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.