A phantasmagorical oddity full of wonderfully weird characters and otherworldly creations.
An eclectic collection of fables defies reason yet commands attention.
Sewn inside Moran’s patchwork quilt of 22 curious literary sketches, poems, and short stories are underlying messages about society, the world at large, and the complexities of the human condition. The “naturally sticky” mammals in the opening narrative are stacked into totems to conjure rainstorms or to make “China untether the yuan from the dollar.” The son in “The Cut-Off Man’s Father” tries to relate to his dad, who is physically plugged into machinery that assesses and collects people’s debts. One of the best and most promising tales is the multipart, metaphoric fable “Rainbow Noir,” which features the magical bears of the book’s title. The story is set in an apocalyptic former “Rainbow World” that was once “beautiful and bright” but has, since the early 1950s, become a dark, grim, noir “Shadow City.” Can a group of activist bears named Transgression Bear, Fatalism Bear, Alienation Bear, and Femme Fatale Bear (who unlocks men’s innermost desires) stop Nihilism Bear from destroying the world? Some tales convey mood and spirit in the economy of a few pages, like the slim, sinister story of George, a petulant young boy in “At the Cherry Tree,” who makes demands of a backyard tree nymph with wooden teeth, and a speculative narrative that surmises the possibilities of animals with elemental powers. Hints of allegory, symbolism, and philosophy are embedded in several tales, some more obvious than others. The initially fanciful “Panda Dancing” eventually alludes to larger questions about the meaning of life, while the manipulative politician in “The Filibuster of the Sailor-Senator” maneuvers legislation around the Patriot Act despite the dire warnings of a local demon. As a prolific designer and developer of a series of role-playing games who has a doctorate in computer science, Moran displays a boundless creativity throughout a literary mélange that often disregards logic but consistently entertains. If the anthology seems mystifying and extraordinarily offbeat, it is, and that’s an integral part of its effervescent charm. Readers of quirky, bizarre fiction will appreciate the author’s wit, inventiveness, and philosophical meanderings encapsulated in this celebration of the unexpected.
A phantasmagorical oddity full of wonderfully weird characters and otherworldly creations.Pub Date: July 14, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5058-8320-6
Page Count: 164
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Let’s hope for more from the next book set in this world.
Sasha Cadell has survived against all odds, holding onto her loved ones and strangers as they take their last breaths—and that’s why she’s known as Death’s Angel.
For six years Sasha has lived in Haven, the underground society built to withstand nuclear war. Since the war, since her family’s deaths, since discovering she doesn’t get sick like everyone else does, Sasha’s life has been full of death and overfull with grief. While working in the Ward, Haven’s limited hospital, she stays with patients as they die. When Tristian Hayes, a unit commander of the Force, ends up as her patient, hanging on for his life, she pleads for him to stay alive. He does—upending her bleak ritual as Death’s Angel. Hoping to forget everything she’s seen and to numb the pain, Sasha leaves the Ward in favor of a role with a pickax, expanding Haven’s tunnels. Tristian, fiercely determined and stunningly stubborn, recruits Sasha to the Force for a vital mission aboveground. The story picks up steam with Sasha’s intense training to become the medic for Tristian’s tightknit unit. Together, they bear the weight of their unit’s survival and all that’s left of humankind. While in training, Sasha struggles to discern friends and enemies, but nothing is as challenging as facing her own demons. In this prequel to her debut novel, Conform (2025), Sullivan tries to accomplish a lot with both the worldbuilding and plot machinations, resulting in a convoluted story and flattened characters. The plot doesn’t have a satisfying payoff, but the romantic tension between Sasha and Tristian will keep readers engaged.
Let’s hope for more from the next book set in this world.Pub Date: March 24, 2026
ISBN: 9798217091027
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
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