Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores, August 2017

“What Fools These Immortals Be” by Evan Dicken

Reviewed by Adrian McCauley

“What Fools These Immortals Be” is a fantasy tale about about a mountain spirit that only wants to help a family but, in her arrogance and naivete, believes she knows best and despite the instructions of a wiser spirit unintentionally inflicts all sorts of chaos upon the humans until, eventually, she listens to the advice and finally makes things right. Evan Dicken writes this story in a short well-paced manner that reads like a fable or myth, and even ends with a moral. But where humans blame spirits for punishing them in mythological tales, this story subverts the point of view so we see how confusing we mortals are as the mountain spirit gives the humans ‘gifts’ that do not translate well.. A charming tale that sweeps you along and leaves you satisfied.

“The Glanconer” by L J McLeod is a chilling eldritch tale about a woman who waits beside the sea, night after night, until one night a spirit, as dangerous as it is seductive, approaches her from the waves. Unable to seduce her to join him in the cold water, he proposes a challenge to guess what it is she is waiting for. I enjoyed the gothic feel of this story, as well as the air of mystery it carried.