In Silent Desperation, a debut book, Jeffrey Bryan has given the reader a collection of short stories and poetry. Each genre is collected into a separate area, with the short stories starting the book and all of the poetry at the end.
The short stories tend to be in the sci-fi/fantasy genre. Most talk of lonely people that can't find a way to connect with others. Of these stories, my personal favorite was "The Forever Man'", which tells the story of the last man on Earth. Another story, "Eyes Of Echo" is more of a novella, and the author should consider fleshing it out into it's own book, since it shows such merit and interesting characters.
The poetry tends to be focused on the same themes. In this section, my favorite was the poem, "I Will Never Forget Again." It adeptly shows the horror of abuse by a loved one, and then the joy of forgiveness when that person realises the horror of what has been done.
Bryan shows a real talent in this area, and can be one of the new voices in urban fantasy. This book is recommended to readers of science fiction, fantasy, both traditional and urban fantasy.
I don't read a lot of short story collections, but this one does sound promising. Thanks Sandie
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