(Horror) Jackson partly revived an ancient mummy to use in his carnival. The undead thing has an agenda too, though. (7,400 words; Time: 24m)
Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average
Recommended By: SFRevu:4"The Three-Tongued Mummy," by E. Catherine Tobler [bio] (edited by Jason Sizemore), appeared in Apex Magazine issue 96, published on May 2, 2017.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Pro: The mummy is the protagonist, and it completes the plot when they succeed in dispatching both of their targets. As a bonus, it appears that they won their freedom by making Doyle replace them.
It’s amusing that the mummy effectively has a job, and they have to pursue their agenda when they're not working.
Con: We don’t care about either the mummy or any of their victims, and that makes for a very low-energy story.
Other Reviews: Search Web, Browse Review Sites (Issue 96)
E. Catherine Tobler Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
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It’s amusing that the mummy effectively has a job, and they have to pursue their agenda when they're not working.
Con: We don’t care about either the mummy or any of their victims, and that makes for a very low-energy story.
Other Reviews: Search Web, Browse Review Sites (Issue 96)
E. Catherine Tobler Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
This was an odd one. Apparently, it's part of a series of loosely connected stories about Jackson's Circus.
ReplyDelete'They' is actually pretty appropriate for Kek. I was thrown by the one instance of 'himself.' I think 'themself' would have been better there.
I don't think I'm ever going to get used to using "they" to refer to a known individual. I'm trying to make allowances for that (I don't cap such stories at 2 stars), but it's a struggle.
DeleteKek isn't really an "it." They are an Egyptian god/goddess.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I added it to the "fix this" list. I'll delete the comments at that point to avoid confusion.
Delete