to be included in the book and at that point it became a complete story all on its own.
Currently the third book of short stories with a twist is underway.
Reviewed by Ayrial King for Readers' Favorite
Jill Vance startles and tantalizes the reader with her second collection of twisted short stories called Dark Between Shadows. The plots of the stories are just as varied as their lengths, and as she says “united only by having a twist in the tale.” With stories ranging from unexpectedly hilarious like “Evasive Answers” to twistedly mad like “Revenge is a Bunch of Flowers,” Vance has a nice selection of stories to please any palate. The story I am sure many will love is “Missing Days” because it has a 007-esque feel to it that is complete and adventurous. The stories will shock you, make you scratch your head, and go through many emotions at once while reading and many more at the end.
Many of Vance's stories shocked me with the unexpected twist, while some had me laughing out loud. The stories “Revenge is a Bunch of Flowers,” “Theater Tickets,” and “Courtroom Trick” shocked me the most because I felt they had twists within twists that took me on a roller coaster ride and refused to let me go until I was dizzyingly sick. I was all for the sister’s “Revenge” against those who wronged her until the very frantic end. The morbid undercurrent of “Theater Tickets” felt vaguely familiar to me, though I did not expect the ending; it was so maddening it was genius. “Courtroom Trick” was every defense attorney’s worst nightmare – an impossible case to turn in his or her favor but he manages to do just that only to learn the very ugly truth after it is too late to do anything about it. “Evasive Answers” was quite funny and possibly what every person has felt at some point, and “Writing on the Sand” was something many aspiring authors would love to happen to them, if only once in their dreams. This is a book I can give to anyone in my family and know he or she will enjoy it.
