Thursday 15 May 2008

A Triumvirate of Desolation


So I typed in Desolate Places to find a link to the anthology and found this Photographer's website with lots of cool photos; and then stumbled across this. There could be some inspiration found over there - go on, procrastinate.

Okay now onto the reason for the post. I've just finished reading the Desolate Places anthology from Hadley Rille Books (the people running the forthcoming 'Return to Luna' anthology - and found it very helpful when writing my entry). I won't call this a review because 1) I refuse to be negative about any story - likes and dislikes are all down to personal taste; 2) I'm a sci-fi novice and haven't a clue what I'm talking about; and 3) I'm a crap reviewer and have only put snippets of my thoughts. Here are some of the stories that stood out for me.

Camille Alexa's Flying Solo is a wonderful and appropriate start to the anthology. It leads us in with the captivating 'Begin Transmission.'

Scott Christian Carr wins best story title with A Helmet Full of Hair.

I thought History by Alex Moisi a haunting tale.

Loved David Ireland's Bradburyesque Engaging the Idrl. And yes, another great title.

Mari Ness provides a wee bit of fun with End of Time.

Cavan Scott's story The Last was my favourite, until I read James Hartley's Someone is Dying. I loved Hartley's story, and I will read it again.

Honeymoon by KC Shaw or Katherine as she is known here ( :) sorry KC ) is a well written, unusual tale.

Finally, I really liked Shelley Savran Houlihan's It's a Dog's Life.


P.S. I sent 'Frog & The Mail-Order Bride' to GUD last week. The current Submission Stats for issue four are 1814 (stories, poems etc) - GULP! Chances of making it - well, frankly, I can't do the maths but in words I'd say it was 'slim to none'.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

yeah, dude's photography is amazing. The old door with the rusted lock on the flikcer page is friggin creepy.

Cate Gardner said...

I hope you find a spark of inspiration there (and that I do too).

K.C. Shaw said...

Good luck with GUD! Hey, someone has to make it into their TOC, right? It might as well be you!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the nice comment, it always gives me a warm fuzzy feeling to know someone enjoyed one of my stories.

I hope it helped you get some inspiration for the Luna anthology (which would put us in competition for a place in the ToC as soon as I get my inspiration going ;)

Cate Gardner said...

And thanks for providing a good read, Alex.

Mary said...

Some lovely and very inspiring photos! I’ve bookmarked the site. :)

Mary said...

Whoops! My comment referred to the link to inmagine.com. I’ve just visited the first link, and the guy’s work is excellent, but ‘lovely’ is not the right word to describe it.

His images of deserted buildings are amazing. (I LOVE deserted buildings.) Thank you!

Mark Deniz said...

I commented on this over the weekend...

(damn you word verification!)

I said good luck with GUD and if you didn't get in to mail me as I have thought of a market that your tale would fit (in my humble opinion).

Cate Gardner said...

Thanks Mark, and when it doesn't, I will.

I hate word verification too. It's my attempt to keep out the evil spammers who post links in comments that lead to places worse than the hotel in Voices. :)

Anonymous said...

I submitted 2 stories to the RETURN TO LUNA contest and look forward to reading the book when it is published.

Cate Gardner said...

Good luck with your Return to Luna submissions, and thanks for visiting my blog.

Cavan Scott said...

Just stumbled upon your blog - only four years late. Glad you enjoyed The Last!