Arthur Mubarek is a prat—at least according to his ex-boyfriend. And if taking pride in his work, keeping his house tidy, and not pretending to enjoy a film just because everyone else is gushing over it makes him a prat, so be it. But the sympathy blind date he's been roped into is really a bit much. If only there were some way to get out of it.
The dreaded date is nearly upon him when a co-worker at the Royal Mail begs him to come downstairs and have a look at a mysterious parcel. While Arthur can't fathom why they'd ask a data analyst for help, he's eager for any excuse to dawdle, even if it's ridiculous...until he sees the box.
Post Mortem originally appeared in the charity anthology Lashings of Sauce for the 2012 UK Meet.
Author and artist Jordan Castillo Price writes paranormal sci-fi thrillers colored by her time in the Midwest, from inner city Chicago, to various cities across southern Wisconsin. She’s settled in a 1910 Cape Cod near Lake Michigan with tons of character and a plethora of bizarre spiders. Any disembodied noises, she’s decided, will be blamed on the ice maker.
Jordan is best known as the author of the PsyCop series, an unfolding tale of paranormal mystery and suspense starring Victor Bayne, a gay medium who's plagued by ghostly visitations.
I picked this up, aware only that it was written by Jordan Castillo Price, a favorite author of mine. So, with no idea what I was getting into, I dove in and soon found myself having read and thoroughly enjoyed this quirky, thought provoking story.
This story, through what happens to Arthur, illustrates how we can get hit blam! anytime, anywhere by something (or someone) completely unexpected. And, such moments can be good. Really good. Appearances can be deceiving, as can assumptions. Sometimes taking a risk, taking a leap, works out. For both parties involved. The author works these themes splendidly within the confines of a short story. She also convinced me that a character for which I initially felt disdain, was indeed quite alright! :-D
I love that Jordan included her inspiration for this story, very cool! Behind the scenes stuff is very interesting to me.
Nice and easy to read. It's a JCP story, so it's good quality overall, but I found it to be a little lacking in something. It's fine, but it's not special, like her stories usually are. I think I have high expectations for JCP stories.
Arthur is dreading a blind date and would love some way out of it. However, when he encounters a prank by the rest of the company he is angry rather than grateful for the delay. The prank itself feels a bit ridiculous. The couple is cute, but could have been done better.
While I struggle to like Arthur in the end I finally got him. Jordan has a unique way of bring to life quirky characters and I always enjoy the journey of getting to know them. This is really short but a lot of fun.