Jill Mcdole looks at Stories for the End of the World a compilation of post-apocalyptic novellas and short stories.
Author: Eric Shapiro
Publisher: Permuted Press
Price: £10.95
Availability: Out Now
Author Eric Shapiro’s Stories for the End of the World features three novellas and seven short stories. Each tale is spectacularly original and ‘yummilly’ macabre in theme. Permuted Press has a gift for finding original talent in fiction writers and Shapiro fits right into the group.
Each of the novellas, Days of Allison, It’s Only Temporary, and Strawberry Man have a distinctive apocalyptic theme, but the stories are vastly different. In the first novella, a lonely man contends with a dangerous “companion” robot. The second one introduces the reader to a young man who tries to decide with whom to spend his last few hours on earth. Finally, Strawberry Man involves a man who was ruthless in his professional life and must find a way to deal with the guilt of his past.
The septuplicate of short stories in the novel vary greatly; my personal favourites in the short stories are the first and last ones. Matchmaker explains the dangers when opposite delusions attempt to co-exist. 3:21 takes obsessive-compulsive mania to the workplace.
Kudos to Permuted Press for continuing to feature original authors in the post-apocalyptic genre.
9/10
Jill McDole
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