Category Archives: Science Fiction and Fantasy

Second Chances: A Review of Hologram Kebab

Book cover for Hologram Kebab by Phillip Carter. Image on cover shows a robot hand hovering underneath a levitating kebab wrap that’s filled with meat, cheese, and beans. Title: Hologram Kebab

Author: Phillip Carter

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: October 12, 2023

Genres: Science Fiction

Length: 32 pages

Source: I received

Rating: 2.5 Stars

Blurb:

Anya has the worst hangover in history. Not only has the kebab gone cold, but her cheating boyfriend is back, and he’s a ghost. But that’s not all, he’s convinced that he is alive, and that Anya is dead. Or half-dead. Something terrible happened last night, and now the couple is in techno-limbo.

 

It all started when Keaton sent a naughty picture to Anya’s best friend, and it all ends with a gadget Anya was about to throw away.

Review:

Content Warning: Alcohol use, a hangover, infidelity.

Sometimes relationships can be toughest part of life.

I liked Anya as a person and understood why she was so frustrated with her boyfriend. They’d had some serious conflicts over the years and sadly didn’t seem particularly compatible with one another anymore. It was interesting to see her wrestle with her attachment to him and remember the good times they had shared as she decided whether or not to continue investing in their relationship. She was a sensible person, and I knew she’d think through all of her choices carefully.

The ending left a lot to be desired for me as a reader due to how abrupt it was. In one scene, the plot was chugging head nicely, and then it suddenly ended without tying up the majority of the loose ends that had me so interested in this tale. I desperately wanted to give this one a higher rating due to how much I appreciated the author’s creativity, but the way the last scene was written made difficult for me to justify giving away more stars.

This short story had a playful writing style that kept me engaged with the plot despite my frustrations with certain aspects of it. I appreciated the risks the author took with how he described certain things like Anya eating a leftover kebab or how she reacted to her boyfriend when he suddenly appeared and shared some disturbing news with her. Mr. Carter knows how to write memorable descriptions, and I will be keeping an eye out for his future work.

Hologram Kebab had a fascinating premise.

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Christmas for Everyone: A Review of Snowfall

Book cover for Snow Fall: A Prophecy Series Short Christmas Story by Liz Bullard. Image on cover shows a black woman with an Afro standing outside and looking at a large snowy mountain. She’s wearing a warm, dark jacket and looks cozy. Title: Snowfall

Author: Liz Bullard

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: August 22, 2022

Genres: Fantasy, Holiday

Length: 54 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

Sometimes spreading holiday cheer leads to a bit of disaster…

In “Snow Fall,” readers are transported to a fantastical world filled with elemental magic and mighty warriors. In this short side adventure, readers are introduced to the world of Zodia and the central characters. The Chosen One, Tabatha, longs to share a piece of her native land with a strange world full of fierce warriors, but her naivete may bring about the opposite of holiday cheer. As Tabatha struggles to control her abilities and spread holiday spirit, she must also navigate the path to doing the right thing in a world filled with danger and uncertainty. Will she be able to make amends and save the holiday season, or will her actions lead to devastation and ruin?

The Prophecy Series, a three-part adventure, is set in a fantastical world rife with elemental magic and mighty warriors. This novella, a short side adventure, introduces the world of Zodia and the central characters.

Review:

Hope is essential for a good life.

Christmas isn’t celebrated in Zodia, so Tabatha has her work cut out for her when she attempts to help the people who live there understand the many bizarre traditions like cutting down trees that nobody in Zodia would think to do for perfectly understandable reasons that other readers should discover for themselves. Some of the most interesting scenes were the ones that explored all of the reactions to this holiday, from confusion to horror to curiosity to cautious joy.

I would have liked to more attention paid to a mistake the main character made that had serious repercussions for the village she was staying in. It involved her performing magic without knowing how to properly guide her powers or ensure that they had the right effect on the land. When her actions destroyed some crops, I was expecting her to be in huge trouble. What actually happened was disappointing due to how quickly everyone around her brushed it off. Just because she’s the Chosen One doesn’t mean that everything she does is the correct choice, after all, so I wish those scenes had been explained better.

