Lost in a Good Book

Published: 24th November 2018
Publisher: Deadset Press
Edited by: Jocelyn Spark, Alanah Andrews, and Austin P. Sheehan
Pages: 147
Format: ebook
Genre: Anthology
★   ★   ★   ★ – 4 Stars

16 stories. 16 Australian authors. One theme. Beginnings. 

Esmerelda is trapped in a nightmare, unable to wake and escape from the darkness. 

A simple bus trip turns into a fight for survival. 

Alone in a strange place with no memories of who she is or how she got there, Alora’s world changes forever. 

Note: I was asked to review this anthology by one of the editors

From an incredible first story I was excited by this anthology. I was amazed at the variety of styles and stories that each of the writers came up with for the same theme. “Beginnings” means a lot of things and it is evident that each of these writers has chosen their own interpretation of that.

The opening story Edge might be one of my favourites but a few other stand outs include The Inheritance Experiment, Next Journey, and Break the Spell. There is a mixture of settings and writing styles and you can clearly see the speculative nature woven through each tale. I loved discovering how each writer chose to interpret that and how it is explored in the setting of their stories.

With any anthology there will be those stories that appeal more to some people than others. Some of the stories blew me away while some actually managed to creep me out a bit. Within the speculative guidelines there is also some horror and some fantasy in these stories, as well as a range of contemporary settings. One thing I like about speculative stories is they are so broad that they can cover almost anything strange, unknown, magical, and mystical.

There are fantastic short stories that grab you from the start and amaze you as they finish, there are stories that read like a great prologue of a bigger story yet to come, but there are also a few that read like short chapters that didn’t seem to go anywhere. Thankfully those were the minority as many of the stories were truly captivating.

You can purchase Beginnings via the following

Booktopia | Book Depository

Wordery | Angus and Robinson

 Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust