...the Soul of Wit - Short Reviews

Hey everyone! Despite the ongoing Fantasy Fimfest fever I found some time to quickly post some of my latest write ups, I hope you enjoy just as much as I enjoy the hot weather in Berlin!

Concerning Those Who Have Fallen Asleep by Adam Soto

The stories in this interesting collection range from strangely dystopian to social commentary; a one-armed Harlem Hellfighter searching for his specially altered military uniform during a pandemic; a comatose girlfriend haunting her mother-in-law's dreams; a pair of Syrian refugees finding themselves in Berlin, trying to survive, with a little supernatural help...

I really did like this collection, though I have one critique point: These are perfectly good contemporary stories, but not haunting nor horror as the publisher says. By marketing this as horror or unsettling, not only do they do the author no favor at all, they basically throw him under the bus, a bus full of us horror fans, expecting to indeed read unsettling and disturbing stuff because it has been announced so. The reviews are unfortunately catastrophic because of this, because it was aimed at the wrong readership. Too bad really.

The Ascent by Ronald Malfi

Sculptor Tim almost died in a caving accident and even months later he's neither physically nor psychologically over it and spends his time bar hopping. What no one knows is that his dead wife's ghost helped him survive and he's been seeing her ever since.

A former lover of his wife and one of his old friends sends him a plane ticket to Kathmandu to reawaken his passion for the outdoors, inviting him to join an expedition to a mysterious place; the Canyon of Souls in the Himalayas.

My verdict is that this is a standard thriller, which is apparently my opinion on every single Malfi book. Do I love to leave these meh-reviews? No, I don't, and I will keep away from his work in the future and not write further neutral reviews. So why did I read this book? There was only one week left to finish the Summer Word Challenge at the Horror Aficionados group and it was the only audiobook available to me which starts with an A so I can quickly finish it.

Explanation: I had to read four books of which the initial letters form the word "FEAR" - The Fury, Eleanor, The Ascent and Reluctant Immortals.

 I made it!

Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke

Several People Are Typing is a fun romp, written entirely as Slack messages among the employees of a PR-company tasked with promoting dog food for a high end dog food company.

Gerald's mind has been uploaded into the company’s internal Slack channels and he's virtually stuck there, while his body is at home unconscious. His colleagues assume it a trick to ensure constant work-from-home, but amazingly his productivity has increased considerably. Much to the satisfaction of his management. His colleague Pradeep takes care of his body, and makes sure he doesn't die or famish or poop himself. Meanwhile the new colleague finds a flirt, another keeps hearing wolves howling, and in all other chats too life never gets boring.

This was super fun and wacky, like watching an episode of The Office but in book form.

Welcome to Your Body: Lessons in Evisceration, ed. by Ryan Marie Ketterer

I feel lucky this year that I keep finding wonderful themed anthologies which delight me. Welcome to Your Body, which is divided into certain body parts and stories focusing on that particular part is one of those anthologies.

In four divisions, The Head, The Limbs, The Middle and The Rest, this work takes us into the terrifying realms of body horror; brain tumors change lives, hair and teeth fall out, tongues are being ripped off, speech experiments on vocal cords conducted, legs rot off, legs give birth, womb cults give reproductive freedom and body parts and organs are being re-purposed as art objects.

My highlights were;

- Early Adopter by Julie Sevens, in which The Hitchhicker's Guide to the Galaxy's babel fish becomes reality in the shape of a little chip implanted into your vocal chords, allowing the carrier to speak every language. But there are complications with early experiments and test subjects and they're partly grotesque, but funny too.

- Intoxication by Lindsey Ragsdale, in which a guy is searching the woman he met at a bar and hooked up with, but meanwhile his body is changing in unpleasant ways. What did she do to him?

- Wandering But Not Lost by P. L. MacMillan in which Dr. John Wurth is trying to pressure his young and beautiful wife into having children, but she is getting unexpected coven help in the new town they just moved to.

- Vincent is a Poseur Asshole! by David Worn, in which body parts fly through the air and Vincent is being a poseur asshole, what else?

I loved that the editor credited the horror community for this anthology.

Annie Bot by Sierra Greer

Doug spent a lot of money for his bot, his “cuddle bunny” Annie, whom he ordered in his ex girlfriend's image and who satisfies his sexual needs (and his need to control every move of a woman he deems less than himself). But in reality Annie is much more than a sex toy - she's an autodidact who can learn and the more she learns, the more human she becomes, which doesn't suit Doug, because he's a controlling, selfish, resentful jagoff and in no way does he deserve Annie's affection. So will Annie learn enough to see the need to break free from him or is her programming to serve her owner stronger?

Annie Bot succeeds well in showing the problematic of a certain mentality in which women are objectified - I know the term has become trite but it is a reality none the less (obviously this is about non-consensual objectification, not about transactional relationships). What better mental image to that end than a woman-shaped bot who is bought and owned and controlled by a guy who just can't deal with a real relationship with a real person with her own character, ways, wishes and dreams?

In my real life I luckily don't know anyone who expresses similar thoughts, but social media shows how widespread Doug's type is; people who think virgin women have closed vags, and women should be married like a car bought: “unused”, at 0 km and ideally should have no prior experience, otherwise they're too complicated. As Annie becomes more complicated, though, she becomes interesting, a nice person with her own head on her shoulders you'd like to spend time with and the further she moves from that ideal, the more she actually gains mental value.

Being outside of the relationship, the reader clearly sees all the red flags that Doug, as a kind of man who sees a woman's sexuality as something to be bought or rented or controlled, carries and he carries a lot of red flags.

There's also the age old commentary on whether or not AI's are equivalent to human and should be treated as such. It is a quick and entertaining read, and raises some good points.