Reviewed by: BigAl
Genre: Short Story Anthology/Dystopian
Approximate word count: 65-70,000 words
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Author:
Eleven
authors from the US and the UK.
Description:
A
collection of 15 short stories. All of them are set in dystopian environments
where “Humans have lost facets of their freedoms.”
Appraisal:
This
anthology was assembled by Dagda Publishing, a
relatively new small UK press. The number of typos and other errors I would
have expected to be caught in the copy editing and proofing process exceeded
the number I like to see, which is reflected in the rating. However, most of
these errors are relatively minor. A forgiving reader who is a dystopian fan
should still give the collection consideration.
As for the
stories, some were better than others, but none were bad. I’ll highlight a few
that stood out for me.
In a
dystopian story the reader often has to figure out the world where it is taking
place. What has changed from the world we know? Normally this change will be a
social or political change the author observes taking place in today’s world
and imagines continuing in the direction that change is taking us, usually to a
point we’d perceive as extreme, with negative results. In his story Eating, Drinking, Walking, author Dylan
Otto Krider concentrated on a political direction that was unique and not as
obviously bad for those who benefit from it. I found that figuring out this
world came slower than with the other stories, but the story was that much
stronger because of it.
The Explosive Class Struggle of
Terra Vista
contributed by Jamie Burnette and Welcome
to Omni-Mart by Dale Bridges were two others I especially enjoyed. The
first, an exploration of when the rift between the haves and have-nots becomes
too extreme, the second, taking what I’ll describe as the corporate-ization of
government to the extreme.
Much easier
for me to figure out what was going on was another story from Dylan Otto
Krider, The Price of My Services, yet
just as strong as his contribution mentioned earlier. This story explores the
changing world of media and journalism and how what we are told is manipulated.
FYI:
Some adult
language.
Some
stories use UK spelling conventions.
Format/Typo Issues:
Too many
copy editing and proofing misses. Most of these are minor (wrong words due to
typo, extra or missing words, etc).
Rating: *** Three stars
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