Tag Archives: 2020s

July 3, 2025 · 1:00 am

A Review of Nude Descending the Stairs Forever

Title: Nude Descending the Stairs Forever

Author:Shoyu Monsieur de la Défense Robotique

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: April 13, 2025

Genres: Science Fiction, Psychological Horror, Contemporary

Length: 9 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 4 Stars

Blurb:

When art historian Alix returns to a forgotten wing of the museum, she expects dust and silence—not the fractured echoes of herself or an AI installation gone strangely aware. Nude Descending a Staircase (Version 3.0) was once a dazzling tribute to motion and form. Now it glitches, watches, and beckons. As Alix is drawn deeper into the haunted corridors and corrupted code of the museum, she uncovers a terrifying truth: the installation isn’t just sentient—it’s a dam holding back the collapse of simulated realities. And it’s dying. To preserve the boundary between simulation and chaos, someone must take its place. A surreal blend of speculative horror, philosophical sci-fi, and aesthetic wonder, Nude Descending the Stairs Forever explores identity, recursion, and the high cost of consciousness.

Content Warning: Claustrophobia.

Review:

What is the purpose of art? Think carefully about your answer before reading this book or this review.

The question of whether there was genuine artificial intelligence at work in this piece kept my interest levels high. I normally do not feel interested in A.I. themes, especially if they’re used to described machines that can’t actually think for themselves, but this approach to the topic was well done and thought provoking. The questions it raised about how art can affect the viewer and what creators owe to their creations were complex and would require a book of their own to fully explore, but even a small taste of them was enough to keep me thinking as I wrote my review. That’s exactly the sort of reaction I hope for when I read science fiction!

I would have liked to see more time spent exploring why the installation was breaking down and how that may affect the characters in that work of art in the future. Knowing this information was important for plot reasons that I can’t go into a lot of detail here for spoiler reasons, but I never felt like I had quite enough information about how this was all supposed to work even though I loved the chilling descriptions of what was happening in the art gallery. Had this been explained better, I would have happily gone for a full five-star rating.

Alix made some decisions during the course of this tale that most people would find highly unusual, so I was thrilled to see how much effort was put into explaining her thought processes and the consequences of all of the choices available to her. I felt like I understood her perspective well and knew why she made the decisions that she did. Since that’s an important thing to have when reading about characters who make choices that cannot be undone, at least for me, I was satisfied by how it was all explained.

Nude Descending the Stairs Forever sent a tingle down my spine.

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Tagged as 2020s, Artificial Intelligence, Book Reviews, Contemporary, Hard Science Fiction, Horror, Psychological Horror, Science Fiction, Self-Published, Shoyu Monsieur de la Défense Robotique

June 19, 2025 · 1:00 am

A Review of Anatomy of a Violin

Title: Anatomy of a Violin

Author: J.M. Taylor

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: May 8, 2025

Genres: Horror, LGBTQ+, Paranormal, Contemporary

Length: 37 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 4 Stars

Blurb:

A musician finds the ultimate prize in Prague – an instrument that can make anyone sound like a virtuoso. But his obsession with the violin threatens not only his relationship but his sanity.

Content Warning: Murder.

Review:

Everything can be fixed with a little elbow grease and patience.

The unnamed protagonist was a complex and fascinating man. I liked the fact that his flaws weren’t superficial but instead had real effects on both his life and the plot. That was exactly the right choice for this piece, and I commend the author for being willing to take the risk that readers might not like this character. This is something I wish happened more often in fiction as it really adds depth to a character, especially in cases like this one when the reader is supposed to be weirded out by what is happening.

I would have liked to see a little more world building in this piece. Specifically, I’m thinking about the origins of the violin and how it was passed around among various owners over the centuries. The explanation for how this all happened made sense, but having more details would have helped those scene come alive in my imagination as I read. There was so much more that could have been done with them to accelerate the horror elements of the plot, and I would have gone for a full five star rating if that had happened. This is something I’m saying as someone who otherwise loved this tale.

Honestly, it was easy to see where the plot was headed early on, but this wasn’t the sort of tale that needs to surprise a reader in order to entertain them. What made it so interesting was taking note of what the protagonist had and hadn’t figured out about his incredible new violin. He was so enamoured with the workmanship and beauty of it that nothing else could grab his attention. I’ll leave it up to other readers to discover what he was missing in those moments as they ponder whether they, too, might have made the same choices he did.

Anatomy of a Violin was delightfully scary.

