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A review by badseedgirl
Black Friday by Alexander C. Irvine
3.0
Welcome to Day 8 of my 2021 25 Days of Short Stories Christmas Advent Calendar. Each day I will be reading a short story from the collection of over 600 short stories and novellas available for free on Tor.com. This is a collection of horror, sci-fi and fantasy. I will be letting fate (and the random number generator) decide what I read each day.
Day 1: [b:The Art of Space Travel|30532462|The Art of Space Travel|Nina Allan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1558040356l/30532462._SY75_.jpg|50826910] by Nina Allan
Day 2: [b:These Deathless Bones|35506557|These Deathless Bones|Cassandra Khaw|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1498282454l/35506557._SY75_.jpg|56914935] by Cassandra Khaw
Day 3: [b:Swift, Brutal Retaliation|13169837|Swift, Brutal Retaliation|Meghan McCarron|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1541922428l/13169837._SY75_.jpg|18349137] by Meghan McCarron> (Trigger warning: Emotional abuse of children and women)
Day 4: [b:Freeze Warning|18489609|Freeze Warning|Susan Krinard|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1379900239l/18489609._SX50_.jpg|26172761] by Susan Krinard
Day 5: [b:Daughter of Necessity|23301706|Daughter of Necessity|Marie Brennan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1412347876l/23301706._SX50_.jpg|42376194] by Marie Brennan
Day 6: [b:The Girl in the High Tower|23257790|The Girl in the High Tower|Gennifer Albin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1411351413l/23257790._SX50_.jpg|42798995] by Genniger Albin
Day 7: [b:Come See the Living Dryad|37856081|Come See the Living Dryad|Theodora Goss|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1558645604l/37856081._SY75_.jpg|55361917] by Theadora Goss
Day 8: Black Friday by Alex Irvine
In the spirit of complete honesty, my original Random Number pulled “Everything Belongs to the Future” by Laurie Penny, but this turned out to be just an excerpt, and not a complete story, so I took the opportunity to use “dealer’s choice.” I chose Black Friday by Alex Irvine because I wanted to sprinkle some holiday reads into this list. I plan on doing this throughout the challenge. If the story is one I have read or turns out to be a excerpt/poetry, or not in Goodreads for some other reason. I will be using Dealers Choice.
I AM one of those Americans. I admit it. I Black Friday Christmas shop every year. I used to do it because when money was tight, I had to if I wanted to provide the Christmas my family deserved. Now I do it because I have a wonderful time doing it. I have always compared my black Friday shopping trips to big game hunting. I experience the same pleasure when I see those one thousand thread count sheets for $15.00 in my cart, as big game hunters feel when they just shot that 12 point buck. Mr. Irvine took that feeling of mine and ramped up to an extreme conclusion.
For the record, I have been black Friday shopping for over 20 years, and in that time I have only seen one fight break out, and that was over the cheapest towels I have ever seen. Compare that to the literally hundreds of little acts of kindness I have seen during my Black Friday events and I believe Mr. Irvine just might have the wrong idea on this.
This story is of course a satire and needs to be read as such.
You can read Black Friday here.
Day 1: [b:The Art of Space Travel|30532462|The Art of Space Travel|Nina Allan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1558040356l/30532462._SY75_.jpg|50826910] by Nina Allan
Day 2: [b:These Deathless Bones|35506557|These Deathless Bones|Cassandra Khaw|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1498282454l/35506557._SY75_.jpg|56914935] by Cassandra Khaw
Day 3: [b:Swift, Brutal Retaliation|13169837|Swift, Brutal Retaliation|Meghan McCarron|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1541922428l/13169837._SY75_.jpg|18349137] by Meghan McCarron> (Trigger warning: Emotional abuse of children and women)
Day 4: [b:Freeze Warning|18489609|Freeze Warning|Susan Krinard|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1379900239l/18489609._SX50_.jpg|26172761] by Susan Krinard
Day 5: [b:Daughter of Necessity|23301706|Daughter of Necessity|Marie Brennan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1412347876l/23301706._SX50_.jpg|42376194] by Marie Brennan
Day 6: [b:The Girl in the High Tower|23257790|The Girl in the High Tower|Gennifer Albin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1411351413l/23257790._SX50_.jpg|42798995] by Genniger Albin
Day 7: [b:Come See the Living Dryad|37856081|Come See the Living Dryad|Theodora Goss|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1558645604l/37856081._SY75_.jpg|55361917] by Theadora Goss
Day 8: Black Friday by Alex Irvine
In the spirit of complete honesty, my original Random Number pulled “Everything Belongs to the Future” by Laurie Penny, but this turned out to be just an excerpt, and not a complete story, so I took the opportunity to use “dealer’s choice.” I chose Black Friday by Alex Irvine because I wanted to sprinkle some holiday reads into this list. I plan on doing this throughout the challenge. If the story is one I have read or turns out to be a excerpt/poetry, or not in Goodreads for some other reason. I will be using Dealers Choice.
I AM one of those Americans. I admit it. I Black Friday Christmas shop every year. I used to do it because when money was tight, I had to if I wanted to provide the Christmas my family deserved. Now I do it because I have a wonderful time doing it. I have always compared my black Friday shopping trips to big game hunting. I experience the same pleasure when I see those one thousand thread count sheets for $15.00 in my cart, as big game hunters feel when they just shot that 12 point buck. Mr. Irvine took that feeling of mine and ramped up to an extreme conclusion.
For the record, I have been black Friday shopping for over 20 years, and in that time I have only seen one fight break out, and that was over the cheapest towels I have ever seen. Compare that to the literally hundreds of little acts of kindness I have seen during my Black Friday events and I believe Mr. Irvine just might have the wrong idea on this.
This story is of course a satire and needs to be read as such.
You can read Black Friday here.