REVIEW This is top-notch Science Fiction. More-than-human characters stride across well-conceived and artfully described post-apocalyptic landscape: former humans enhanced and augmented in various ways by enigmatic aliens who are mankind’s saviours or destroyers; it’s uncertain which. There is conflict on internal, interpersonal, external, environmental and galactic levels, all tied together by two main characters whose love has a lot […]
“Smash and Grab” by Joe Albanese
Joe Albanese and his characters specialize in a cynical sort of irony. They know their lives are crappy and they never expect anything to turn out well. Which is a good thing, because several of them turn out dead. The problem with cynical irony as a cornerstone for a novel is that there isn’t a […]
“Treading the Uneven Road,” Short Stories by L. M. Brown
The short story is made for the tales of people whose existence is not big enough for a novel. This genre only has room for one small slice of their lives, the moment that defines them, creates them, or ends them. So it is with “Treading the Uneven Road,” a series of short stories about […]
“Kingdom Cold” by Brittni Chennelle
“Kingdom Cold” is a bit of a stylistic olio. The opening chapters introduce a Medieval Fairy Tale setting with characters molded in modern terms. The Princess is on a hunger strike, and soon tops it by getting drunk at the wedding feast and throwing up in the hallway. These are very modern, realistic people, dealing […]