The Light Side of Dark
by Voni Ryan
Belfire
Press (2012)
176 pages
ISBN
9781926912653
Sometimes opening an e-book can be
deceptive. For instance, when I opened up my review copy of The
Light Side of Dark and saw there were over forty stories listed
in the table of contents, I thought I had just set myself up for a
marathon session. It turns out that, with the book clocking in at a
hundred and seventy-six pages, many of those forty stories are
actually flash fiction pieces. Consequently, the book was a bit of a
breeze to get through.
The
Light Side of Dark is a
collection that definitely leans more towards lighter fare than truly
dark subject matter. Oh, there's some twisted little tales scattered
here and there, but for the most part the book carries itself with a
bit of a tongue-in-cheek attitude towards the darker elements of
genre fiction. The book is a collaboration of two authors actually
under the pen name of Voni Ryan, though I'm unsure if the stories are
all written as a dual effort or if that is saved for the longer works
in the book.
One thing I noticed with a lot of the
stories is that the authors enjoy finding new twists on old tropes,
whether it's in the scifi genre or the fairyland sort of fantasy.
Then there were stories that had these big, blatant twists that make
The Twilight Zone seem subtle. Stories like "Contract
Time" and "Transporter Malfunction" had instances of
real-life figures and characters from pop culture bleeding into the
story, either through allusion or outright starring roles.
Interesting tidbits, but the stories were so brief, they felt like
drive-by cameos more than anything.
"The Wish Factor" was one of
the bright spots in the collection, in my opinion. The title says it
all, as the story revolves around a genie in a lamp yearning to be
free--though there is another story in the collection actually titled
"The Gene in the Lamp"--and finds his best chance with the
woman who discovers the lamp and finds herself being used as much as
she uses the genie. I also liked "The Gold Watch and Other
Timepieces" for its western setting and time-travel element. It
ended too early for my tastes, but what was there was definitely
entertaining. "The Galactic Adventures of Shanda Neary" was
another standout with its story of intergalactic law enforcement and
an act of betrayal between two allies.
While I found quite a few of the stories
to be engaging and entertaining, those tended to be the longer short
stories among the collection, while I found a lot of the flash
fiction to be very abrupt and tended to fluster me more often than
not, almost like the stories were holding back something pivotal.
Leave 'em wanting more, I suppose.
I think this collection would suit
readers with a light-hearted appreciation for genres twists and
turns, and go for the bite-sized story form. I think readers looking
for a book with more meat on the bone than that might walk away
disappointed, though. You definitely need an appetite and
appreciation for flash fiction, and if you do then there are stories
aplenty.
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