“A Curse and a Boon” by Swapna Kishore
“Vehement the Merciful” by John Kuhn
“The Parking Meter” by Nick Ozment
“A Curse and a Boon” by Swapna Kishore is an enthralling yarn created in a fairy tale’s image. Shari, a spoiled princess, is used by a witch to save the queen of the land who lies in a glass casket, tottering on the edge of life and death. A child lies in the half-dead matriarch’s cold womb, the heir to the kingdom, and Shari must learn a life lesson or two before she can help her father rescue the sleeping queen.
A very professional writing style with proficient word usage, simple yet with a complicated theme, “A Curse and a Boon” worked well in this venue, and to my surprise, it featured no dragon, angel, or knight. Thank you, Swapna Kishore.
John Kuhn entertains with “Vehement the Merciful.” The title’s namesake is the self-proclaimed king of a nation where only One Law exists. The unnamed narrator tells us of how he tried to fight the injustice laid on his homeland by Vehement but failed. He lacked the strength, physical or mental. So he rides through the land looking for and yearning for this strength.
Kuhn seems to like to stick a twist at the ends of his tales in order to stun readers and make them wary of the next John Kuhn work. His prose is well done and flows in a good rhythm.
“The Parking Meter” by Nick Ozment is a morbid and drawn out tale of a man who finds magic in everyday life. Or at least he thinks he does, anyway. He goes to great lengths and spends several hundred dollars trying to verify it. The ending left events up in the air, leaving me wondering, “so what was the point?”
Ozment is a passionate writer. Although this wasn’t the kind of story I seek out, I wouldn’t mind encountering another work by him, as his style and voice intrigued.