Memesis

by Keith Brooke

A world where islands of rock float on a molten sea, a man whose son flies high while he can only watch, a seaside town held together by the belief of its inhabitants. Eight stories about strange changes and the strangely changed, each with a new afterword by the author of Publishers Weekly starred novels Genetopia and The Accord."I have read 'Beside the Sea' perhaps four or five times since its original publication... It's a magical fantasy, a parable in the form of a rite-of-passage story, both frightening and bizarre... It's a story I come back to again and again, and one which I wish I had written myself - and there can be no greater recommendation than that."--Eric Brown"It is wiser about youth and imagination than most other novels published today; and everybody, of whatever age, should read it..."--Adam Roberts on The Unlikely World of Faraway Frankie

144 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 4, 2010

Reviews

[Sara]

The art of self abuse
i was killer
vampire
traveled throw time
throw my mind
rain and dust dance over my cold blood
strange to meet y my friend
in another angele
unreality reality
its pain inside
have many point
many question
many photo at same time
old test
when the end and began mix
in concians emothion
belong to unsame
philosoph of been
art of storm
dizzy pic
black wish the wight
the blue made by imiganation
i draw without thinking
unconcios
faitter the line
the though

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first story, "Witness", sets the stage for this oddly disturbing collection. A man whose son is a bird of prey is confronted by a stranger who may very well be himself. These uncertainties of *identity*, whether of people or places or situations, permeate all of the eight stories here. All of the stories are good, so it's hard to pick out a favorite, although if I had to I think I'd perhaps opt for either "Memesis" (after a neurological war, the victorious aliens are trying to rebuild the psyches of surviving humans) or "The Art of Self-Abuse" (an android sent back through time discovers the extent to which it has been duped). And then there's "Queen of the Burn Plain", with its vividly bizarre geology. The final story, too, "Beside the Sea", packs a heck of a punch. As I said, it really is hard to select a favorite!

Brooke's prose is very muscular and his characters very real. These are stories you won't easily forget.