What They Say About Me
What They Say About Me
Lyn Battersby's Born of Woman had me both smiling and wondering just how gross the author was going to go as things rocketed toward the final delivery. It's an absurd premise but Battersby delivers via good line and length -- Daikaiju II review, Scary Minds
The fiction content of Borderlands is the usual mix of excellent, good and ordinary. The two standout stories of the issue are by two up-and-coming Australian writers, Lyn Battersby and Lily Chrywenstrom.
Lyn Battersby’s story “The Hanging Tree” is told from the perspective of a tree. Normally this is the kind of premise that would have me running for the hills, and is one I would file between Elvis stories and first person stories with child protagonists. Amazingly (or maybe not considering this writer’s growing rep), she not only pulls it off, but turns this piece into something overwhelmingly powerful and special. It’s an angry, fierce story that delves into Australian history and deals with grief, loss and alienation in a thoroughly accomplished manner, right up to the last line. -- Borderlands 6 Review, ASif
It doesn't get much darker than this.
Triffitt imagines a not-too distant future in which America's death penalty practices are out of control. Not only do we murder the murderers, but we make them pay for their crimes as well. That's right, we animate the corpses and set them to manual labor.
The science here is worse than dodgy, it's utterly incomprehensible. Best to read this in the tradition of zombie stories, rather than as science fiction. Because aside from the particulars of animation, which I am afraid Triffitt spends a bit too much time trying to rationalize, this is a very compelling, scary story... a well-written and touching conclusion. -- Andromeda Spaceways 11 review, IROSF (story written as Lyn Triffitt, my previous married name) Rich Horton, who wrote this review, went on to add it to his "Must Read List."
Lyn Battersby's “The Conductor's Tale” is the final piece, and as such I was looking to it to draw the threads of the book together. Stories heavy with religious language are - well kind of like monkey stories to me, to be honest, but this one worked as a piece of psychological horror, and also because it is the only book which really addresses the religious implications of pilgrimage, and the meta aspect of the story shows a broken narrator telling a story that causes him deep emotional turmoil. Canterbury 2100 would have been poorer without this piece, which leads smoothly into the denouement of the framing story, I assume written by Flinthart himself, with one last story to tell - that of the man who has been collecting these stories for his master.-- Canterbury 2100 review, ASif
The Mikarr Way by Lyn Battersby:
Tagline Summary: That bittersweet non-specific-but-sorta-reminds-me-of-a-Wookie love.
The Good: Excellent world-building. Simplicity.
The Bad: Tries a bit too hard at making you feel for the characters.
It’s a rare author that can combine an interesting concept with good characterization in 3500 words, and Battersby succeeds to a point. The Mikarr are different enough to have alien customs, but similar enough to empathize with. The author comes up with a good amount of logical customs to set the Mikarr apart. The plot is also driven by character conflicts, which is a sure fire way to draw someone into the world. It is a good story. The major flaw is the dad. His character isn’t consistent and doesn’t seem authentic. Authenticity is very important to me. Still, it’s well worth the time it takes to read it. -- Electric Velocipede Review, Sensawunda