Book Review: Impossible Fruit
The fantastic speculative fiction short story collection from Gary J. Mack. Grab a punnet!
One of the really unexpected things I’ve discovered since getting back into reading fiction is how much I enjoy anthologies. I started on that route with the excellent Nine Streams of Consciousness and was pleasantly surprised, and I’ve since added a few to my TBR list. Impossible Fruit by Gary J. Mack is my second such short story collection, and it is absolutely fantastic.
Blurb
Impossible Fruit is a collection themed speculative tales that twist the imagine and deliver unexpected endings. Some of the stories are clearly connected whilst others feed off nuanced themes. From robots in the far future, to evil spirits from the distant past, this volume delivers surprise, fear, happiness and horror. Moreover this is the first collection from the author Gary J. Mack, who spins yarns from a mind that probably needs looking at.
Review
There are four main parts to the book, containing stories dealing with different themes which the author describes as “something for everyone”. The first part is a series of supernatural horror stories, while the second goes off into the far future to bring us sci-fi featuring robots and aliens. Part three is set in a fantasy-styled world within the author’s Skyfliers universe, and part four is about two women overcoming the odds.
There’s a breadth of imagination in this book that’s great to see. I’m not a horror guy - it’s never really been my thing - and while I did enjoy the first couple of spooky stories, where I think the anthology truly shines is in its sci-fi and fantasy stories. My favourite of the bunch (pun intended) was, in fact, the titular story, Impossible Fruit, which is about two robots and their centuries-and-galaxy-spanning quest to have a child of their own. This story in particular, (and the ones that follow), read like a John Harris fever dream. By which, I mean they have this quality to them that gives me the same feeling I get when I’m looking at a John Harris sci-fi painting. If you’ve seen his work (you have - you’ll be surprised) then you’ll know what I mean. If not, then definitely go Google him. Just like the paintings, the stories are remarkably imaginative and lean heavily into the more speculative side of sci-fi, and into its more esoteric aspects. It was wonderfully refreshing to read.
Further into the book, I enjoyed what Gary did with the Skyfliers stories, which at first seem pure fantasy with sword and sorcery, but quickly get brought back around to science fiction. The last couple of stories of that section in particular were very Whovian. I would love to read more of the Skyfliers. The only issue I found was that where there’s a lot of characters in some of the stories for their length, and it took a while to get my head around who was who. That’s probably something to do with not having a lot of time to sit with them.
The last part contained two stories, one of which was a sci-fi, dealing with the fall of an ancient alien civilisation, and the other was more of a contemporary vignette with a fun twist.
Speaking of which, the twists and turns in all the stories in this book are excellently pulled off, and there’s plenty of Easter eggs to find as you go through as well. I absolutely agree with the author that there’s something here for everyone, and I highly recommend supporting Gary by picking up a copy.
