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Wild Justice – Edited by Ellen Datlow

Real-Time Review Continued From Here

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Ships – Michael Swanwick and Jack Dann

“Some things are too vile to describe.”

I’d say that only two male writers sparking off each other – with some concomitant, contaminant synergy of the dual male characters respectively in ‘A Punch in the Doughnut’ and, less vilely, ‘Martyr and Pesty’ [or female writers, too, in Morlan-Kiernan (even if that unofficial collaboration was more by magic serendipity than by consciously deliberate creative connection)] – can even hope to reach such heights or depths of vileness through fictioneering.  This particular cosmically punch-drunk fable starts with the protagonist’s own burial-as-dead in tune with this book’s own burial thematics, semi-premature as his burial turns out to be, and travels through the demon/angel-smacking Bible Belt of space along with a sort of collaborative ‘William Blake : Norman Spinrad’ ring-doughnut-markings (the Marriage – or here the ‘lethal kiss’ – of Heaven and Hell as filtered through that earlier Marriage in the Cadiganate aphasic, but, here, amnesic Eye of a Seraph) … and the defilement of the treasure-sown “goldens sands” of the reader’s complacency into what this sex-twisting-into-new-shapes merely by dint of sexual needs has itself twisted into molten shapes of cruelty and possibly under-age sodomy before the reader’s own iris-spinning eyes. Star Trek pirate ships as a way to cannibalise mutineers and further mingle Heaven with Hell or vice versa: as a John Martin battle of apocryphal apocalypses.  All ends and begins with a burial but of whom by whom? David (Marshall Smith) or (David (Schow)) Goliath?  Split his mainbrace with your boner for his sling-nuts! We all hopefully have our own meat safe.  Otherwise, do not risk submitting yourself to this fable’s still-accreting vileness even after you close the covers of the book (if that were still possible!) — Bosch eat your heart out. Oh, yes, the revenge theme here is what can honestly be said to be true WILD Justice. (14 Mar 12 – another 3 hours later)

THIS REAL-TIME REVIEW WILL BE CONCLUDED HERE

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