writer critic (writercritic) wrote, @ 2004-01-04 21:29:00

January Issue of Chizine
--at www.chizine.com

“Tohil,” by Edo Mor

This was probably the weakest of the stories in this issue. The prose moves back and forth so quickly that it’s hard to keep up with what’s going on, the author sacrificing clarity for quirkiness.

However, as the story unfolds, the setting shows some fascinating faces swimming in all the sharp style. It’s a character’s quest to find his roots, his father dead and his mother unknown, the character is a Houdini of sorts, we get hints of a disappearing act he performs, drifting off into some kind of perpetual nothing until he decides to come back at his will.

We eventually learn more about the mother, although the confusion never really dissipates completely, and the ending leaves the reader with a sense of “What just happened?” with a somewhat overused closing paragraph in which the character commits suicide to rejoin a loved one.

***

“Sloe-Eyed Jacks and Homicide Kings,” by Jay Lake.

As the title suggests, this story is a kind of personification of playing cards, although I was under the impression that they were called Suicide Kings, but perhaps the fault is in my own ignorance and not Mr. Lake’s.

Playing cards are common objects in westerns, so it’s only natural that this story is a kind of western of its own, moving over a clichéd plot of bad-guy-moves-into-town-and-good-guy-fights-in-face-off. There is some rich imagery here along with strong word choice, yet at the same time there’s nothing in here that makes it stand out above some of Jay Lake’s other fiction.

***

“Memory Analog,” by Tim Akers

A science fiction piece swimming along with the other horror stories, but there’s no doubt it contains *dark* aspects. It takes one of the constantly used ideas from Gibson’s “Johnny Mnemonic” of memory upload capabilities, in which the story can continually play with memories and give them more substance.

A father is looking for his son, trading and buying memories in an attempt to put puzzle pieces together, finding his way through a cyberpunk-type world filled with all the usual Goth-type setting.

This is one of those stories that, while being well-written, won’t stay in the reader’s memory for long.

***

“Ice on Heated Steel Script,” by Tom Piccirilli

A cool, twisted love story between a Komodo Dragon and our main character, bringing us into the story with our character standing below a burning building and a woman clutching onto her “baby” while the flames reach up around her.

Inevitably, she lets the wrapped blanket fall while she burns to death and the main character catches it to find his hideous love wrapped within, bringing his head down to kiss it.

An enjoyable and short read.

***

“A Twine of Auburn,” by Eric Pape

Easily the best piece in this issue, this is one of those horror stories in which the character becomes so consumed in his grief that it begins to manifest inside himself and grow out of him.

Like “Memory Analog,” it plays with memories and brings out the most remembered aspect of the character’s dead wife, her hair, and creates a conflict out of it, the hair a left-behind thing that continually brings his grief to the forefront and eats him alive, until he is empty and hollow and without substance.

The piece is touching and bittersweet.

	(Anonymous) 2004-01-08 19:19 (link)
	YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE MEAN TO PEOPLE YOU DON'T KNOW!! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT PEOPLE ARE GOING THROUGH IN THEIR LIFE. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	writercritic 2004-01-09 19:29 (link)
	No right according to who? I don't know what's going on in her life? Exactly! So why the hell is she commenting in my journal? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)