Edge of Oblivion (Guest Post by Courtney Cantrell)
It's blog o'clock on the dot, y'all! And today I'm coming at you with a guest post from my very good friend and colleague Courtney Cantrell, oh she of the demon novels and fantasy stories with complicated gender politics. She's in a new science fiction anthology for charity with a few other Kindle All-Stars and some new faces as well. Full disclosure, I haven't read the anthology yet because (as you all know) my January has been COMPLICATED. But I plan to. More than that, I'm looking forward to it. But for now, here's Courtney is to tell you more about it.
Merciful Schadenfreude, We’re Skirting the Edge Here
When Tony Healey put out a call for sci-fi short stories, even he probably couldn’t have predicted what a hodge-podge of results he’d get.
Geekery. Motherhood. Twistedness. Comedy. Gaming. Policework. Artistry. Obsession.
And that’s just the authors.
Sci-Fi Anthology EDGE OF OBLIVION
With sixteen stories clocking in at approx. 76,000 words, Edge of Oblivion takes readers on a sci-fi ride that leaves heads spinning and minds wondering.
There’s something in here for every lover of sci-fi, fantasy, or the weird: X-rated aliens, bounty hunters, time-travel, nostalgic Horsemen of the Apocalypse, genetically retrograded animals, the US Remote Viewing Project, creepy local legends, and world-conquering demons.
And that hodge-podge of authors I mentioned? They've brought the force of their collective quirkiness to bear on these tales so as to craft a collection of stories to knock the socks off a nanite-monkey*.
Court’s Short
Me, I had help from two characters by name of Grace and Jack who’ve been dogging my writing footsteps since 2005. In Edge of Oblivion, they grace us (grace, ha ha, get it?) with their perplexing presence via “The Mercy and the Schadenfreude of the Soulless.”
Yes, that is the actual title. I don’t know why. It was probably Grace’s idea.
Trying to explain Grace and Jack is like trying to explain quantum physics to a 3rd grader.
I love quantum physics. But I do not understand quantum physics.
Similarly In exactly the same way, I love Grace and Jack but do not comprehend them in the least. I don’t understand a lot of what they say. I don’t understand how they think. Jack, my first-person narrator of the G&J stories, comes up with imagery and metaphors that flabber my gast. And deeply disturbed as she is (or is she?), Grace is likely to spout off with stuff that would confound even the most brilliant cryptanalysts.
Grace and Jack come from a place in my psyche I don’t like to look at too closely.
Oh, I’m sure it’s all benign enough. Grace and Jack can be gritty sometimes, but there’s nothing truly dark or insidious about them (I think). Still, writing-reading them leaves me with that feeling you carry around all day after you’ve had a particularly odd dream.
A dose of G&J, and the whole world shifts a fraction and I’m squinting to see where reality ends and imagination begins. When I resurface from one of their stories, everything around me suddenly bears a hint of “off,” a slight taste of Other.
“The Mercy and the Schadenfreude of the Soulless” delves into time-travel, marriage, dimension-hopping, the soul-drain of (undeserved?) guilt, and redemption.
In their convoluted and passionate relationship, Grace and Jack ask and answer the questions of what insanity really looks like...how far love really has to go...how far love even should go...and whether or not madness is catching.
Also, there are Mighty Galumphing Histrionic Sky Gods.
Edge of Oblivion is available for purchase here. All proceeds from the sale of Edge of Oblivion are being donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.
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Happy reading, y’all!
*I don’t actually know that there’s such a thing as a nanite-monkey. But there SHOULD be.
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NOTES FOR ME
'Bloodline' is about a posh young man, in a rundown flat, with a monumental hangover and a locked bathroom door.
Tig, a bounty hunter, is in pursuit of a deadly female assassin on a backwater planet in the most x-rated alien encounter ever written…
"A Taste for Eyes" by Jay Wilburn is about a world terroized by genetically retrograded birds. The people in authority take a desperate measure to try to remain safe, but not everyone agrees with the plan. A couple holdouts attempt to flee across and abandoned post office.
"Remotely Viewed" is about the fictional UK equivalent of the US Remote Viewing Project. However, higher powers have other ideas.
To pass the time on a train ride to Cincinnati, a charming old man convinces a fellow passenger named Colin to exchange short stories. As the train barrels toward a creepy old tunnel known to locals as "The Starlight Mile," Colin learns the true tale behind the legend, and discovers that not everyone is as they seem.
In HIGHER ORDER a demon materializes in the modern day world, determined to conquer the earth.
In "Dinner," Death and Famine of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse sit down to a dinner of chatting, reminiscing, and gossiping about War and Pestilence.
