Ryan’s Reviews > MindWorks: An Uncanny Compendium of Short Fiction > Status Update

Presumed Destroyed with Brendan Shusterman is about the life of a hand gun. At first the gun is about to be destroyed but then is saved an illegally sold. The is sold and sold again passing the hands of three individuals. The story is very powerful and looks to the heart of gun violence in America. he story reminded me of Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds. I like the gun has a conscience and does not want violence. 4.8

I liked the set up and I liked Myles purpose for the trip. I still was scratching my head over the reason, I guess not messing with time. But if I think more about the time traveling aspect it doesn't make sense. The final twist was straight out of Goosebumps and I loved it. 3.8

Opabinia is about Myles who keeps being visited by time travelers set to give him a message, but they keep appearing in walls and other things. One finally makes contact and says he is destined to watch prehistoric sea creatures at the the Burgess Shale. He is given a time machine, and is told by the time traveler he is destined to push the button a tie travel 5000 years in the past. The story is a little mixed.

Majority Rules is about a person who is a fulcrum in arguments of the world. Like is the Earth round or Flat. when the fulcrum is the tie breaker our reality shifts in that direction. The fulcrum has to decide once again. The story is okay. It is a good idea but I was not a fan of the way this story was told. 2

Pea Soup is an interesting horror story where a family is on a road trip, and they keep seeing billboards for Pea Soup. It gets in their head that they need it, and when they taste it they become addicted. It reminded me of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. But they wanted to rule the world with Pea Soup. This on gave Goosebumps vibes. The imagery is really good and a little scary. 4.7

There's a slight cosmic horror vibe to this story. The ending was great one of my favorites in this collection. The premise gets a little ridiculous and repetitive, but maintains it's fun. 4.5

Bad Fortune at Richard Yee's is about Robin and her family. They have a tradition of going to Richard Yee's a Chinese restaurant and everyone reading the fortune out loud. Once Robin's aunt read a fortune meant as a joke predicted her aunt's death. Since that day Robin has not opened any cookies and instead has been reading she made herself. But something changed and now she is getting haunted by fortune cookies.

Fear-for-All is about Seth who is fearless, but obsessed with fear since he is not afraid of anything. He gets accepted into Oakheart Academy, where every student has an irrational fear but him. But he has a purpose, and one he might fear the results. This story was interesting. The ending was okay for me, I wanted more explanation for how the end turned out for Seth. The fears were interesting. 3.6

Number Two is a flash fiction piece that is a page long. The twist is at the end and it was good. This reminded me a lot of a digital called Life of Pumpkin. I was confused on this one trying to figure it out until the end where I chuckled. The story has some great personification. 4

The story was good but a little too slow. it builds up to an exciting ending, but the story is a bit of a slow burn. I like the character of Mr. Beausoleil the only living first generation colonist. The conspiracy was good and how Lowell figured it out. And what he now has to do to survive it. 4.1