Genuine Magic by Silence Leaflin

Genuine Magic, Silence Leaflin. self-published: Lulu.com, 2013. e-book, 99 pps.


Tannor Fitzgerald is a scholar seeking magic in the alternate world that the story is set in. He is so stuck on his research that he has no time for romance.

He happens to be in a bar one day when an altercation takes place. And that changes his life.

sapphoq reviews says: Silence Leaflin has written a novella that truly is Genuine Magic. There is some fighting in this one but no talking animals. A mature teen may understand the story line. No cursing or sex scenes. For those who like fantasy. A gem of a book and highly recommended. 

Hangover by Duane Schlitz

Hangover (caricature of a retarded hack), Duane Schlitz.  Self-published, 1996.  e-book, 88 pps.

http://archive.org/details/Hangover_by_Duane_Schlitz


Yes, it is under a creative commons license and legally free to download!


This 88 page story was a fascinating blend of word salad, puke, farts, and action.  Finding that the hawt chick's boyfriend was violent, the friends did the only thing that they could be realistically expected to do.  Full of blood and other bodily fluids.  Sex and rugs and junk food and beat-up old cars and Denver and the outskirts.  What is there not to love?  Even the random substitution of q for g and g for q added to the atmosphere.

sapphoq reviews says:  Duane Schlitz has written a startling e-book in a distinct style reminiscent of a Martin Millar, Joe Hill, Kurt Vonnegut, and Jeff Jacobson.  Hangover is a unique slice of life that will appeal to readers who celebrate counter-culture.  I adored this book.  And I highly recommend it to adults who can handle it.
Duane Schlitz, please write some more!

God's Gonna Cut You Down by Eduard Joseph

God's Gonna Cut You Down, Eduard Joseph. self-published: 2013.  e-book, 73 pages.  twitter: @TheEduardJoseph


If you haven't discovered Eduard Joseph yet, you really ought to do so.  God's Gonna Cut You Down is a fine showcase of a novella, demonstrating both the writing talent and the imagination of the author.  The novella is the stuff of clownish nightmares.

The main character is a guy in a clown mask.  It quickly becomes apparent that he is a disgruntled ex-employee with a boring life.  Work had been the bright spot of his bane existence and now that was gone.  Saved by a vision in a dream, he reaches for a clown mask.

We all wear masks, it has been said, and often we have several of them laying around to be exchanged at will.  Our masks protect us [usually] from revealing too much to the general public.  We guard our masks, knowing that without them we would become as vulnerable as a deformed baby left on a frigid mountaintop to die.  There is almost an instinct that informs [most of] us that we ought not to tell the racy joke that earned us the laughter of a few friends to the staff during a meeting or to a prudish granny among our relatives.  Our inhibitions change according to our circumstances.

Once in awhile, an individual loses control of the process of selection and the masks in the collection take on a life and savage beauty of their own with often tragic results.  God's Gonna Cut You Down is an example of what happens when a mask becomes all-powerful.

sapphoq reviews:  Eduard Joseph has written an excellent novella.  I loved the description of the characters, the building crescendos to each action, the dialogues interspersed to illustrate something about each character which also served to move the story along.   God's Gonna Cut You Down is both chilling and delicious.  Highly recommended.  

Lawful Interception by Cory Doctorow

Lawful Interception, Cory Doctorow.  New York:  Doherty, Tom Associates, LLC., 2013.  ebook, novella, 121 pps.

Cory Doctorow can be found on Twitter as @doctorow.


Cory Doctorow characterizes Lawful Interception as a Little Brother story on the book cover.  It is that and a bit more.  The setting is San Francisco and Oakland across the bay.  The main characters are Marcus Yarrow and his sidekick Ange.  This is during and after a Seneca earthquake.  Parts of the city are a mess.  FEMA is there-- a bunch of suits with paperwork and desks; as is OccupySeneca-- regular folk with determination to get done what needs to be done without all the red tape.  In Occupy, the people help each other.  The Anons are in evidence also.  A paste dump is made that reveals Oakland's not so humane plans to bulldoze what rubble remains of the project housing units and replace them with units that the rich and affluent would snap up.

The cops are in evidence and trouble is caused.  Kettling is explained to the uninitiated.  Drones fly around and QR codes are put to good use.  And there is a hackerspace, or a Makespace.  It's all glorious and chaotic but a bit scarey too.  Marcus Yarrow has a psychological awakening involving a feeling of helplessness which melds nicely within the circumstances.  A less skillful author would not have gotten away with that little extra tantalizing bit.  Under Doctorow's hands, it serves to remind us that Marcus and Ange are human, just like us. 

sapphoq reviews says: Lawful Interception is a masterful short novella for us nerds.  As in all of Cory Doctorow's fiction, evidence of developing technology being used for nefarious ends are right there.  The future that Doctorow paints is already happening.  Part fiction but also part instruction manual, Doctorow continues to serve up the radical cyber dishes which I fully enjoy.  Highly recommended.