Tag Archives: C M Weller

March 27, 2025 · 1:00 am

A Review of Nor Gloom of Night

Title: Nor Gloom of Night

Author: C M Weller

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: August 9, 2012

Genres: Science Fiction

Length: 23 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

Paul has been called a “glorified mailman” by his peers, but he sees it as a sacred duty. Now, with the “little problem” of a big rock through half his vessel, he has to do everything he can -including the unthinkable- to deliver. The mail must get through.

Content Warning: Accidental deaths of people and of one pet.

Review:

Being a glorified mailman isn’t half as easy as it may sound.

Paul’s grumpiness and low levels in trust in humanity as a whole was a little irritating to me until I understood where he was coming from, but I appreciated the chance to change my mind about him. Honestly, he had some good points to make about how some companies are willing to cut corners in order to save a few pennies even if they risk their reputations – or, a million times worse, the health and safety of their customers – in the process. It was also interesting to see how the rough portions of his personality were smoothed out by his deep love of his cat, Liz, as well as his wife and child. Of course someone might be grouchy if they were under as much stress as he was when the audience first met him! Getting to know him better was a good thing even if I would have taken a slightly different approach to his dilemma.

I struggled with the plot holes in this short story, especially in the final scene. As much as I wanted to give this one a higher rating, I had too many questions about the logistics of what happened to do so. This was especially true when it came to explaining how cryonic suspension works in this universe and what it was and wasn’t capable of doing for someone medically speaking. Yes, there is a certain suspension of disbelief that needs to occur when reading science fiction, but including more science in this fiction would have encouraged me to bump this one up by at least a star.

With that being said, the ending was fantastic. Science fiction can be a heavy genre at times depending on who one reads, so I was pleasantly surprised by how much hope could be found in this piece. That’s something I always love to discover in speculative fiction, especially these days, and it encourages me to hopefully read more from this author soon.

Nor Gloom of Night made me smile.

A Review of I Wish, I Wish

Title: I Wish, I Wish

Author: C. M. Weller

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: October 4, 2016

Genres: Horror, Paranormal, Contemporary

Length: 10 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 5 Stars

Blurb:

They always say, “be careful what you wish for”, and Shannon knew that better than anyone. Yet, when the need is great, temptation looms. What would you do, if you had the chance for one wish to come true?

Content Warning: Bullying, destruction of property, and an unknown viral illness.

Review:

Justice comes in many forms.

Shannon was a likeable protagonist I immediately began rooting for. Not only was she significantly physically disabled, she was being raised by a low-income single mother who had limited help. There were so many things stacked against this family that I desperately wanted them to finally catch a break and have something go their way for one. They needed a chance to thrive after all they’d been through together.

The paranormal elements of the storyline were subtle at first but grew stronger over time which was the perfect decision for this piece. I enjoyed seeing how Sharon slowly came to the realization that her wish might actually have been granted and that the plot twists were not a coincidence but were building up to something that both the protagonist and the audience would need to think about.

This tale had one of those glorious endings that made me say, “wait, what just happened?” I mean that in a good way as I immediately flipped back a couple of pages to see if my understanding was correct and if the final scene had really been wrapped up the way it had. In retrospect, it made perfect sense given everything that had happened before, but it also caught me off-guard a little due to how some of the earlier scenes played around with the audience’s expectations about what might happen next. It’s delightful to be surprised like that.

I Wish, I Wish made me question my assumptions about what I’d do to make the world a better place with just one wish.

