SQ Mag“Green is the Colour of Doom” by Russell Hemmell
Reviewed by Christos Antonaros
In the first SF short story “Green is the Colour of Doom” by Russell Hemmell, Raika and her sisters are Mantises Mercenaries, the most efficient killers the galaxy knows. She and her alien nation, the Hive, are helping the Black Queen, leader of the Alliance, to commit genocide against the Fae race. The author introduces us to the best fighters in the universe and promises a battle to remember, something he achieves despite the shortness of the story. Through the dialog between Raika and Alliance’s envoy, as well as Raika’s inner monologs, we learn enough about this universe. And who knows, hopefully, one day we might read more.
Next comes the horror short story “Butterfly Pie” by Rue Karney. Anna’s favorite place is Papillion, the French Bakery. Their specialty is called Butterfly Pie, but the bakers swear there are not real butterflies in it. Anna fancies torturing grasshoppers, caterpillars, and moths in various ways. Green ooze covers her fingers every time she smashes each one of them until she discovers a purple spot on her middle finger, which is growing to the point where it even begins to glow. However, the purple lump on her finger hides more than she expected and when the time comes, she will ask for her favorite bakers’ help. However, they will appear more interested in a particular recipe than saving the little girl.
Even though this is full of gory and revolting details, it is a terrifying read with a very nice plot twist. The author clearly has knowledge of baking, but after reading this story I would never try anything that comes from his kitchen.
How many horror stories have we read, or seen, with monsters hiding in the attic or creeping inside the closet of a child’s room? We remember almost all of them. In the horror story “Splinter” by Patrick Freivald we come across the same topic, but this time from the viewpoint of the monster. Wanting to take its revenge against humans, a creature of the forest will enter its prey’s house and design its revenge slowly.
Enjoyable reading with a solid horror theme. By addressing its arguments and the reasons behind its rage, the creature wins our sympathy from the beginning. In all other cases we would ask for its immediate conviction, but in this story we want it to find justice.
In the science fiction short story “Evie and Zeke” by Ryan Cage, a rather romantic robot called Evie tries to assemble Zeke, another robot, with salvaged parts. In a post-apocalyptic setting, and while she is searching for the last of Zeke’s gears, she will reflect on how her relationship with Zeke began, developed, and sadly ended.
Even though, in most cases, stories without dialog are exhausting to me, this one had the proper structure that made it pleasant to read. Evie’s programmed ability to reason and empathize, despite her robotic nature, helps us to sympathize with her and hope that everything will end up fine in the end.
I rarely read stories of the steampunk genre, so when I started reading “The Wrangler” by Austin Hackney I was quite intrigued. Did it meet my expectations? Absolutely.
In a transitional period of the world’s history, and with every clockwork feature you can find in a steampunk universe, the revolution hits London’s door. Sir Henry Bollinger and his family are the next targets of the anarchist revolutionaries, and victims of their own servants. But there is more than one motive behind their servants’ betrayal. In a short time, the author describes perfectly a clockwork environment, as well as a brief political background of espionage. Powerful and realistic dialog, attention-grabbing action and a satisfying twist, this story is an impressive conclusion to this issue of SQ Mag.