Review: The Swardstrom siblings tell thoughtful tales in this trio of short stories!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 2, 2014
Contrary to the interesting title, there is no baking using swords as cooking implements featured in these stories. However, there are imaginative stories being cooked up, creating thought-provoking situations on subjects that are deftly explored. We have three tales here:Paul K. Swardstrom's "The Price of Greatness" - In the distant past, Max, a musician learning his craft, must abandon his training to fulfill an obligation to his brother, his sister-in-law and his nephew. Years later, he finds himself wistful, regretting his choices & abandoning his dream. And then he is offered a choice which, if he takes it, will alter his life forever. An introspective and engrossing exploration of the road not taken and transforming into a parable of what happens if you trade one aspect of your life for another.Betsy Baker's "Flutter" - The story starts with a mother bathing her five-year-old, Adelle, who is afraid that she is shrinking.  As the mother grapples with Adelle's mysterious medical problems, the situation evolves into something much greater. With each problem Adelle experiences, it makes it harder and harder for the two of them to retain a sense of normalcy. The mother's desperation to do anything she can to help her daughter is palpable. You can acutely feel the world become increasingly more difficult for them, cascading into a finale that left me both happy and sad. As a parent, this story just hits home, adroitly showcasing a mother's love for her daughter.Will Swardstrom's "A Whimper" - Cam, our narrator, tells us a story set in the near future, where we get an intriguing glimpse into a world we're all familiar with, filled with social media and the pervasive presence of the internet. When the internet is now voluntarily implanted into your brain via the PIP (Personal chIP), the knowledge of the world is now at your fingertips. But then we learn how the technology, created with the best of intentions, leads civilization into an inexorable slide towards extinction. Chilling, all too believable and captivating in its depiction of a society fascinated with technology, this one is a cautionary tale that makes you want to disconnect from the internet. Or, at the very least, spend less time indulging in it. :) Bonus points for the section on the Arctic Penguin Command 4 app, which really made me chortle in the midst of the encroaching darkness in this story.I also appreciated the authors notes at the end of each story, as they give personal context to the creative narratives here, which I thought enriched the stories and gave them an additional depth.Ultimately, this is a collection of three very enjoyable tales about big life changes and the repercussions of these changes on both a small and large scale. Each tale presents a real-world problem that all of us can relate to. This is a wonderful beginning for the two newly-christened authors. For Will, this is another strong story to add to his list of published works. Put them all together and you get great stories told by talented siblings in one book - well done!