Victor Davis

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

(Spoilers within)

This is very short, only about 17 pages. It takes place during a future war, switching its point of view between a few citizens. David, the husband, Kara, the wife, and Simon, an actor. We're given hints about what their lives are like in this dreary future where over a billion have been killed.

David and Kara's marriage isn't going well. He wakes up to find she's gone, and the first thing he does is check show more for any messages reporting her death. As it turns out, she's elsewhere after having had an affair. She then steals the other man's car to try and bring some thrill in her life. Simon is the man she slept with, who essentially has a job of reporting the dead in a mandatory play.

David is an angry, abusive person. While Kara is cheating and stole the car, she has other problems, too. When someone needs medical attention at the play, she simply says she "isn't that kind of doctor" when David starts telling her to go help. He's an angry man, but he's also frustrated that Kara isn't trying to save someone when she can. Kara, on the other hand, isn't sure what the point is in bothering when a billion people can be wiped away in a single nuke anyway. Simon has a little less development going for him, mostly having lost the thrill of being able to sleep with a lot of women.

I'd agree with other reviewers I saw in that this is too short. The writing is good. The issues are there, and even though none of the characters can be described as great people you can kind of relate to their situations and how depressing it's gotten. You can't get overly attached to them in the short amount of time, though. It's a very brief glimpse into their lives.

As an author, it's probably better to hear that someone "wants more" than "wants less".

I only noticed two errors while reading, and that's actually the only notes I took for this book when reading it.

...only fire and chaos and says "I don't know...

But the show must go on.The show must go on.

I'm actually not certain about the second one. The second line in it is italicized, so it looks like it's missing a space between sentences but maybe it actually is there.

Anyway, if you're interested then take a look. It's well-written and it wouldn't take very long to read, but I think its short length is a little detrimental to its impact in this case.

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Gingerbread is a adult short fiction story that takes you to a candy factory. Two children, Edgar and Arainy are trapped in a Peter Rabbit kind of situation. What begins as a trick or treat and being overwhelmed by the delicious smell of of gingerbread, bringing back all kind of childhood memories, ends up in a cruel beating once the factory owner, the Candy Man discovers the two.

I went into the pages of this book not really knowing what to expect. "Gingerbread," I thought, "hm, maybe Christmas.... you know, the Gingerbread Man?"
I'm not really one for short stories. I've only reviewed one other on the blog (you can see it here), and even then I didn't really know what to expect. My whole thing is "The bigger the book, the better." and small books...really don't appeal to me.I don't know for sure, but I think it may be because I'm someone who gets emotionally attached show more to characters, and a short story would be just enough to get me attached, and then they'd be gone...or even worse; I would feel no emotional connection to the characters.

I can honestly say that this short story.....

To see what I thought (as well as an interview with the author) visit the CommonBookSense blog!
http://commonbooksense.blogspot.com/2016/02/GingerbreadShortStoryReview.html show less