Speaking of mixed reactions, I loved the way the characters reacted to each other’s opinions about Christmas as well. There was so much kindness in their interactions, and no one was pressured to feel any sort of way about this new experience for them no matter whether their impression were positive, negative, or somewhere in between those two extremes. This is something I wish were more common in our world as the pressure to express nothing but happy feelings about Christmas can overshadow the moments of joy I might otherwise find in it. Kudos to the author for creating such sensitive and sensible characters!

Snowfall was an interesting glimpse into a new fantasy world.

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Top Ten Tuesday: The Ten Most Recent Additions to My Bookshelf


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

A person who is all wrapped up in a a warm winter coat and a red and black headscarf is sitting on a snowy bench in a park reading a book. You can see evergreen trees covered in a thick layer of snow in front of them, too. I was originally thinking about discussing library books this week, but December is such a busy month for me that I needed to finish this post well in advance and therefore would probably have already read (or DNF) any library books I had on my radar when I wrote it by the time this goes live.

Therefore, I’m going to be discussing books I’ve bought or downloaded for free but have not read yet (with two exceptions) instead.

Every Thursday, I share a list of free speculative fiction books on Mastodon. Everything but the first book on this list came from those toots, but they may or may not still be free by the time this post goes live.

Here are my answers and why I’m excited about them.

 

Book cover for The Long Arms by Michael Kanaly. Image on cover shows a fire burning brightly. There is a rock in front of the fire that has a few deer or cows painted on it in a prehistoric style.

 

1. The Long Arms by Michael Kanaly

Why I’m Interested: As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I’m fascinated by Neanderthals and read everything I can find – both fiction and nonfiction – about them. This looks like it could be a great story.

 

Book cover for Magic, Mistletoe, & Murder by Ruby Blaylock. Image on cover shows a witch flying on her broom in front of a full moon. On the city street below two black cats sit together and peer up at her. The cats are surrounded by a red gift wrapped in a white bow, a witch’s hat, some Christmas lights, and a bat flying low to the ground.

2. Magic, Mistletoe, & Murder by Ruby Blaylock

Why I’m Interested: It’s a cozy mystery set at Christmas. I love reading gentle stories like this sometimes.

 

Book cover for Neuro Noir by Al Hess. Image on cover shows a drawing of about a dozen different eyes that all have black irises and sclera. the one in the centre is red instead!

3. Neuro Noir by Al Hess

Why I’m Interested: I actually have a review of this book scheduled for January 11, so stay tuned.  Artificial intelligence always makes for such interesting protagonists.

 

Book cover for Devil's Night - A Halloween Short Story by Richard Chizmar. Image on cover is a drawing of three jack-o-lanterns leering at the viewer as they sit in a field under the light of a full moon at night.

4. Devil’s Night – A Halloween Short Story by Richard Chizmar

Why I’m Interested: Halloween is my favourite holiday, so I read a lot books set then so long as they’re not gory.

 

(No cover photo)

5. Hologram Kebab by Phillip Kebar

Why I’m Interested: The title was what first grabbed my attention. Isn’t it creative? My review of this book is scheduled for January 4.

 

Book cover for Don’t Look Back - Short Halloween Stories by Jason Thomas. Image on cover shows small, black-and- white drawings of a scythe with blood dripping from it, a gravestone, a stake, and a mushroom that has a little dirt on it.

 

6. Don’t Look Back – Short Halloween Stories by Jason Thomas

Why I’m Interested: See #4. There are never enough non-gory Halloween stories for my tastes.

 

Book cover for The Ballad of Mary-Anne by Kody Boye. Image on cover shows a starry evening sky that is partially lit up with a beautiful pink and purple light shining up from the bottom of the page. It may be from a sunset?

7. The Ballad of Mary-Anne by Kody Boye

Why I’m Interested: One word – aliens. I think they’re such fascinating things to read about.

 

Book cover for Free Will by Lisa Shea. Image on cover shows a human skull that has some gears drawn onto it. I’m sorry, but I have no idea what that symbolizes either! I guess we’ll both have to read the book to find out. :)

8. Free Will by Lisa Shea

Why I’m Interested: Here’s a fun, quick little story for you. My spouse is adamant that free will doesn’t exist. This is not a topic I honestly think about very much, but sometimes I like to tease my spouse a little by picking rabbits or other random creatures and saying those animals have free will but no one else in the universe does. (Yes, we are a little geeky sometimes. Hehe).  So I want to read this book mostly because it reminds me of this silly memory.