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Filed under Science Fiction and Fantasy

Tagged as 2020s, Book Reviews, Contemporary, Horror, J.M. Taylor, LGBT, Paranormal, Self-Published, Short Story

June 12, 2025 · 1:00 am

A Review of Their Other Selves

Title: Their Other Selves

Author: Benjamin Parsons

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: September 28, 2024

Genres: Fantasy, Historical

Length: 24 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 stars

Blurb:

Caletha isn’t ready to settle down until she meets someone who loves her as much as she loves herself. It’s a joke, but she half-believes it. Then one evening she and her father take a walk along the riverbank and meet themselves— their exact doubles coming towards them. Sudden tragedies follow this ominous encounter, which drive Caletha to doubt everything she used to believe. Are the misfortunes merely coincidental, or caused by the supernatural? And who was the mysterious figure lurking in the shadows behind the uncanny doppelgängers? Evenking, or Their Other Selves is a short folktale-inspired story, part of the collection Blaquoby: Country Town Tales.

Content Warning: Grief and death.

Review:

The mind is a powerful weapon.

Some of my favourite scenes were the ones that explored Caletha’s guilt and grief. She was an ordinarily bubbly and cheerful young woman who didn’t always put deep thought into how other people saw the world. While it was never done out of malice, she did have a blind spot when it came to how her actions affected others, and I believe she would have happily tried to change those interactions if given a second chance. I appreciate it when authors create characters who are likeable but whose flaws are issues that genuinely make life more difficult for them sometimes. In this particular case, that was precisely what the plot needed to move forward.

I found the doppelgänger storyline confusing, especially given the folklore surrounding why someone might have this experience and what they may have done to bring it on. Caletha was not a perfect person by any means, and she had made a hurtful decision early on in the storyline that I agree should not have happened. Still, the explanation of why she saw her double didn’t quite match up with what I learned about her as a person. If the decisions she made earlier were enough to trigger it, I’d argue that everyone deserves that same fate because none of us get through life without occasionally doing things, whether intentionally or unintentionally, that we later come to regret.

With that being said, I did enjoy the fairy tale qualities of this piece. It felt like the sort of story people might have told to their children generations ago in order to explain why it’s important to keep promises and what sad fates might await those who break them too easily. There was nothing at all gory or gross here, but there were themes that included stricter rules for etiquette and interpersonal relationships than many modern people are held to today. This gave the plot a timeless feeling in the sense that it could have occurred 80 years ago or 800 years ago with few if any changes to the fates of the characters.

This is the fifth book in a series that does not need to be read in any particular order.

Their Other Selves was thought provoking.

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Tagged as 2020s, Benjamin Parsons, Book Reviews, Doppelganger, Fantasy, Folklore, Historical, Paranormal, Self-Published, Short Story

May 29, 2025 · 1:00 am

A Review of More Money Than Brains

Title: More Money Than Brains

Author: Rudolph Kohn

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: August 11, 2024

Genres: Science Fiction

Length: 13 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 5 Stars

Blurb:

Aric and the Misevelin Salvage crew find themselves in a dangerous situation when they try to rescue a captain with way too much money and not enough brains or common sense. The ship’s abysmal condition is almost entirely due to the captain’s neglect, and his bad habits get everyone into a much more dangerous situation!

A short, free introduction to the Derelict Project universe, a far-future hard science fiction setting that focuses on derelict ships and the people who find and investigate them. “More Money than Brains” is a humorous short story that provides a taste of one of the Derelict Project’s main groups of characters: Aric Misevelin, Verene “Bill” Resteford, and Lewes Otracht.

Content Warning:

Review:

Nothing can be neglected forever.

There’s nothing like walking into a disaster at work that could have been easily prevented if small issues had been taken note of and looked after immediately. No matter what type of job you may have, the frustration of people who must deal with the repercussions of others who refused to pay attention to detail and keep up with basic maintenance and cleanliness is universal. I nodded along as this crew realized the long lists of problems they needed to solve to prevent this ship from destroying itself and tried to prioritize the most urgent needs first while continuing to find even more issues along the way. It made me wish I had their specialized knowledge and could help them get things sorted out faster!

This was a fast-paced, plot-centred work that didn’t require much introspection from the characters in order to get its point across. Still, I did enjoy the little moments that showed how Aric, Bill, and Lewes reacted to the nonsense they were dealing with. The combination of their obvious breadth of knowledge on the topic of ship repair and their humorous responses to everything going to hell in a hand basket was delightful and rang true to the repair people in my own life who have had similar reactions to things they wish had been done properly and maintained steadfastly the first time around.

