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Torn Pages
Stories, fantastic and mundane, to inspire, terrify, awe, and confound you...
From 2nd Amendment rights
to questions of agency
From the meaning of honor
to the bounds of tradition
Welcome to the front line of your world...
From 2nd Amendment rights
to questions of agency
From the meaning of honor
to the bounds of tradition
Welcome to the front line of your world...
- GenresShort Stories
206 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2015
355 people want to read
About the author
Brandon H. Bell
14 books3 followersBrandon H. Bell is a fiction author published in venues including Underland Arcana, Apex Magazine, and Hadley Rille Books. He has edited two anthologies, Torn Pages and The Aether Age, both with Christopher Fletcher, and founded the magazine Fantastique Unfettered.
He lives in the Dallas Metroplex with his family.
He lives in the Dallas Metroplex with his family.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 3, 2015
I'll start by saying this isn't my usual kind of anthology. Normally, the collections of short fiction that I read are full of stories involving hideous monster-creatures, or human-killing alien creatures, or undead hungry-for-living-flesh creatures. (And sometimes, during my more shameful times, people who have sex with some or all of the aforementioned creatures.)
This collection, though, deals with freedoms. Freedoms imagined, or taken for granted, or stripped away, or taken to a ridiculous level. This is some thinky-level short fiction. And I am grateful to the publishers for providing me with an ARC copy in exchange for a fair review.
So my review is thus: this book made me THINK. Not allowing you to just devour words like candy, these stories had some mind-gristle that gets caught in your teeth. You had to puzzle over some. You had to steel yourself and deal with others.
Some of my favorites in this anthology were the stories by Amberle L. Husbands, Forrest Aguirre, and Marissa James, but I didn't dislike a single story. That's pretty rare in a short story collection, dontcha think? Yes, I do think. This book MADE me think. I've already gone over that.
Above and beyond the stories, though, it's actually the introduction by the editor, Brandon H. Bell, that really stuck with me. He writes of his daughter's school removing pages from Anne Frank's famous diary before handing it over as teaching material. He states, and I'm paraphrasing here, that you can't fucking teach PART of history. You can't cover someone's eyes during the bad parts and think that they'll learn anything other than that mistruth is acceptable.
I wholeheartedly agree, and with this in mind, I loved the glimpses of freedoms and lack thereof that this collection gave me.
This collection, though, deals with freedoms. Freedoms imagined, or taken for granted, or stripped away, or taken to a ridiculous level. This is some thinky-level short fiction. And I am grateful to the publishers for providing me with an ARC copy in exchange for a fair review.
So my review is thus: this book made me THINK. Not allowing you to just devour words like candy, these stories had some mind-gristle that gets caught in your teeth. You had to puzzle over some. You had to steel yourself and deal with others.
Some of my favorites in this anthology were the stories by Amberle L. Husbands, Forrest Aguirre, and Marissa James, but I didn't dislike a single story. That's pretty rare in a short story collection, dontcha think? Yes, I do think. This book MADE me think. I've already gone over that.
Above and beyond the stories, though, it's actually the introduction by the editor, Brandon H. Bell, that really stuck with me. He writes of his daughter's school removing pages from Anne Frank's famous diary before handing it over as teaching material. He states, and I'm paraphrasing here, that you can't fucking teach PART of history. You can't cover someone's eyes during the bad parts and think that they'll learn anything other than that mistruth is acceptable.
I wholeheartedly agree, and with this in mind, I loved the glimpses of freedoms and lack thereof that this collection gave me.
April 5, 2015
This is a collection of thirteen new works by thirteen different new authors. For once, I suggest you consider reading the introduction. It is well done. On to the content.
The first story: to summarize, 'modern science fiction: a dystopia of loaded guns.' This is about Steve Donnelly and 'Do You Have a Weapon, Sir?'
Donnelly’s handling of character and description is superb. For example, this: “A heavy man stood next in line, fifty-ish, clean-shaven, intense blue eyes. Tight. Enclosed. A type of guy, I figured, used to giving orders. Never asking for things, just reaching. And smiling faintly at jokes to fit into the conversation. His only genuine laughter would occur at his Saturday night poker games where he would drink shots of whisky and give a harsh hah-hah laugh at all the off-color jokes.”
Notice how both the other person, and the chief protagonist, are exposed by these thoughts.
You will find humour throughout this tale, which is essentially set in a dystopian version of the United States, where almost everyone travels carrying loaded firearms. Pretty much every annoying part of normal air travel is ‘sent up’ somewhere, plus the dystopian aspect - Donnelly’s vehicle which drives the story forward.
A trivial (gun-related, of course) accident turns into a major incident. If you’re looking for social commentary on gun control and the attitudes of some nutty firearms owners, this tale is definitely going to make you both laugh and think.
I can assure you that Donnelly’s research is impeccable. All technical matters (gun models, air procedures) are correct. No distractions.
