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Grief: Five Stories of Apocalyptic Loss
The world is ending, and there's nothing anyone can do about it. How do people cope with loss on an unimaginable scale? How does humanity stand its last hours? With the values we've developed over our reign on this Earth, or with the terrible freedom that comes with knowing that there won't be any consequences for our actions?
A cop, a kidnapper, a doomsday cultist, a news anchor, and party-goers at the end of the world. Will they learn to cope, or succumb to the nihilistic madness around them?
This 17,000 word collection contains five stories.
A cop, a kidnapper, a doomsday cultist, a news anchor, and party-goers at the end of the world. Will they learn to cope, or succumb to the nihilistic madness around them?
This 17,000 word collection contains five stories.
100 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 1, 2013
About the author
Michael Coorlim
27 books55 followersMichael Coorlim is a teller of strange stories for stranger people. He collects them, the oddballs. The mystics and fire-spinners, the sages and tricksters. He curates their tales, combines their elements and lets them rattle around inside his rock-tumbler skull until they gleam, then spills them loose onto the page for like-minded readers to enjoy.
He writes fast-paced stories about real people in fantastic situations, plots with just a twist of the surreal, set in worlds just a shadow’s breadth from our own.
Some whisper that he may, in fact, be a wizard. Others maintain that he’s naught but bluster and blarney. The truly wise know that there’s nary a difference.
Questionable activities
Michael Coorlim’s fiction can be found on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple, and Smashwords.
He also writes the indie-focused book blog Book Nouveau.
Pry a little deeper
If you want early notifications of upcoming titles, discounts, giveaways, and other fun you can subscribe to his new release mailing list. You can also find him on facebook and twitter as @mcoorlim. Email him at Coorlim@gmail.com – he’d love to hear from you.
He writes fast-paced stories about real people in fantastic situations, plots with just a twist of the surreal, set in worlds just a shadow’s breadth from our own.
Some whisper that he may, in fact, be a wizard. Others maintain that he’s naught but bluster and blarney. The truly wise know that there’s nary a difference.
Questionable activities
Michael Coorlim’s fiction can be found on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple, and Smashwords.
He also writes the indie-focused book blog Book Nouveau.
Pry a little deeper
If you want early notifications of upcoming titles, discounts, giveaways, and other fun you can subscribe to his new release mailing list. You can also find him on facebook and twitter as @mcoorlim. Email him at Coorlim@gmail.com – he’d love to hear from you.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 5, 2013
This book blew me away.
Based on the five stages of grief, there are five chapters, named Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance. I thought this was quite clever, as was the way the characters were all connected in some way, from story to story.
The world is going to end (I won't say how, I don't want to ruin part of the story for you), and we follow different people in each chapter as they deal with the idea that this is it, there is no getting out of it, they are all going to die. It's a very uncomfortable idea to experience. Usually, we're scared of death, but at least we know the world itself will carry on without us. Knowing the world is going to end for everyone and everything is truly chilling.
I found Michael Coorlim's writing style fast paced and involving, the imagery being darkly descriptive of the horrors occurring without being flowery and overblown. There were a few jarring spelling errors here and there, but I honestly couldn't bring myself to take away a whole star just for that, because I really, truly enjoyed the stories so much that any small errors spoil that for me.
The only thing I would wish for is for more. The author of this book is so obviously skilled at writing dark apocalyptic stories and drawing in the reader. So, more please!
Based on the five stages of grief, there are five chapters, named Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance. I thought this was quite clever, as was the way the characters were all connected in some way, from story to story.
The world is going to end (I won't say how, I don't want to ruin part of the story for you), and we follow different people in each chapter as they deal with the idea that this is it, there is no getting out of it, they are all going to die. It's a very uncomfortable idea to experience. Usually, we're scared of death, but at least we know the world itself will carry on without us. Knowing the world is going to end for everyone and everything is truly chilling.
I found Michael Coorlim's writing style fast paced and involving, the imagery being darkly descriptive of the horrors occurring without being flowery and overblown. There were a few jarring spelling errors here and there, but I honestly couldn't bring myself to take away a whole star just for that, because I really, truly enjoyed the stories so much that any small errors spoil that for me.
The only thing I would wish for is for more. The author of this book is so obviously skilled at writing dark apocalyptic stories and drawing in the reader. So, more please!
November 5, 2013
I received an ebook from the author in exchange for an honest review.
Grief: Five Stories is a collection of points-of-view of citizens awaiting an apocalypse. Under the pressure of impending doom, everyone reacts in different ways. True natures arise as humanity faces not only death but extinction.
