Review of “More than Instinct” by Maggie Slater

This is another flash fiction piece from Daily Science Fiction, which posts short fiction online and also sends it out by email for busy people through a subscription service. This story feels like horror and runs 690 words. Author Maggie Slater is a two-time mother and an established short story writer. This review contains spoilers.  

Everyone thinks Amanda’s baby is the cutest thing in the world, but when she looks at it, she sees only blackness in its eyes and in its mouth. She isn’t making much breast milk, and it pulls at her cracked nipples as she grits her teeth in pain. She offers it a bottle, but it knocks the formula away. It’s losing weight and Amanda is haunted by the pediatrician and consumed by guilt. She offers the baby her hand, willing to sacrifice a finger so it can eat.

It’s obvious this is a demon child intent on consuming its mother, although Slater doesn’t come right out and say that. Instead, we get the subtext of black eyes and mouth that Amanda sees when she looks at it, when everybody else sees only a cute baby. This is also possibly about postpartum depression, when the desperate Amanda tries her best but can’t satisfy her child. There’s not really anything about setting, only the two characters, but it’s pretty good horror.

About the only less positive I can come up with is that I’m not really a horror fan, so this has a lot of ick factor for me. There might have been a little more emphasis on the demonic quality of baby to increase the horrific effects. This is intellectually interesting because of the subtext, when I expect horror fans might prefer a little more imagery. But then, I may be wrong. Anyhow, this is a good comment on some of the downsides of motherhood that aren’t often discussed.

Four stars.

Review of “What Sadie Saw” by Michelle M. Kaseler

This is another flash fiction piece from Daily Science Fiction, which posts short fiction online and also sends it out by email for busy people through a subscription service. This story is on the long side at 969 words. Michelle Kaseler appears to be a short story writer who moonlights as a software engineer. This review contains spoilers.

Sadie and a policewoman are sitting inside her mother’s bedroom closet in the Eyewitness Recall Simulator (ERS) This is a virtual reality program that projects a witness’s memories into the scene in real-time, and anything captured from the session is admissible in court. Sadie is seven, and she is playing in the closet, trying on her mother’s clothes and rolling a car the policewoman gives her. As she plays, she relates what she saw of her mother’s murder, and the system reconstructs the scene. Can the two of them make it real enough to reveal the murderer?

This is a fairly riveting crime story, as the policewoman establishes a relationship and encourages Sadie not to be scared and to relate what happened to her mom. The characters and setting are well developed, and the images take shape for the reader as Sadie remembers. There’s also a big twist at the end, as this is virtual reality after all. The policewoman isn’t who she seems, but is actually another witness and accomplice.

On the less positive side, this ran just a bit long so there’s a mid-story slump. Sadie whines and plays like a real child would in like circumstances, but this fails to raise suspense, and given the twist, ends up as wasted time in the story. Also, the twist reveals that the ERS is more than just a simulator. There’s some kind of mind-altering interrogation going on here that smacks of totalitarian government. We do find the murderer, but I would have preferred more investigation on the ethics of the process.

Three and a half stars.

Review of “The Vanishing Bride” by William Paul Jones

This flash fiction story was published by Flash Fiction Online in their February 2021 issue. FFO takes stories from 500 – 1000 words, and this one runs 980. You can either read the current issue of FFO free online or download past issues at nominal cost in various file formats. William Paul Jones works in the movie industry and seems to be confused about his species. This review contains spoilers.

Duke Diere is making his fifth attempt to marry his betrothed, the lady Larian den Combasta. However, as in previous attempts, she disappears with a pop just at the crucial moment. The Duke’s Commandant Michalio rides to the den of sorcerer Quesson Yvoire to retrieve her. He finds the two in argument about Larian’s favors and whether she will marry the duke or accede to Yvoire’s desires. Is there any way to break the spell Yvoire has cast on her?

This has a slightly humorous feel, a tongue in cheek use of fairy tale weddings to comment on the issues of a woman’s choice and to show the sort of childish, sullen responses that people sometimes make in what should be adult relationship. The characterizations are fair, and the setting easy to accept because it’s a standard fantasy meme. The scenario where Larian keeps disappearing in the middle of the wedding is entertaining.

