Title: Phantasma: Stories Authors: Anne Charnock, Jason Kirk, Kate Maruyama, Jodi McIsaac, Roberta Trahan, and J.D. Horn Release: September 22nd, 2015 Where: Kindle An eclectic collection of speculative short stories by Anne Charnock (2013 Philip K. Dick Award finalist), Jodi McIsaac (“A Cure for Madness,” the Thin Veil series), Kate Maruyama (“Harrowgate”), Roberta Trahan (The Dream Stewards epic fantasy series), J.D. Horn ("Shivaree," the Witching Savannah series), and award-winning poet Jason Kirk.
Stories include:
“Undercurrents” – A young woman discovers her migraines are a symptom of something more sinister than what a good lie-down in a dark room can cure.
“Pro Patria Mori” – An Irish soldier encounters fairies who offer magical aid, but will that magic help save those he holds dearest?
“Akiko” – A curse laid in Japan finds its mark in the City of Angels.
“The Adoption” – In a new age of sexual equality and reproductive freedom, bio-engineered foetuses are gestated in artificial wombs. But what becomes of tomorrow’s orphans?
“Pitch” – A goat-faced boy sets out with a rifle to kill his father, the Devil, in 1950s rural Georgia.
“The Guardian from the Sea” – A wheelchair-bound mermaid finds love in an adult-video store, and barely escapes to regret it.
My Review of Phantasma
** I received a free copy of this anthology in exchange for a fair and honest review** Let's get honest here. I'm not a huge science-fiction reader. I read a lot of dystopia or post-apocalyptic fiction. There are a lot of science-fiction elements in those, but when I was in high school, I was a voracious consumer of anything with the Star Wars title on it. As I got older, my tastes evolved a little, and I found myself drawn to vampire lore, and then time travel, and then anything based on Grimm's Fairytales or Alice and Wonderland (The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor were AMAZING!). And now here I am, starting over again. The great thing about reading is that you can bounce from one thing to the next. With Phantasma, I found myself intrigued by the short stories. Some of them were creepy as all heck - especially Pitch. A goat-faced boy hunting the Devil? This is where I, in true Valley Girl fashion, utters the words, "I CAN'T EVEN." I enjoyed the collection, and it was very kind for Roberta Trahan to offer me a free copy of the novel in exchange for a review. Her story is the first in the novel, and I swear I was holding my forehead because the main character's pain felt like my own. Good job! I definitely recommend checking it out. It's available for just a couple of bucks on Kindle!