The Law of Consequences is an anthology that has been curated by W.A. Leggatt (Voices of the Ilskini), S.C. Gowland (The Soul’s AbyssTrilogy) and G.M. White (The Royal Champion) and is a collection of stories written by listeners of The Bestseller Experiment, a podcast hosted by Mark Desvaux (who writes as Mark Oliver and co- wrote Back to Reality with Mark Stay ) and Mark Stay (who writes as Mark Stay and is the author of The Witches of Woodville series, The End of Magic Series, and has also made two films, Robot Overlords and Unwelcome).
The anthology collects stories from twenty writers across the globe (including one from Mark Stay) and deals with the impact of the choices we make.
Throughout there is a mix of stories from the different authors. There are a number of standout stories in the collection, including time travel, humour, grimdark fantasy, fairytale and others. There were a number of standouts for me, starting with the first story, The Corridors of DeTrent House by Katie Baker (Maid of Steel), which on initial reading seems to be an unassuming portal fantasy set within a school. However, it then changes into a story about violence against women. The story was quite a surprise in all honesty. I am not particularly fond of stories set within magic schools, but the twist that the story surprised me.
The third story was one of my personal favourites. Andrew Chapman’s (Jack’s Game, The Mask Collector) The Many Crimes of Burtle Clearwater is a Pratchettesque romp that tells the story of Burtle Clearwater who invites a human man to live at his home for a few days with disastrous consequences.
The Reluctant Necromancer of Laragmor by G.M. White is an interesting tale about a group of adventurers who are hired to hunt down an infamous necromancer. The story has an interesting mix of humour amongst other things. There’s a wizard with ADHD and a necromancer called Geoff.
Another story that was on my radar was the story by Mark Stay which looks at a particular incident in his latest book, The End of Dragons from a different perspective.
The book closes with another of my favourite authors, SC Gowland, who closes the anthology with his tale of a debt collector who gets more than she bargained for.
Whilst these are some of my standouts in the collection, the whole anthology is pretty strong with not a bad one amongst them.
All in all, this is a good collection of stories that will delight any fantasy fan.