Reviews

What Remains When The Stars Burn Out by P.L. McMillan

spooky_librarian's review

5.0

A strange apocalypse brought on by honey bees, the rapid spread of a cosmic cult, strange rashes as deadly as they are infectious. If you perked up at the mention of any of those things, that is just a small taste of what’s waiting for you inside P.L. McMillan’s sci-fi/cosmic horror short story collection WHAT REMAINS WHEN THE STARS BURN OUT.

I first fell in love with McMillan’s storytelling when I was introduced to her writing in HOWL Society’s horror anthology HOWLS FROM HELL. The way she builds worlds, develops characters, and harnesses reader interest in just a few pages of each short story are many reasons why I’ve become a fan of hers. You can bet I was over the moon when given this ARC by the author and, without even blinking, dove in eagerly.

Not only was I not disappointed, but by the first story's end--Sanatize, a very disturbing and somewhat triggering tale of infection that will leave you wanting to obsessively wash your hands-- I was equally horrified and enamored. In fact, I thought I could narrow down my favorites in this collection, but I ended up loving every single story! Each one is compelling and disturbing and filled to the brim with all the things I personally love about both sci-fi and cosmic horror!

Should you get your hands on this collection, prepare for worlds to fall and monsters to rise, for dangerous unknowns and the loss of time, space, and sanity, for grotesqueries that will make you squeamish. Prepare for a fantastic 257 pages of horror and wonder.

(Special thank you to P.L. McMillan and Salt Heart Press for this stellar review copy!)

emilyyjjean's review

5.0

I had a really great time reading this collection of twelve stories. The collection is mostly focused on sci-fi horror. The stories gave me the creeps and were very entertaining. The pacing of each story was great, and I never felt bored; I always wanted to keep reading more! While I liked every story in the collection, I’m going to only dive into my top three:

1. Gemini Syndrome
Pru is trying to make her way back to Earth, and in order to shorten her travel time she’s signed up to try Dispersed Molecular Travel [DMT]. DMT is still very experimental though, especially out in Space, and DMT travelers have been experiencing Gemini Syndrome. Will Pru make it back to Earth safely, or will she experience Gemini Syndrome like the travelers before her?

It was hard to decide, but I think this has to be my favorite from the whole collection. Pru is aware of the potential consequences of this experimental travel, but her desperation to get back to Earth beats those consequences from keeping her in Space. The coldness of the Doctor, the outcome that Pru faces, and just thinking about what happened to the others before Pru is truly chilling.


2. Buzzkill
Genetically modified bees have started attacking people. Anthony is one of the few left that haven’t been attacked, but he might not be unscathed.

This story was short and sweet, but it definitely stuck in my mind like honey.

Spoiler

I’m rather fond of killer animal stories like [b:Zoo|13353667|Zoo (Zoo #1)|James Patterson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1355175463l/13353667._SY75_.jpg|21754877], so it was interesting to read about bees in this way. When Anthony goes to his cellar, I thought it was going to be a [b: The Silence of the Lambs|23807|The Silence of the Lambs (Hannibal Lecter, #2)|Thomas Harris|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1647930822l/23807._SY75_.jpg|22533] - Buffalo Bill scenario. It was not, but the real scenario is almost just as horrifying.

3. Buried Two Feet Above
Working as a lone coffin maker you decide to take naps in the coffins. What happens when you get locked in one of them, and no one is there to hear your calls? Or...is someone there?

Claustrophobia would set in within minutes, maybe seconds, of me being stuck in a coffin. The fact that Joseph is an introvert and barely has anyone stop by to his shop had my anxiety on high alert the whole time I was reading. This story had me super freaked out, just because I kept picturing myself in his situation!


If you’re looking for a collection of stories to chill your bones and keep you on the edge of your seat, this collection is for you!

Thank you to Salt Heart Press and [a:P.L. McMillan|14159052|P.L. McMillan|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1606412560p2/14159052.jpg] for the ARC!

feathersmcgraw's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

5.0

I loved this collection. Even in the odd story that didn't quite resonate, the imagery was striking throughout.

