A review by johnnyideaseed
Tyrannia: and Other Renditions by Anya Johanna DeNiro

5.0

I went into this book having been a big fan of Alan DeNiro's previous short story collection, Skinny Dipping in the Lake of the Dead. This collection did not disappoint. Many of the details in the stories are a bit ridiculous -- details, whether factual or fictional, frequently are -- but in every story I was able to identify some emotional core that resonated strongly with me. Elements of horror, fantasy, and science fiction mingle freely and enthusiastically, and DeNiro seems to cultivate his ambiguous endings like it were a breed of rare flower. Which does tend to give the stories the general feeling of a particularly vivid dream, something which, as far as I'm concerned, is a good thing. Particularly enjoyable were the stories "(*_*?)~~~~(-_-):TheWarpandtheWoof" and "The Flowering Ape," the latter being a particularly touching meditation on being different and growing older. This book may not be for everyone, but this is basically exactly the sort of short story collection that I would like to read more often.