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BOOK REVIEW: Light At the Edge of Darkness
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Click cover to purchase book
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by: Jeremiah McNabb Dancing Word Reviewer
Title: Light At the Edge of Darkness Editor: Cynthia MacKinnon Publisher: The Writers’ Café Press ISBN: 978-1-934284-00-1 Genre: Inspirational/Speculative/Fiction
April saw the release of a new anthology, Light At the Edge of Darkness. I like to pick up the occasional collection from time to time, to see if there are any exceptional writers coming up over the literary horizon. This practice often hands me as many mediocre writers as good ones. In one sense, this book is no exception.
The theme of this anthology, by The Writers’ Café, puts words to the idea that Light can overcome any darkness. Christian fiction has ignored this fact for so long that it was a pleasure to find not just one, but a whole group of authors, that agrees with me. In this medley of twenty-seven tales, by over a dozen authors, you’ll visit some of the bleakest corners of the human imagination. You’ll feel their sickness and pain. You’ll hate them and maybe yourself, before you’re finished, but Christ’s love always arrives to rescue you in the last moments.
I mentioned that I was looking for new talent. Three particular authors: Frank Creed, Andrea Graham, and Stephen L. Rice (whose Pratchett-like At the Mountains of Lunacy makes it worthwhile to purchase the entire collection) shine like beacons in this anthology. If you decide to borrow this book from a friend, make sure you read the last six short stories, because it looks like the editor really did save the best for last.
While this trio of authors has found their niche, I had to wonder about the practice of a few others. Some of them, it seems, have mistaken the word “speculative” for “silly.” I understand the incredible impact an original idea can make, but it is possible to place the reader in a situation that makes almost zero sense. Too original of a concept ends in the alienation of one’s reader.
Biblical Speculative Fiction is, the introduction claims, a lost genre. To me, this claim seems a bit pedantic and a somewhat roundabout way to make a collection of otherwise unrelated stories. Historical fiction, horror, cyberpunk, thriller, mystery, satire and apocalyptic literature all find their place here. Only one or two titles defy classification and these are the few that the anthology could have done without.
Initially, I wondered whether this collection was going to be worth my time, and it was, based solely on the efforts of a few authors, who upped the average. Writers’ Café has done what I hoped it would do; it gave me a few fresh names to follow.
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