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rachel_menard's review against another edition
5.0
Of course I have to rate this five stars. No secret there, but to hopefully create a somewhat unbiased review, I am going to focus on the stories that ARE NOT mine. If you want to know about my story, SEVEN DAYS, you can see my original notes at the bottom.
Let me start by saying WOW. We were given one premise, the final summons, and now that I've read all the stories what I love most is HOW DIFFERENT THEY ARE. This anthology runs the gamut from time travel, to fae fantasy, historic sci-fi, post apocalyptic and one story about a housefly trying to get a Danish. The curators did an excellent job of spanning the breadth of speculative fiction and making room for all voices to be heard.
I won't talk about ALL the stories, but here are a few of my notes that will *hopefully* encourage you to check this out.
Fly in the Danish by Dave Pasquantonio was a personal favorite because frankly, I had never read a story from a fly's perspective before.
I also really enjoyed Devil in the Details by E.J. Stevens. It was a short from her [b:Shadow Sight|12670968|Shadow Sight (Ivy Granger, #1)|E.J. Stevens|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1355069145s/12670968.jpg|17785938] Ivy Granger series, an urban fantasy series about a part-fae detective, and I got all the Sookie Stackhouse feels from it.
Trigger warning: abuse and manhood talk for In Darkness, She Sheds by [a:Suzanne Reynolds-Alpert|7394656|Suzanne Reynolds-Alpert|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1386088046p2/7394656.jpg] but if you can handle the violence, it has a great twist. (And isn't that the great thing about anthologies? If one story isn't your thing, move onto the next one. If it IS your thing, go straight there.)
Two Slugs in the Belly by Peter Dudar gave me major 80's sci-fi thriller flashbacks.
But there's some manhood talk in there too if you want to breeze past that. Can you tell I'm not big on the sexy talk?
The Dreamer at the End of Time by [a:Morgan Sylvia|8119026|Morgan Sylvia|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1499123607p2/8119026.jpg] was my absolute favorite. Prepare yourself for an Inception-type world where dreams become reality.
I also want to highlight Jack Johnson and the Heavyweight Title of the Galaxy by Errick A. Nunnally. Somehow he managed to combine boxing, Civil Rights and an alien invasion into one, amazing story.
And here is my personal author info about SEVEN DAYS...
___________
I want you to know that everything about my story in here was a mistake. When the call came for submissions, I misread the theme. I thought it was the END OF TIMES, not THE FINAL SUMMONS. I had also never written an ADULT story before, and only three short stories before this one. Somehow, though, everything came together in SEVEN DAYS.
I'm always delighted by anti-heroines and well-crafted villains, those characters you might not like but you somehow understand them. You can never decide if you want to see them succeed or die, or just get a hard slap across the face, and I hope I managed to create one of those characters for you with Dr. Catherine Spencer. She is the heroine I love to hate.
Let me start by saying WOW. We were given one premise, the final summons, and now that I've read all the stories what I love most is HOW DIFFERENT THEY ARE. This anthology runs the gamut from time travel, to fae fantasy, historic sci-fi, post apocalyptic and one story about a housefly trying to get a Danish. The curators did an excellent job of spanning the breadth of speculative fiction and making room for all voices to be heard.
I won't talk about ALL the stories, but here are a few of my notes that will *hopefully* encourage you to check this out.
Fly in the Danish by Dave Pasquantonio was a personal favorite because frankly, I had never read a story from a fly's perspective before.
I also really enjoyed Devil in the Details by E.J. Stevens. It was a short from her [b:Shadow Sight|12670968|Shadow Sight (Ivy Granger, #1)|E.J. Stevens|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1355069145s/12670968.jpg|17785938] Ivy Granger series, an urban fantasy series about a part-fae detective, and I got all the Sookie Stackhouse feels from it.
Trigger warning: abuse and manhood talk for In Darkness, She Sheds by [a:Suzanne Reynolds-Alpert|7394656|Suzanne Reynolds-Alpert|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1386088046p2/7394656.jpg] but if you can handle the violence, it has a great twist. (And isn't that the great thing about anthologies? If one story isn't your thing, move onto the next one. If it IS your thing, go straight there.)
Two Slugs in the Belly by Peter Dudar gave me major 80's sci-fi thriller flashbacks.
But there's some manhood talk in there too if you want to breeze past that. Can you tell I'm not big on the sexy talk?
The Dreamer at the End of Time by [a:Morgan Sylvia|8119026|Morgan Sylvia|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1499123607p2/8119026.jpg] was my absolute favorite. Prepare yourself for an Inception-type world where dreams become reality.
I also want to highlight Jack Johnson and the Heavyweight Title of the Galaxy by Errick A. Nunnally. Somehow he managed to combine boxing, Civil Rights and an alien invasion into one, amazing story.
And here is my personal author info about SEVEN DAYS...
___________
I want you to know that everything about my story in here was a mistake. When the call came for submissions, I misread the theme. I thought it was the END OF TIMES, not THE FINAL SUMMONS. I had also never written an ADULT story before, and only three short stories before this one. Somehow, though, everything came together in SEVEN DAYS.
I'm always delighted by anti-heroines and well-crafted villains, those characters you might not like but you somehow understand them. You can never decide if you want to see them succeed or die, or just get a hard slap across the face, and I hope I managed to create one of those characters for you with Dr. Catherine Spencer. She is the heroine I love to hate.
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