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eddiegenerous's review
5.0
Unnerving Magazine Review
Short stories in a short collection, much of Dustin LaValley’s A Soundless Dawn has an I-can’t-quite-put-a-finger-on-it feeling. This is a product of the flash pieces and micro flash pieces. One sentence, two, ten sentences, these little stories freckle this collection with a strange dread, a longing, a darkness that carries a feeling of… hmm. This is not a bad feeling, it is unusual and endearing, like wine-tasting from someone's brainpan. These little bridges do a strangely big job piecing together the short stories, which for most parts are good, leaning to great.
In one instance, worth the cover price and probably then some, is an incredible story of rich humanity and emotion. Sand Bucket feels very much like something penned by Harlan Ellison, though done so without the pretension. It’s a grim and dark tale of the world surrounding a boy and his bucket of sand. It really was a tremendous piece of fiction and I'll do it no justice explaining any further.
A Soundless Dawn is equal parts intriguing and curious. It’s quietly dark and drips emotion. This is one of the best Sinister Grin books I’ve read yet.
Short stories in a short collection, much of Dustin LaValley’s A Soundless Dawn has an I-can’t-quite-put-a-finger-on-it feeling. This is a product of the flash pieces and micro flash pieces. One sentence, two, ten sentences, these little stories freckle this collection with a strange dread, a longing, a darkness that carries a feeling of… hmm. This is not a bad feeling, it is unusual and endearing, like wine-tasting from someone's brainpan. These little bridges do a strangely big job piecing together the short stories, which for most parts are good, leaning to great.
In one instance, worth the cover price and probably then some, is an incredible story of rich humanity and emotion. Sand Bucket feels very much like something penned by Harlan Ellison, though done so without the pretension. It’s a grim and dark tale of the world surrounding a boy and his bucket of sand. It really was a tremendous piece of fiction and I'll do it no justice explaining any further.
A Soundless Dawn is equal parts intriguing and curious. It’s quietly dark and drips emotion. This is one of the best Sinister Grin books I’ve read yet.
jay9813's review
5.0
A Soundless Dawn is a collection of horror flash fiction and short stories by Dustin LaValley. It has 41 pieces, ranging from a couple of sentences to fifteen pages in length. Themes touch upon grief, romantic relationships, loneliness, unrequited love, time travel, deceit, creepy happenings in abandoned buildings, death, madness, wrestling, faith, comic books and dogs.
I really enjoyed reading this book, dipping in to read three or four stories now and again. The sheer range of topics keeps the book intriguing throughout, but the author‘s distinctive voice is always present.
With some exceptions, my favourite pieces tended to be the slightly longer works. I particularly enjoyed Picture-in-Picture, an uncomfortable story that flits between a boy, running scared and a “dirty man” giving his monologue on blood, sex and drugs. It left me a little disoriented and reminded me of the overwhelming feeling you get after watching a scene with one of David Lynch’s bad guys. Another particularly good tale was North Vermont and Lexington, a story of a young man who meets the girl of his dreams (who just so happens to be… well, himself but female) during a patch of turbulence on a flight. It’s a mostly positive and sweet piece but, in among the others, it has an air of sickliness and uncertainty.
I think there were three or four stories that I didn’t get anything from, but out of 41, that’s not bad! Dustin LaValley really gives the impression of an effortless writer and I would love to read more of his work.
https://examiningtheodd.com/2017/05/20/fiction-review-a-soundless-dawn-by-dustin-lavalley/
I really enjoyed reading this book, dipping in to read three or four stories now and again. The sheer range of topics keeps the book intriguing throughout, but the author‘s distinctive voice is always present.
With some exceptions, my favourite pieces tended to be the slightly longer works. I particularly enjoyed Picture-in-Picture, an uncomfortable story that flits between a boy, running scared and a “dirty man” giving his monologue on blood, sex and drugs. It left me a little disoriented and reminded me of the overwhelming feeling you get after watching a scene with one of David Lynch’s bad guys. Another particularly good tale was North Vermont and Lexington, a story of a young man who meets the girl of his dreams (who just so happens to be… well, himself but female) during a patch of turbulence on a flight. It’s a mostly positive and sweet piece but, in among the others, it has an air of sickliness and uncertainty.
I think there were three or four stories that I didn’t get anything from, but out of 41, that’s not bad! Dustin LaValley really gives the impression of an effortless writer and I would love to read more of his work.
https://examiningtheodd.com/2017/05/20/fiction-review-a-soundless-dawn-by-dustin-lavalley/