On the less positive side, there’s no real drama in this story, and nobody comes off looking good. Larian is represented as highly desirable because of her wealth, good temperament and intelligence, and she and the Duke seem intent on arranging a profitable match, while the jilted suitor Yvoire sulks around in the background. So where are Larian’s parents in this? Rather than a traditional arranged marriage, this reads as more a story of modern relationships where the participants make their own choices, angling for advantage. There no reason for Michalio’s character except that he seems to be the narrator. And Yvoire suddenly gives up? If it was that easy, why didn’t Larian talk him out of this on the first interruption to the marriage ceremony?

Three stars.

Review of “Scars” by Anatoly Belilovsky

This is another flash fiction piece from Daily Science Fiction, which posts short fiction online and also sends it out by email for busy people through a subscription service. This story is on the long side at 1065 words. Belilovsky was born in what is now Ukraine, and says he learned English from Star Trek reruns. This review contains spoilers.

Frank was blinded in an nuclear accident, and but that means he’s developed sharper senses in other ways. He runs the Heart of Darkness, a venue for blind trysts on the Ring. Because it’s a small community, government officials and professionals can’t have affairs that would affect their positions or their staffs, so the make use of his service to hook up. Because of his sharper senses, Frank identifies the doctor who saved him when she comes in and her date, a member of the Ethic Board who has been asking too many questions just lately. He’s brought a hidden camera today. How can Frank deal with this?

This is traditional SF, a heart-warming tale about scars and need. The characters and relationships are very well developed and the setting and background very vivid. The hookup service also feels like an original concept, a projection from the kind of scandals going around in the last few years where even female officials lose their jobs for having affairs with staff. Frank and the doctor have a close relationship, but he doesn’t take advantage. This also has something of a sexual charge.

There’s not much to say on the less positive side, except that maybe this seems a little to pat. Doesn’t anyone ever recognize their date? I’d love to read a longer story or a novel in this setting where Frank has to deal with more in the way of intrigue and temptation.

Five stars.

Review of “Warlord” by Steve DuBois

This flash fiction story was published by Flash Fiction Online in their January 2021 issue. FFO takes stories from 500 – 1000 words, and this one runs 980. You can either read the current issue of FFO free online or download past issues at nominal cost in various file formats. Steve Dubois seems to be mainly a short story writer and seems to be shortlisted for various awards. This review contains spoilers.

Kobi is the scion of the Great Khan, attended by an army of cockroaches. He lives in a doublewide, and they come in from the septic tank to exhort him to a war of conquest. Although Kobi took some grief for this in the orphanage, he later found it’s not an unusual thing for the scions of great lines. The cockroaches help him dress and he finds something for breakfast in the fridge, fires up the game console for their entertainment.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and call this magical realism. The most interesting thing about the story is the way it presents shades of alternate reality. On one hand, we see Kobi as an obese, unkempt, unemployed loser who lives in a filthy trailer and plays video games all day long. On the other hand, his minions see him as the Great Khan who will lead them to glory in a great war of conquest—presumably in a video game. There’s some interesting subtext in there, too, about living in a dump and being revered by an army of cockroaches, all packed into less than 1000 words. The narration has a slightly humorous tone, and characterization and world building are adequate, if not vivid.

On the less positive side, it might have been better to cut some of the dialog with the roaches and add in more imagery and detail that would bring the characters and setting to life. I get some details from the narration, but not a really colorful mental image.

Four stars.

Review of “Across From her Dead Father in an Airport Bar” by Brian Trent

This is a piece of flash fiction published by Flash Fiction Online in their January 2021 issue. FFO takes stories from 500 – 1000 words, and this one runs 997. You can either read the current issue of FFO free online or download past issues at nominal cost in various file formats. Brian Trent seems to be fairly well-established as a writer of both short stories and novels. This review contains spoilers.

