Strange Horizons, 12 June 2006

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“Dogtown” by Amanda Downum

A corpse-eating Goth chick asks a psychopath to help her get out of town in “Dogtown” by Amanda Downum. The problem? Her obsessive ex-boyfriend is the leader of a gang of cannibals who prefer live flesh. A glimpse into some of the darkest aspects of human nature, there are no heroes in this story.

The strong point is the three-dimensional characterization. Sorry, no stereotypes in this tale, even the serial-killer seems to have a “soft” side to him. The dialogue sounded realistic, and the motivations for the characters were believable. The ending, however, felt too easily resolved and thus a bit weak.

This 10-minute read is recommend for anyone with some spare time to kill (um, no pun intended).