(SF Apocalypse) The kilometer-wide asteroid didn't quite destroy civilization, but the things it brought with it just might finish it off.
(9,730 words)
Rating: 4,
Recommended
"All Your Cities I Will Burn," by John Schoffstall, appeared in the July-August 2016 issue of Interzone Magazine (Issue 265), published July 1, 2016 by TTA Press
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Pro: The descriptions of the giant alien creatures devouring the landscape are very vivid, and they make it clear why the narrator is ready to give up and die. It really does look hopeless. Since the story is pretty much about the narrator's search for a meaningful death, it's fitting that it ends with him concluding that letting the world be taken over by human/alien hybrids is acceptable, and he returns to the work he'd abandoned, ready to help make that happen.
Con: It's a rather depressing read, getting worse and worse, and in the end, it's supposed to be okay that everyone is going to die. The scenes where Johnson thinks of the monster as "his child" are hard to take seriously.
Con: It's a rather depressing read, getting worse and worse, and in the end, it's supposed to be okay that everyone is going to die. The scenes where Johnson thinks of the monster as "his child" are hard to take seriously.
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