Volume 0: Issue One

Volume 0

by Abby Geni, Juliet Escoria, Jean Kwok

Darker. Edgier. Strang-er

We like our stories intense, offbeat, and fun in the slightly naughty way. So expect bad behavior, adult themes, a little magic and a bit of menace. You might not like all of these stories. But we certainly don't think you'll be bored.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Book Club, Anthologies

131 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2024

About the author

Abby Geni is the author of The Lightkeepers, winner of the 2016 Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award for Fiction and the inaugural Chicago Review of Books Awards for Best Fiction, and The Last Animal (2013), an Indies Introduce Debut Writers Selection and a finalist for the Orion Book Award. Her short stories have won first place in the Glimmer Train Fiction Open and the Chautauqua Contest and have appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies. Geni is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and a recipient of the Iowa Fellowship. Her website is www.abbygeni.com.

Reviews

[Trisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short story mix published exclusively by Book of the Month. Per the back of the book, many of these short stories have either already been published previously or will soon be released in another short story collection.

There are 7 stories and they range from 3 pages to 30 pages. There were 3 stories that I absolutely loved, 2 that I liked and 2 that were definitely not my jam. It's an interesting mix and didn't seem to be all one genre but each were a small mix of a few. I'd grab another of these from Book of the month, especially now that I know what kind of book I'm getting (soft cover) and that the mix is interesting and eclectic. A nice change of pace for BOTM.

[Kallie · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting concept, and honestly about the right length for a short story collection - much longer and I lose interest. The first few weren't my favorite, the second half were much more interesting. I loved Greensleeves and A Spell for Disappearing, and Lemon Boy and Heat were both fascinating/thought provoking. The Reclamation was very Nine Perfect Strangers condensed into 30 pages, and the Hot Girl and the Next Husband Game were meh.

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first volume of a (semi-regular?) short story collection from Book of the Month. And here already is my first complaint: it's stupid and not fair to these authors or your loyal members that we have to have your APP installed to get the Volume 0's. Why isn't it available on the website? WHY?

Oof, ok, where was I? Book of the Month was trying something new (and the short story collections don't take up a precious book slot in your box, so that is good.) The stories were just ok for me, but honestly unless I'm reading a top drawer literary journal like Paris Review, The New Yorker, or Tin House(RIP), I rarely click with this type of short fiction which I'd vaguely classify as fancy pants wanna-be Raymond Carver stories that are meaningful with a capital M and often don't go anywhere.

Here are the stories and the authors:

"The Hot Girl" by Juliet Escoria--This was ok? It felt like a "here's some crazy shit that happened to me once" type of tale that a new coworker might tell you.

"The Next Husband Game" by Mary Jones--Also ok. I thought the idea was intriguing (a husband and wife turn a joke into a passive aggressive fight into a straight-forward aggressive fight) but it was too short to give much.

"The Reclamation" by Lena Valencia--A darkly comic tale of a sketchy wellness retreat investigates the lengths some of us will go to in order to belong. I'd read something else by this author.

"Lemon Boy" by Puloma Ghosh--Probably my favorite story in the collection, about a girl who meets a boy with a unique backstory at a party. Yes, there's a lot more but it's impossible to describe.

"Greensleeves" by Christine Vines--Some dude refuses to register the color green and for some reason this is a big deal to everybody. Least favorite.

Uhm....so I just realized there were two more stories in this collection ("Heat" by Jean Kwok and "A Spell for Disappearing" by Abby Geni) and I've sold the book to Half Price so I have no reviews for them. Sorry for the lame half review, I'm moving in a few months and in a culling frenzy.

BOTM billed this as a just for fun add-on and it was, although I don't know if I'll buy it every time (I DID buy the second edition but haven't started it.)

[Lauren Marvin]

not giving this any stars because I literally think I’m too stupid to understand short stories !

[sydnee · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Do not attempt this magic lightly. You must be willing to risk everything to succeed, even your health, even your safety.”

Interesting short stories.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

i feel very neutral about this

it was good but not like omg i love it
but for a 33 page short story it did a very good job of setting everything up and ending to satisfyingly!

