Update: Check out my NEW website (still in progress) at robertlowellrussell.com (it redirects to a wordpress account, but it's nice.

Friday, July 18, 2014

A decent Diabolical Plots review of my Daily Science Fiction story, "If She Pushes the Button, Turn to Page 116"

Diabolical Plots is really the only site that regularly reviews Daily Science Fiction, and even though they didn't care for my first DSF story, "Blessed Are the Sowers," their review of my second DSF story (and all the other Feb '14 DSF stories), "If She Pushes the Button, Turn to Page 116" is considerably better.

If She Pushes the Button, Turn to Page 116 by Robert Lowell Russell (debut 2/11 and reviewed by James Hanzelka)

Susan and Phil are exploring their basement, now cluttered with images generated by the paperback manual in Phil’s hands. Susan is amazed at how personal and detailed the text is. Following the text they explore the clutter of Phil’s grandfather that now populated their basement, right down to the dust the images carried in with them. The two follow the path the manual leads them on, flipping from page to page, watching their movements captured on the page. They follow the manual down to the hidden cavern the manual has created under their basement where they find the box housing Phil’s evil twin from the same dimension as the manual.
This story takes a little effort to get into, but if you let it carry you along it can be fun. The plot twists and turns like the ladder the couple follow to the cavern beneath their house (or their make believe house, I was never really sure). The author does a good job using the reflection of the characters off their opposites in the story to build the storyline. Overall a pretty well done effort, give it a read.

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I'll take it, and I'm looking forward to what they think of my longer story, "Scents of Life," upcoming from DSF, and sadly maybe one of the last longer stories Daily Science Fiction publishes, since DSF has announced they're focusing solely on work 1500 words or less.