Status Updates From When Swords Fall Silent: An...

"Why I'm Tired of Stones and Symphonies" by Andrew Rowe - Another one of these stories that seems to be rooted in some larger book series. The story itself was OK, even interesting, to a point, but there was too much left unexplained that just leaves you feeling a bit disoriented the whole time.

"Pearl's Price" by Marie Brennan - Confusing and weird. Just tell me the story; don't try to be too clever in the telling! DNF.

"Dead Run" by R.J. Barker - Started off well... A small band of Confederate soldiers looking to assassinate one last big Union soldier after the end of the war... then they run into some supernatural weirdness. Didn't do it for me.

"Tabula Rasa: Training Day" by Luke Chmilenko - I think this was what they call LitRPG. We follow a dude's avatar in a MMORPG, with character stats and everything, on his first mission.

Boy was that dumb! If I want to experience a videogame, I'll just boot up the old Playstation, thanks.

"The Twists of Fate" by Peter A. Flannery — Some kind of complex plot to (not) assassinate a Faerie Queen. Meh. This read like it was part of some larger work (maybe it is), but I've never been much of a fan of 'Faerie', and this didn't change my mind at all.

"Mortopia" by M. L. Wang — Interesting musings on the very nature of humanity: are we fundamentally creatures defined by our mortality or by our creativity? An assassin to Mars (this is set in the distant future) must decide... Excellent!

"War Powers" by Jonathan French — Set in an alternate history where Germany overpowers Britain (Churchill apparently died before he could give his famous speech of defiance) in 1940, and four 'superheroes' team up to assassinate a German 'superhero' nicknamed 'The Iron Chancellor'. Good!

"May Luck Be With You" by Michael J. Sullivan — The reason I bought this book. We get some classic Royce 'super-assassin' action, and some backstory on Royce's name. Awesome!

Too many of these stories are just extended fight scenes.

Mission of Mercy was intense in a very different way from the rest of the stories. I saw the final twist coming from a mile away, but I think there was a certain degree of dramatic irony intended with that. I also really enjoyed the interactions between Malbarus and Lulea. Not the type of story I expected the collection to end on, but it was ultimately quite a special choice and a good note to end on.

A Simple Thing was quick and intense. This was an assassin story in the purest sense and such a fascinating read over all. I also liked the reflective, journal style of the prose. The climax of the story was superb as well.