[AmyReadsAll · Rating 3 out of 5]

Odd stories but fun to have the start of what I hope will be many future short story anthologies from Book of the Month.

[Jessica Mason · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh.

[Kiley Olchaskey · Rating 1 out of 5]

While I did not select "Volume Zero: Issue One" in my box for BOTM, I was gifted a sample of "A Spell for Disappearing" by Abby Geni in my August box by the company. This story is trying to be -- and do -- a lot of things and ultimately it fell flat on every single aspect. I think that an author can do a lot work in the second person, but Geni seemed to be writing in this perspective usage to do something quirky and different. One of the first things I learned in my creative writing class is that using the 2nd person perspective SHOULD NOT be used "to be different" or "to be quirky", it should be used when adds something to a story. The usage of second person took away from the reading experience more then it added.

Abby Geni seemed to be using "big" words for the sake of using big, unheard-of words. I.E. Geni used the word "Mettle" in a sentence which according to google has a 0.000046% usage, as well, some other words pulled straight from a google search of "[word] synonym". Several of these words are seemingly used incorrectly and make no sense in the context of the sentence they are a part of. This was on top of the fact that Geni had a severe overuse of metaphors -- such as "What is heroin if not synthetic magic, an escape from reality, a manufactured dream-state?" -- made the book confusing, overwritten, and at points hard to follow.

Additionally, Geni had no concept of what run on sentences were. There would be times where she would have seven or eight complete ideas jammed into one sentence. A comma isn't that powerful. While I do think the idea of the book is interesting, the execution was poor enough then it's worse than some of the products from my undergrad introduction to creative writing class.

At the end of the day, the grammar/word usage wasn't even the worst part of this book. The plot is all over the place, with seemingly out of nowhere introducing domestic abuse -- both physical and financial -- as well a thinly vailed metaphor for escaping your abuser being magic/spell. This is something that I really wish that BOTM would have provided a trigger warning for as both the explicit sex and abuse plot lines were not something I was expecting in a free sample story.

Overall, this story, while a fast read, was not worth the time that I spent reading it and really wished BOTM had chosen literally any other story to send as a free sample.

[Lana · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.75 stars.

Short story collections advertised as "dark" and "offbeat" are some of my favorite things to read. I saw that this collection didn't have the best ratings but went into it optimistic anyway and um. Well.



The Hot Girl ⭐️.5: There's a really hot girl in a friend group who gets hot girl privileges, I guess? I for the life of me cannot understand why whoever put this collection together decided to put this story first. The plot was uninteresting, the writing was ???, and the transitions gave me whiplash.

The Next Husband Game ⭐️⭐️.5: Marital drama. Pretty short. Nothing exceptional to say about this one.

The Reclamation ⭐️⭐️⭐️.25: A probably-cult retreat in the desert? This story had ALL the elements for a great time. The ending didn't really do it for me unfortunately, but I would 100% read a novel about this.

Lemon Boy ⭐️⭐️⭐️: Our MC recounts her experience years ago with someone she met at a party and dubbed Lemon Boy. I get what message the author was trying to send here but sometimes it got lost and confusing as they tried to swap between metaphors and the supernatural. Had a lot of potential.

Greensleeves ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25: The story of a woman engaged to someone who can't see the color green. I LOVED THIS ONE. I LOVED THE WRITING, THE PLOT, THE ENDING... Life was made worth living again when I got to this one.

Heat ⭐️⭐️: Um.

A Spell For Disappearing ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: This story touches on the sad reality of abusive relationships. While it's a heavy topic, thank GOD the collection ended on a high note storytelling-wise. The plot here was great, the message was thought provoking, and the writing was my favorite in this collection.

Overall, an Okay read.

[Maria Chavez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Averaging all my raising together it’s a four
Here are my ratings and quick thoughts on each story

The Hot Girl ⭐️ what the hell eas the point?
The Next Husband Game ⭐️⭐️ better than the first one but still what was the point?
The Reclamation ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Love a good Culty story
Lemon ⭐️⭐️⭐️ it was odd in a good way but the ending could have been better
Greensleeves ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ it was a creative and unique story
Heat ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️my favorite on the anthology, gave me Albert Camus vibes, who is one of my all time favs
A Spell for Disappearing ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really enjoyed this and loved the message behind it

[Christine Medina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this collection of short stories!

