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A review by leodhasach
No Way Home by Lucas Bale
5.0
Usually I don't take to short story anthologies, I'm not a huge fan of shorter fiction because I feel like they either finish at the point where I'm beginning to really enjoy the story, or they end abruptly leaving the reader to draw their own conclusions as to what happens at the end. I'm lazy, I like to be spoon-fed by the author and I like neat endings tied up in pretty little bow!
However this defied my expectations. And to be fair and open I should say that I know A.S Sinclair's work as Alex Roddie and his mountain fiction works so I knew this would be of a high standard if he was involved. (Cheque to the usual address please Mr Roddie!)
Based on the premise that you're stranded with no way to get home this was never going to be a light read, and the stories are for the most part quite intense and yes, a bit gloomy too.
Lucas Bale's opener,'To Sing of Chaos and Eternal Night', about a nameless soldier stuck in a never ending loop of battles, is written superbly. He's hinted a larger novel to flesh out the story which I would be keen to see the light of day.
Revolver by Michael Patrick Harris in particular stands out as being ever so slightly unsettling, it's unashamedly unsubtle which he freely admits to in the blurb at the end. Taking social media to a dystopian extreme he manages to convey the feeling of utter desperation by the main protagonist whilst giving a distinct feeling that we're not really all that far away from the scenario depicted in the story.
Fortunately this standard continues throughout and it's easy to forget that none of these authors (and I mean this with the greatest respect) are big name sci-fi writers. But the quality easily matches anything I've read that's touted by the big publishing houses.
However this defied my expectations. And to be fair and open I should say that I know A.S Sinclair's work as Alex Roddie and his mountain fiction works so I knew this would be of a high standard if he was involved. (Cheque to the usual address please Mr Roddie!)
Based on the premise that you're stranded with no way to get home this was never going to be a light read, and the stories are for the most part quite intense and yes, a bit gloomy too.
Lucas Bale's opener,'To Sing of Chaos and Eternal Night', about a nameless soldier stuck in a never ending loop of battles, is written superbly. He's hinted a larger novel to flesh out the story which I would be keen to see the light of day.
Revolver by Michael Patrick Harris in particular stands out as being ever so slightly unsettling, it's unashamedly unsubtle which he freely admits to in the blurb at the end. Taking social media to a dystopian extreme he manages to convey the feeling of utter desperation by the main protagonist whilst giving a distinct feeling that we're not really all that far away from the scenario depicted in the story.
Fortunately this standard continues throughout and it's easy to forget that none of these authors (and I mean this with the greatest respect) are big name sci-fi writers. But the quality easily matches anything I've read that's touted by the big publishing houses.