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gnashchick's review
4.0
Flashing Steel, Flashing Fire is a collection of short stories covering everything from Thriller to Horror to Fantasy to Urban Legends to Science Fiction. The creative imagination of Matthew Quinn provides something for everyone in this collection of ten stories.
“Coil Gun” is a thriller involving an American spaceport officer versus an Afrikaner intelligence officer, the fate of the world balances between the interactions of the two. The dialog was realistic and the fear is a reality amongst people of this world – the threat of nuclear weapons and World War III terrorizes people. This is a great fear that Quinn manipulates and highlights.
“Damn it, he thought. I knew maniacs ran the Confederation, but I didn’t think they were this mad.”
These words are enough to provoke fear – a maniac with their fingers on the button? Not satisfied to leave the horror at that level, Quinn invokes terrorists and the fear they bring.
In “Illegal Alien”, Quinn features aliens. Not just the little green men from outer space but also the Mexicans who are illegally crossing into the U.S. one night. The Mexicans find themselves stranded and abandoned by their guide, leaving them to cross the desert alone without water or food. The lights in the sky and the quickly approaching spaceship pursue the men on their journey until they are captured and forced to fortify their landed ship.
“What the hell? They want us to garden for them? The alien dumped the shovels – too small to be easily used – at the men’s feet and gestured to an earthen barrier at the edge of the crash site. Behind the embankment, two other aliens dug in a ribbed box-like device Guzman suspected was some kind of weapon.”
Quinn’s sense of horror mixed with irony and a sarcastic wit make reading his collection of short stories a pleasure. Detailed oriented, his stories are complete – connections are made, characters are developed and the reader is left feeling appropriately satisfied. I enjoy being frightened and Quinn succeeded in doing so with several of his stories. Quinn’s horror is not completely the slash’em, cut’em up superficial horrors but rather he goes much deeper seeking to poke and stir at the primal fear we all have deep within us. Excellent job Mr. Quinn!
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of this review, originally published at www.bookie-monster.com
“Coil Gun” is a thriller involving an American spaceport officer versus an Afrikaner intelligence officer, the fate of the world balances between the interactions of the two. The dialog was realistic and the fear is a reality amongst people of this world – the threat of nuclear weapons and World War III terrorizes people. This is a great fear that Quinn manipulates and highlights.
“Damn it, he thought. I knew maniacs ran the Confederation, but I didn’t think they were this mad.”
These words are enough to provoke fear – a maniac with their fingers on the button? Not satisfied to leave the horror at that level, Quinn invokes terrorists and the fear they bring.
In “Illegal Alien”, Quinn features aliens. Not just the little green men from outer space but also the Mexicans who are illegally crossing into the U.S. one night. The Mexicans find themselves stranded and abandoned by their guide, leaving them to cross the desert alone without water or food. The lights in the sky and the quickly approaching spaceship pursue the men on their journey until they are captured and forced to fortify their landed ship.
“What the hell? They want us to garden for them? The alien dumped the shovels – too small to be easily used – at the men’s feet and gestured to an earthen barrier at the edge of the crash site. Behind the embankment, two other aliens dug in a ribbed box-like device Guzman suspected was some kind of weapon.”
Quinn’s sense of horror mixed with irony and a sarcastic wit make reading his collection of short stories a pleasure. Detailed oriented, his stories are complete – connections are made, characters are developed and the reader is left feeling appropriately satisfied. I enjoy being frightened and Quinn succeeded in doing so with several of his stories. Quinn’s horror is not completely the slash’em, cut’em up superficial horrors but rather he goes much deeper seeking to poke and stir at the primal fear we all have deep within us. Excellent job Mr. Quinn!
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of this review, originally published at www.bookie-monster.com
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