Review: Seven short stories about the end of the world from one imaginative author!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 13, 2014
Gurley collects seven of his short stories written in the past couple of years and collects them in one bundle of great reading. But each story is different in its presentation, in its setting and in its protagonist with no one tale being similar to another. United by a common theme, it's a testament to the authors creativity that each one is so vividly different from the other without feeling like its the same story told over and over again. And with a price of $2.99, you know this is a bargain because if you bought each story individually, it would easily cost much, much more to acquire all of them.  But now you don't have to, just get this collection! Here's what you'll find:1.) Wolf Skin – A young man wistfully remembers his time before the apocalypse as he spends his days as part of a roaming gang surviving by gruesomely killing, plundering and preying on the weak. As he spends his days in this guise as a ruthless killer, something happens that completely upends this new identity he crafted for himself. With this transformation, our main character becomes something more. Strong & thought provoking with great characterization, tragedy and even inspiration all leads into an ending that I found to be highly satisfying.2.) The Caretaker – Alice is a woman alone aboard a space station when she finds out she is possibly the last surviving member of the human race, observing humanity's annihilation from high above. Diving deep into her feelings as she witnesses this, you feel the sadness and despair she goes through as she figures out what, if anything, she should do next. A heartbreaking examination of one woman’s powerful journey as she endures this horror and leading to an ending that I never expected but I felt nonetheless brought the story to an effective and even hopeful close.3.) The Winter Lands – An elderly World War II veteran, Jonathan, who is also an aspiring writer, goes to open mike night to read his story for the first time. But it's about much more than that, as Jonathan's story doesn't have an ending and he's been waiting his entire lifetime to discover what that ending is. An engrossing read with deeper meaning as you realize the destination defines what the journey was all about.  Originally published in the anthology “From The Indie Side” (which is also an excellent book).4.) Nebulae – A tale of a man, Ansel, on a mission in deep space investigating the disappearance of someone very important. Isolated from his peers, left only to his own resourcefulness, we explore an atmospheric mystery where you feel the deathly beauty of deep space in a claustrophobic, closed-quarters setting. When the tension rises once all the cards are laid on the table, we see what happens in a lawless environment where the only authority is the your own and the depths of depravity one stoops to when the law is vastly distant. Moody, haunting and suspenseful, all the pieces of the story are slowly revealed, becoming more interesting with each page turn. A chapter excerpted from the authors novel “The Settlers” but completely stands on its own as a short story.5.) Onyx – Micah, haunted by his past, boards a space station meant for the next stage of humanity as it slowly begins its exodus from a deteriorating Earth. We slowly learn and discover the intensely personal reasons as to how and why he got to be there. As he acclimates to societal life in this huge orbital habitat (with some great humorous beats as he does so), he explores how the world is sectioned off into the haves and the have-nots while reflecting on the circumstances that led to his arrival. Moving, interesting and emotionally expressive, we come to learn Micah's motives and completely empathize with them. This is a chapter excerpted from the authors novel “The Colonists” but this also completely stands on its own as a short story.6.) The Last Rail-Rider – It starts off in what you might think of as just another post-apocalyptic setting with Henry riding the rails, foraging for food and trying to survive. But then he reaches Kentucky, his life is not only turned upside down but inside out as he meets a mysterious woman names Josie. With her, he eventually discovers what's happening to this apocalyptic world and its destiny. Surreal, intriguing and for me, conjuring images of Salvador Dali's painting “The Persistence of Memory”, the story starts off focusing on Henry and then evolves into so much more, presenting the end of everything but not in a way that you would ever imagine.7.) The Dark Age – A man heads off on a one way mission into deep space to explore the great unknown. What he leaves behind are his wife and his baby daughter, whom was born on the day he had to leave. Spending time with his family twice a week on video conferencing for a limited amount of time, he feels the exquisite regret of leaving the family he misses dearly. Once its time to enter one hundred forty-four years of hibernation sleep to reach his destination, he will wake up knowing his family will be long gone. The emotional tautness of each agonizing moment leading up to hibernation sleep is searing in its pain. The anticipation of knowing that once he enters deep sleep, everything he knows will be gone by the time he wakes up. And the impact of this knowledge sends him on a journey, both emotional and physical, into despair.This story feels cinematic in its style, with a large panorama as a background to the intense personal feelings of this father who only knows his family from a great distance. I could vividly imagine each scene viscerally brought to life on a big screen exactly as its written. Touching and moving, knowing how I would feel if I were in the protagonists shoes, makes for a superb story that is a great story to end this collection with. If you don't feel something by the end of this story, then you just don't have a pulse, because it is extremely powerful, poignant and stirring, whether you have children or not.All of the stories presented here will grab your attention and demand that you read each one straight through in order to see the surprising directions taken while delving deeply into the emotional core of their protagonists. A hallmark of any excellent short story collection with an overarching theme like this one is that all of the stories in it are different from each other and each story excels in its storytelling. This book is a wonderful compendium that meets that criteria easily and is a testament to the author's inventiveness, originality and style.