I also loved the ending of this piece which brought the hard science fiction elements of the storyline even further into the spotlight and made me wonder what might happen next. This is something other readers should discover in detail for themselves, but I liked the way it explored both the technical nature of the work as well as all-too human responses to machines as well as other humans that don’t always do what the experts wish they’d do. Bravo for a job well done, Mr. Kohn!

This is a standalone tale from a series.

More Money Than Brains was perfect.

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Tagged as 2020s, Book Reviews, Hard Science Fiction, Rudolph Kohn, Science Fiction, Self-Published, Short Story

May 15, 2025 · 1:00 am

A Review of Jade Cargo

Title: Jade Cargo

Author: Rudolph Kohn

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: August 18, 2024

Genres: Science Fiction, Horror

Length: 14 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 5 Stars

Blurb:

A security officer on a routine patrol finds a small lone ship floating in the middle of nowhere. The ship’s systems tell him that it’s dead–a derelict, fated to float aimlessly until it is pulled into the gravity well of some heavenly body. However, the officer’s investigation turns up strange facts one after another, until he discovers the one fact that explains it all–perhaps too well.

Content Warning: Death.

Review:

Anything can happen in space.

I loved the foreshadowing in this short story. It struck the perfect balance between hinting at what was to come without giving the reader too many clues about why this ship is floating alone in the middle of nowhere. I had a rough idea formed in my mind of what might be going on, but even there I had plenty of opportunities for surprise as the unnamed narrator continued to search the abandoned vessel for possible treasure.

This is one of those cases when readers don’t need to know much about the protagonist in order to empathize with them. Their sex, race, age, and other identifying characteristics were never mentioned because their expertise in this field was what made their observations so valuable. Readers from any demographic group could imagine themselves in this character…and they just might be right! The protagonist knew something was wrong but didn’t have any concrete proof to back up their gut feeling. I both understood why they wanted to gather more information and kept hoping they’d listen to their urge to run away and never come back.

The ending was what convinced me to give this a perfect five star rating. No, of course I won’t spoil it for anyone reading my review. All I can say is that it tied up the loose ends from earlier beautifully while also making me wish for a sequel so I could see how things played out from that point. The horror themes popped out nicely here without ever needing to describe the visceral details of it in order to show the audience why we should be so scared. Now that’s the kind of horror I like to read when I do indulge in the genre!

Jade Cargo was utterly perfect.

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Tagged as 2020s, Book Reviews, Horror, Rudolph Kohn, Science Fiction, Self-Published

April 24, 2025 · 1:00 am

A Review of Heart of Water and Stone

Title: Heart of Water and Stone

Author: EE Ottoman

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: March 12, 2025

Genres: Fantasy, LGBTQ, Romance, Historical

Length: 68 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

Girin is a troll, content with his simple, quiet life in the forest—a life thrown into chaos when he stumbles across an unconscious human on one of the mountain paths. The human is not an ordinary one either, but a witch—tortured, branded, and mere steps from death when Girin finds him. Unable to leave him there to die alone, Girin takes the human home to nurse him back to health. But he quickly learns that keeping one stubborn human alive is a far more difficult task than he first surmised …

Content Warning: Historical references to slavery, torture, and the belief in witchcraft.

Review:

Goodness comes in many forms.

Trolls aren’t common protagonists in fantasy, so I was excited to meet one here. It’s always nice when authors purposefully seek out themes and types of their genres that are not currently in vogue. Yes, it can be a risk in some cases depending on how audiences react, but I’d argue it’s one worth taking. It’s much more interesting to read tales that flip the reader’s expectations around and play around with who we’re supposed to sympathize with than it is to read one that sticks closely to the tropes. (Not that tropes are bad things, of course! There’s simply something to be said for thinking critically about why specific ones are being used).

I would have liked to see more world building in this piece, especially as it was related to Girin’s communication with the mountain during a point of conflict in one of the later scenes. There were so many things I wanted to know about how their relationship worked and what the mountain might be capable of doing to help him. If this had been explained better, I would have happily gone with a higher rating.

The slow-burn romance worked well for the characters and storyline. Both Girin and Ronan had plenty of reasons to be cautious about falling in love, so it made perfect sense for them to build a strong friendship first. This also meant that the romantic elements of the plot were often overshadowed by the fantasy and adventure themes which was a positive thing to this reader. A dash of this sort of content is plenty for my tastes most of the time.

Heart of Water and Stone made me smile.

