An amazing, varied short story collection that scratched so many literary itches: cli-fi, horror, sci-fi and the absurdly humorous, all wrapped up in a satisfying literary package.

I really loved this collection. Every story stands on its own, and each impressed me in different ways. Ontario-based Cole has given us 12 short stories and three poems in his debut collection and I find myself wanting to list each story, quoting from it and explaining why I like it so much. I’ll try to be more tidy with my review than that.

I was trying to put a finger on what Cole’s writing reminded me of, and honestly I think it’s quite original. However, if pressed, I might say: Stephen King at his best, mixed with the edgy horror of Mariana Enriquez, all with a sci-fi flavour.

The book starts strongly with Billy Ray’s Small Appliance Rehabilitation, creatively immersive; and soon we have Song of Mary, which showcases amazing world building and comments on human nature in just a few pages. These two stories? I want whole novels in these worlds, at least 300 pages each, please.

There’s an absurdist tale about what might happen if all the dogs on Earth suddenly ascended into the sky à la the rapture, and man was it weird. It utterly bemused me, and I’m not sure if the message is that as humans we’ll try to make gods of things we don’t understand; or we’ll habitually create rituals around our grief; or that people just love their dogs too much. Or maybe it’s just a weird and wonderful story. I loved it, regardless.

The body horror in The Way of the Shrike–what a nightmare world!–and Desolation Sounds addressed trauma, atonement and the need to escape in different ways. The book ended perfectly with Cradle and Ume, a moving and ambitiously visioned story about the nature of time and humanity.

This collection spoke to me about small-scale human nature juxtaposed against a huge universe; and human nature writ large in intimate, uncanny situations. I’m excited by Cole’s short stories, and I hope to see more from him!

Thanks to Stelliform Press and NetGalley for a gifted copy.

This was a story collection that felt like a roller coaster. Some of the stories were very good and some not quite as good. The common denominator of the good stories were that they felt like complete stories. The small poetic ones were also good.

A great and diverse collection of short stories, which all had different plots, places and themes. However, in some I couldn't shake the voice of the one I had read before, therefore a lot of the stories blended together and I ended up disappointed. However, Cole's imagination is great and I believe he will only get better and the stories will really be outstanding.

Some boring format points - really would have appreciated a contents page, where all the stories were listed with clickable links. I do not know if this was the file I received, or it's the overall format and also I would have really appreciated a foreword accompanying every story. I understand this may be a publisher point of view, but I would have valued what Cole had to say about each and every one of his stories. In addition, I would have also appreciated an introduction by Cole, his agent, or critics, in so doing I could have learnt about the man behind the words.

This is an incredibly strong and diverse collection that combines elements of science fiction, fantasy, horror, absurdism, historical fiction, and more. The world-building in each of the stories is impressive. I want full novel/series treatments of some of these worlds! There are three poems interspersed throughout that spoke to issues around climate change; these were a nice palette cleanser and drive home some of the collection's core themes. There are so many layers to unpack but key ideas that I saw reemerging throughout include:

-How humans respond to uncertainty and change - both good (building community) and bad (splintering into factions with rigid ideologies)
-Allegiances to communities/families and how our choices are shaped by this - both good and bad.
-Resiliency: how even in the face of complicated and painful choices and unspeakable realities, humans find ways to continue on.

These themes sound intense, but Cole does a really good job at touching on these topics in a nuanced fashion while prioritizing entertaining strong-storytelling, world-building, and character development. I was invested and engaged throughout and sad when each story ended.

My favourites were "Song of Mary," "The Many Uses of Cedar," "River of Sons," and "Cradle and Ume."

Excited to see more from this author!