Title: Reel Life
Author: Steven Savile
Series: Glass Town #1.5
In: Urban Enemies (Joseph Nassise)
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Fantasy, Science fiction, Thriller
Dates read: 17th December 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Gallery Books
Year: 2017
5th sentence, 74th page: Taking him out of this place was the easiest way he knew how to hurt Eleanor.
His jealousy caused him to steal the girl of his brother’s dreams and keep her trapped in limbo with him. Now he wants out in the real world. But his reality might just stop him from finally getting everything he wants. After all, this is reel life.
There’s something about tales of obsessive love that really pull me in. I never like the people / characters who have this tendency. I always find it annoying and want to smack the moron who is being so intense… but I also always love them. Not sure why. Don’t want to know what that says about me. And this was one such story. I hated the lead character (he’s a villain, I think that you should hate him). I felt sorry for his victims. I couldn’t put this story down.
I think that jealousy is one of the worst emotions. It seems to be the driver for some of the worst acts committed. Which, of course meant that every bad act that the villain in this committed had it’s roots in this disgusting emotion. I know that the colour green on me is often when I do and say the worst things… apparently that is also the case in this story. But getting your revenge for this and what you wished for? Luckily, as Seth found out… that revenge often isn’t the best thing in the world. 😊
I think that one of the things I loved most about this short story is the playing around with time. It’s often been discussed in my anthropology classes and studies that time is a human construct. It’s our understanding of it that shapes time. Of course there is still a passage of time… but yeah, it’s super philosophical and I freaking love that discussion. Threads of it make their way through this story. Which might be why I just couldn’t make myself put it down and / or stop thinking about it.
Earth and Skye 