By TERRY GRIMWOOD (Eibonvale Press; 2021)

I know I’ll always remember England’s Terry Grimwood for his unforgettable apocalyptic fantasy BLOODY WAR.  The six stories contained in this 61 page anthology, published as part of the Eibonvale Chapbook Line, show a different side of this talented author, about whom the cliché “expect the unexpected” fits quite well.

The six stories contained in this 61 page anthology, published as part of the Eibonvale Chapbook Line, show a different side of this talented author…

The four page “Doppelganger’s Nemesis” starts things out in typically atypical fashion.  It’s about a to-the-death struggle between a man and his doppelganger, told from the latter’s point of view.  “Beautiful are the Feet,” related in a single paragraph, takes the form of an extended rant directed at a “craven, unpatriotic, luddite, child-hating, self-centered bastard” who refuses to get with the times.  “Kemistry” consists of a dialogue between a policeman and a woman who’s arrested in, it seems, a dystopia not too far removed from the setting of BLOODY WAR.  The subject is the woman’s love life, which involves an abusive husband her questioner demands she stay with, due to the fact that, according to this society’s corrupt rulers, it’s ordained by “chemistry.”

The title story follows.  It’s more black humored (and much longer) than the previous offerings, concerning a man who after swapping hearts with his fiancée Eleanor is flummoxed when his organ is returned to him—leading to the line “Eleanor’s heart sank in my chest.”  Things only grow increasingly madcap from there as the protagonist’s stuffy aunt Agatha and the equally stuffy Miss Myrtle, who are paying him a visit, become embroiled in a plot that involves scheming, betrayal and much clandestine heart swapping.

…a man who after swapping hearts with his fiancée Eleanor is flummoxed when his organ is returned to him—leading to the line “Eleanor’s heart sank in my chest.” 

“Did He Fall, Or Was He Pushed?” is another black humored goof of a story.  Taking the form of a police inquest, it has Jack, of “Jack and Jill” fame, being questioned about the events described in that nursery rhyme: “Anyway, you two set off up the hill, to get some water.  Water?  What the fuck you doing going up a hill to fetch water…We’ve found no sign of Jill.  Last you mention her, she was tumbling.  She exist, Jack?  She real?”

The final story is “War War,” another two person dialogue.  One of the speakers is a representative for “government, business and the military,” and the other an apparently high-ranking denizen of a country the former wants to invade.  Military tactics are discussed, as is the predicted timeline of the conflict, involving “enough dead and burned women and children to rouse the public anger,” and concluding with the observation that “I think a few nuked cities will be the perfect way to bring this thing to a thundering climax.”  A chilling account for sue, due largely to the fact that it’s probably not too far removed from the realities of modern warfare.