The Cold, by Aura Burrows

As my regular readers know, I'm always looking for great, inexpensive reads by indie authors. I have stumbled across a wonderful website, BigWorldNetwork.com, that is something completely revolutionary in this ever-changing industry. I’m completely enthralled with this gorgeous library of the mind!  They bill themselves as the world’s premier episodic network - “Like television…only in book form. Episodic literary series from some of today's most talented writers in written and audio format.”  They truly are television in book form, a way of combining listening and reading that allows the mind to roam freely throughout the entire experience.

OMG!!! I’m hooked!!! And it’s only $3.00 a month for an amazing supply of books in serial from!  So far I have become addicted on “The Cold” by Aura Burrows. I can read it for myself, or listen to the wonderful narrative by Willow Wood, which is how I’ve been absorbing this compelling tale. I don’t watch television, but I have developed a great fondness for audio-books, as they allow me to spend my evenings immersed in the completely visual world that is created when one listens to a good tale, that is well-read. They’re perfect for long trips in the car. One of my own books, a novella, is in the process of being turned into an Audible book at www.Audible.com as I write this post—I can’t tell you what a thrill that is.

So now that I’ve gotten my squeeing like a little girl out of the way, we can get down to my review of indie author Aura Burrows’ wonderful urban fantasy serial, The Cold.

The Blurb:

I was a warm and at times emotionally heated lady, until several drinks too many one night. Now there is nothing but cold. Cold hands, cold body, cold heart. Yet I live amongst the warmth of others and must learn to adjust quickly. Because now…I am a vampire.

My Review:

First of all, each episode averages about 10 minutes, so it is easy to either read on the PC or listen while working in the kitchen.  The Cold is told in the first person, which is the only way this particular tale could be told. In episode one, our protagonist (who is not named until chapter 7) is a young gal, unhappily employed in data-entry, and recovering from a bad break-up with a long-time boyfriend. She over indulges and gets completely out of hand, passing from the ‘merely intoxicated’ stage to the ‘toss the bitch out’ stage. 

She is removed from the situation by a stranger, an enigmatic blond man with slight accent. When she wakes, completely naked in a strange place, the man gives her a few terse instructions, leaves her a set of clothes (hers were covered in vomit, apparently) and vanishes.

It takes her a while to realize that she has been changed into a vampire.

Each episode of this serial is about her impressions of the first hours of her new life, the first days and learning the rules of the road in her new society. I love seeing this new existence through her eyes as she makes each unsettling discovery. She is not a terrible person, but she is not a human and never forgets that as she  finds ways to cope with her situation.

I just finished the first season and have enjoyed every episode of this journey into a vampire’s “life”. I highly recommend you check out www.BigWorldNetwork.com and see what else is out there. I honestly think this website and other online sources of free and affordable literature will be great forces in shaping our ever-evolving publishing industry, at least on the indie front.

In the meantime, I am going to start on the second season!