Guns, Alarms, and Embraces

Welcome back! If you're here for another set of short stories, than you're in luck. I have the (now habitual) three stories. And again, you know the drill: two of them are newer and one is old. The two new stories are S. L. Gilbow's "Alarms" and Nick Tramdack's "Cold Embrace." The older is out of the genre(s) I've been looking into which is probably a really good thing. That story is "Gun Crazy" by MacKinlay Kantor. So, with no further ado, I offer you those stories.

Alarms by S. L. Gilbow -- Lightspeed Magazine

Gilbow's story was a little different for me at first. I have never before read a story that was list-driven. This was something new for me. I did like it though. The premise of the story is that the main character learns that she has gained a superpower: the ability to turn on alarms. However, she believes it to be more of a curse than a blessing. And the story follows how she copes with the curse and how she turns it into a blessing in the end.

Cold Embrace by Nick Tramback -- Ray Gun Revival

This story is more or less a combination of two genres: (modern/recent) urban fantasy and science fiction. How does that work? Well, to put it short, there are vampires in space. Usually, I do not like stories with vampires, but I will make an exception for this story. The main character is not one of the vamps, but rather he is a prisoner and a victim. One of the pilot vampires comes often to his cell to suck his blood. And the story begins on the main character's first day in the prison cell and follows his thoughts until the end. I felt that this story was unique because I haven't read a "vampires in space" story yet. However, I do know that they probably exist, I just haven't had time to read any yet.

Gun Crazy by MacKinlay Kantor

I'm sorry, but I don't have a link for this story. However, I do have a link to the book which I read it from: The Best American Noir of the Century via Amazon. Kantor's story is a classic American noir story. In fact, it was made into a movie way back in 1950. It resembles the story of Bonnie and Clyde, although it has more of a focus on the male character. Kantor is a native Iowan, so, being a native of the state myself, this story kind of hit home for me. It was kind of fun seeing some names of towns that I could easily recognize.