2 Comments

Filed under Science Fiction and Fantasy

Tagged as Book Reviews, C M Weller, Contemporary, Disability, Horror, Paranormal, Psychological Horror, Self-Published, Short Story

January 9, 2025 · 1:00 am

When Wishes Come True: A Review of Grey Goo Ticky Tack

Book cover for “Grey Goo Ticky Tack” by C M Weller. Image on cover shows several dozen legos piled up on a white surface. One yellow lego is separated from the rest and has a smiling mouth on it. You know, the sort of upwardly bent line you would see on a smiley face but without the two black dots for eyes. Title: Grey Goo Ticky Tack

Author: C M Weller

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: October 5, 2022

Genres: Science Fiction, LGBTQ+

Length: 10 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 5 Stars

Blurb:

They thought they had invented a cure for all the world’s problems. It would mean the end of every source of complaint in society. Unfortunately, they were solving the wrong problem. Solving the people seen as the problem is not solving the problem at all.

Content Warning: Homophobia and ableism.

Review:

Just about everyone wants an easier life, but not everyone is willing or able to pay the cost of one.

The beginning caught me off guard due to how quickly people accepted the solution for all the world’s problems. I was expecting there to be more conflict in this section, but I soon understood why the author wrote it that way and thought their reasons made sense given some later plot twists that revealed more information about what the solution entailed and how it affected those who accepted it.

This feeling popped up again once or twice as I moved into the middle portion of the plot when I would normally expect to see conflicts become more pressing and characters more eager to solve their woes. In a world without problems, things must unfold in more creative ways that don’t always strictly adhere to the storytelling stages we’re all accustomed to. As someone who reads a lot of science fiction and speculative fiction, I applaud anyone who is willing to take these sorts of risks with these genres. It’s exactly what we need to keep both new and longtime fans engaged with the sorts of questions and ideas these genres explore.

What catapulted this tale firmly into five star territory for me was the final few sentences. They cleared up my lingering confusion and provided a plot twist that made me reevaluate everything I’d just learned about these characters and the solution to every one of humanity’s problems. If you are also a little confused earlier on, keep reading. That final scene was fantastic and couldn’t have wrapped everything up together in a more satisfying way.

Grey Goo Ticky Tack was an excellent example of why I love short stories so much.

2 Comments

Filed under Science Fiction and Fantasy

Tagged as 2020s, C M Weller, LGBT, Science Fiction, Self-Published, Short Story

November 28, 2024 · 1:00 am

A Review of The World Will Not Miss….

Title: The World Will Not Miss…

Author: C M Weller

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: September 27, 2024

Genres: Science Fiction, Satire

Length: 12 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

In a world where branding and algorithms are trusted more than common sense… one trillionaire seeks to break ALL the rules.

Review:

Money makes the world go around, right?

The satirical elements of this story were straightforward and honest, as humorous as that may be to say. They weren’t intended to be difficult to figure out, so don’t worry about that if this isn’t a genre you read regularly. A little bit of pondering should soon bring up a well-known person who exists in real life who acts a lot like the arrogant and impulsive Plutarch Eritruscan. I nodded along as this character’s glaring and sometimes dangerous faults were exposed in all sorts of amusing ways.

It would have been helpful to have more character and plot development in this piece. Everything happened so quickly that I never really had the chance to savor any of it. While I know the narrator wanted to keep things moving briskly along to the end, there was space here for more exploration, and it would have made the final scene an even better payoff if it had been included.

I also liked what this tale had to say about the dangers of wealth. Those of us who are ordinary people will generally be informed if we accidentally say something hurtful or have ideas whose flaws we might not have noticed yet. The wealthy don’t always have these chances to to correct themselves, and it can lead to some of them developing very odd and unhelpful notions about how the world works and how much other people – and in this fictional case even the laws of physics themselves – should bend to accommodate their wacky wishes. It was something of note to think about while Plutarch Eritruscan bumbled around and made everyone’s lives ridiculously harder than they could have been. Yes, it was exaggerated for comedic purposes, but the kernel of truth about the very real psychological, physical, spiritual, and emotional dangers of wealth and power remained.

The World Will Not Miss… tickled my funny bone.

Tag Archives: C M Weller

A Review of Nor Gloom of Night

A Review of I Wish, I Wish

When Wishes Come True: A Review of Grey Goo Ticky Tack

A Review of The World Will Not Miss….

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