Category Archives: Reviews

Reviewage

Reviews

Over at Horrorscope, reviewer Mark Smith-Briggs has undergone the herculean task of reviewing three issues of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine in one hit!  Of my issue #46 story The School Bus, Mark says:

“Jason Fischer’s The School Bus also uses the innocence and naivety of youth to construct a dark examination of an outback society trapped following the outbreak of a zombie virus. A story of layers, Fischer draws you in through the horrors of a zombie hoarde only to reveal a far more sinister underbelly from the town itself. His writing is a brilliant example where saying a little can be far more disturbing than saying too much.”

I am so pleased to hear this, it’s exactly what I was aiming for with this story.  The rest of the review can be read here:

http://www.horrorscope.com.au/2010/11/review-asim-46-48.html

(I’m still madly in love with the zombieroo cover)

Couldn’t have said it better myself

Reviews

Why yes, I do make use of Google Alerts 🙂

Fellow Aurealis #44 contributor Adam Ford has posted a blog entry about his long years of subbing to the magazine (he sent in a story to issue #1!) and his long-awaited success in selling them a story.  Well done mate, persistence is king.

He’s starting to read the other stories in the issue, and of mine he says:

‘I’ve been loving the stuff I’ve read so far, including Jason Fischer’s batshit insane post-apocalyptic Mad-Max-meets-Gilgamesh “gunning for a tinkerman”.’

BEST QUOTE EVER.  This seriously belongs on a t-shirt, made my flipping day that.  He’s summed the story up better than I ever could.

http://theotheradamford.wordpress.com/2010/11/17/published-a-billion-tiny-lights/#more-2465

EDIT: It sure does belong on a t-shirt, behold.

Review of EEEK over at Horrorscope

Reviews

Horrorscope has just reviewed the first two issues of Jason Paulos’ retro-tastic comic “EEEK!”, which includes my story “The Harvest”, a comic script retrofitted from my prose short story “Rick Gets a Job”.  Reviewer Shane Jiraiya Cummings says:

“While clearly inspired by (and some might say derivative of) works such as Soylent Green and Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, “The Harvest” is the highlight of this issue. Rick’s motivations are powerful, offering the beacon of a sympathetic protagonist as the reader is led through a particularly dark story. The revelation at the end is grim and ultimately offers a payoff that is enlightening and frustrating at the same time. Well done to Fischer and Paulos on creating such a brilliant story together. On the strength of this story, hopefully the pair will collaborate again in the future.”

The rest of the review can be found here: http://www.horrorscope.com.au/2010/11/review-eeek-2.html

EEEK! can be purchased at your local newsagent, or via the webstore here: http://www.blackboox.net/products/EEEK%21-Issue-1.html

Speaking of a nameless house…

Reviews

The anthology for WOTF XXVI has just been reviewed over at the Library Journal, and reviewer David Rapp says:

“These new stories by talented as-yet-unknowns are uniformly good; some show impressive talent, such as Adam Colston’s “Not in the Flesh,” an interesting take on the sentient android story, and Jason Fischer’s clever “The House of Nameless,” which opens with a girl and a minotaur on a date.”

The rest of the review can be found here: http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/887391-264/xpress_reviewsthe_first_look_at.html.csp

The book has also been reviewed over at The Baryon Review, and can be read here http://thebaryonreview.blogspot.com/2010/09/writers-of-future26-and-exile-reviews.html

ASIM Review of “Gravesend”

Reviews

Just got the latest issue of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, the 44th instalment of my favourite Aussie pulp mag.  Not only does ASIM #44 contain my latest story “Sebastian” (love lost, love found, and an evil equestrian encounter), the book reviews section includes a look at my novella, “After the World: Gravesend”.

Among other things, reviewer Simon Petrie says:

“Tamsyn’s strength of character is one of the novella’s strengths: in fact the characterisation, throughout, is marvellous, with at least a dozen of the townspeople emerging as fully three-dimensional, living, breathing characters during the course of the story.”

and

“Fischer’s portrayal of society’s shambling disintegration is disconcertingly plausible”.

The full review (and as usual, several awesome stories) can be read in the print copy, which can be purchased here: http://www.andromedaspaceways.com/issue-44/

Another review of “After The World: Gravesend”

Reviews

This time from the redoubtable Dirk Flinthart over at review site “(Cool) Shite On The Tube”.

http://www.coolshite.net/review/2010/08/03/world-volume-1-2-novella-review/

He does a great comparitive analysis of the first two After The World books, and of Gravesend he says:

“…Fischer offers an effective, character-driven coming-of-age story in which Tamsyn must overcome the expectations of all those around her, and defeat her own inner demons before she can move on.”

“The action and horror are still there, and the story moves at a fine pace. However, this is clearly a book, not simply a printed-page rendering of a zombie movie. Characters have distinct and powerful personalities and motivations, and go through very real arcs of development as the story unfolds to a conclusion both eminently satisfying, and still gratifyingly open.”

and

“Bringing a true novellist’s sensibility to the zombie story, Fischer’s writing appeals to the dedicated reader while still reaching out to the horror film fan.”

Sweet!  My next challenge is to match this praise in the follow-up to Gravesend, “After the World: Corpus Christi”.  I shall do my best!

Note: This book can still be purchased via the online store: http://www.blackboox.net/products/After-the-World%3A-Gravesend.html for the bargain price of $5.