I enjoyed the character studies and elements of loss throughout this novella. Each section focused on a different set of individuals, and what the end meant for them.
I have to state that this is definitely an adult book - due to profanity and a strange sex scene. I gave this book 3 stars because although I liked the idea, I was a little disturbed by the content. I also would like to have seen this expanded a bit more, because it felt like a trailer more than a complete work.
Overall, I have mixed feelings - but the writing is intriguing. I would read more from this author depending on content.
Grief: Five Stories is a collection of points-of-view of citizens awaiting an apocalypse. Under the pressure of impending doom, everyone reacts in different ways. True natures arise as humanity faces not only death but extinction.
I enjoyed the character studies and elements of loss throughout this novella. Each section focused on a different set of individuals, and what the end meant for them.
I have to state that this is definitely an adult book - due to profanity and a strange sex scene. I gave this book 3 stars because although I liked the idea, I was a little disturbed by the content. I also would like to have seen this expanded a bit more, because it felt like a trailer more than a complete work.
Overall, I have mixed feelings - but the writing is intriguing. I would read more from this author depending on content.
August 7, 2013
An interesting take on the end of the world through five different lives/stories. Less than 50 pages, this novella will send any reader hoping for a quick ending to this world. All five stories are recognizable to any reader, which makes it all the more fascinating. Every story has 10 stories with in it to keep the reader not only guessing but wanting more.
A short, thought provoking novella that will keep one guessing the end of each of the five stages of grief.
A short, thought provoking novella that will keep one guessing the end of each of the five stages of grief.
August 7, 2013
A comet is speeding toward Earth and no one is expected to survive the impact. Loosely following Elizabeth Kublur Ross theory on grief this collection of 5 short stories detail 5 different reactions to the news. These frightening accounts that tell the story of people who have nothing to lose and yet nothing to live for is thought provoking.
August 12, 2016
(Book provided by the author through ARR #1797 in the Making Connections group, in exchange for an honest review.)
This collection of short stories revolves around the way in which different people react to the upcoming end of the world. Faced with an event nobody can help avoid—a meteor due to strike the Earth a few days later—the five people put in the limelight in this novella all display facets of the human psyche, some noble, some very ugly. Anger whose only outlet is to resort to violence. Acceptance, but not without a cost. Feelings of depression, leading to unexpected reactions.
The themes dealt with here are harsh and cruel. No sugarcoating, no complete bravery either. The people involved end up discovering some things about themselves they had never suspected, and at the end of every story, they are forever changed—well, "forever" not being meant to last for very long, granted. Said themes may upset some readers, but I found them fascinating all the same, for all the questions they raised. How would we react in similar situations? Would we give in to our darker instincts, or not? Can we be sure, right now, in the safety of our world, that we wouldn't become like one of the anti-heroes in "Grief"? Or would we find out treasures of courage in ourselves, just like the cop who decided he'd die as he had lived, on his own terms, even though this meant dying before the rest of the world?
"Grief" reads fast, its writing style is efficient, and the book was quite the page-turner for me. There were moments when I'd have seen the characters a little more developed, though, and this is why I'm not giving it 5 stars. But overall, I definitely liked it.
This collection of short stories revolves around the way in which different people react to the upcoming end of the world. Faced with an event nobody can help avoid—a meteor due to strike the Earth a few days later—the five people put in the limelight in this novella all display facets of the human psyche, some noble, some very ugly. Anger whose only outlet is to resort to violence. Acceptance, but not without a cost. Feelings of depression, leading to unexpected reactions.
The themes dealt with here are harsh and cruel. No sugarcoating, no complete bravery either. The people involved end up discovering some things about themselves they had never suspected, and at the end of every story, they are forever changed—well, "forever" not being meant to last for very long, granted. Said themes may upset some readers, but I found them fascinating all the same, for all the questions they raised. How would we react in similar situations? Would we give in to our darker instincts, or not? Can we be sure, right now, in the safety of our world, that we wouldn't become like one of the anti-heroes in "Grief"? Or would we find out treasures of courage in ourselves, just like the cop who decided he'd die as he had lived, on his own terms, even though this meant dying before the rest of the world?
"Grief" reads fast, its writing style is efficient, and the book was quite the page-turner for me. There were moments when I'd have seen the characters a little more developed, though, and this is why I'm not giving it 5 stars. But overall, I definitely liked it.
August 15, 2014
Well written and thought-provoking. Grief explores the big question of how to react when the world is coming to an end. Five interconnected stories show different perspectives, different reactions, different struggles to find meaning in the face of a loss so giant that everything we know is about to be wiped away.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews