Drabbler 4: Aliens and Forbidden Love

announced by Susie Hawes

Drabbler 4:
Aliens and Forbidden Love

Editor: L. A. Story Houry
Illustrator: 7ARS
Publisher: Sam’s Dot
Paperback:
price $3.80 U.S. + $1 s&h
Length: 28 pages
ISBN: ?

The Drabbler #4 is a collection of winning entries in the Between Kisses Newsletter from Sam’s Dot Publications. It is released three times a year. Drabbler #4 is “Aliens and Forbidden Love”. This 28-page book is wonderfully illustrated and thought provoking. Nineteen gems of speculative fiction at its finest, the book will make you want to read more. Authors like Cathy Buburuz, Terrie Leigh Relf and David A. Olson take a look at alien, forbidden love, often with consequences, sometimes with tongue firmly in cheek, but always with depth, style and imagination. Reading these short stories is like eating peanuts; you don’t want to stop till they’re gone. The illustrations by 7ARS are worth the cover price, but the sometimes haunting, always memorable tales themselves are the kind of tight, strong writing that flash fiction should be.

Comedic offerings include Cathy Buburuz’s “Tragedy at the Sleaze Pleaze Motel,” which shows that you can never be too careful. Michael A. Kechula’s “Sizing up the Situation” is a touch of physical comedy and Terrie Leigh Relf’s “The Bootian Ambassador’s First Human Crush,” illustrates the practical side of difficult romantic involvements. The human heart is examined in Amy Smith’s “Of Love and Class” and Gail Kavanagh’s “Love with the Perfect Alien,” but my favorite tale is the haunting “Weapon of Memory,” a disturbing little story by Kevin James Miller. A father is put in an impossible situation as his child is possessed by the alien Klaarians. They have invaded the father’s memory and have altered the child’s appearance to match that of a person from the father’s past. What should the father do?

Terrie Leigh Relf shows us forbidden love from both sides of the coin. “Dear Zlarg” tells the story from the human female’s point of view. In the facing page we see “Dear Reeta,” the Alien’s response.

I give this book a solid five out of five stars. Go directly to Sam’s Dot Publications’ Genre Mall, and grab a copy. You won’t be sorry.