Michael Rowe (1) (1962–)

FYI Review - This anthology of short stories contains the following:
-Introduction: In Praise of Queer Fear by Michael Rowe
-The Nightguard by C Mark Umland
-Piercing Men by Douglas Clegg
-The Siege by Michael Marano
-Bear Shirt by Gemma Files
-Little Holocausts by Brian Hodge
-The Sound of Weeping by Thomas S. Roche
-Hey Fairy by Edo Van Belkom
-The Spark by William J. Mann
-Spindleshanks (New Orleans, 1956) by Caitlin R. Kiernan
-The Perpetual by David Quinn
-Genius Loci by Becky N. Southwell
-Goodbye by Michael Thomas Ford
-Tabula Rasa by Robert Boyczuk
-You Can't Always Get What You Want by T.L. Bryers
-The Bird Feeders by David Nickle
-No Silent Scream by Nancy Kilpatrick
-Nestle's Revenge by Ron Oliver
-Second Shadow by Joseph O'Brien… (mais)

FYI Review - This anthology contains the following short stories:
-Introduction: In Further Praise of Queer Fear by Michael Rowe
-Bugcrush by Scott Treleaven
-Polyphemus' Cave by David Nickle
-Dead in the Water by C. Mark Umland
-Delicious Monster by Nalo Hopkinson
-Gaytown by Robert Boyczuk
-Digging Up Graves by William J. Mann
-artGod by Joseph O'Brien
-Black Shapes in a Darkened Room by Marshall Moore
-Night of the Werepuss by Michael Thomas
-On Being a Fetish by David Coffey
-I Stand Alone by Sephera Giron
-Numbers by Steve Duffy
-Want by Ron Oliver
-Oh Yes, My Eyes by David Quinn
-One of the Boys by Edo van Belkom
-Till Human Voices Wake Us by Stephen Dedman
-Slice by Warren Dunford
-Veggie Mountain by Thomas S. Roche
-Exit Wound by Michael Marano
-Freshets by Brett Alexander Savory
-Bayou de la Mere by Poppy Z Brite
-The Narrow World by Gemma Files… (mais)

This novella was a quick wild ride, once it got going. I think it could have benefitted from a longer and more thorough treatment, to give us a more nuanced view of our main characters, but as I understand this was originally a short story, perhaps this is really all the author had to say about his characters. But I felt for Mikey and Wroxy. I had a small, very small, taste of being bullied as a child, and I remember other children who were the constant targets of harassment, likely much worse than was done publicly. The ending… is the logical conclusion of Mikey’s choices, but not the one I hoped for. Sometimes, though, the ending that we, as readers want, is not the ending that is right. It was still satisfying.

Audiobook, via Audible. Joel Froomkin was the perfect voice for Mikey, although he reminded me irresistibly of George McFly.

I read this for the 2018 Halloween Bingo square New Release: mystery, suspense, horror or supernatural that was published after 10/31/17. Although it was based on a short story written in the late 1980’s, this novella was just published in February 2018.
… (mais)