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swiff's review
4.0
My second exposure to Fletcher. My first was a (very) short story in the grimdark anthology release, "Evil is a Matter of Perspective."
From what I've gathered so far, the 'Manifest Delusions' universe where most of Fletcher's stories and novels reside is a place of fantastic horror, where the most insane people are gifted with the greatest powers. Belief becomes reality, and the more detached you are, the more dangerous you can become. It's not just random powers, either -- there are different types of 'magics' based on what kind of mental illness one has. A narcissist might be a SocioCast, or one who gains power because people worship him, so it's a vicious cycle there. There's a PyroCast, or one who can spontaneously ignite pretty much anything around him, as long as he is sufficiently depressed, lonely, or betrayed.
So... yeah. Grimdark, indeed. But if you can stomach this kind of desolate horror, the universe is rife with storytelling possibilities.
Fire and Flesh tells a short story about two friends -- a captain of a ship, who happens to be rotting, piece by piece -- and his friend, the viewpoint protagonist, who is the aforementioned PyroCast. They are leading a ship on a mission to find and govern new lands for their King. They come across a race of seemingly primitive people who have an unfathomable amount of wealth in gold and silver, and let's just say things don't end well. They didn't start well either, but that's not really the point. What is the point? I'm not quite sure yet, but it's a fascinating read for those who can stomach it.
From what I've gathered so far, the 'Manifest Delusions' universe where most of Fletcher's stories and novels reside is a place of fantastic horror, where the most insane people are gifted with the greatest powers. Belief becomes reality, and the more detached you are, the more dangerous you can become. It's not just random powers, either -- there are different types of 'magics' based on what kind of mental illness one has. A narcissist might be a SocioCast, or one who gains power because people worship him, so it's a vicious cycle there. There's a PyroCast, or one who can spontaneously ignite pretty much anything around him, as long as he is sufficiently depressed, lonely, or betrayed.
So... yeah. Grimdark, indeed. But if you can stomach this kind of desolate horror, the universe is rife with storytelling possibilities.
Fire and Flesh tells a short story about two friends -- a captain of a ship, who happens to be rotting, piece by piece -- and his friend, the viewpoint protagonist, who is the aforementioned PyroCast. They are leading a ship on a mission to find and govern new lands for their King. They come across a race of seemingly primitive people who have an unfathomable amount of wealth in gold and silver, and let's just say things don't end well. They didn't start well either, but that's not really the point. What is the point? I'm not quite sure yet, but it's a fascinating read for those who can stomach it.
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