What's making me happy today, Bigtime:
I'm happy that Third Flatiron has introduced its Spring 2018 anthology, Monstrosities,
a new collection of science fiction, dark fantasy, horror, and humor, in which
twenty international authors ventilate about their favorite
"monstrosities"—things that are just too big or dreadfully obnoxious.
A big deal. In our
lead story, a young lady named Malayaga wants to sell her motel. In "Chicken
Monster Motel" by Keyan Bowes, the couple who purchase it get much more
than they bargained for.
Big splashes. The greatly
missed multi-Nebula Award winning Edward Bryant was the author of over a
hundred short stories, and we are delighted to reprint "Winslow
Crater," which truly packs a punch. In James Dorr's hilarious "Got
Them Wash Day Blues, "an explosion of stinky laundry proves to be a big
problem, unless you're lucky enough to have a cold.
Mass
extinctions. If a soul weighs three-quarters of an ounce, counting everyone
who ever lived, that's "Five Billion Pounds of Soul," according to Larry
Hodges, whose red-suited Devil carries a rather heavy burden one snowy
Christmas eve.
Too big for their
britches. A shyster learns he has to deliver on his promises to the cult in
Carl R. Jennings's "Sacrifice Needed, Alcohol Provided." A dying
monarch gives the lie to the old "heavy lies the head" saying, in
Liam Hogan's "This Tyrant Crown." A new hashtag finds its way into
one of our stories, "#Notalltigers" by Mark Pantoja, which isn't
entirely successful at dispelling a stereotype.
Drop the big one? As
the "ultimate weapon" ups its game over the eons, Ray Daley's "The
Doomsday Machine Retires," deciding to draw the final curtain.
Cosmic drama. Beware
that hit TV series you can't take your eyes off. "Alien TV Shows Are Bad
for Your Eyes" says Brian Trent.
Shop til you drop.
In Salinda Tyson's "The Great Mall," it's your duty to keep the
economy growing, even if you never get to keep your swag.
All one big joke. A
prank among killbot jockeys forms the mystery in Jennifer R. Povey's "Skywalker."
Oh the humanity. We
are partial to stories that ask big ethical and anthropological questions.
Ville Meriläinen ponders whether uplift of other species is a supreme goal. A
swine foments a revolution in order to return to the good old days, in his
parable, "Eaten." Sita C. Romero's tale from Mexican mythology,
"Into Xibalba," considers a philosophical "trolley problem"—the
sacrifice of one to save many. To become a goddess to all mothers, a woman must
die in childbirth.
Breakthrough project.
In Martin M. Clark's "The Emerald Mirage," Professor Prinz inspires
another temporal quantum leap, but is reliving the past to revive an old love
affair really a good use of mega-resources?
Of course, monstrosities can just be flat-out monsters. In Sharon
Diane King's tasty "TidBits," a pair of carnivorous but feckless young
Dreadfuls get lost in the woods and are tempted by a delicious house.
Big magic. We're inordinately
fond of oddball "artifacts," such as found in series like "The
Librarians," and "The Magicians," so we conclude with Julia
August's adventure, "The Catacombs of Constitutional History," in
which an ambitious grad student stops at nothing to find something new that
will cement her career.
For our flash humor (Grins & Gurgles) section, we have
Robert Bagnall's "New Shoes," whose grandkids marvel at how people used
to shop. Barry Charman shows that a little "Kismet" is essential if
you want to keep doing the same job for eternity. And finally, we close with
two tiny tales, both involving cockroaches, yet utterly different from each
other: "They Saw Me Coming" by Russell Hemmell, and "Bigger and
Better Things" by Joseph Sidari.
It's no exaggeration to say we hope you'll enjoy these fanciful tales, artfully designed
to expose humongous blunders and put them to rest. Sweet dreams.
Monstrosities is available in ebook and paperback from Amazon (free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers).
