Scan barcode
richardleis's review
4.0
Lots of great poems, flash fiction, slightly longer short stories, essays, and art, with a theme of miscommunication. The poems really come alive after a second and third reading. I was especially struck by the ghosts and pleas in "Resonance" by Linda Neurer and the arguing characters in "A Scavenger of Words" by J. J. Steinfeld. The cover art by Devin Francisco is terrifying and I'm also a fan of the shadow-and-shape compositions in the interior by Alexandra Soman. The nonfiction essays are thought-provoking. The first suggests English is not the language for saving the planet, and the second one seems to be a fictional alien edict after a what-if humans reproduced and died like insects thought experiment. Yikes.
Some of my favorites fiction stories:
"Welcome to Earth" by Jennifer Moore is only a four short paragraphs long, and chilling.
"Lonely Red World Serenade" by Armel Dagorn finds an explorer of Mars alone with a robot that's malfunctioning, or has really strong feelings all of a sudden...
I really enjoyed the setting, world building (in such a short space!) and mood of "The Way Up, The Way Down" by Dennis Mombauer.
The same for "Speaking Without Tongues" by Diana Estigarribia, a longer story.
"Ground Truthing" by Holly Schofield was a sweet story about scientific jargon and relationships that brought tears to my eyes at the end.
"Night of the Lurking Moon" by Alexis Henderson felt fairy-tale-like but reveals cruel truths and heartbreaking heroism.
"How the Dun-In Man Got His Name" by Stephen Scott Whitaker hits the ground (the water?) running and the action doesn't let up through the cliffhanger ending and promise to be continued.
Some of my favorites fiction stories:
"Welcome to Earth" by Jennifer Moore is only a four short paragraphs long, and chilling.
"Lonely Red World Serenade" by Armel Dagorn finds an explorer of Mars alone with a robot that's malfunctioning, or has really strong feelings all of a sudden...
I really enjoyed the setting, world building (in such a short space!) and mood of "The Way Up, The Way Down" by Dennis Mombauer.
The same for "Speaking Without Tongues" by Diana Estigarribia, a longer story.
"Ground Truthing" by Holly Schofield was a sweet story about scientific jargon and relationships that brought tears to my eyes at the end.
"Night of the Lurking Moon" by Alexis Henderson felt fairy-tale-like but reveals cruel truths and heartbreaking heroism.
"How the Dun-In Man Got His Name" by Stephen Scott Whitaker hits the ground (the water?) running and the action doesn't let up through the cliffhanger ending and promise to be continued.
More...