apocalyptic – Reviews of Old and New Stories. Mostly Old

Review of “Other Life Forms Are The Most Of Our Problems” by Anya Ow

“They’re just seagulls. Nobody will care. We let a billion animals die during the last fire season, and we still got reelected.”

Review of “Hiring the New Staff” by Lynne Lumsden Green

Plot: Twenty generations ago, human civilization collapsed. Those aren’t human generations—because who cares about that?—but cat generations. The oldest cats remember what it was like to have effortless food, to live without fleas, and to sleep on soft beds. The current situation, where they have to live on vermin, is not acceptable. The greatest felineContinue reading “Review of “Hiring the New Staff” by Lynne Lumsden Green”

Review of “Rainbows” by William R.D. Wood

Note: the story comes with an editorial warning from Daily Science Fiction that it is a dark, adult tale. In short, you won’t see any rainbows. Plot: Jacob holds his four-year-old daughter Becca up to the basement window so she can look out to the outside world. There, the reader is told, “[a] cloud ofContinue reading “Review of “Rainbows” by William R.D. Wood”

Review of “The History of the World in Four Sentences” by Liam Hogan

This history of the world is relayed as a bedtime story from a man to his great-granddaughter. She knows it as the story of the things their “an-ces-tors did wrong, an’ what our future is.” Annoyed, the great-grandfather tells the story in four short sentences. The little girl prefers the longer version with Adam andContinue reading “Review of “The History of the World in Four Sentences” by Liam Hogan”