Calvaria Fell

** I received an ARC for an honest review **

Description

Calvaria Fell is a stunning collaborative collection of weird tales from two acclaimed authors, Kaaron Warren and Cat Sparks. It features previously published stories from both authors, along with a new novella by Kaaron Warren and four new stories by Cat Sparks. The collection offers a glimpse into a chilling future world that is similar to our own. Readers will be drawn into experiences at once familiar and bizarre, where our choices have far-reaching consequences and the environment is a force to be reckoned with. The title of the collection tethers these stories to a shared space. The calvaria is the top part of the skull, comprising five plates that fuse together in the first few years of life. Story collections work like this; disparate parts melding together to make a robust and sturdy whole. The calvaria tree, also known as the dodo tree, adapted to being eaten by the now-extinct dodo bird; its seeds need to pass through the bird’ s digestive tract in order to germinate. In a similar way, the stories in Calvaria Fell reflect the idea of adaptation and the consequences of our actions in a changing world.

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Summary

Calvaria Fell is a unique eco horror, dark fantasy, dystopian and science fiction collection from Australian authors Cat Sparks and Kaaron Warren.

Review

This is a unique collection of dystopian tales alternating from Kaaron Warren to Cat Sparks with each holding fragments and slivers of the previous stories.

We are initiated to this dark fantasy and dystopian worlds, a futuristic ecohorror that hints at origins of the destructed worlds of the past but offers only glimpses of what might have been. The first story “The Witnessing” by Warren shares a sense of kinship with Orwell’s classic novel, 1984. This theme is followed by “68 Days” where again, Warren plays with memory, timelessness as well as a sense of forgetting humanity. The story “The Emporium” carries this theme more boldly and in a dystopian future where organisations control lives, worthiness and there is a palpable loss of memory and selfhood.

In these new savage worlds, Cat Sparks blends ecohorror and cyberpunk in her marvellous but hearterenching story “The Space Between All Possible Ways” which is continued in the speculative story “Mandalla” and “Doll Face”. Elements of dark fantasy shift throughout the ecohorror and science fiction with subgenres woven seamlessly in stories like “Gardens of Earthly Delights” by Sparks and echoed in the darker tale “Air, Water and the Grove” by Warren, before moving to the surrealist “Everything so Slow and Quiet” by Warren and to the final story“Hacking Santorini” by Sparks which offers a thoughtful reflection on environment, life, death and the nature of humanity.

Conclusion

A highly recommended collection for fans of ecohorror, climate fiction, dystopian, science-fiction, cyberpunk and dark fantasy. An exciting new dark fiction collection focused on sociopolitical issues, climate destruction, questioning humanity and the future we create now for ourselves. A beautifully written and engaging series of stories that is as quick-paced as it is a thought-provoking read. Put this on your to-read list!

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** This is my personal opinion and does not reflect any judging decisions **