Review: A Cute Parody of Death Takes a Holiday
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 07 29, 2012
Philip Frey has been on the boards - of the stage and of film making - and so he knows his way around a story line.  HYM AND HUR is a brief 29 page short story that has some entertaining ideas, some fairly well developed characters, and steps into the arena of fantasy with light feet.  While the story is brief, there still are holes in the narrative that cause the reader to backtrack to see if the last abrupt chapter contained some information, and then we ultimately discover the gaps are just there: transitions from place to place and time to time are irregular - but then this is Fantasy so that can apparently be set aside.Hym and Hur are two spirits who decide to play a trick on Los Angeles. In a pact with Death whom they meet, significantly, at Barney's Beanery in West Hollywood, it is agreed that Hym and Hur can choose one person whose touch will prevent death from happening: Death is not happy to give up his power but is also a bit tickled at the holiday aspect. Hue interviews people in a parking lot, finally encountering Archie, a painter of black and white paintings who can't find a gallery to represent his art and who lives with a rather demanding Sarah who is about to insist he get a job.  Archie is on a bus home when Sarah steps in front of the bus and is apparently failing.  Archie jumps out, sees Hur (who has called herself Promise and how Archie visualized the invisible Hur is one of the holes in the story mentioned above), and Archie's touch revives Sarah.  The story then follows Archie as he raises the dead just before autopsy, restores life to a butterfly and a cat and in doing such deeds make Sarah realize that Archie is more than she had perceived. How the story ends is sweet: Hym and Hur break the pact with Death's consent and all is well. And there is just enough philosophical comment about how humans behave to give the tale some meaning.The Kindle format serves short stories well and Philip Frey seems to be having a great time telling his this way.  Were the story in a collection and on paper where it would be taken more critically it would not do as well.  But then Kindle steps in and it seems to work just fine. Grady Harp, July 12