Slave Stories: Scenes from the Slave State

Slave State

by Chris Kelso (Editor)

The Slave State is a place located in the 4th dimension, a place where humans are forced to work extracting inessential minerals from mining enclaves until the end of their lives...

249 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2015

About the author

Chris Kelso is an award-winning genre writer, editor, illustrator, and musician from Scotland. His work has been published widely across the UK, US and Canada.

Reviews

[Rodney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have you seen the list of authors on this one? No really, look again. I am surprised that more people haven’t read this yet. I thoroughly enjoyed the way each author added to the ethos of the slave state. Much of this is pretty dark, but there are also some humorous and slightly whimsical ones as well. This anthology is strong and varied. It has perked my interest in finishing all of Chris Kelso’s slave state books, and possibly rereading the two I have already read. Standouts below:

Blackout In Upper Moosejaw by Laura Lee Bahr

Aphanisis by John Langan

Shatter Demalion by Simon Marshall-Jones

Aftermath by Gary J. Shipley

Municipal Election 3B by Mick Clocherty

To Imagine Disaster is to Invoke the Same by Violet Levoit

The Act of Dying by Shane Swank

Gold, Myrrh and Frankenstein by Rhys Hughes

Dive Bar Prophecies by Ian Welke

Ruins (Poems) by Seb Doubinsky

From Within by Richard Thomas

Overall very few misses, many hits. Recommended.

[MZrunyan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deliciously surreal!

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disclaimer: My short story, "Tiny Iris", is published in this anthology.

The Slave State is a world created by editor Chris Kelso in which the human population lives a monotonous, inescapable existence in mining enclaves whilst being ruled by (mostly unseen) alien overloads. The remit for this anthology was for writers to set short stories in that universe.

It's a great theme, and like most anthologies there are stories I loved, some I thought were ok, and others which I skipped. Most of the pieces here fall into the bizarro camp of writing: a form which can often be limitless and without constraints, but - for me - can sometimes fail to engage. I won't pick out any favourites as it wouldn't be fair to the others, suffice to say that if you enjoy Kelso's work then this extension of his universe is well worth a read.

[Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just didn’t “get” it. I got this collection because my dear friend Mary Turzillo, an extraordinarily good author, was in it… but the rest just didn’t move me. There were 2-3 stories, mostly near the end, that were as good as Mary’s.