I write short stories and screenplays mostly in the horror genre. Several of my short stories have been published including one about a Kumiho (Korean Werefox). I regularly blog about writing, the horror genre and reviews at https://www.facebook.com/davidjenkinswriter

   

        

           Review of We Can Improve You                      edited by Brian Marshall, Alex Davis


​Blurb- We are all born with the potential to be great, through the wonders bestowed upon us by nature. But, as technology advances, why should we settle for those simple gifts we were born with? Why shouldn’t the future see humanity become more? 

We Can Improve You explores the theme of augmentation, and what happens when science and technology combine with flesh and blood. Often surprising, sometimes startling, occasionally funny but always thought-provoking, We Can Improve You brings together a range of stories that might just become real some day…
This collection has a great cover and I enjoyed at least 10 out of the 13 stories. Before I deal with specific stories I like, my general view is that a lot of stories focused on improving ones brain capacity and the problem of technology- viruses and breakdown of equipment but managed to do so in different ways. The feeling of isolation runs through several tales and it makes me wonder if increased technology would isolate us more and lead to even more problems for humanity.
My three favourite stories were-
‘Driver Not Found’ by Gavthrope which demonstrated what would if there is a hardware problem and everything including opening doors, calling people, socialising etc. is dependent upon a chip in your head. The repeated reference to the exact amount of seconds it takes the main character to think or do something neatly demonstrates how technology has took over. 
‘The Future Embodied’ by Rose Taylor, which dealt with the exclusion of not being able to improve oneself with technology and how as the girl progresses it, becomes even more problematic. At four pages long is probably the best flash fiction piece I have ever read.
‘Outbreak’ by Bryan Nickelberry has a great narrative voice warning us what went wrong. He demonstrated each mistake made like people taking a drug to change into animals and each mistake seems like it could be what this big warning is about until the final reveal.
Overall I would highly recommend this collection not just because of the great stories but for the messages they give about our potential future.

 I write short stories and screenplays mostly in the horror genre. Several of my short stories have been published including one about a Kumiho (Korean Werefox). I regularly blog about writing, the horror genre and reviews at https://www.facebook.com/davidjenkinswriter

Dead Leaves by Andrew David Barker                                     review
 

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Plot - The year is 1983, Scott and his friends are drifting though life drinking, talking about girls, and watching horror movies. But that all changes when the ‘Video Nasty’ panic starts, in their search for a copy of The Evil Dead they discover what is truly important in life.
A famous critic once said it’s hard to review art without something similar to compare it to and this is quite true here. This story is about the quest of three lads to watch Evil Dead against the background of the 1980s and video nasties therefore the only similar things I have seen (not read) are Detroit Rock City and Monty Python’s Holy Grail.  This type of story hangs on the obstacles that stop the characters from succeeding and the relationship between the friends more so then other genres which have a stronger plot. 
So first of the obstacles come in shape of girlfriend woes, Video nasties, drunks, unemployment and nagging parents most of which we can relate to. All of these obstacle are presented in realistic ways and occasionally build upon each other to frustrate the characters even more. The characters are also relatable from the serious guy older than the others with a job and pissed off at people who haven’t got one, to the disgruntled youth who reckons there’s no point getting a job and finally the dreamer who has people constantly on his back to get a job. These are people we knew when we were young and maybe they are the people we were.  Another positive is the language used in the book is accurate portrayal of youth, with bits of Derby slang thrown in which adds to the realistic tone of the book. I like the black comedy in the book including the occasional one sentence chapters like end of one chapter- this wasn’t going to end well. Next chapter- It didn’t. Although it was getting a bit repetitive towards the end. Lastly on the positive front I’d like to say the special edition of the book with its VHS box sleeve is a nice touch although I didn’t understand the cover; Is it a camera on a leaf, the colours used are effective though.
There were some things I didn’t enjoy though. The portrayal of police where they are publicly just blind sheep (nod to 1980s Thatcher police) but in private they are working against the system is cliché. Spoiler I don’t think it’s realistic that Police invite them to where the films are stored at the end, particularly as they’d just been brawling a few pages before.  Another problem is with ’Dead’ in the title I expect some more horror scenes and apart from getting battered in a deserted shopping centre and found by druggies there’s nothing. The ‘Leaves’ part of the title is good though with its reference to  autumn setting and I think it’s a metaphor about how the youths have no control of their lives really and are just being blown away by stronger forces. The plot (quest for Evil Dead) goes missing at some points  to show how bad their lives are which is interesting but makes it seem more like a memoir rather than fiction.
Overall, as a memoir type story for what it was like to be a kid in the 1980s this is a good story with nice doses of humour. But the plot and character portrayal goes missing at points and I expected more horror from the story and for that reason I’d give it a 3/5.

​I write short stories and screenplays mostly in the horror genre. Several of my short stories have been published including one about a Kumiho (Korean Werefox). I regularly blog about writing, the horror genre and reviews at https://www.facebook.com/davidjenkinswriter

​      Which is better: Film Adaptions vs. Books and Comics
 
With the ever increasingly popularity of adaptions (especially superhero films) it’s always a topical questions what is better the book or film. Most people I know prefer books to the film adaptions pointing out among other reasons-
•             They can explore the motivations of characters more.
•             Books can be a lot longer making them more complex.
•             They don’t need the protagonist and antagonist to have a personal relationship which most films have (for instance Punisher’s family in the comics are killed during a shootout they weren’t targeted).
•             They can use various places and locations to get the story across with little fear of losing people’s interest and upsetting financiers.
However there are some positives in films namely-
•             They can make people interested in a book who normally wouldn’t be.
•             They can provided a more compact version of a story you enjoy.
•             Some books can be poorly written but the idea might be great (Logan’s Run for instance).
After thinking about several film adaptions I have enjoyed I realised that whilst I mostly preferred the book (including World War Z,  Howling, The Other Boleyn girl and several comics) it wasn’t always true (for instance The Crow comic,  Girl With The Dragon tattoo- the original one and Interview with an Vampire although it’s very close with the last).  So that made me think why did I only prefer the book about 70% of the time and the reason is it depends which I experienced first (I’m only including comic book films where they are based on a graphic novel or a miniseries as it’s unfair to pit 30 years of comics against one film). All of the above instances where I said I prefer the film are all examples of when I watched the film first and it cut out some unnecessary parts of the book like the mentions of Swedish industry and economics in Girl With Dragon tattoo.  The other point is that films limit our imagination sometimes it’s only slight but it’s there and therefore when we see a certain actor or action in the film we really like we believe that the character/event should have been more like that in the book for instance Lestat dancing with Claudia’s dead mother is a brilliant black comedy moment. My theory isn’t absolute as I can think of two or three instances where I have preferred the second thing I experienced like the Queen of the Dammed book. Although in this case the film significantly departed from the book for instance Marius didn’t turn David at the end of Queen of D (that’s the smallest complaint I can make I could do a whole article on how they learned the mash up of vampire chronicles 2 and 3).
 But overall this theory holds true for me what about you?