Elements of the Apocalypse: four novellas from R. Thomas Riley, John Sunseri, Ryan C. Thomas, D.L. Snell
From the publishers who gave us ‘Ex-Heroes’, ‘The Estuary’, ’14’ and ‘Every Sigh, The End’ comes this collection about how the world ends.
Remains
The world ends in fire as spontaneous combustion erupts. Dylan and a group of idiot stereotypes survive in this turgid splatter punk tale that has the usual tropes of violence and sexual violence and is gravely awful.
Best Line:
“A few houses had caught fire. No one was trying to put them out.”
Silence In Heaven
The world ends due to air. Humanity was driven underground by alien invaders who have made the atmosphere poisonous. In this hopeless future, a few survivors try to strike back. This was good.
Best Line:
“He still had all his teeth, which was rare in New America.”
Phrenetic
Mother Nature purges mankind in this ridiculous tale.
Best Lines:
“Pieces of Eric, from Accounting, were leaking into the Persian rug a few feet from where she sat.”
“You’re in the freezer?”
“Um, yeah, it seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“Lovecraft was right!”
With A Face Of Golden Pleasure
The world ends in water as all the water evaporates. A slacker reacts as all the water vanishes. But he has a shrill nagging wife who exists to be the load and complain. Sure the hero is so dumb that the house could catch fire and he wouldn’t notice but his damn woman needs to stop nagging him for cheating on her. This was sexist tosh. The cover of this book was good but the book was iffy but for one story.
Best Lines:
“Stop yelling. All you do is yell.”
“All you do is screw up, you should be used to it.”
“Boston, which was not only on fire but without any civility whatsoever.”
- Current Music:We Didn’t Start The Fire - Billy Joel
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