Tag Archives: Kevin Cockle

Evolve edited by Nancy Kilpatrick

Overview
Evolve

Title: Evolve
Author: Nancy Kilpatrick, Sandra Kasturi, Kelley Armstrong, Ronald Hore, Jennifer Greylyn, Mary E. Choo, Rebecca Bradley, Michael Skeet, Victoria Fisher, Kevin Cockle, Heather Clitheroe, Colleen Anderson, Sandra Wickham, Claude Bolduc, Claude Lalumiere, Rhea Rose, Gemma Files, Bev Vincent, Steve Vernon, Rio Youers, Bradley Somer, Natasha Beaulieu, Jerome Stueart, Kevin Nunn & Tanya Huff
In: Evolve (Nancy Kilpatrick)
Rating Out of 5: 3 (On the fence about this one)
My Bookshelves: Dark fantasy, Short story collections, Vampires
Dates read: 6th November 2018 – 1st April 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Anthology
Publisher: Edge
Year: 2010
5th sentence, 74th page: You are never in a hurry.

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Synopsis

New Vampires have evolved, and they are coming for you! Kelly Armstrong, Tanya Huff and twenty-two other dark fantasy and horror writers come together to re-imagine the future of vampires in this new collection of all-original short fiction – one of the most unusual and original vampire anthologies ever assembled.

Thoughts

This wasn’t my favourite collection of short stories. Maybe I’m not all that much into vampire stories, maybe because these are just the type of vampire stories that I really love. The only two tales I really loved in this were by Kelley Armstrong and Tanya Huff. They weren’t necessarily bad tales, just not ones that I was completely enthralled by.

If you like the more traditional and darker aspect of vampires, I think that this is for you. Some of the stories were a little contemporary, but they weren’t that romanticised, humanised version that we all know and love in modern literature. Maybe if I had have read some of the vampire classics such as Dracula before this, I would have been a little more intently interested. But as things stand, I found this collection quite… meh. Not bad, not great. Definitely worth reading, but not one I’ll be rushing to reread anytime soon.

 <- The Slowing of the World ReviewLet the Night In Review ->
Image source: Goodreads

Sleepless in Calgary by Kevin Cockle

Overview
Evolve

Title: Sleepless in Calgary
Author: Kevin Cockle
In: Evolve (Nancy Kilpatrick)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Urban fantasyVampires
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Edge
Year: 2010
5th sentence, 74th page: David pulled his arms back then struck again.

Buy The Book Now at The Book Depository, Free Delivery World Wide
Synopsis

A chance meeting with a vampire no one else can see on his daily commute causes David to start seriously thinking about the way he’s living his life.

Thoughts

This short story took an exceptionally unexpected turn. I thought that the man would either be insane or turn into a vampire. And he kind of did… to both. But not even remotely in the way that I was expecting. Actually… it was kind of super weird and tripped out to be honest. Fun though. And it gave me a good little giggle.

I’ve read a number of stories and theories that feature the idea that we just have to all believe in something strong enough for it to become reality. Cockle is able to harness this idea in a way that was completely unexpected. And one that was quite humorous and twisted in and of itself.

 <- The Drinker ReviewCome to Me Review ->
Image source: Goodreads