Author Keishi Ando provided ecopies of three of his short stories. As they are stand alone stories and not part of a larger anthology I will review them separately.
Tales of His Words is a paranormal romance set outside an ancient castle in (I believe) Japan (Keishi Ando is Japanese after all). A young woman attending cooking classes enters into a romantic liaison with a man she meets while siting outside the local castle. As the relationship progresses we get glimpses into the girls mind and her at times ambivalence and even anger towards her suitor. The conclusion is an interesting twist.
Cruel Angels Pass-by is a rather bizarre story of a victim of terrible abuse at the hands of society. This abuse seems to be the accepted behavior of the local inhabitants. Then our main character meets an angel. This may seem like a spoiler, but I guarantee I haven't told you anything that would spoil the story. You need to read it for yourself to find out what I mean.
Disgusting Angel Smile is the tale of what we might refer to as an urchin, a child on the edges of society who has connected to her favorite toy an angel and a devil. They bear witness to the child's bleak existence, but don't seem to get too involved. Again we have a somewhat strange ending.
Although not presented as connected, these three stories represent a very bleak outlook on life. For sure a very dark tone. This is not inconsistent with the authors biography, which I leave for you to read. They definitely have a different flavor from what many readers are accustomed to. Part of this is no doubt due to English not being the authors first language. I don't know if the stories have been translated from Japanese or written directly in English by the Japanese author. Enjoy!
Mike
No comments:
Post a Comment