 

Book cover for Life on the Other Side by Daniel Powell,. Image on cover shows a peaceful little cottage covered in several feet of snow. It’s surrounded by gigantic fir trees that are also covered in snow, and there is a friendly little light emanating from a window in the cottage. It is overall a peaceful and happy scene.

9. Life on the Other Side by Daniel Powell

Why I’m Interested: The cover looks rather peaceful, while the blurb promises a lot of conflict. I think it’s cool when there’s a little conflict between a blurb and a cover. Which one will win, I wonder?

 

Book cover for The Fall Of Denver - A Tribute Story to the Original War Of The Worlds By H.G. Wells’ by Richard Paolinelli. Image on cover is a black and white drawing of an alien spaceship that looks like it’s beginning to crash onto a large pile of rubble on Earth. Everything is so messily drawn that it’s hard to tell where the rubble ends and the alien vessel begins. This feels like an intentional choice on the part of the illustrator and makes me wonder what other parallels might be drawn between the two.

10. The Fall Of Denver – A Tribute Story to the Original War Of The Worlds By H.G. Wells’ by Richard Paolinelli

Why I’m Interested: I adored War of the Worlds and am so curious to see what a contemporary author does with those ideas.

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Reporting to Santa: A Review of Hellf on the Shelf

Book cover for Want to read Buy on Amazon CA Rate this book Hellf on the Shelf: A Christmas Short Story by Rumer Haven. Image on cover shows a ceramic toy elf looking up and over at a Christmas tree behind them.

(If anyone from the Top Ten Tuesday community is reading this, it’s a book I mentioned in a Top Ten Tuesday post last December. I saved it for this Christmas season to review!)

Title: Hellf on the Shelf

Author: Rumer Haven

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: December 3, 2017

Genres: Fantasy, Holiday, Contemporary

Length: 17 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author

Rating: 5 Stars

Blurb:

‘Tis the season for Santa’s elves to deck the shelves, but this one’s on Mom’s naughty list.

No matter where or how she arranges the toy at night to surprise her sons in the morning, Mom wakes to find it just sitting on the shelf each and every time. Are the kids messing with her? Is her husband a traitor? Or is there more to the grinning elf on the shelf than its package advertised?

As Mom keeps trying to make spirits bright this season, she learns the true mystery and magic of Christmas.

Review:

Christmas magic is anything but effortless.

I adored the message of this short story. Too often the holidays are wonderful because women – and especially mothers – perform hours of invisible, unpaid work behind the scenes to ensure that the house is sparkling clean, the kitchen is stocked with plenty of delicious things to eat, invitations have been sent out for the parties organized by women, and there is a large pile of presents beneath the tree to suit everyone’s interests among countless other tasks. This isn’t to say this work is joyless. It can make amazing memories for everyone, but that doesn’t detract from the point that the labor is unevenly distributed and not always done happily. Keep this in mind while reading because it’s an important part of what plays out for one exhausted and confused mom as Christmas inches closer.

The unnamed family featured in this tale were genuinely nice people who loved each other and enjoyed spending time together. That’s not always present in what I read, so I sighed with relief when I realized that the twist had nothing at all do with anyone being unkind to each other. It was relaxing to get to know these characters better and wait to see what marvelous things might await them.

There was a gentle quality to the storyline that I appreciated as well. Yes, there were fantasy elements to it, but they all seemed like stuff that could occur at anyone’s house at this time of the year if that family believed in elves who watch over households and report back to Santa on what they find. I liked the ordinariness of the magical scenes and thought it blended in well with the sort of metaphorical magic that exists in our world.

Hellf on the Shelf was a breath of fresh air.

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Looking for Monsters: A Review of Forest of Bones

Book cover for Forest of Bones: A Short Winter Horror Story by Jessie Thomas. Image on cover is a close-up photo of someone wearing a black dress and holding the skull of an animal that has two long, mostly straight antlers protruding from its head. Title: Forest of Bones – A Short Winter Horror Story

Author: Jessie Thomas

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: December 17, 2019

Genres: Horror, Holiday, Paranormal, Contemporary

Length: 53 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 4 Stars

Blurb:

Armed with her well-worn Field Guide to Cryptids of North America and a macabre sense of enthusiasm, Ana’s mission to visit and capture evidence of every known cryptid in the United States puts her on the trail of the elusive Covey Devil. Not many people are willing to spend their winter break looking for monsters, but Ana’s trio of friends seem up for whatever the adventure entails.

