Tequila's Sunrise by Brian Keene Review

by Brian Keene
Deadite Press
Review posted 05/06/2011

Tequila's Sunrise by Brian Keene, is a collection of 8 short stories that include:

Tequila's Sunrise:
A tale of the Tenochas or Aztecs, one in particular named Chalco. He is a hunter of his kind and learns to discover what it means to have Gods, to believe in the end of the world and to see what comes after he is able to see on the other side of things.

Burying Besty:
Tells of a father who buries his daughter alive to keep her from harm whatever it maybe.

Dust:
Is a ghost story based on Laura who had to deal with the tragic death of her loved one because of the 9-11 incident and learns to discover things may not be what they seem.

Fade to Null:
tells of the inner feelings, thoughts of a person dealing with Alzheimer's disease and what could be like a fantasy moment, but actually be nothing.

Bunnies in August:
Gary visits where his son Jack died. However, there are strange situations that happen in his life and bunnies are all over the place. What could possible happen next?

That which Lingers:
Sara has an abortion and her boyfriend leaves her. But does the abortion cause more than just an ending of a relationship?

Two-Headed Alien Love Child:
A woman is impregnated by aliens, Kaine is there on the case. There is just a few things to take care of.

Golden Boy:
Is about a boy that has special abilities to produce gold from his body. He never has relationships, but always finds a way to make due.

I found these stories to be odd and yet some amusing, while others really strange. It was a complete collection of everything one could want while reading short stories. An enjoyable collection that let's you take a strong look at what society would do and what seems to be a strange, strange world of Brian Keene.

The Fecund’s Melancholy Daughter by Brent Hayward Review

by Brent Hayward
ChiZine Publications
ISBN: 978-1926851136
Review by: Rob Walter
Review posted 05/02/2011



The Fecund’s Melancholy Daughter is the newest novel from the mind of Brent Hayward and is the second book he has published. Chizine Press also published his first novel, Filaria, in 2009. This Sci-Fi Fantasy story is approximately 235 pages.

The story begins with three women in space entering a space craft called “mother” with rockets on their wrists and ankles. Except for all of the dead crew inside, the ship resembles a human body. Then we jump to the Kholics cleaning up trash and waste flowing from the great city of Nowy Solum. Being outcasts, the Kholics are perfect for this kind of work. Then there is path, laying in the garden under the rain waiting for his father to sleep off the spiritus binge he had been on. This path is unique in that he wiggles his stumps, but can’t escape the sling his father carries him in. The story moves in fits and starts as it continues to jump around back and forth between the different strands of the stories.

Part of the difficulty I had with the book lay in the fact that there weren’t really any chapters or headings in it. Only pictures to show some of the breaks. Some transitions between the parts of the story happened from one paragraph to the next. This made reading it more work as I often had to pause to think/re-read portions to maintain what understanding I had of the book. I was impressed that after my confusion of most of the story everything did tie together and come to a somewhat coherent conclusion.