Mementoes

by Keith Brooke

Keith Brooke is the author of fourteen novels, seven collections, and over seventy short stories. His work has been shortlisted for both the Philip K Dick and the Seiun Award. Mementoes opens with the stunning title novella and is followed by eight more stories, two of which appear here for the first time

182 pages, Hardcover

First published December 15, 2016

Reviews

[Karl]

This is copy 16 of 100 signed and numbered copies signed by Keith Brooke.

''Momentoes" is book number 12 in Newcon Press Imaginings series consisting of:

Jan 2012 “Cold Grey Stones” - Tanith Lee
Apr 2012 “Last and First Contacts” - Stephen Baxter
Sep 2012 “Stories from the Northern Road” - Tony Ballantyne
Dec 2012 “Objects in Dreams “ - Lisa Tuttle
Apr 2013 “Microcosmos” - Nina Allan
Aug 2013 “Feast and Famine” - Adrian Tchaikovsky
Oct 2013 “Twember “ - Steve Rasnic Tem
Apr 2014 “Strange Visitors” - Eric Brown
Dec 2014 “Saint Rebor” - Adam Roberts
Apr 2015 “Sleeps with Angels” - Dave Hutchinson
Dec 2015 “The Light Warden” - Liz Williams
Dec 2016 “Momentoes” - Keith Roberts

[david james · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice assortment of Keith Brooke short stories (mainly involving alien contact), collected in a signed limited edition hardback by NewCon press.

There isn't really a weak story in there, with the highlights being the titular Memento (an alien contact story in four parts, each part told by a different unconnected character, who are brought together at the end) and probably the best 2 page SF story I've ever read (likeMe), which is a commentary on where social media is likely to be in the near future, with a bit of pandemic thrown in.

Another excellent story is War 3.01 - a future war that is won without the 'losers' even knowing they were in a war. There is also 'Sussed' which is another good 'future war' story which I'd previously read in another short story collection (Total Conflict) - but was well worth another read.