Review:

Content Warning: Blood and death.

Cold, dark forests are nothing to fool around with.

I loved the fact that the author chose Christmas time as a setting for this tale. The cold weather and long nights of that time of year in certain climates definitely sets the mood for scary things to lurk in the shadows. No matter how you personally feel about this holiday, there’s something to be said for acknowledging that it isn’t a shiny, happy season for everyone for a wide variety of reasons. I also appreciate the juxtaposition between the audience’s expectations for a Christmas story versus what was actually waiting for the characters in the Forest of Bones.

It was difficult for me to understand why four teenagers who had  only limited camping experience and no self-defence or first aid training so far as I could tell would head into a forest with such a frightening reputation in the middle of the night in December. While the storyline did eventually explain why this happened, I would have appreciated far more details about how this was supposed to look and how all four young women, one of whom was extremely nervous about the trip, were convinced to take such serious risks with their health and safety when they could have just as easily gone on a warm June afternoon with a much larger group of explorers instead.

Speaking of the ending, it was exactly what I thought it might be. It was nice that the author trusted the audience so much to connect the few clues about what was going on. Not everything always needs to be spelled out directly, and in this case it was much more fun to be a little confused at first than to have everything explained before it strictly needed to be.

Forest of Bones – A Short Winter Horror Story made me shudder.

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A Review of When Sam Met Santa and Other Stories

Book cover for When Sam Met Santa by Samantha Moon by J.R. Rain. Image on cover shows Santa flying in his sleigh pulled by reindeer against a full moon.Title: When Sam Met Santa and Other Stories

Author: J.R. Rain

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: November 12, 2020

Genres: Fantasy, Holiday, Contemporary

Length: 43 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

 

Santa’s surprise visit, a backroom deal, a rare map, and someone’s been really, really bad. Five holidays tales, including an all-new Samantha Moon short story!

“When Sam Met Santa” – When Santa Claus shows up at Samantha Moon’s door, it’s hardly the strangest thing that’s ever happened to her. What happens next, however, is another story…

Also included:

“The Santa Call” – After accidentally forgetting his wife at home during a weekend getaway, ol’ St. Nick returns to discover she’s left him. At wit’s end, Santa turns to a radio talk show for some much needed love advice. But will he win Mrs. Claus back in time to save Christmas?

“The Deal” – Where does Santa get his coal for all those stockings? You’re about to find out.

“The Christmas Map” – Purchased from eBay, one young adventurer is about to discover if this map really does lead to Santa’s village.

“Santa Snitch” – Sometimes the Big Guy has to step in to deal with those who grow up to be really, really bad…

Review:

Content Warning: Life-threatening illness in a child, and a small amount of blood in one story.

Since the blurb already provided brief descriptions of every stories, I’ll stick to sharing my impressions of them in this review. The interesting thing about “When Sam Met Santa” was how it turned many common beliefs about Santa – among other magical beings – on their head. It reminded me of how gossip can take a sliver of truth about someone and wildly distort it into something that is all but unrecognizable in the end. Of course humans would do this to Santa, too!

“The Santa Call” was a humorously accurate snapshot of radio culture and advice programs. Regardless of how you feel about that sort of entertainment, it was well done.  I liked the brusque manner of the Love Doctor as well as how Santa responded to him when he refused to help. The deep dive into Santa’s personal life and problems with his wife and elves was also worth reading.

Mr. Rain tends to write pretty dialogue-heavy stories, and this technique worked especially well in “The Deal.” It involved a conversation between a buyer who urgently needed more coal and a seller who quickly grew more mystified by the details their client was providing. Due to how short this one was, I can’t say much else about it without giving away spoilers other than to note I wish more details had been included as there was a lot more the author could have done with such a concept.

Anything can be bought online, and if you’re a character in “The Christmas Map” it might even be the real deal! I appreciated the fact that the author was willing to write such naive and selfish characters for this one. Those were exactly the personality traits needed to take the Christmas map seriously and try to see if the village drawn on it really existed. With that being said, I did find myself wishing more time had been spent exploring why these characters behaved this way and what might have happened to them in the past to explain it. Not having that information made it harder for me to connect with them than I would have liked to see.

