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megapolisomancy's review
3.0
Like Vol 1, an eclectic collection of weird horror/fantasy/sf. Some good stuff, a fair number that had good ideas but needed another pass or two to tighten up prose or structure (or theme, several just kind of felt like "here's a weird thing that happened!" without being about much of anything) and one absolutely wonderful story that would makes the whole collection worth picking up on its own.
1. “Gustav Floats” (J.W. Donley) - Flying monsters have ended the world using a virus that makes people float up to them. A premise just ridiculous enough to work, although the whole thing feels a little rough around the edges.
2. “The Soul of A New Machine” (Jennifer Loring) - Post apocalyptic alt history steampunk; neo-Romans versus Christian alchemists. Felt like a novel cut down to a short story, but not THAT short, and it wasn’t working for me, so I bailed on it halfway through.
3. “Rough Beast, Slouching” (Randee Dawn) - The Boston music scene meets an Irish spirit. A noirish voice that approaches pastiche, but sells the power of live music well, and while this style of urban fantasy isn’t really my thing, this was constructed and presented well.
4. “Don’t Punch Kyle” (Michael David Wilson) - An Englishman in Tokyo is advised by a rough sleeper not to punch Kyle. Stiff dialogue, a slightly underwhelming ending; nicely unreliable narrator (excellently undermined by the text) and brisk plotting.
5. “The Solifuge's Grin” (Avery Kit Malone) - Spiders, assassins, dead brothers, hallucinations, surreal Grand Guignol haruspicy, moribund cityscapes. Very dark, nice stuff. Could have used a little more fleshing out.
6. “Terms and Conditions Apply” (dave ring) - A zippy little romance about a boy and a demon/genie. Not my thing.
7. “Homecoming” (Erica Ruppert) - A woman is called back to her small hometown to deal with her mother’s passing. Forlorn, terse, powerful, melancholy and captivating. Very, very, very good. More weird fiction should be this unbearably sad.
8. “AV_NEST.CASEFILE” (Timothy G. Huguenin) - In a remote WV valley, an agent of a mysterious Department runs into a mysterious bird/nest/reverse eggification. A nice setup, a little pro forma as it plays out.
9. “Su Porcu” (Jason A. Wyckoff) - American tourists run afoul of a carnival in Sicily that’s ringing the changes, if you will. Way too much setup/info about Italian carnivals at the beginning but overall a good one.
10. “Zamalek, The Dream” (Mike Adamson) - In a Classical-ish fantasy city, 12 leaders have doom-filled dreams and discuss making society better somewhat. That's it.
11. “Rockshell” (Mari Ness) - Portal fantasy generates lifelong alienation in the portaler (portalee?). Found the “real” segments overly portentous at first but once in the rhythm of it it really won me over; ran a very real risk of crossing from nicely sad to abjectly miserable but kept just this side of it. Grows on me the more I think about it.
12. “In The Dust” (C. M. Muller) - A family is torn apart in a post apocalyptic world ruined by dust storms. The last story in the collection and a mirror image of the first story, similar imagery and more successful thematically (although with some truly bizarre prose choices).
1. “Gustav Floats” (J.W. Donley) - Flying monsters have ended the world using a virus that makes people float up to them. A premise just ridiculous enough to work, although the whole thing feels a little rough around the edges.
2. “The Soul of A New Machine” (Jennifer Loring) - Post apocalyptic alt history steampunk; neo-Romans versus Christian alchemists. Felt like a novel cut down to a short story, but not THAT short, and it wasn’t working for me, so I bailed on it halfway through.
3. “Rough Beast, Slouching” (Randee Dawn) - The Boston music scene meets an Irish spirit. A noirish voice that approaches pastiche, but sells the power of live music well, and while this style of urban fantasy isn’t really my thing, this was constructed and presented well.
4. “Don’t Punch Kyle” (Michael David Wilson) - An Englishman in Tokyo is advised by a rough sleeper not to punch Kyle. Stiff dialogue, a slightly underwhelming ending; nicely unreliable narrator (excellently undermined by the text) and brisk plotting.
5. “The Solifuge's Grin” (Avery Kit Malone) - Spiders, assassins, dead brothers, hallucinations, surreal Grand Guignol haruspicy, moribund cityscapes. Very dark, nice stuff. Could have used a little more fleshing out.
6. “Terms and Conditions Apply” (dave ring) - A zippy little romance about a boy and a demon/genie. Not my thing.
7. “Homecoming” (Erica Ruppert) - A woman is called back to her small hometown to deal with her mother’s passing. Forlorn, terse, powerful, melancholy and captivating. Very, very, very good. More weird fiction should be this unbearably sad.
8. “AV_NEST.CASEFILE” (Timothy G. Huguenin) - In a remote WV valley, an agent of a mysterious Department runs into a mysterious bird/nest/reverse eggification. A nice setup, a little pro forma as it plays out.
9. “Su Porcu” (Jason A. Wyckoff) - American tourists run afoul of a carnival in Sicily that’s ringing the changes, if you will. Way too much setup/info about Italian carnivals at the beginning but overall a good one.
10. “Zamalek, The Dream” (Mike Adamson) - In a Classical-ish fantasy city, 12 leaders have doom-filled dreams and discuss making society better somewhat. That's it.
11. “Rockshell” (Mari Ness) - Portal fantasy generates lifelong alienation in the portaler (portalee?). Found the “real” segments overly portentous at first but once in the rhythm of it it really won me over; ran a very real risk of crossing from nicely sad to abjectly miserable but kept just this side of it. Grows on me the more I think about it.
12. “In The Dust” (C. M. Muller) - A family is torn apart in a post apocalyptic world ruined by dust storms. The last story in the collection and a mirror image of the first story, similar imagery and more successful thematically (although with some truly bizarre prose choices).
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