Dark Horses: Nine Writers of the Fantastical You've Probably Never Read...but Should, Robert Weller, ed.
This was pretty much what it said on the tin: I hadn’t read any of the authors—at least that I could remember. And at least a couple of them deserve more attention than they’re getting.
· Singularity For Hire, James C. Glass: Melvin Funovits is a mediocre professor in a dying physics department at an expensive liberal arts college, whose only passion is a research project that apparently violates the laws of physics—and eventually, other kinds of laws as well. Fun and light, this crams a big story into surprisingly few words.
· A Survivor’s Guide To The Dinosaur Apocalypse, Wayne Kyle Spitzer: This was a bit over the top, but a fun romp through what Seattle might look like if it was overrun with human and prehistoric predators. Above average writing, solid entertainment.
· Dr. Jekyll In Love, Ron Ford: This does an abrupt 180 from the story before it. Spitzer’s story is a huge shaggy dog bounding happily through the wreckage of civilization. Dr. Jekyll In Love, is crafted with a colder, more surgical precision even as it unlocks dark passions carefully kept from respectable folks’ view.
· Worlds Apart: A Father’s Legacy, M. Kari Barr: A brotherly murder-mystery. Cleverly crafted, this unfurls smoothly to an interesting and unexpected finish. This was an interesting take on the ancient question of what it is to be, or not be, human.
· Brother Bob, Kevin M. Penelerick: A man comes home from a business trip to find that his wife has taken a zoo giraffe hostage and is an armed standoff with police. Just another afternoon in suburban America, but it gets weirder from there. Fun and frothy, with an intriguing twist.
· Seeds of the Dead, Andy Kumpon: GMOs go bad, but not as bad as the cardboard cutout corporate types whose conspiracies lead to disaster. Comic book level plot and characters undermine otherwise decent writing.
· Torchlight Parade, Bill Link: Narcolepsy and murder? What about when the happen on the same stretch of road? And what if this isn’t the first time? We’re aboard for the ride as Louis starts to get back some dark memories and loses his grip on what he thought was his real life. Good stuff, dark but well-crafted.
· Scythe, Erik Schubach: Ever felt like you were cursed? Lisc is, literally. Having a part-time vocation as a Scythe of God is a bit of burden, and the perks are pretty dubious. But every lock has a key, and Lisc is about to find hers. Schuback’s cringey, overheated treatment of the attraction between Lisc and Kimoura undermined an otherwise promising story.
· That Thing We Killed, Enyaw Reztips: A hunting trip goes in an unexpected direction in this short but taut story, which ends with a haunting bit of foreshadowing. My favorite of the group.
Relatively speaking, I liked Seeds of the Dead and Survivor’s Guide least – they were the least complex and most stereotyped of the stories. At worst, both are competently written but just seemed a bit uninspired. Singularity for Hire, Brother Bob, Dr. Jekyll In Love and Scythe were in the middle, in roughly that order. These were more nuanced and had interesting twists to them. Worlds Apart and Torchlight Parade are firmly in my top three. I thought That Think We Killed was the strongest story by far. The more I read, the more I appreciate the skill that goes into writing good, crisp short stories. Reztips’ story is just that.
Ranking these was tough: I thought most of the stories clustered pretty tightly just above what I think of as average for self-/indie-published SFF. YMMV of course, but even the stories I liked least were decent – although nothing knocked me out of my chair either. I enjoyed them enough that I followed or subscribed to everyone I could find on Amazon or with an independent web presence. (I was bummed to see that Reztips doesn’t appear to have much a presence as an author – hopefully that’ll change soon?)
There’s a good change most people may find at least one story or author they’ll like – although it probably helps if you’re partial to stories on the darker end of the spectrum. Given its super-reasonable price on Amazon there’s no reason not to take it for a spin and see if any of the stories and authors speak to you.
Smirk factor: All clear: 2 pts (1 smirk in nine stories by nine authors. Excellent.)
Immersion factor: Chest-high: 1.5 pts
Writing quality: Above-average: 1.5 pts
Character/plot development: Average: 1 pt
Innovative/interesting: Average: 1 pt
Total: 7/10 (3.5 stars)