Piranha Balls

Shirley Oliphant's dream is to take her grandkids on a picnic in a Rolls-Royce. Her husband, the old KO, finds just the car, a 1974 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow once owned by a Mr Van Buren, who brought the car back from Africa. Since his death, seven years ago, the Rolls has been sitting in Mr Van Buren's garage, keeping a secret. A deadly secret. And the old KO is about to discover that secret, and unleash it.

Africar by Martin Price is kind of like a steampunk version of the Langoliers. The slow setup aggravated me a bit, but, when the action finally begins, the terror is rather gruesome, especially when the creatures dig in.

While I think this story would have been better as a flash fiction piece beginning with the old KO working on the car, skipping the conversation with Liversausage, I did appreciate the details about his marriage and the accident...added an extra layer of anguish to the ending.

There are also a couple of excerpts from two other stories included, which look promising.

As always,
AstraDaemon

Under Pressure

Bali. The Indonesian island for bargain bartering, friendly locals and good times. A holiday hotspot for tourists wanting to let go and indulge in the pleasures on offer. But when there are hundreds of thousands of tourists, there's money to be made. And when there's money to be made, there's the potential to make a fortune. Even if that fortune is built on crime.

For one Australian traveler, becoming a mule while staying in Bali is worth the cash on offer. A few jobs transporting packages is easy enough. But when the packages and pay become increasingly larger, so do the risks.

It's already too late for the mule. He decided his future when he agreed to the job. Now the only decision he has left to make is how bad his future will be.

---

MULE by S.A. Tawks begins with a young man struggling to get through airport security with drugs inside of him. Most of the story is told in long flashbacks, returning to present time every once in a while, as he waits to board his plane. The hook is instantaneous as readers travel along with his memories of drug dealing in Bali, in order to find out if he is successful in transporting the drugs without getting busted. The character remains unnamed throughout the story.

As the character justifies and defends his decision to get involved with Brad and his drug network, his inner struggles with morals, guilt and the loss of a friend in a similar situation are almost enough to elicit sympathy for the character and his ongoing predicament. Almost. The fact remains, the young Aussie chooses easy money, as well as indulging in heavy drinking, drug use and sex with strangers, when he knows damn well the consequences will catch up to him.

There is no backing out...the best he can hope for is minimizing the damage to his life, unless he meets his death by making the wrong choice.

Tawks does a great job of blending action and suspense for this crime drama, and captures the fear and danger involved in this underworld.

As always,
AstraDaemon