Andrea is on her way to London, accompanied by her father, who died 20 years ago. He’s a recorded ghost, and she can see him through virtual glasses. They have drinks in the airport bar and talk, then catch the plane for London, where Andrea’s mom meets them. The wedding is in the morning.

This is heavily sentimental, a story about a woman whose father died before she was born, who wanted to walk her down the aisle when she got married. Dad and Mom apparently planned this, and Andrea has been gifted with his ghost for the occasion. He recorded the trip to London so he could accompany her now. What really stands out in the story is the imagery. We get glimpses in the bar, of the plane flying, the sea of lights as they arrive over London. We don’t know it’s a wedding until the last paragraph.

On the less positive side, the background and characterizations are minimal and the storyline doesn’t stand up to inspection. How did Dad and Mom know Andrea was going to get married in London? Why make a transatlantic journey to do that? How do they interact if Dad is just a recording? And who is Andrea’s intended? We never even see him or her, which leaves a sort of gigantic hole in the story. On the journey, Andrea is involved only in bonding with her dad—shouldn’t they be talking about something besides what kind of 20-year-old advice he can give her?

Three and a half stars for the imagery.

Wrap-up of the 2020 Dragon Award Reviews

Since I’ve finally gotten the reviews up, I’ll do the usual and look at the character of the nominations. The Dragon Awards are somewhat unique as SFF literary awards go, as they seem to be actual popular awards, i.e. what different categories of fans are actually reading. That means it’s an interesting comparison against literary awards that are partially or totally juried, where a committee chooses the winners they think are most deserving. It’s also an interesting contrast to the Goodreads Awards, which demographics suggest is dominated by women readers. Many of these novels look to be bestsellers, and I expect one “author” is actually a franchise that cranks out YA content rather than just a single author. Since it’s been a while since the awards, you can see the list of finalists here.

First, the diversity count. Here’s what I get, and as usual, I’m sorry if I miss anybody. This is pretty much based on self-disclosure online. Some authors fall into more than one category, and by “international” I mean non-US based.

Best SF Novel: 3 men (37.5%), 5 women (62.5%), 1 black (12.5%), 7 white (87.5%), 2 LGBTQ (25%), 3 international (37.5%)

Best Fantasy Novel: 2 men (33%), 4 women (67%), 1 Jewish (17%), 1 Asian (17%), 2 Hispanic (33%), 3 white (50%), 3 international (50%)

Best YA Novel: 2 men (33%), 4 women (67%), 2 Jewish (33%), 1 Asian (17%), 1 Hispanic (17%), 4 white (67%), 2 international (33%)

Best Military SFF: 7 men (100%), 0 women, 1 Jewish (14%), 7 white (100%), 1 international (14%)

Best Alternate History: 6 men (100%), 0 women, 1 Jewish (17%), 6 white (100%)

Best Horror: 2 men (40%), 3 women (60%), 1 Jewish (20%), 5 white (100%), 1 international (20%)

Totals: 22 men (58%), 16 women (42%), 1 black (3%), 6 Jewish (16%), 2 Asian (5%), 3 Hispanic (8%), 32 white (84%), 2 LGBTQ (5%), 8 international (21%)

As I understand it, the Dragons is basically a survey of reader favorites collected through the firm Survey Monkey, and (regardless of accusations) there seems to be no visible attempt by the administration to balance or distort the results. That said, there are some interesting things that stand out in this lineup. First is the difference a diversity of categories makes. While most major SFF literary awards are dominated by women these days, the Dragons has almost 60% male winners, and in two categories women are totally shut out.

Another important issue is lack of black and Hispanic popular finalists. This is hard to see in other major awards, and one could get the idea that racial barriers have suddenly been erased, but the issue shows up here. Possible problem may be a lack of participation of black and Hispanic fans in the voting, and/or failure of these writers to match the popular tastes. Although black writers, for example, have done well with angry message fiction in the major awards, this does not seem to match the popular SFF taste. On the other hand, Jewish, Asian and LGBTQ writers rated at or above their US demographic in these results. One other thought here, the timeline between announcement of the ballot and deadline for voting on the Dragons is too short to read all the finalists. This means fans may be voting for their favorite author(s) rather than for the particular works. The same problem may also affect other awards systems.

