A Passport To A Nation of Talking Slugs

A Passport To A Nation of Talking Slugs by Andrew Kozma
Published by Kozmatic Press
Ebook
Published 12 August 2016
33 pages
Review copy

Connect with the author Buy the book: UK (affiliate's link) I was given a review copy by the author and voluntarily reviewed it. WHAT'S IT'S ABOUT

A Passport to a Nation of Talking Slugs is a collection of weird, speculative fiction containing four stories of people exploring strange places and situations, from a newly-discovered civilization of six-foot-tall talking slugs to being haunted by a man in a dark chocolate suit. Whether waking up in a prison camp or navigating a city full of copies of themselves, the characters in these stories are bent on understanding their world, even if that understanding also means the end of the world they thought they knew.

OPENING

The men of Kriegsgefangen-Mannschafts-Stammlager76 had been imprisoned for months, perhaps years. They had never seen their captors and they had no calendars. They had no watches. Oh, they had plenty of other things, but timepieces, no. It drove Hansel the watch-maker's son mad, this lack of time. The rest of the prisoners, it drove them numb. (STAMMLAGER 76)

WHAT I THOUGHT

I really enjoyed this little collection of stories. I was impressed by the surreal, almost dream-like atmosphere created in Stammlager 76. The story left me with more questions than answers but I had a good time reading it. The Man in the Dark Chocolate Suit was also surreal and quite unsettling and intense. I loved the sense of foreboding created. We of the Future are the Ghosts of the Past is also effective and my favourite in the collection. This story is also surreal and a little bit creepy. I thought it was great. I enjoyed the title story but found it the weakest in the collection. It is enjoyable but just not as strong as the other stories. Maybe there's something about slugs that unnerve me? Anyway, this is a good collection of stories. I'd recommend it.

Published