Malon Edwards

I recently read a good anthology called Four in the Morning. This is a collection of four novellas all centering around a different age in life . One story focuses on young kids, one on teenagers, one on a middle age woman and on on an elderly man. The first story is a steampunk story named Half Dark by Malon Edwards. This is a coming of age story about a mermaid/robot girl living in a dangerous world who finds that she is much more then she thought she was. This story has a little bit of everything, witches, faeries, pirates and boys with chin chins.

I love the made up language in this one, even if I didn't fully understand it. All of the characters were great and the setting were excellent. This story also has the best character name I've ever heard which is: Big Poppa The Draws Dropper. You gotta love the creativity that goes into steampunk. This story is funny yet exciting and very unique at the same time.

The second story is Gully Gods by Edward M. Erdelac. This is an urban fantasy with some real life horror thrown in. The story follows a gang member named J-Hoss who after killing a man in Huston has to move to Chicago with his aunt and young cousin but trouble finds him and he is forced into the middle of a gang war.

The author must have done a lot of research on gangs for this story because there is quite a bit of gang lingo used here. This story was frighteningly realistic and extremely violent. The story moves along quickly and it is very well written. I liked how J-Hoss is given a chance to change but because he is so used to things being a certain way he can't do it. I also liked finding out about the god that is behind the gang war and the conversation that happens at the end of the story.

Next up is Queen by Lincoln Crisler. This one follows a woman named Rita who just had her 42nd birthday. Rita is not happy with her self image so she decides to take part in an age reversing treatment experiment that has some interesting side effects. What I liked about this story was hearing Rita's feelings about getting older and her reaction to what is happening to her. This was a science fiction tale with an ending that could have been explained a litle better but was still entertaining.

The last story is an all out horror tale called Cenotaph by Tim Marquitz. It follows a religious 73 year old man named James who has to live with the horror of out living all of his loved ones. Which to me was the scariest part of the story. He finds out by accident that his family are not in their graves and then sees his grandson who has been dead for 10 years in a liquor store. James is left to discover the mystery of what happened to his family and the answer may ruin everything he believes in. This was a great horror story that was suspenseful right up until the end. All of the stories in Four In The Morning we're great and well worth your time.… (lisätietoja)

Four in the Morning is an unusual anthology, in that instead of collecting a lot of short stories, it is made up of four novellas, loosely based on different stages of life (youth, early adulthood, middle age, and old age). The genres and styles of these dark tales vary as well, from steampunk (“Half Dark” by Malon Edwards) to urban fantasy (“Gully Gods” by Edward M. Erdelac) to science fiction (“Queen” by Lincoln Crisler) to horror (“Cenotaph” by Tim Marquitz). I enjoyed all four offerings, though it took me a bit to warm up to “Gully Gods”. Malon Edwards’ “Half Dark” was my favorite of the quartet, though, by turns dark, strange, charming, and memorable–qualities I only sometimes find in steampunk stories.… (lisätietoja)