A Series of Steaks by Vina Jie-Min Prasad
My rating: 5/5 cats
WELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT!
boilerplate mission statement intro:
for the past two years, i’ve set december’s project aside to do my own version of a short story advent calendar. it’s not a true advent calendar since i choose all the stories myself, but what it lacks in the ‘element of surprise’ department it more than makes up for in hassle, as i try to cram even MORE reading into a life already overcrammed with impossible personal goals (live up to your potential! find meaningful work! learn to knit!) merry merry wheee!
since i am already well behind in my *regular* reviewing, when it comes to these stories, whatever i poop out as far as reflections or impressions are going to be superficial and perfunctory at best. please do not weep for the great big hole my absented, much-vaunted critical insights are gonna leave in these daily review-spaces (and your hearts); i’ll try to drop shiny insights elsewhere in other reviews, and here, i will at least drop links to where you can read the stories yourselves for free, which – let’s be honest – is gonna serve you better anyway.
HAPPY READING, BOOKNERDS!
links to all stories read in previous years’ calendars can be found at the end of these reviews, in case you are a person who likes to read stories for free:
2016: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show…
2017: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show…
scroll down for links to this year’s stories which i will update as we go, and if you have any suggestions, send ’em my way! the only rules are: it must be available free online (links greatly appreciated), and it must be here on gr as its own thing so i can review it. thank you in advance!
DECEMBER 21
As Helena’s drifting off, something occurs to her. “Lily? What happened to those people? The ones who tried to blackmail you?”
“Oh,” Lily says casually. “I crushed them.”
MEATCRIMES! okay, this lists as a novelette, and during this project i have been trying to keep to the shorter of the shorts because of time management and hubris and all that, but this one was SO worth reading and it didn’t feel too long, even though i had several interruptions while reading it that extended my reading time past my good intentions. but still – totally worth it. funny and unusual and sharp and fast-paced (except for some of the technical 3d printing stuff that dragged for me, because i lack imagination) and i love a world in which there is a criminal underworld built on MEAT! i dug it.
because i am not doing in-depth reviews for anything i’m reading for this short story advent calendar project, please allow me to pass you on to tadiana night owl’s review, because she does things right.
read it for yourself here:
http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/prasa…
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