Nemonymous Four

Nemonymous #4

by D.F. Lewis (Editor), Jay Lake, Jamie Rosen

Anthology containing the stories: “Apologising to the Concrete”, Jay Lake, “Creek Man”, Jamie Rosen, “The Death Knell”, S. D. Tullis, “Determining the Extent”, Adrian Fry, “Embrace”, Keith Brooke, “The Frog’s Pool”, Jetse de Vries, “Generous Furniture”, Trent Jamieson, “Leaves Like Hearts”, Rachel Kendall, “Like a Slow Motion War”, Allen Ashley & Andrew Hook, “My Burglar”, Gary McMahon, “Maledict Michela”, Brendan Connell, “Nocturne for Doghands”, Joe Murphy, “The Painter”, Dominy Clements, “The Rorschach-Interpreter”, D Harlan Wilson, “Sexy Beast”, Tony Mileman, “Vole Mountain”, Andrew Hook and “The Withering”, Bruce Golden.

96 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2004

About the author

Writer, editor and publisher, active in the small press. Winner of the British Fantasy Society Special Award (the Karl Edward Wagner Award) in 1998.

Reviews

[J. P. Wiske · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointingly, a return to Nemonymous 2 form: kind of aimless, non-genre, contemporary fiction that vaguely gestures at the trappings of horror/fantasy/etc. without actually delivering.

As always, there are at least a few standout stories (my favorites included: the sadly desperate "Apologising the the Concrete", the blackly funny "Determining the Extent", and transportively strange "The Frog's Pool", and the—again—sadly desperate "Leaves Like Hearts") but all too often, even among some of the better stories, many of the stories just seemed to fizzle out. Most frustratingly they did so while self-indulgently suggesting something profound.

This volume, with its stark white cover, is also known as the "Glass Onion" issue. Although "glass onion" is a highly polysymous term, I can see its applicability here. The blank cover, too. A poor illusion of substance...

Hopefully, the next one will have more to offer.