Having a look at the publishers, 5/37 (14%) were from Tor, 4/37 (11%) were from Orbit, 2/37 (5%) were from Del Rey and 2/37 (5%) were from Titan. The rest scattered out over a diverse array of publishers, including several that appear to have been established by the authors to market their own content. This shows another departure from the major awards, where the winners are typically promoted heavily through reading lists and chosen at a convention where members gather and publishers can more easily influence results.

Next, a look at characters in the novels: I only read the winning novels in six Dragon categories for this set of reviews, so I don’t have a full knowledge of the category content. Keeping that in mind, 3/6 (50%) of the winners had female main protagonists and all had prominent female characters, 3/6 (50%) had LGBTQ characters and a couple had transhuman main characters. I don’t recall that any of the winners mentioned race, which is supposed to mean the characters are white. I’d be interested in input on this one from readers. Some writers limit description of their characters under the theory that more people can identify. Is that right? Or do black readers assume that any character not specifically described as black is actually white?

As far as content goes, this varied by the category. The style and content of the finalists looks to be varied. Although I didn’t read any but the winners for these reviews, I have reviewed a few of the finalists for other awards. Again, as you would expect from the survey method of voting, this looks like popular content and suggests what fans in the different categories want to read. Best SF Novel was very traditional space opera, salty and strongly plotted. Best Fantasy Novel was surrealistic and made little sense. Best YA Novel was full of teen angst, adventures and world saving. Best Military SFF was full of angst, action and heroism. Best Alternate History was a tossed salad of US history with plot built on mystical elements and intrigue. Best Horror was a creepy but warmhearted and nonviolent tale of narrow escape. There you go. What fans really want to read.

Review of The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher

This novel was the winner of the 2020 Dragon Award for Best Horror Novel. T. Kingfisher is a pseudonym for multi-award winning author Ursula Vernon, apparently used mostly for her young adult books. This novel was published in October 2019 by Saga and runs 400 pages.

After Mouse’s grandmother dies, her dad calls and asks her to clean out the house so they can sell it. With her dog Bongo, Mouse drives into the North Carolina countryside to Grandma’s old house, hoping it will be an easy job. That’s a faint hope, as Grandma turns out to have been a hoarder. The house is full of stacked newspapers, junky appliances and a fearsome doll collection. As Mouse gets to work, she meets some wacky neighbors and a few nice people from town. She also discovers the house is haunted by strange effigies that knock on the windows at night. When she takes Bongo for a walk, they blunder into a secret country. Can Mouse get out of Grandma’s house alive?

This feels like something of a mashup of elements I’ve encountered during other 2019 reviews, including the plan to clean out Grandma’s house from the 2019 Nebula Best Novelette winner “Carpe Glitter” by Cat Rambo, and the self-replicating effigy/poppets from the novella Made Things by Adrian Tchaikovsky. However, in the author’s notes Vernon credits Arthur Machen’s 1904 found-manuscript story “The White People” as her inspiration.

The characterizations are entertaining in this novel, from the lovable hound-mix Bongo to the commune of old hippy neighbors, to the working people at the town café and the dump. The narrative is folksy and entertaining, about family relationships and various observations. Descriptions of the effigies and white people are suitably creepy and suspenseful, and the imagery gets cinematic as the story heats up. The setting feels authentic, as you would expect. Vernon actually lives in the countryside and raises hens.  

On the less positive side, there’s no clear reason in the story why Grandma needs to be such a terrible, negative person. There’s no investigation of her character at all, which sort of smacks of ageism and sexism against elderly women. Next, there’s very little plot here and a huge lot of padding where nothing much happens. Mouse works at cleaning out the house, walks the dog, meets people, and only the last three chapters, maybe, amount to any kind of real action. And last, the functioning of the white people’s traps and effigies is never properly explained, and we’re left with just poppets at the end? What happens with them now? Despite this, the novel is well done, as the narrative and the gradual addition of creepy elements holds interest well, and it leaves a warm, satisfying afterglow.

Four stars.