And that's only the first story. It just keeps on giving, this book.
The second story, Mitty Starving Dog Ghost Dances the White Away, has aboriginal protagonists and underscores the treatment the same sometimes receive, as in this: “When the cop told him to get out me and Becka knew we were in trouble. Not because Mitty couldn’t walk a straight line, but because the cop had crooked eyes.” This fun story turns into social commentary, and will haunt you long after you finish it.
The third story, Ghost Images, is cleverly woven entertainment around social inequality, for example this: “Each morning they stuff themselves into tailored suits, fedoras, and shiny shoes, kiss their lipsticked, beehived-haired wives, and climb into their big-finned Cadillacs, steering with hands heavy with diamond rings and stains of imported cigarettes. At work, they drink coffee in florescent lit conference rooms and chat about design efficiencies and signal flow. My dad understands that they are educated and deserve these happy lives.” This story is not trivial, for example this: “As much as I try, I cannot write a reasonable paper based on the ingredients listed on the back of a tamale, Mexican rice, and flan TV dinner box. I ask Simon how airplanes work and he talks me through a quick page about the survival rates of low altitude bombing crews.”
The fourth story, You Got Somewhere Better to Be, is about prejudice. The first protagonist is described thus: “She is agnostic and the promise of a better afterlife is something like the promise of a better undersea kingdom for mermaids. How nice if such things exist, but you don’t set up a twenty-year plan to meet the mermaids at the dock.” And from the other protagonist’s point of view, this: “Chemistry dies with this life, race is a temporary barrier if you’re faithful, and gender is forever.” This is a powerful commentary on life choices and pressures not to make one’s own.
The fifth story, The Devil’s Details, is in a sense about entrapment. It is Science Fiction ‘class A’, wherein a single assumption added to the real world creates the story. It blends social commentary with the human condition. No spoiler quotes hear, buy the anthology and turn to this tale. Fabulous.
The sixth story, Among the Aspens, is a tour-de-force of the world from a very different mind. I am reminded of Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury.
The seventh is a modern fairy story. No further spoilers here. It is well done. The eighth is, in a sense, about self-image; weird and satisfying. The ninth is about ‘Judge Not.’ The next, tenth story, is an old-fashioned, and unpleasant, fairy story. Tragic.
This is followed by a further story about gun madness, in its own unique dystopia. Children instead of adults. Scary.
Then we come to The Destriers. A Mediaeval story. This is powerful writing, for example this: “Jurgen knew, then, that his father’s spirit had saddled up the ghost of old Sturmschneide and taken him on parade, prancing through the gates of heaven, his hooves treading the grey clouds of their moisture, which fell from the sky now, disguising Jurgen’s tears.” And this incredible passage: “They stayed on the estate’s grounds, never leaving its acreage, near enough to be available in case of an emergency, far enough away that the sound of Wolkenbruch’s hooves drowned Margretta’s cries of agony. Each stomp was a drumbeat calling the child forth into the world, a chant of war, love, and peace. Jurgen could feel his nervousness disappear, trampled under Wolkenbruch’s prancing thunder.” A few clips don’t give the range and power of this piece. Of the many excellent stories here, this is a favourite. Is a horse worth a life? Will it risk its own to save it?
Finally we have the poem Bloom.
Star counts usually are hard. My personal guidelines, when doing any review, are as follows: five stars means, roughly equal to best in genre. Rarely given. Four stars means, extremely good. Three stars means, definitely recommendable. I am a tough reviewer. I try hard to be consistent.
On their own, many (most) of these works would get five stars, and that from this curmudgeon. This is a collection of stories all at the four-plus level, egad. In my youth I often read physical collections of SciFi stories. This is about as good as the best of them. In short, roughly equal to best in genre: up against Robert Silverberg, Jamie Zerndt, Eusebius Clay, and Ursula K Le Guin? YES. Five stars it is, and a stunning read. Extremely recommended.
Jim Bennett
(Note: this reviewer received a free copy of this book for an independent review. He is not associated with the authors or WeirdBard.)
The first story: to summarize, 'modern science fiction: a dystopia of loaded guns.' This is about Steve Donnelly and 'Do You Have a Weapon, Sir?'
Donnelly’s handling of character and description is superb. For example, this: “A heavy man stood next in line, fifty-ish, clean-shaven, intense blue eyes. Tight. Enclosed. A type of guy, I figured, used to giving orders. Never asking for things, just reaching. And smiling faintly at jokes to fit into the conversation. His only genuine laughter would occur at his Saturday night poker games where he would drink shots of whisky and give a harsh hah-hah laugh at all the off-color jokes.”
Notice how both the other person, and the chief protagonist, are exposed by these thoughts.
You will find humour throughout this tale, which is essentially set in a dystopian version of the United States, where almost everyone travels carrying loaded firearms. Pretty much every annoying part of normal air travel is ‘sent up’ somewhere, plus the dystopian aspect - Donnelly’s vehicle which drives the story forward.
