★★★★☆ Hard to Put Down.
(Musical Horror) It all starts when the narrator hears a piece of music he can’t stop listening to. For hours. He shares it and learns it’s the first track of ten. He knows it’s dangerous, but he can’t help himself. (23,732 words; Time: 1h:19m)
"Your Favorite Band Cannot Save You," by Scotto Moore [bio] (edited by Lee Harris), published on February 5, 2019 by Tor Publishing.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Review: 2019.097 (A Word for Authors)
Pro: From the moment the nameless narrator barely breaks away from listening to the music, it’s pretty clear that this stuff is an apocalypse in the making. If the first track doesn’t destroy the world, one of the later ones seems bound to, and this creates an underlying tension that lasts through almost the whole story. This tension makes the story hard to put down.
The way Airee’s plot is revealed, one layer at a time, contributes to the urge to keep reading; each step leads naturally to the next, and the really over-the-top stuff doesn’t happen until 2/3 through the story.
The snarky narrator adds comic relief at just the right points. E.g. “Brain could comprehend ‘going to jail’ in ways it couldn’t comprehend ‘end of the world by giant sky claw.’”
Side Note: Airee MacPherson sounds a lot like Aimee McPherson, who was a controversial Evangelical preacher in the early 20th Century. I’m not sure if that’s intentional or not inasmuch as other than the name they don't have a lot in common.
Con: It’s hard to identify with the narrator, who is almost completely undescribed. The only reason we know he’s male is that at one point Sierra tells the twins, “Thank you for finding him.” In most scenes, he a guy things happen to, not a guy who makes things happen.
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Scotto Moore Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
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Pro: From the moment the nameless narrator barely breaks away from listening to the music, it’s pretty clear that this stuff is an apocalypse in the making. If the first track doesn’t destroy the world, one of the later ones seems bound to, and this creates an underlying tension that lasts through almost the whole story. This tension makes the story hard to put down.
The way Airee’s plot is revealed, one layer at a time, contributes to the urge to keep reading; each step leads naturally to the next, and the really over-the-top stuff doesn’t happen until 2/3 through the story.
The snarky narrator adds comic relief at just the right points. E.g. “Brain could comprehend ‘going to jail’ in ways it couldn’t comprehend ‘end of the world by giant sky claw.’”
Side Note: Airee MacPherson sounds a lot like Aimee McPherson, who was a controversial Evangelical preacher in the early 20th Century. I’m not sure if that’s intentional or not inasmuch as other than the name they don't have a lot in common.
Con: It’s hard to identify with the narrator, who is almost completely undescribed. The only reason we know he’s male is that at one point Sierra tells the twins, “Thank you for finding him.” In most scenes, he a guy things happen to, not a guy who makes things happen.
Other Reviews: Search Web, GoodReads.com
Scotto Moore Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
Probably not eligible for the 2020 Hugos. Copyright date is 2016 -- apparently it was originally self-published.
ReplyDeleteHmm, how odd. Well, the Hugo nomination window has closed.
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