McAllister's Mates Twenty Five
Hi all
Three reviews to finish off my first round of open submissions - The next round will open in a few days. For now please enjoy the exceptional works of Bradley Ramsey, Joe DeBritz and a joint piece from Sylvienne Ethara and Gary Mucklow Diverse pieces but all share very interesting psychological angles amidst the interpersonal drama.
These reviews are part of Reviewstack run by the great writer and pillar of the Substack Community : Thaddeus Thomas
McAllister’s Mates - An ongoing series of reviews of some of the wonderful articles, poems, and stories I’ve discovered on Substack (and other places) and more importantly the beautiful souls behind the works.
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Please take a few moments to read the works of these authors, artists, and creators and if you find their work as life-affirming and life changing as I do, then please let them know. We need to support and cherish these voices.
You can meet some of my other friends in the previous instalments: 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
If you want to keep me in caffeine (and keep the ghostly voices whispering for the poetry side of things) - consider clicking below. For any who do so, you have my deepest gratitude.
As a young (and not so young) man I have always adored interactive fiction/game books/choice narratives - call them what you will. Creating one of these challenging pieces is on my to do list as an author. Of course this is easier said than done, these works require meticulous planning and an ability to take a story in many branching pathways while keeping the core of your themes, characters, and world intact. Many writers would be overwhelmed with the strain of juggling numerous plot threads - delivering emaciated or uneven plot threads. Bradley, however delivers with a dark gothic cyberpunk story that is both fantastical and exotic, but rooted in the cool nonchalance of nineties Goth and the punk passion of Grunge. Aristocratic vampires cruise though cool Industrial dance and rave parties, lasers and exotic cocktails throwing strange lights that are somehow more alarming than the darkness which surrounds them.
This brings us to our first character Kayley - a young woman dressed as a vampire desperate to join their strange, dark, cult. As a work of interactive fiction you can follow and shape her path in various ways. However, there is a second path - a scrappy young man named Daniel who is cursed with lycanthropy and desperately seeking a way to escape his forthcoming transformation. The writing for his journey takes a different flavour - a scrappy, punk tone forming an interesting contrast to the cool, detached Goth of Kayley’s story. I don’t want to go too much further into the plot - I hate spoilers, however, I would love to talk about the themes - they are fascinating.
The supernatural elements of the story (at least for me) feel like a representation of our more primal and unpredictable instincts -raw emotions like passion, love, anger, and jealousy. In our two leads we see the two most common and flawed approaches to those parts of ourselves. A showy, surface level courtship (that isn’t really ready to face those forces) and outright denial and avoidance. By creating a piece of interactive fiction Bradley has cleverly mapped out those distinct paths and the various tributaries they can take - disciplined control or full integration and their consequences. I love these stories because they create a dynamic intersection between the author and audience. By creating these branching pathways you can meet the reader where they are. I find it an interesting experience to go back and read interactive stories and see how my choices change. Bradley has a fabulous talent for this nuanced form of storytelling and I’m excited where he goes next with this. I’d love to return to this gothic cyberpunk universe but of course I welcome any direction Bradley goes in. Give yourself a treat - multiple treats even and unleash your inner monster(s).
On the surface this may seem like a story of corporate intrigue and career rivalries, but I also feel this tale contains deep truths about the human condition and our constant inner conflicts (which is not to detract from the thrilling contemporary drama - it very much delivers in that respect). The characters can be viewed as representations of arrogance, inferiority complexes, duty, justice, and so on. Of course the story works absolutely brilliantly as a corporate drama and thriller, but the structure has an air of a biblical or Buddhist parable where an external fable is used to describe inner truths.
The lead character “Bobby” is immediately likeable - easy going and friendly. To refer to the internal mapping model of the story - he could relate to pure unadopted experience. The true, persistent self behind societal pressures and fleeting thoughts and emotions. We see his natural confidence and open-hearted curiosity buffeted by his immediate friends and colleagues - Kyle and Malcolm. They attempt to overwhelm his gentle disposition with promises of wealth and prestige, and fears of rejection and failure. How often do we grapple with our own internal “Kyles” and “Malcolms” inflating or diminishing our social standing, material success, and career advancement? They come with impossible standards, distorted half-truths, and empty projections. Bobby passes the test - he rejects their lofty and fear laden visions, trading tempting illusions for rationality and truth. He sees the truth of their grand plans and fear mongering- illusionary personas. This short story is rich with wisdom. It is useful to see when others come to us with personas and projections - chasing what they want to want (as opposed to what they actually want). However, to see this tendency in our minds is nothing short of a survival skill. Our hero politely and firmly rejects their offer and chooses his own clearer, simpler path - sustaining himself, meeting his immediate responsibilities, and serving the world on his terms.
