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Kalamada's Blessing [2]

Scheherazade #8, 1993
Fables and Fantasies, Necronomicon Press, 1996
The Return of the Djinn and Other Black Melodramas, Borgo Press, July 2009

Review by Ian Braidwood

Upon being blessed with a son, King Kalamada exhorts his wizards to confer upon the child the strength to fight off any disease.

Indeed, Karadak grows strong and healthy, but when plague visits itself upon Kalamada's kingdom, he finds the blessing isn't enough.


Kid Zero and Snake Eyes [3]

Route 666 ed. David Pringle, GW Books, 1990 (as by Brian Craig)

Review by Ian Braidwood

One of a handful of short stories and a novel, which Games Workshop commissioned to support their Dark Future game. Set in a post apocalyptic world rather like that in the Mad Max films, except rougher; Mel Gibson wouldn't last five minutes. (Yessss I know, in Patriot he took on the entire British army and won - in his dreams...) This scenario plays right into Brian's turf, especially as they have a genetic engineering company, but in truth these short stories are cursory affairs. If they are you introduction to Brian's writing, then you really need to discover the science fiction he writes for himself.

This particular story introduces Kid Zero, who features in Ghost Dancers, explaining how he got his name and how he came to be a lone wolf on the highways of the future. Kid becomes involved with Snake Eyes, a remnant of a genetic experiment who literally has eyes with vertical slits and patches of scaly skin. These unusual features mean that Snake Eyes is practically a pariah and his involvement with her brings Kid Zero into dispute with the rest of his gang.

Things really get going when Snake Eyes falls sick...


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