I bought Ice Cream and Venom for my Kindle because it was written by the anonymous “Republibot 3.0” who hangs out at Threedonia, as I tend to do. He (I assume he’s a he) participates in this conservative science fiction blog. The book is a collection of seven short stories, diverse in setting and tone.
I have an ambivalent relationship with science fiction. I enjoyed the juvenile stuff when I was young, but as I tasted the more adult variety my interest waned and I shifted to fantasy. I’ve always suspected I never gave science fiction a fair try, although I’ve read a fair (at least representative, I think) selection of stories and books over the years.
Ice Cream and Venom, in my opinion, is pretty good. I liked some stories better than others, as you’d expect, but I thought the quality of the writing was high (marred, as is so often the case nowadays—especially in electronic publishing–by poor proofing). There are lots of confused cognates and wrongly placed apostrophes, and in one story the author lost track of characters’ names, calling two guys by the others’ names for about half a page.
Still the contemporary reader has grown used to such things and learned to work around them. When the author is on his game, his writing is very good indeed.
My favorite story was “The Man Who Would Not Be King,” an oddly heartwarming story of Elvis Presley in an alternate universe.
“Superheroes Are Gay” was a well realized, if disturbing, picture of a world where superherores are real—and it’s not a good thing.
“The Truth About Lions and Lambs” is a dystopic tale, troubling and hard to forget.
Christian readers will find that the themes are generally positive ones, but the details sometimes offensive. A very short story called “Just Moments Before the End of the Age” borders on sacrilege, and will certainly put some Christians off (I think it also betrays a lack of theological understanding on the part of a writer who seems pretty familiar with the faith and the evangelical community).
But if you enjoy that kind of challenging material, it’s only a buck on Kindle, and you could do a lot worse.
One of the beauties of self-publishing ebooks (as I assume is the case with Ice Cream and Venom) is that the author can easily fix those confused cognates and wrongly placed apostrophes and republish.
Thanks for pointing this one out. I’d like to dabble in more self-published stuff, but it helps to have some recommendations from people I respect.
I am honored that you’d take the time to read my book, and even more so that you liked it. If I were any happier, I’d be twins. Thank you!