The Drought of Burnham, The Whale Hunts and Polychromatic Screams (Kickass title) are all standouts. Of the 12 stories, there were only 4 that I'd describe as good rather than great. 

The opener Sanitize doesn't really end so much as stop, the relationship in Planet of the Hungry didn't quite work for me and I wish Gemini Syndrome did a little more with the premise. If you like your physics or Star Trek, you know exactly how it is going to play out.

Will definitely be looking out for more of the author's work in the future.

readundancies's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

Uhm, I’m a little floored by this short story collection. 

Truly, I’ve learned a lot about myself as a reader from it and I have to applaud P.L. McMillan for creating this because apparently I love cosmic horror and short stories to boot, and never knew it until now. 

To start, the Foreword sold this for me. Those first 3 paragraphs? Sold. Sold, sold, sold, sold, sold. 

And the little illustrations that started off each story? They were everything. I adored all of them. 

Now, I’ve actually reviewed each short story as their own individual entities and if you average my rating for all twelve ditties, you get just over 3.5 stars. But I’m bumping my overall rating up to a 4.25 because I think they work cohesively as a unit and together make a strong case for McMillan’s writing. I definitely enjoyed the second half of the stories more than the first, but there was something to like in all of them, even when I didn’t love certain aspects. 

All in all, this was a strong collection of cosmic horror and I will definitely be seeking out this author’s future works because some of these story ideas just got me. 

And so, my notable thoughts on each story are as follows:
 

• Sanitize: 2.5/5 
  • Nothing special. Honestly kind of a weak start for me.
  • The ending was anticlimactic in a bad way.
  • And I’m not sure if it’s because I work in the medical field or what, but this one just wasn’t doing it for me, and I think it’s because anything to do with viruses or pandemic or infection control vibes is too close to work for me to enjoy in any grand capacity.

• That Which The Ocean Gives and Takes Away: 3.75/5 
  • I loved the setting and the different take on the ghost ship trope.
  • It was creepy, but not scary.
  • And it gave new meaning to the Pirates of the Caribbean part-of-the-ship-part-of the-crew chant, which I liked so much.

• The Drought of Burham: 4.25/5 
  • I had a general idea of how the plot of this story was going to go at around the halfway point, but let me tell you, this was still a wild ride. Cannibalism for a cause, indeed.
  • The imagery in this story was gut churning. I was quite off put by it, but that was definitely the goal, so in the end, it ended up delivering and then some.
  • I really liked how the narrative tackled the classic ghost story idea. Solid story.

• Buried Two Foot Above: 2/5 
  • Not gonna lie, this one didn’t do it for me.
  • I did love the opening sentence though.
  • But, the plot went in a direction that I didn’t care for.

• GODMOUTH: 2.75/5 
  • This started off strong, but the end didn’t really have the sense of closure that I wanted from it.
  • Why is it always tentacles?
  • It was strange, but that’s not a compliment and it’s also not a complaint? I think it’s maybe just not my style.

• Crimson Splashed Skin: 2.75/5 
  • Truly, I disliked the main character. Which is a shame because the story at its core has merit. I mean, the cosmic horror lent itself beautifully to the infection of the human race, but even death was too kind for our doomed MC. She was insufferable.
  • I could’ve used more alien spore interactions.
  • The end result reminded me of Fallout 76 and the whole Scorched Plague infestation moment.

• The Whale Hunts: 4.5/5 
  • In a slightly parallel universe, there’s a version of me that rates this story a full 5 stars. Because it’s so close to being masterfully executed. So good. And the glimpse of worldbuilding provided looked so promising.
  • I loved the double entendre of the title and how the story starts and lets the plot unfold and then quickly inverts upon itself. I just wish the ship had been named and that we were made aware of it.
  • This could’ve been a novella with multiple perspectives of each the crew members on the ship and have ended the exact same way and I would’ve ate that shit up because the nautical vibes made my day.