A trivial (gun-related, of course) accident turns into a major incident. If you’re looking for social commentary on gun control and the attitudes of some nutty firearms owners, this tale is definitely going to make you both laugh and think.
I can assure you that Donnelly’s research is impeccable. All technical matters (gun models, air procedures) are correct. No distractions.
And that's only the first story. It just keeps on giving, this book.
The second story, Mitty Starving Dog Ghost Dances the White Away, has aboriginal protagonists and underscores the treatment the same sometimes receive, as in this: “When the cop told him to get out me and Becka knew we were in trouble. Not because Mitty couldn’t walk a straight line, but because the cop had crooked eyes.” This fun story turns into social commentary, and will haunt you long after you finish it.
The third story, Ghost Images, is cleverly woven entertainment around social inequality, for example this: “Each morning they stuff themselves into tailored suits, fedoras, and shiny shoes, kiss their lipsticked, beehived-haired wives, and climb into their big-finned Cadillacs, steering with hands heavy with diamond rings and stains of imported cigarettes. At work, they drink coffee in florescent lit conference rooms and chat about design efficiencies and signal flow. My dad understands that they are educated and deserve these happy lives.” This story is not trivial, for example this: “As much as I try, I cannot write a reasonable paper based on the ingredients listed on the back of a tamale, Mexican rice, and flan TV dinner box. I ask Simon how airplanes work and he talks me through a quick page about the survival rates of low altitude bombing crews.”
The fourth story, You Got Somewhere Better to Be, is about prejudice. The first protagonist is described thus: “She is agnostic and the promise of a better afterlife is something like the promise of a better undersea kingdom for mermaids. How nice if such things exist, but you don’t set up a twenty-year plan to meet the mermaids at the dock.” And from the other protagonist’s point of view, this: “Chemistry dies with this life, race is a temporary barrier if you’re faithful, and gender is forever.” This is a powerful commentary on life choices and pressures not to make one’s own.
The fifth story, The Devil’s Details, is in a sense about entrapment. It is Science Fiction ‘class A’, wherein a single assumption added to the real world creates the story. It blends social commentary with the human condition. No spoiler quotes hear, buy the anthology and turn to this tale. Fabulous.
The sixth story, Among the Aspens, is a tour-de-force of the world from a very different mind. I am reminded of Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury.
The seventh is a modern fairy story. No further spoilers here. It is well done. The eighth is, in a sense, about self-image; weird and satisfying. The ninth is about ‘Judge Not.’ The next, tenth story, is an old-fashioned, and unpleasant, fairy story. Tragic.
This is followed by a further story about gun madness, in its own unique dystopia. Children instead of adults. Scary.
Then we come to The Destriers. A Mediaeval story. This is powerful writing, for example this: “Jurgen knew, then, that his father’s spirit had saddled up the ghost of old Sturmschneide and taken him on parade, prancing through the gates of heaven, his hooves treading the grey clouds of their moisture, which fell from the sky now, disguising Jurgen’s tears.” And this incredible passage: “They stayed on the estate’s grounds, never leaving its acreage, near enough to be available in case of an emergency, far enough away that the sound of Wolkenbruch’s hooves drowned Margretta’s cries of agony. Each stomp was a drumbeat calling the child forth into the world, a chant of war, love, and peace. Jurgen could feel his nervousness disappear, trampled under Wolkenbruch’s prancing thunder.” A few clips don’t give the range and power of this piece. Of the many excellent stories here, this is a favourite. Is a horse worth a life? Will it risk its own to save it?
Finally we have the poem Bloom.
Star counts usually are hard. My personal guidelines, when doing any review, are as follows: five stars means, roughly equal to best in genre. Rarely given. Four stars means, extremely good. Three stars means, definitely recommendable. I am a tough reviewer. I try hard to be consistent.
On their own, many (most) of these works would get five stars, and that from this curmudgeon. This is a collection of stories all at the four-plus level, egad. In my youth I often read physical collections of SciFi stories. This is about as good as the best of them. In short, roughly equal to best in genre: up against Robert Silverberg, Jamie Zerndt, Eusebius Clay, and Ursula K Le Guin? YES. Five stars it is, and a stunning read. Extremely recommended.
Jim Bennett
(Note: this reviewer received a free copy of this book for an independent review. He is not associated with the authors or WeirdBard.)
April 27, 2015
I won this book from Goodreads and was asked to give an honest review. I like anthologies in general, because it introduces me to authors that I may not have read before. This was certainly the case with Torn Pages. The introduction was enlightening and interesting. The rest of the book varied. Some of the stories I liked better than others, which is usually the case with anthologies. One common aspect of the stories, is that all of them make you think and have an opinion. I really liked that! I would honestly recommend this book.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews