Kenny Martens’s Reviews > Cinnabar > Status Update

Sharking Down: Timnath Obregon recreates a giant extinct shark (named Sidhe) which attacks his rival Grimdahl. The computer Terminex orders them to settle their feud by combat, so Grimdahl creates a resurrectronic shark (named the Black Avenger) to fight Sidhe. The two sharks circle each other and swim out to sea as friends. I don’t rightly know what to make of this story.

Years Later: Vile. I’m not in the mood for a sick old man who murders and dismembers for fun and pleasure.

I don’t think I like this book. If I’m going to read shocking perverted filth it should at least be thought-provoking or eye-opening. This is not.

Hayes and the Heterogyne: Harry Vincent Blake is pulled from 1963 to Cinnabar. He learns a great deal about life and love; his mind is opened. He returns to 1963 and makes an impact. A satisfactory story. Good, even, if a bit too focused on sex. And the gender stuff may have seemed exotic at the time, but in the 2020s it feels a little quaint compared to the trans wokeness of American culture.

The Legend of Cougar Lou Landis: an unhappy woman commits murder by memory theft, imagining herself to be a hero a-la Robin Hood: stealing memories from talented successful people and giving them to poor cripples.

Gray Matters: endless parties, eternal life, ennui, mindwipe, fake people and artificial love. Inscrutable and unsatisfactory.

The Road to Cinnabar: decent gimmick story
Jade Blue: incomprehensible and unsatisfactory