Diabolical Plots #81, November 2021
“Forced Fields” by Adam Gaylord
“Lies I Never Told You” by Jaxton Kimble
Reviewed by Kevin P Hallett
There are two new short stories in the 81st issue of Diabolical Plots. Both stories were entertaining reads.
“Forced Fields” by Adam Gaylord
Abigail can’t afford to renew her personal forcefield in this short SF tale set in the future. The problem is that forcefields are mandatory, and being without one exposes Abi to the skinners who are always on the lookout for their next victim. Walking along the street, she sees a skinner deliberately bumping into people to see if they have a forcefield. He’s spotted her, and now the chase is on.
Barely longer than flash fiction, this story jumped back to an old idea in SF but in a new and exciting way.
“Lies I Never Told You” by Jaxton Kimble
Shanna is the daughter of a single father in this short fantasy. As she grows up, she realizes her father is psychic and can write her notes warning her away from situations where a stranger would have infected her or even worse.
What she doesn’t know is who her mother is, and her father avoids the question whenever she asks. Finally, on her seventeenth birthday, her dad directs her to a letter he wrote many years ago. And Shanna discovers another use for being psychic.
At first, the author’s story was exceedingly mysterious, but the good prose pulled the reader through until things made sense.
You can follow Kevin P Hallett’s writing on www.kevinphallett.com