The story then follows a dual path - we follow Bobby’s journey, steady and unwavering as he builds his future. Kyle and Malcolm on the other hand reap what they have so carelessly sown. This is where the story shines both as a long hard look at the perils and indulgences of modern society as well as those of the self (as usual I prefer not to spoil plot details). Even as we see them fall in some tragically beautiful writing, there is no malice or triumphalism in either the author or Bobby. They are seen for what they are - lost children who ran too far, too fast. This is compassionate and wise. Bobby moves only to care for and reconnect to his friends and brothers, as we must integrate our impulsive and frantic aspects of self. This story is both a beautiful Zen parable and a modern thrilling workplace drama. I highly recommend it.
Sylvienne Ethara and Gary Mucklow
This is of course an eerie, even terrifying modern take on Lovecraftian themes of other worlds bursting at the seams to reach our own. However, my first reaction on reading was sheer delight at the seamlessly flowing blend of prose and poetry. The story takes place on an aeroplane where things start to go very very wrong. The passengers slip into a shared yet subjective alternate state/reality (perhaps both) where the laws of existence break down for all, but are replaced by individual realities.
This is where the story takes a beautiful Shakespearean approach (in structure not language - there’s no difficult Olde English). Much like the Bard utilised a shift between prose and poetry to give characters a different feel, Sylvienne and Gary move between tight driving prose and elegant flowing lyrics to move between the physical trauma of a plane in crisis and an intruding world of spirits. The effect is wonderful, the logical, mechanical world of cause and effect that humanity imagines to have mastered upended by a deeper older world. The pithy, story of a plane in crises where passengers scream in mortal terror as airline crew fight valiantly with the plane’s systems and their own courage intersects with something else. An ancient unfathomable intelligence described with, and speaking through beautiful yet menacing poetic verse.
Is this not also a metaphor for how we run our prosaic yet frantic lives? An internal monologue managing and feeding a constant stream of workplace tasks, digital media, and advertisements that buries a small poetic voice inside. One that grows in desperation even anger until it bursts through in force through nightmares, emotional outbursts, and relationship issues. We pack our schedules like passengers and luggage on a jet plane pushing ever higher and faster until ancient instincts and (usually) silent wisdom calls ENOUGH!
We’re never told specifically who or what drives the intelligence or whether it truly exists in our physical reality. Isn’t it much more fun to draw your own conclusions? This lends the piece to multiple interpretations - a shared mental breakdown of the crew and passengers, a crossing into another dimension, or an angry warning of coming vengeance from the spirit of a planet scarred by environmental damage. The story expertly balances thrills and chills with slowly blooming mental seeds. We board the plane together just as we move in unison through our lives of tasks, bills, and technology. However the true ties that bind us belong to the realm of dreams - ethereal ropes from an internal source each coloured and woven to our uniqueness. I have only outlined the basics of the story - you really must experience the beautiful and intriguing micro-journeys each passenger takes. Which ones will speak to you? What do you believe happened on that flight? And where do those answers take you? Enjoy your travels..
I hope you enjoy these beautiful works as much as I enjoyed seeing them and writing about them.
You can meet some of my other friends in the previous instalments: 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Substack has proven to be a treasure trove and I already have a few more gifted writers lined up for my next review newsletter.
P.S Subscribe for your chance to get your work reviewed here! You can also claim your FREE book of Poetry and art Hypnos Hermes - an epic poem presented as a medieval manuscript. A fantastical story written in verse enriched by many colourful and vibrant artworks.
If you want to keep me in caffeine (and keep the ghostly voices whispering for the poetry side of things) - consider clicking below. For any who do so, you have my deepest gratitude.