Reviewed by Jaimie Bell
This slim volume contains eight short stories by Ron Sanders and comprises various genres including anti-correct political satire, psychological horror, and dark humor. Here is a brief summary of the plots.Savage Glen: A penniless panhandling drifter is minding his own business but is pulled into a drama involving a frightened prostitute. He meets her hobo clan and finds out how insignificant the life and dignity of a drifter is.
Why I Love Democracy: An ultra-conservative’s nightmare of the future.
Piety: A religious and angry kook is the head of a small clan in Piety, West Virginia and decides who is worthy of life and who is an abomination, with terrifying results.
Lovers: An unbalanced mother does her best to take care of a more deeply disturbed daughter. When a new man enters her life she finds out how much like her ex-husband he is.
Thelma: A mentally challenged disabled old woman is taken care of by a cruel young man who only wants the monthly checks. In a stray kitten she finds someone to live…and die for. This was my favorite story. The disparity of Gary’s viciousness and the helpless old woman’s sacrifice held a poignancy that was very disturbing and stayed with me for quite a while.
Shade: A boy discovers early in his life he is being watched by someone and insists they are hiding in the shadows. Is it real or just his imagination?
Justman: A darkly humorous story featuring mild mannered Richard Percival Dukhedd (known as Dickie Dickhead) who is tired of being tormented by a bunch of Neanderthal men. When finally pushed to the limit Dukhedd goes on a bloody rampage and ends up meeting a dying superhero called “Justman” who passes the torch of the timorous on to him.
The Gloaming: A man awakens from a drunken stupor to find his house a shambles just moments before a zombie like creature jumps in the window to attack him. After making a lucky escape he realizes they are destroying and killing everything and when he finds a sleeping woman in his car, decides to make a run for it with her.
Though all were pretty twisted the best stories were the types where Ron Sanders brings real mental instabilities and evils of people to life. Despite the genre assortment, the cruel strong bullying the vulnerable and helpless weak was a theme that ran through many stories and gave the book an appropriate cohesion. Social problems and unrest are presented in both in the now and futuristic forms and given considerable weight and attention.
Ron Sanders has also written Microcosmia, Freak,
Carnival, Moth in the Fist, Hero, and Signature.
Author Web Site
Review: Microcosmia
Review: Freak
Review: Legerdemania
Review; Have Pen, Will Marvel