• Buzzkill: 4.5/5 
  • The duality of the title is everything. And the fact that this is about bees is just gravy on top.
  • And my word, was that short. I didn’t love the last sentence as I wanted a bit more of a punch to end things, or even more of a chilling send off. It didn’t feel like the right way to conclude things.
  • And yet, despite the brevity and this being the shortest story of the lot so far, I freaking loved the premise and post-apocalyptic world where bees nest to create honey zombies within humans. I wish it were slightly longer of a short story so I could simmer with it more, but regardless, I think this was one of my favourites of this collection.

• The Space Between: 4.5/5 
  • I loved the way this story was structured as captain logs and journal entries.
  • It wasn’t scary, but it was creepy. And I adored the execution, from the clinical manner of the documentation, to the tipping of physics that created this ripple within the fabric of reality and the subsequent twisting and warping of time; it was brilliant.
  • The creatures reminded me (again) of Fallout, specifically the Mirelurks for some reason, and I was all about the post nuclear annihilation vibes, or in this case, a variation of it set in the future.

• Gemini Syndrome: 3.25/5 
  • I enjoyed the premise of this, but I wasn’t the biggest fan of the execution (mostly because the clone trope doesn’t do it for me as a whole). It was just a little too info-dumpy for a short story and the relationship dynamics between all of the characters just didn’t feel strong at all.
  • The duplication or copy and paste effect from the rather untested method of transportation known as DMT (Dispersed Molecular Travel) was really interesting and I would’ve loved if this was explored more.
  • I kept imagining a scene where we got to see Pru’s father meeting with the genetic copy of her and then hearing the copy’s thoughts and ending on a open-ended but sinister note. This didn’t happen and that guts me a little bit.

• Plant of the Hungry: 3.5/5 
  • I loved the plot. The combo of tech and plants and their symbiotic relationship screwing with the Earth’s ecosystem and turning it solely into a planet of eat or be eaten was stellar.
  • This was the longest story of the bunch which allowed for more worldbuilding which I really enjoyed because I mean, cannibals. You can’t go wrong with cannibals with me apparently.
  • Not sure I needed the romance. It was not out of the blue, and the lust/love angle in relation to the infection of literally everything made sense but I didn’t find it all that compelling in light of the strong worldbuilding that surrounded it.

• Polychromatic Screams: 4.25/5 
  • This title sounds like the name of an album by a punk metal band and I just loved everything about it.
  • I actually wanted the story to go on longer than it did, as I thought there was a lot more story that could’ve been told and expanded upon. It reminded me a bit of Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes and the whole ghost ship trope and I wished it had done more with it.
  • Is this connected to Gemini Syndrome at all? Because the term Vulpes had appeared in both as some sort of tech mega-conglomerate that seemed to be a BIG FUCKING DEAL and let me tell ya something: they were sketchy af.

And yeah, basically I was quite enamoured by this collection and would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone looking to dip their toes into some cosmic horror because there’s something in here for both the casual peruser of the subgenre and the diehard fans as well.

blatdriver's review

5.0

I loved this book! 5 out of 5 stars, and it's going into my Favourites.

The smoothness and flow of the writing is some of the best I've ever came across, so much so it is like watching a movie in my head, the stories are unique and dark, with excellent characters, with a similar feel to 'The Essential Sick Stuff' by Ronald Kelly and Clive Barkers Books of Blood stories.

There is some body horror, cosmic horror, dark science fiction, and a unexpected folklore creature in 'Planet of the Hungry' which I really really want to tell you about, but I don't want to spoil it
If you love cosmic and sci-fi horror, you have to check this out.

aykdanroyd's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

bosermoki's review

dark medium-paced

5.0

I thoroughly enjoyed this collection, filled as it was with cosmic/sci-fi horror.

The writing is clear with good prose that pulls you in. The premises of the various stories are unique and well done. I felt that the tone and pacing of the stories was consistent throughout.

Buzzkill is one of my favorite short stories this year for its creativity and mash up of science fine wrong and horrifying imagery.

Gemini Syndrome stood out for exploring some of the horror from a classic sci-fi mechanism.

The Drought of Burham and Polychromatic screams were also standouts but the entire anthology was excellent. I recommend it to anyone who is a fan of cosmic horror.