Thursday, May 4, 2017

The Three-Tongued Mummy, by E. Catherine Tobler

Read this issue
(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

"," by (edited by Jason Sizemore), appeared in issue 96, published on .

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

Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.

4 comments (may contain spoilers):

  1. This was an odd one. Apparently, it's part of a series of loosely connected stories about Jackson's Circus.

    'They' is actually pretty appropriate for Kek. I was thrown by the one instance of 'himself.' I think 'themself' would have been better there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 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.

      Delete
  2. Kek isn't really an "it." They are an Egyptian god/goddess.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks. I added it to the "fix this" list. I'll delete the comments at that point to avoid confusion.

      Delete