Take this for what you will considering it has no bearing on the stories contained inside what so ever but I hate, hate, hate redneck/trailer and or white trash chic. So I really don’t like the cover of the new issue. Like I said, it has no bearing on the stories but I just thought it was worth mentioning.
Plots With Guns #5 cover
Mikey’s Old Man by Mark Raymond Falk – If you aren’t going to use a characters name and are going to use nicknames instead then calling a character one thing and then switching it up occasionally is confusing in a short story and plagued this one; is he ‘Mikey’s old man’ or ‘long hair’?
There were some really great moments, especially turns of phrases that really stuck (“Mikey’s old man spent the first twenty minutes in the holding cell trying to rub the ink off his fingers. He felt heat in the tips, but the stain stayed, one more simple tattoo.”) but over all it was a bit confusing and could have been tightened up some.
If one of the goals of the story, especially the first half or so, was to set up a reckoning between the two men and then subvert the expectations at the end, then it was successful in part. The kind of subversion of expectations worked but the set-up lacked that sense of inevitability and undermined the switch up.
Three out of five stars
Crazy Larry Smells Bacon by Greg Bardsley – This one left me confounded and scratching my head all around, and not in a good way. I really don’t see the point.
Two out of five stars
M-S-N (n) Murder, Suicide, Necrophillia by Anonymous-9 – The central conceit is a division of Hell that runs off of the conventions of a police story. Trust me when I say a summary doesn’t do it justice. From the name of the division to the paperwork necessary to fill out to get a tap on a person’s mind this is an insanely inventive and one hell of a well told story.
The winner of the issue by far and away. There is a novels worth of ideas here and I wish there was one so I could go and buy it now.
Anonymous-9 is one hell of a drug.
Five out of five stars
Beautiful Even in Death by Frank Bill – There was nothing wrong with but there was nothing to make it stand out. A simple story, simply told. I do think it went on a little long, could have been a little tighter. There were a couple of great moments. I do think that the story should have ended with the character that it started with, Bishop. It really should have danced with the one that started it. To only mention him in passing and end with Fenton was an unnecessary swerve and the lessened impact was noticeable.
Three out of five stars
Avenging Angel by Jason Hunt – I look at a story like this and I can’t see past the fact that it is a vigilante, wish fulfillment tale that could have stood a few more Grey tones and nuance. The “bad” didn’t have enough to hang on him to convince me he was “bad”; the case didn’t have enough meat on it’s bones for me to get on the side of the protag and the revenge he was exacting. It was a set up handed to me in good faith; with a knowing wink that wanted to say trust me but came away feeling more muddled then probably intended.
Three out of five stars
Clinical Trial by Keith Rawson – Right here, right now in the new millennium I’m tired of reading about emotionally retarded men and the insipid plots that they inspire. The core idea MAY be interesting enough to warrant exploration but Rawson is standing on the pier with this one.
I can at least understand the wish fulfillment fantasy of a story like Avenging Angel but where does the desire to kill the wife, mistress and children come from.
I did like the comparison of the life in a laboratory to that of a monastery and the Gitmo section reminded me of 28 days and has a current events relevance to it.
There was one error that never should have made it to the finished product and should have been caught and corrected in the editorial process (emphasis mine): “She liked me enough to dilute herself into believing that I would leave my wife of fifteen years to go and play house with her, like that would ever happen.”
There were continuity problems or at the vary least continuity confusion. At the point when the rush to the finish was in sight the shifts in time lines became muddled and unnecessarily confusing.
The thematic underpinnings of this story were atrocious and I almost regret reading it. The characterizations were thinly drawn and the motivations were weak. The worst story of the issue. Emotional impotency is the engine that drives this story.
One out of five stars
An Orphan’s Tale by Jonathan Woods – Hey look at that another female character in a car trunk. Didn’t Nabakov write this story already and much better to boot. Neither of the characters were likable or more importantly interesting.
“He didn’t show me the gun or knife or razor hidden in his pocket.” — then how did you know it was there?
Two out of five stars
Skin Deep by Neil Richter – It’s like The Phantom of the Opera/Elephant Man/Rocky Dennis as a hitter. Somewhere at the mid point I realized that I didn’t care about the characters (especially the main character) and there really isn’t a plot to hang my hat on so I’m not too sure why I should care at this point or continue reading
After the gas station debacle the story gets a little confusing, it almost becomes an entirely different story. The epiphany section doesn’t work or fit in with the other parts of the story. What I take away from this story is that it is all over the map in the second section which indicates to me a slight lack of focus and the need for some tightening.
2 1/2 out of five stars
