WRATH OF ATHENA
A Snapshot Universe Novella
By Dale Cozort
Chisel & Stone Publishing
77 pages
Writer Dale Cozort enjoys alternate
world fiction and several of his full length sci-fi novels have dealt with this
theme. Whereas most such books require much elaborate world building and can be
complicated to establish. Now he seems to have found the perfect solution to
all that in his Snapshot novellas. We
don’t claim to understand the set up fully, but it appears that in the far
future bubbles of alternate worlds have been created in which people can travel
freely and intermingle with both animals and cultures from various eras in
human history.
Now one of those major bubbles is Madagascar
where various hybrid lemurs and other bizarre creatures live in the wilderness.
The land has also been colonized in specific areas to even include an Amish
community.
It is in this fantastical setting
that we meet our protagonists, Scott Hardy and Athena Anders. Both work for a
traveling zoo which keeps many exotic animals from lots of different Snapshot
worlds. The most popular of these are two dog-sized dinosaurs named Mister McGuffin
and Horny Chick. Days prior to the zoo’s
opening show, the two dinos escape and it is up to Scott and Athena to find
them fast. Apparently Horny Chick is in
heat and should she and Mister McGuffin begin breeding, their eggs could hatch
and systematically destroy the fragile Madagascan ecology.
And if that wasn’t serious enough,
they soon realize the animals’ escape might have been caused by someone for
nefarious reasons beyond their comprehension.
And so the couple races against time to both find the missing creatures
and solve the riddle of their disappearance.
Cozort has a whopping fun time with
this tale and his characters are charming.
Enough so that the reader immediately take to them and their odd dilemma. The Snapshot world is a crazy hodgepodge of
Sci-Fi stables skillfully employed as an exotic backdrop to a really enjoyable
and fast paced novella. If you like the
exotic, you’ll find get your fill with this marvelous little book. Enjoy.
1 comment:
Hmmm. I was hoping it was some sort of fumetti comic.
Post a Comment