[Terris · Rating 4 out of 5]

The issue that I received contained a story called "A Spell for Disappearing" by Abby Geni. I liked it a lot and will be looking for more from this author!

[Taylor Nicke · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Hot Girl ⭐️ felt like it ended right when the story was getting started
The Next Husband Game ⭐️ liked the idea but I knew what was gonna happen after the first paragraph
The Reclamation ⭐️⭐️⭐️ the first interesting one with a cult and a murder
Lemon Boy ⭐️⭐️ this one was cool to read but the ending fell flat for me
Greensleeves ⭐️⭐️⭐️ also very interesting and I liked the ending
Heat ⭐️ this is one that makes you think and I can see why others might like it but I felt gross reading it
A Spell For Disappearing ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ really enjoyed this one and thought it was well written

[Tessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a Book of the Month exclusive, a collection of seven short stories, ranging from 3 pages to 30. I really liked The Hot Girl, The Reclamation, and Greensleeves. Something new and I enjoyed it. These stories are taken from prior publications and introduced me to two authors I want to check out. They have another edition that I’ll want to get:

[arireadsthings · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite liked most of these stories. I’ve always been a short story type of gal and these ones got me thinking, for sure! I was not particularly fond of the last story, but otherwise, I really enjoyed this read.

[Daphne Rogozinski · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first I thought I was not going to like this because I am normally not into witchcraft or spells but that was almost a side note. The story was great and I was really invested in the main character. It was a great short story.

[Lesley · Rating 1 out of 5]

This really wasn’t very good. Only the last story was semi-decent, and if I had it to do over again I would have DNFed.

I regret ordering Issue Two before reading this one.

[Jaclyn Workentine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oddly compelling short stories, but most were pointless.

[Bri Chilleo · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting short story with my BOTM shipment.

[Josh Krysak · Rating 4 out of 5]

*3.5 stars

[Hannah Alden · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked these stories! Especially lemonboy and a spell for disappearing. All stories were super thought provoking.

[Loran · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s definitely.. interesting. Quite a bit of a mindfuck

[Daniel Knopf · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

A mostly interesting book of short stories.

[Ashlee Mintz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Literally could not get enough of these short stories! The last one “ A spell for disappearing “ was brilliant, thought about it for days!! Also loved lemon boy!!

[hunter · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5✨ interesting enough! i def want to dabble in more short stories in the new year though :) mainly just read this to meet my reading goal 😁

[Kelsie Christensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really excited for this book because I love anthologies. Overall, it was alright but not super special.

Breakdown of stories:

• The Hot Girl: 3 stars
• The Next Husband Game: 3 stars
• Lemon Boy: 4 stars
• Greensleeves: 3 stars
• Heat: 3.5 stars
• A Spell for Disappearing: 5 stars, loved this one!

[Miranda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a series of short stories exclusively sold by book of the month. There were 7 stories total. This is perfect if you're in a book slump, or just need something to read in between heavier novels.

I thought all 7 stories were 5 star reads. My favorite was Lemon boy & Greensleeves.

Can't wait for the next issue!

[Meredith Inglis · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Spell for Disappearing is the ONLY good thing about this.

I am deciding to cancel my BOTM because I’m tired of the poor quality, damaged books I have been getting.

This book was HORRIBLE quality. It’s a “paperback” that is very difficult to keep open. It has now ripped at the binding from my trying to hold it open. It’s trash. I’ve found better bound /quality books at the dollar tree. Too bad it cost me the cost of an add-on.

The other stories were way out there and meh. 😑

I was not impressed.

Maybe that is why it was printed so horribly, because almost all the content is horrible.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of a mixed bag. Overall I’m glad I tried it, but likely won’t purchase at full price. A Spell for Disappearing was the best of the bunch.