Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
Overall, I was disappointed in this collection. It gets a 5.5/10 rating. Here is a brief listing of the stories you will find within this book:
A ZOMBIE’S LAMENT I’m very familiar with the characters from BREATHERS. Love the voice of the zombie - slightly cynical with a dash of humor. 6
SOFTLAND This story has an interesting idea: people who poach luck from other people and then sell it on the black market. I thought this story had the best opening sentence I’d read in years until I read that Browne took most of it from a Beck album. I do like this sentence: “After all, you can’t take something from someone without eventually paying a price.” I call that karma. 6
MY EGO IS BIGGER THAN YOURS Wherein a man injects Egos on a regular basis and perhaps begins to suffer side effects. Or is he? Best story so far. The beginning drags with the naming of all the celebrities but picks up with the first poisoning. Then I started getting tired of the sexual references. 8
DREAM GIRLS A misogynist story. Don’t bother reading it. 0
SHOOTING MONKEYS IN A BARREL More sexual references. Why does seemingly everything have to be a sexual reference? Ugh! I’m no prude but jeez, can’t a story just be a story? More great sentences: “I feel buoyant and warm and fluffy. I don’t know how I can feel fluffy, but I do.” Good story, not great. 6
CAPTIVITY Boring. 5
THE SODOM AND GOMORRAH SHORE Pretty good. I’m also familiar with these characters from FATED. 6
HOMER’S REPRISE Huh? This is a lot of things thrown together in a very short story. 7
DR. LULLABY Very interesting. My favorite story of the bunch. Medical “guinea pigs” begin to have the power to make other people have those unfortunate side effects that they list at the end of pharmaceutical commercials and take up most of the commercial. I really enjoyed this and it could have been even longer. 9
ZOMBIE GIGOLO Although it has a good first line: “Is it necrophilia if you’re both dead?” and some really gross description, I stopped reading before the end of the first page. This was actually written for a Gross-Out Contest. I’m surprised it only got third place because it grossed me out enough to stop reading it. 2
A ZOMBIE’S LAMENT I’m very familiar with the characters from BREATHERS. Love the voice of the zombie - slightly cynical with a dash of humor. 6
SOFTLAND This story has an interesting idea: people who poach luck from other people and then sell it on the black market. I thought this story had the best opening sentence I’d read in years until I read that Browne took most of it from a Beck album. I do like this sentence: “After all, you can’t take something from someone without eventually paying a price.” I call that karma. 6
MY EGO IS BIGGER THAN YOURS Wherein a man injects Egos on a regular basis and perhaps begins to suffer side effects. Or is he? Best story so far. The beginning drags with the naming of all the celebrities but picks up with the first poisoning. Then I started getting tired of the sexual references. 8
DREAM GIRLS A misogynist story. Don’t bother reading it. 0
SHOOTING MONKEYS IN A BARREL More sexual references. Why does seemingly everything have to be a sexual reference? Ugh! I’m no prude but jeez, can’t a story just be a story? More great sentences: “I feel buoyant and warm and fluffy. I don’t know how I can feel fluffy, but I do.” Good story, not great. 6
CAPTIVITY Boring. 5
THE SODOM AND GOMORRAH SHORE Pretty good. I’m also familiar with these characters from FATED. 6
HOMER’S REPRISE Huh? This is a lot of things thrown together in a very short story. 7
DR. LULLABY Very interesting. My favorite story of the bunch. Medical “guinea pigs” begin to have the power to make other people have those unfortunate side effects that they list at the end of pharmaceutical commercials and take up most of the commercial. I really enjoyed this and it could have been even longer. 9
ZOMBIE GIGOLO Although it has a good first line: “Is it necrophilia if you’re both dead?” and some really gross description, I stopped reading before the end of the first page. This was actually written for a Gross-Out Contest. I’m surprised it only got third place because it grossed me out enough to stop reading it. 2