The
ten stories in this consistently engaging anthology take readers through a
broad range of mood and emotion, from the sardonic to the heartbreaking, the breezily
tongue-in-cheek to bullet-in-the-brain pan serious. Each and every one of them
is finely-crafted, thoughtfully conceived, and damn sexy to boot! An
embarrassment of riches, to be sure, yet no less a lambent example of something
all too rare in our present throwaway age of planned literary obsolescence; an
anthology that prioritizes quality over quantity: This is a credit to editor
Janine Ashbless, whose introductory notes before each story lend a sense of
unity to what could have been a rather rambunctious undertaking.
Every
story, every writer, merits mention here. In In Pursuit of the Millennium, author
S. Nano evokes the horror and the hope of a young maiden living through a hell
on earth during the religious wars of the seventeenth century; when the horny “messiah”
of the besieged city takes the young virgin under his wing, disillusionment and
despair are sure to follow.
Elizabeth
Coldwell’s Addicted to Disaster finds the self-absorbed participants in
a reality TV show coming to grips (or not) with the end of civilization, which,
contrary to popular belief, will not be televised.
In
First Contact, Raven Sky portrays the clash of cultures, ancient and
modern, where would-be lovers must learn to understand each other. Set in a
remote wilderness far from the madness of the imploding cities, this story,
related alternately by its two characters, delves their paranoia, mistrust, and
cultural bias with writing at once stylish and enlightening.
In
Ring of Fire, Sommer Marsden evokes a vivid, gritty post-apocalyptic
atmosphere with a palpable sense of weariness and worry, the oppressive weight
of responsibility versus erotic instinct too-long repressed when two guards in
an isolated outpost keep watch against the coming zombie hordes even as they
explore their deepest desires.
Virtual Insanity by Carla Thereon finds a lonely, over-stressed
soldier seeking refuge in her most brutal virtual fantasies, while in Hollywood
by Jones, two lovers anticipate the end of their idyll as the flames of
apocalypse close in on their dream home.
The
zombie apocalypse gets its due in two very different tales: In Gregory L.
Norris’s Mourning Doves in Limbo a man devastated by the loss of his
lover looks back on their relationship and tries to see a way forward without
him. In Better Than Therapy, Nicole Wolfe looks at similar tragedy
through a humorous lens, with delightfully satirical musings on adultery and all
the things we take for granted in modern society (like laws against murder and
free coffee at the local bank branch).
Ashbless
contributes a tale of her own: The Basque of the Red Death is a cleverly
twisty-turny re-imagining of Edgar Alan Poe’s story of spoiled medieval nobles
trying to hide from a ravaging plague by whiling away their hours in a secluded
monastery—until self-absorption, debauchery, and hubris catches up with them in
that dreaded black room with the crimson drapes…
Finally,
Quiet Ranger’s Checkout Girl finds two strangers
sheltering
from a world in which plants have gone rogue against humanity, waiting out the
plague in the ruins of a supermarket. Soulmates find each other amidst
adversity, but what hope is there for love when doomsday looms so near? Tragic,
heart-wrenching, not to be missed.
Lust in the Dust is enthusiastically recommended!