Can I give “Santa Snitch” a little extra credit for using the name Earl for its protagonist? That name is sorely underused in modern fiction in my opinion, and it gives me a thrill every time someone decides to use it. As everyone knows, only good kids receive toys on Christmas Eve. This tale expounded on that idea by introducing readers to a man who had been on the naughty list for many years. This was the darkest instalment in the collection, and I only wish more time had been spent developing  Earl’s backstory and explaining why he was in such big trouble.

When Sam Met Santa and Other Stories was a gentle, playful look at Santa lore.

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A Review of A Winter’s Night

Book cover for A Winter’s Night by Theodore Brun. Image on cover is of an old-fashioned mansion that has a blizzard forming around it on a cold winter’s evening. Title: A Winter’s Night

Author: Theodore Brun

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: November 1, 2018

Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Paranormal, Contemporary

Length: 51 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

Enter if you dare…
A man driving through a remote part of Denmark is forced to take shelter from a snowstorm in a lonely castle. Inside, he encounters the Count who lives there, a strange old man who begins to talk. And as the Count does, the visitor learns of an ancient legend, of the noble family’s mysterious secret, and of the curse that overshadows them…

Review:

Content Warning: Childbirth and curses.

Old houses remember everything.

As someone who doesn’t know much about Danish folklore, I was intrigued by the descriptions of trolls and how the people of Denmark related to them in this tale. The author did a good job of making some of those old legends come alive in my imagination as he described why those who remembered those stories were so  afraid of the past. They had good reasons to worry about bringing attention to themselves, and I was curious to find out more about how their beliefs were holding strong in the early twenty-first century.

I struggled to understand the ending because of how it seemed to contradict earlier plot and character development. There were certain details about the lives of the Count’s ancestors that were shared about halfway through the storyline in order to show how much this family line had remained the same over the centuries. It was confusing, then, to reach the end and have all of this information turned on its head. I know I’m being vague here, but it’s difficult to share constructive criticism of how things turned out without giving away spoilers. What I can say is that I wish the last few scenes had been developed more thoroughly so that I could understand why everything the audience had learned earlier was suddenly being tossed aside.

With that being said, the setting was a great one for the topic of generational curses. There is something about looking at antiques in a house that many generations of people have lived and died in that makes all of the dark tidbits of information about the past a little scarier than they might have been. I also liked the fact that the author acknowledged how eerie the world is during a snowstorm. While snow is beautiful to look, it also makes travelling treacherous during the winter and can trap people in places they probably wouldn’t have otherwise stayed overnight.

A Winter’s Night is a good pick for a cold, stormy evening.

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Making Good Choices: A Review of Snow

Book cover for Snow by Howard Odentz. Image on cover shows a blue-washed photo of an old man with a white beard who is standing in a snowstorm. There is a hood covering part of his face and not much else can be seen. Title: Snow

Author: Howard Odentz

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: December 12, 2016

Genres: Young Adult, Horror, Holiday, LGBTQ, Contemporary

Length: 34 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

Words to live by: Never steal from a drunk in the woods.

An epic and sudden blizzard is blanketing Mount Tom Regional High School . . . in October. A dangerous man is stalking the hallways, and three teens harbor a secret that may get everyone killed if they don’t figure out how to stop the snow and the rampage.

Review:

Content Warning: Drug and alcohol use, inebriation, bullying, violence, a little blood.

Nothing remains a secret forever.

This is one of those tales where it’s best to avoid all spoilers in advance. Yes, some readers might figure out the twist ahead of time, but I’d hope that everyone else would allow themselves to be surprised if possible. There is something to be said for that in my opinion, especially when reading an author who has taken as many creative liberties with his subject matter as Mr. Odentz has. He did an excellent job of providing a few clues early on without totally giving it all away, and I enjoyed the process of seeing if my first impressions of what I was about to read were correct.

I was disappointed by the way the ending fizzled out. The beginning and middle were so strong that I went into the final scene expecting the same sort of pacing and plot twists. There was so much more the author could have done with those pages, and I would have happily gone with a much higher rating if he’d taken his premise to its logical conclusion.

