Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Contemporary
LGBTQ+ Category: Gay, Bisexual
Reviewer: Jay
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About The Book
From holiday decorating at a historic castle to werewolf FBI agents, from nightmares aboard a starship to a book-thief encountering a king’s brother in a fantastical library, from hurt and comfort and cinnamon pancakes to a cozy afternoon full of wedding planning, these collected stories bring together K.L. Noone’s flash and short fiction for the first time!
Some familiar characters make an appearance — Jason and Colby from the Character Bleed trilogy and Wes and Finn from the Seasonal Stories — and brand-new characters and stories await, including Ember the royal librarian, detective-fiction novelist Patrick, and interior decorator Rory.
Find all their happy endings, and more, in the sparkling short stories of Flashes!
The Review
This volume contains seven delightful short stories, all magical either in the sense of having a fantasy element or in their beautiful writing style, or both. The author creates believable worlds, with complex back-stories, in very short pieces, some of them just ‘flash’ fiction. The stories display the writer’s versatility, and include paranormal, fantasy, sci fi and contemporary themes.
I found it impossible to choose a favourite – in each, I was thoroughly immersed in the world and action, and loved the characters. I gather some of them are already established in KL Noone’s other work and some might well get their own full-length novels.
All the tales have a sense of profound joy and a happy ending or the promise of one, which is not to say there are no dark patches in the characters’ lives. Past angst is dealt with sensitively and adds to the depth of the plots. As the author explains in the introduction, the paperback version has extra material which was already available in e-book format.
Highly recommended for anyone wanting an introduction to this writer’s style and anyone wanting short pieces that will both entertain and provoke thought.
Five stars.
The Reviewer
I’ve been doing book reviews on my website, crossposted or linked to various social media, for a few years. I read a number of genres but I really enjoy all kinds of speculative fiction so thought I’d like to share my views with you. I love sci fi and other speculative fiction because of the way it can, at its best, make us see ourselves in a new light. Quite apart from the exciting stories, of course! I used to be an English teacher, and I’m a writer (fantasy) so I can be quite critical about style etc. but I hope I can also appreciate properly some books that don’t appeal to me personally but might be simply perfect for others. I have, obviously, read widely, and continue to do so.