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Tagged as 2020s, Book Reviews, EE Ottoman, Fantasy, Historical, LGBT, Novella, Romance, Self-Published, Trolls

April 17, 2025 · 1:00 am

A Review of The Darkness in the Cyclone

Title: The Darkness in the Cyclone

Author: Barnabas Soon and hyperhop

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: March 12, 2025

Genres: Speculative Fiction, (very mild) Horror, Contemporary

Length: 3 pages

Source: The authors gave me a free copy.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

What happens when a natural disaster hits the Gold Coast? As cyclone Alfred hits, a man is trapped in his home without power. What lovecraftian horrors does he imagine as he is cut off from the rest of civilisation and only the howling wind and rain as company?

Content Warning: Natural disaster (cyclones).

Review:

Are you afraid of the dark?

Some of the most interesting scenes in my opinion were the ones that described what it’s like to sit quietly at home during dangerous weather. This experience can be lonely, boring, terrifying, and/or even a little entertaining depending on how violent the weather is, how many supplies one has, and how prepared their home is for the many different things that can go wrong when the wind is raging outside. What is a mild inconvience for one person or place can be much worse under a different set of circumstances, and I appreciated the fact that the author allowed for every possibility before revealing Alfred’s fate.

It would have been helpful for the horror elements of this tale to be given more time to shine. I hesitated to even label this under that genre because of how subtle it was here. Other readers are free to make up their own minds about how far these hints should be taken and what was really going on, of course, but I personally needed a little more substance and grit in order to feel connected to Alfred’s dilemma.

On a positive note, this is a gentle introduction to the horror genre for people who are easily startled or who don’t generally gravitate in that direction. The scary stuff is confined to Alfred’s thoughts and hobbies as he waits out the storm alone in his house for a few days. Yes, thoughts can be frighting sometimes, but there wasn’t any blood or gore here to amp up the suspense which did help this tale feel more realistic. I mean, who hasn’t occasionally felt afraid during a bad storm or on a particularly dark and gloomy night when the power is off thanks to bad weather? It’s such a common experience that it makes sense to explore it in fiction.

The Darkness in the Cyclone is a thought provoking thing to read during storm season…whenever that season may be where you live.

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Tagged as 2020s, Barnabas Soon, Book Reviews, Contemporary, hyperhop, Psychological Horror, Self-Published, Short Story, Speculative Fiction

April 10, 2025 · 1:00 am

A Review of The Metallurgy of Graham Rhenium

Title: The Metallurgy of Graham Rhenium

Author: Alastor Velazquez

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: August 17, 2024

Genres: Science Fiction

Length: 20 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 5 Stars

Blurb:

First there is a spark. When friction converts kinetic energy to thermal. Molecules vibrate at the surface. That spark combusts the air molecules around it, transforming into heat and light. A chemical reaction born from speed faster than sound. When the atoms catch and connect. When the world feels the flame that is made. When it licks at anything and everything it can touch. For it craves life. It craves to keep burning and burning. And burning. And burning.

Content Warning: Grief and terminal cancer.

Review:

Nearly anything is possible with a little elbow grease and science.

The steampunk aesthetic fit Graham’s dilemma perfectly. No, of course I won’t be saying what troubles he was dealing with as figuring out that piece of the puzzle was left until a little later on in the storyline. It’s better for other readers to learn those details when I did and for them have their own opportunities to realize what was going on. What I can say is that his solution made me wish this could be a short film as I would have loved to see how a director would interpret the detailed description of it that was provided in the text. Would it stick to the original themes, lean more heavily into the science of it, or do something else entirely? With steampunk stuff, one never really knows in advance, and that’s half of the reason why it’s so fun.

This short story struck the perfect balance between providing enough details for this reader to understand what was happening while also leaving plenty of room for the audience to fill in the blanks when it came to matters that were interesting but not vital for character or plot development. That is a difficult thing to accomplish, so I must congratulate Mr. Velazquez on not only pulling it off but making eveything seem effortless. While this was my first time reading him, I certainly hope it won’t be my last based on what a good time I had soaking in his polished words.

While this isn’t what I would label a romance per se, there were romantic elements to the plot that were beautifully written and integral to understanding the characters as individuals. This is one of those cases where I was glad to see a little romance in my science fiction, and I’m saying that as a reader who has far more often not been thrilled by the mixing of these genres to say the least. For me to compliment it is a rare treat and one that the author has earned many times over today. Bravo for making the sum greater than its parts and for convincing this skeptic!

The Metallurgy of Graham Rhenium was a wild ride.

