The Not a Book Club Club discussion

Discuss the story Name the Beast by Sam Sykes.

No spoiler tags required. Though it would be highly appreciated if you Uncheck Add to my Update Feed to avoid accidentally spoiling this for your good read friends.

Please do not discuss other stories in this thread.

One of the best stories in this anthology.

Mother and child go into the forest to complete an initiation ritual - they are hunting a beast. The father wants to make sure that the child accomplishes the task.

Sykes works with elliptical constructions to transport emotions and changing perspectives. The masterful prose alone makes the story memorable but also the transported emotions working around the concept of humanity.
The surprising and open ending concludes why I think that this is short story how it should be.

5 stars for it.

I haven't read anything by Sykes and now I wonder what I should read by him.

Good story, all around. The structure of each of the characters' sections was well done and did a lot to make them feel unique and distinct.

There's also a strong possibility that Mr. Sykes has written his way into my good graces by submitting a fantasy short story to an anthology that I've been hoping would have more fantasy in it. I'm not saying that I was expecting more stories like this in something with GRRM's name on the front... no, wait, that's exactly what I'm saying.

Regardless, an author I've never read earned himself another reader, and I got to discover a new author who's stuff I may enjoy. So thank you, Sam Sykes, for pulling Dangerous Women up from "book that had a couple stories I knew I would like going in" to "successful anthology" in my mind. Grabbing your first book now.