Diabolical Plots #40, June 2018

“Tank!” by John Wiswell

Reviewed by Mike Wyant, Jr.

Ever wonder what it’d be like to be a non-binary tank with social anxiety attending a con? Well, the wait is over. John Wiswell’s “Tank!” is a cute, and perfectly short, tale of the trials and travails of our tank narrator amongst thousands of cosplayed-up meatbags.

I have to be honest, there’s not a ton to this story, but I can’t help but like it. While simple, there’s a general moral of acceptance and tolerance threaded through the entire piece that’s very accessible, but little else.

In short: come for the non-binary tank with social anxiety, stay for the Cowboy Bebop puns.

The premise of Ryan Dull’s “Withholding Judgment Day” is simple: as long as someone somewhere is thinking about Armageddon—I mean, really thinking about it—the End of Days won’t happen. In order to safeguard against the possibility that someday there might be an hour where the world doesn’t rave about the end of the world, the Order of Saint Elegius was founded. Every day is carved up into hour slots and every hour, three monks lose their minds expecting everything to end.

On this bright, beautiful day, the World Cup, a mourning monk, a broken alarm clock, and a humpback whale documentary start the Apocalypse countdown…

“Withholding Judgment Day” is a fantastically fun and well-written romp through a fictional, yet somehow very believable, day in the life of some under-achieving monks. Well worth a read; you won’t regret it.

Mike Wyant, Jr. is an ex-IT guy, who has finally committed to a writing life out in the Middle of Nowhere, New York.