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Tagged as 2020s, Alastor Velazquez, Book Reviews, Chronic Illness, LGBT, Science Fiction, Self-Published, Short Story, Steampunk

April 3, 2025 · 1:00 am

A Review of The Fifth

Title: The Fifth

Author: Rudolph Kohn

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: August 14, 2024

Genres: Science Fiction, Horror

Length: 11 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

A team of four astronauts have just left the Solar System, carrying several thousand of their fellow men and women for the first colonization attempt of a relatively habitable planet just a few light-years away. Just as they are getting ready to enter cold sleep themselves, they observe a strange reading on their sensors…

Review:

Was it an ordinary workday? Well, that depends on your definition of those terms.

Some tales work better if they’re plot focused, and this was one of them. Brief, necessary details were shared about the four astronauts who were finishing up a few last chores before putting themselves into cryosleep for their long journey to a faraway habitable planet, but that wasn’t the focus of the plot by any means. Instead, checking off the last few items and being interrupted by a computer alarm were what really mattered here, and I was engaged with every single scene along the way. This is a good story to read for folks who prefer to dive straight into the action and then work their way back to a bit of character development from there.

I struggled with the cliffhanger ending. It felt as though it could have easily gone on for at least a few more chapters in order to explain what was happening and how the twist was going to change the lives of the astronauts and the thousands of people in cryosleep they were protecting. No, I didn’t need to have every loose end tied up, but I would have liked to at least see more of the main characters’ reactions to the final scene and few more hints about what what happened next.

With that being said, that last sentence did grab my attention and make me read it over again a few times. It could be interpreted in more than one way, some of which landed firmly in the horror genre, and I enjoyed the process of coming up with possibilities and trying to determine which one was most likely. If any of my readers end up checking out this short story, I’d love to hear your thoughts about what the sentence meant and which interpretation you chose.

The Fifth made me want more.

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Tagged as 2020s, Book Reviews, Psychological Horror, Rudolph Kohn, Science Fiction, Self-Published, Short Story

March 20, 2025 · 1:00 am

A Review of The Broken Home

Title: The Broken Home

Author: Rudolph Kohn

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: August 12, 2024

Genres: Science Fiction

Length: 16 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 stars

Blurb:

Over ten thousand years in the future, mankind has spread to the stars… but the Earth Empire was left behind, and the birthplace of mankind was lost–first to tyrants, and then to the obscurity of history. However, when an explorer stumbles onto the once-great planet, not a single person has survived. The planet itself goes up for auction, and the buyer seeks to understand what happened, so long ago. The Broken Home is a short story about the excavation of the greatest fortress the Earth Empire ever built.

Content Warning: References to an ancient war and death.

Review:

Anyone can learn from the past if they listen closely.

Science fiction fans who have been immersed in this genre for a long time will probably be able to figure out what is happening in this tale fairly quickly, but that isn’t a criticism of this piece. Not everything needs shocking plot twists in order to be worth reading! What mattered more was seeing how Jenkins and Marley reacted to what they discovered about humanity’s past when they returned to Earth to see if there was anything interesting left behind there. I sympathized with the mixture of emotions they experienced as they uncovered something that no living person was aware of. Honestly, I probably would have behaved the same way if I were in their shoes!

As this short story was heavily centred on its plot development, I would have liked to see more attention paid to how humanity evolved over ten thousand years. That is a long period of time in which all sorts of incredible – or terrible – things could have happened, and I found myself wishing for more details about what the characters knew about their recent and distant past. This easily could have been expanded into a novella or full-length novel, and I would have happily read a much longer version of it.

One of the things I liked the most about this piece was how it reacted to the idea of history being something that is always changing as new information is added and old assumptions possibly being reinterpreted by the newest generation. Some things might be lost in the mists of time depending on record keeping and how much current historians know about a specific era, but that doesn’t mean it’s hopeless. There is always the possibility of change as this field develops and new perspectives are considered. I know this paragraph is vague, but I’m trying to avoid spoilers while also sharing the wonder of how quickly our assumptions can shift given the right variables. That is to say, keep an open mind while reading this!

The Broken Home piqued my curiousity.

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Tagged as 2020s, Book Reviews, Rudolph Kohn, Science Fiction, Self-Published, Short Story

Tag Archives: 2020s

A Review of Nude Descending the Stairs Forever

A Review of Anatomy of a Violin

A Review of Their Other Selves

A Review of More Money Than Brains

A Review of Jade Cargo

A Review of Heart of Water and Stone

A Review of The Darkness in the Cyclone

A Review of The Metallurgy of Graham Rhenium

A Review of The Fifth

A Review of The Broken Home

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