All of the main characters were bored teenagers who regularly used various substances and refused to obey authority figures. I struggled to relate to them due to how wild they were and how often they tested the boundaries of everyone around them, but I also thought they were accurate depictions of the sort of teens who make these types of life choices. Not every character is going to be lovably and cuddly, after all, and it was interesting to see how they reacted once the dangerous man arrived at their school.

Snow was a fun autumnal read.

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Lucid Dreaming: A Review of The Dreamcatchers

Book cover for The Dreamcatchers by Ignat Drozdov. Image on cover is a painting of a blue-skinned, blue man who has a lightbulb installed in his head. You can see a cross-section of it and his head. The lightbulb is emitting a yellow glow, and the man has a pensive expression on his face. Title: The Dreamcatchers

Author: Ignat Drozdov

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: January 10, 2023

Genres: Science Fiction

Length: 10 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 4 Stars

Blurb:

On Jay’s first day at a new job he’s thrown into the murky business of lucid dreaming. He feels that it’s a fresh start and a chance to get away from his own nightmares, but not everything is as it seems.

Review:

Content Warning: Assault, battery, needles, and injections.

Imagine the joy of reliving the same dream as often as you wish.

Being able to control your dreams sounds incredible to me. I was eager to discover what this process would be like from the perspective of workers who were paid to medically guide clients through it without fully understanding the science behind it all. Most stories tend to write such a thing from the point of view of the scientist who invented it or the person experiencing it. Allowing characters who are only slightly more knowledgable about the topic than the reader was to narrate it opened up so many opportunities for extrapolating what might happen next or trying to piece the limited number of clues together before the twist. It was enjoyable for me as a reader to have this time to compare my perspective to that of the main character, and I’ll be keeping my eyes out for more from this author.

I would have liked to have more opportunities to explore Jay’s difficult past given how important it was to who he was when the audience first met him. There were hints about what sorts of bad memories he might be trying to avoid as he adjusted to his new job, but it would have been helpful to see them coalesce together more firmly by the final scene.

With that being said, the ending made me gasp. I ended up rereading the entire tale over again to see if could find additional clues about what happened in that final scene and why Jay ended up with the fate he did. Science fiction thrives when authors take risks with what they write in my opinion as both a reader of and writer in this genre, so I commend Mr. Drozdov for putting so much faith into his audience’s ability to figure out what was happening without overloading us with clues about what was to come.

The Dreamcatchers was creative and thought provoking.

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Criticize Your Favourite Book, Show, or Movie

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

Poster for the tv show The Last of Us. Poster shows the two main character, Ellie and My favourite pieces of media can shift a lot over time, but I will follow the rules and only give one answer this week. 😉

One of the shows at the top of my list is The Last of Us. You’ve all probably heard of it already, but if not it was a science fiction zombie show based on a video game that came out last winter.

The first zombies in this universe were created when they ate food made from (or were otherwise exposed to) flour that was contaminated with the cordyceps fungus (This was strongly hinted at in the first episode, so it’s only a mild spoiler).  In the real world, certain types of this fungus really do infect ants which still scares me a little.

Here are my criticisms of this show:

1) Normal human body temperature is too high for cordyceps to survive in. Some people literally eat this fungus as a dietary supplement or food, and it has no ill effect on them.

2) It’s rare and difficult for an organism like a fungus to learn to jump species, especially ones that are as wildly different as humans and ants. They would have probably had to learn how to infect many other species between us before people were ever in danger, so the characters should have had many generations to notice this was happening and stop it.

3) Given that the vast majority of people do not eat raw flour or raw dough, how did the cordyceps surviving the scorching heat of baking process and manage to infect so many folks nearly simultaneously?

4) The mycologist in one of the first episodes of this show say there are no treatments for fungal infections, but that’s false. Yes, some fungal infections can be difficult to treat, but this isn’t a completely new and unknown pathogen by any means. We currently have many different anti-fungal medicines, after all.

Basically, I wanted the scientific explanation of the origins of this disease to be more accurate. Apparently, I can believe that cordyceps could take control of the human mind and turn folks into mindless zombies in this universe, but I can’t suspend disbelief when to comes to the idea of anything surviving being baked in an oven for an hour. Ha!

 

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