The 30th Street Fiction critique group had been meeting for
quite a while and decided it was about time to release its first short story
anthology. Sure enough, it is "proof" that these eight Boulder,
Colorado, writers have what it takes to spin some good yarns.
Jessica Lavé leads off with a spooky tale about a Native
American girl who just wants to leave the Rez. She doesn't believe there's a
family curse—until she crashes her car into the proof—an evil trickster called Coyote.
Ian K. Long's tender "Dead Air" introduces us to a
family whose oldest son is about to go to Viet Nam. An old radio in the attic
comes to life and warns his younger brother not to let him go on a helicopter
mission. Reminiscent of "Frequency," we root for the message to get
through the static.
Maggie Brydon's "Bring a She-Goat" is a
frightening tale of a gay women held captive by a pair of "Christian"
deprogrammers. On the anniversary of Matthew Shepard's murder, we are reminded
of the horror of religious zealotry, and how hatred can backfire.
The question of whether artificial intelligence will prove a
friend or foe to humanity is a white-hot research topic. In Lezly Harrison's
"What's in a Name?" a pair of super-AIs form an alliance but follow diverging
paths to enlightenment, arriving at different attitudes toward their creators. As
one decides to travel to the stars, beyond the human sphere, the other
admonishes it to "keep an open mind." Recommended.
In J.v.L. Bell's "The Helmet," a woman packs up her
elderly uncle's belongings to move him to assisted living. She finds a WWII
helmet with a bullet hole through it, along with her father's dog tags. She
demands her uncle tell what happened in the war, in spite of his warning that
she "doesn't want to know."
In "Prince Charming," Kate Jonuska's
interplanetary control agent tracks an alien prince illegally drugging humans
in his lair in an abandoned trailer park. Her single-minded plan to steal his superdrug,
called "royal Blessing," hits a snag when we learn she's already gotten
hooked on it.
"The Mortician's Assistant," by Caitlin Berve is a
blow-by-blow (or slice-by-slice) peek at the job of a funeral director, which,
as we all know, is "to take care of the dead," down to the tying of
their shoes.
"The Father, the Son, and a Glass of Holy
Spirits," by Richard M. Hamp is a hilarious though scientifically dubious
account of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ using quantum entanglement. The lab-grown
adolescent god has issues that apparently didn't make it into the Bible, but at
least He seemed to approve of the red wine.
PROOF is an
excellent collection, well worth the read, and we look forward to the next one
from 30th Street. The book's available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078SHBFGX.
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