“Useless Meetings” by Ivy Reisner
“A Swarm of Mermaids” by Christie McCreadie
“An Epitaph for Shangri-La” by George L. Duncan
“Damage" by Jane Lebak
“Useless Meetings” by Ivy Reisner was presented in an unusual way. Instead of a traditional paragraph format, Ms. Reisner chose to write her story as a series of memos like the kind emailed in a large office setting. With the difference that these office mates are demons, and their boss is the devil.
The prose was witty, and it reached a predictable but entertaining end with many plays on words and some extraordinary dialogue. The fact that she knew how to spell some of these ancient names impressed me.
To: Readers of DKA magazine
From: Reviewer
Please find enclosed a favorable review of Ms. Reisner’s work. I will need your cooperation and input on my desk by Monday morning 9AM. Thank you.
I’m not sure why Christie McCreadie named her story “A Swarm of Mermaids” since mermaids make a very short appearance at the beginning and are not mentioned again. Like many offerings in Dragons, Knights, & Angels, namesakes from the ezine’s title (two of the three here) are included. The angel has three trials to complete in order to become a Guardian Angel. There were hints that the fiercest trial would be the third, and I was watching for the villain or villainess to intervene in some way. However, the ending came and went with a nameless evil that was conquered in a short paragraph. While the point was moving, the end fizzled and left me wondering why the writer mentioned an insatiable evil being and then didn’t have it show up again.
“An Epitaph for Shangri-La” by George L. Duncan was a little confusing. The planet, Shangri-La, is described in two contradictory ways, sometimes in the same paragraph. It’s a beautiful planet with, among other things, clean cities and modern technology, and it’s a beautiful planet with, among other things, no intelligent life. Which is it?
The story follows a group of space travelers to Shangri-La where they find the secret to the ancient civilization, taking excessively long to get to the point. Although granted, I didn’t figure out the mystery myself until near the end, so that kept me reading. Mr. Duncan has a way with science fiction prose. The dialogue, while a bit blocky at times, held diction and purpose, and the voice revealed his love of technology and the “what-if” speculative element iconic of sci-fi.
Jane Lebak puts a new spin on angels and their job with regard to humans in "Damage." A renegade angel who has been condemned to a station he doesn’t care for discovers a side of himself he didn’t know still existed. And he changes in an unexpected way.
Ms. Lebak takes opportunities to regale us with such phrases as:
“The fire that six thousand years and oceans couldn’t drown simply stopped, leaving me chilled.”
Ms. Lebak’s familiarization with angels, God, and Jesus was a little unsettling, but presented a fresh approach to an age-old question: "Why do bad things happen to good people?” The answer: “there are things at work that we are not aware of—some things of this world, some things not. However, we do not see the whole picture and so we cannot see why a tragedy strikes down a person with no fault” is as good as any other I’ve seen.