Solarcidal Tendencies by Martin Garrity

Solarcidal Tendencies Reviews

• 
  Andrea

  3.5 stars. A few knockout stories here—some truly chilling stuff—but also a few duds. Features an introduction by Richard Thomas.
• 
  Jonny Gibbings

  Solorcidal Tendencies is a genuinely exceptional body of work and probably the best collection I have ever read. Collections I've often found seem to be genre specific and within the volume the writers can seem to attempt to be a winner, competing to stand out. What makes Solarcidal Tendencies so fantastic is how varied and amazing yet harmonious the context of the collection is. I would even go as say to the degree that if you were only allowed one book to take on a very long journey, this would out question would be my choice and a volume I know I will be picking up again and again for the remainder of my reading days. Yes – it is that good.
  The quality of writing and writer is again exceptional. Within are names I know with talents I love already, surrounded by names I've never read and all with such ridiculous talent. The mixture of genre excites and each with superb delivery it is like a lucky dip of brilliance, I felt so excited to see what the next short would bring I finished the volume at 4am.
  I can't name and review all, but just as a taster the Volume opens with 'Perfectly Natural' by Jessica Leonard, a desperately bleak almost voyeuristic piece on motherhood that bruises you. As a parent I felt every word, and then boom! Bryan Howie & K.A. Hunter drop an atom bomb of the darkest comedy in 'Horsepower' that had me laughing so hard. The two couldn't be further apart in genre, and each exceptional in there own craft. Brandon Tietz shows that he can reduce bizzaro comedy to a short and it still be brilliantly funny as he always is. His piece 'Carl' is just fecking superb. Andrea Taylor takes the reader to a sinister and dark place with 'Year of the Pig' that has you holding your breath. Then there other shorts that are painfully beautiful in both craft and narrative; Renee Pickup delivers, as she always does, pure distilled tension that only she can do, 'A Lady on the Streets' is like hiding under a table when a relationship explodes. 'Distance from Daddy' by Rebecca Jones-Howe was plain beautiful and painful all at the same time, stripped back, raw and emotional, if you are a father you will feel and fear every word. The whole volume is stunning and gifts you alternative perspectives, Ben Tanzer's jaded view 'Something Special' flips the hero theory and brilliantly gives you a view of the long term.
  Solarcidal Tendencies is a wonderful, bleak, hilarious, beautiful, insightful, dark, bizarre, and tense volume of exceptional talent. There isn't one weak link. It is an outstanding showcase of outstanding talent.
• 
  Gordon

  For me, some of the standout stories were Teri Skultety's "The Love," Ben Tanzer's "Something Special," and Garrett Cook's "Enhancement." All of this anthology's stories are dark (to be expected when a publisher's mission is to kill the sun), a few bizarre, and many quite twisted. My own contribution is a bit of all right, too.