Joe Hill always takes me on strange journeys with unexpected and sometimes downright disturbing scenarios. STRANGE WEATHER is no exception as Joe Hill entertains us with four intriguing new short stories that just might have you think twice about the events surrounding you. From a story featuring a magical camera that steals memories, to an apocalyptic rain of nails, to the weirdest cloud story you'll ever read, and to a mall shooting, each story in STRANGE WEATHER is sure to keep you wondering what the heck will happen next.
What if you could lose some of your memories with the simple snap of a button on a Polaroid camera? In "Snapshot", Michael Figlione is just trying to survive eighth grade as an overweight, average kid when Shelly Buekes wanders back into his life with a crazy story about the Polaroid man. I loved this story and the interesting supernatural take on dementia. "Snapshot" is one of the few stories of Joe Hill's that could easily pass for his one of his father's stories, and I loved the nostalgia of it even more so for that reason.
"Loaded" takes on the phenomenon of public shootings and gun violence and is eerily relevant to recent events in the news. A shooting at a mall leaves a mall cop as a hero, but what if his story isn't exactly the truth? Joe Hill tackles this real world situation in a story that still gives me chills long after I finished it. With the issue of gun being heavily debated in the news media, "Loaded" tackles this controversial subject with a gut- wrenching and disturbing look at what all can go wrong when guns are involved.
"Aloft" was the only story I didn't like in STRANGE WEATHER and left me scratching my head as to what the heck I'd just read. Aubrey hates heights, but finds himself about to parachute out of a plane. Things get weird after he lands on a cloud and I'm not even sure how to describe this story other than to say it's not typical of Joe Hill's other works. Some will appreciate the creativity of "Aloft," but it's definitely my least favorite of his works.
STRANGE WEATHER concludes with "Rain," which is my favorite story due to the apocalyptic nature of the storyline. One moment things are fine in Boulder, Colorado and the next moment it's raining nails. Honeysuckle's world falls apart in an instant, but she doesn't give up. I love her strength as she struggles to survive in a suddenly changed world.
If you love a well-crafted short story, don't hesitate to give Joe Hill's anthology, STRANGE WEATHER, a try. Whether the story is tinged with the supernatural, downright weird, all too realistic, or apocalyptic, each story is guaranteed to entertain. I can't wait to see what else the mind of Joe Hill has in store for us!
A collection of four chilling novels, ingeniously wrought gems of terror from the brilliantly imaginative, #1
New York Times bestselling author of
The Fireman, Joe Hill.
"One of Americaβs finest horror writers" (Time magazine), Joe Hill has been hailed among legendary talents such as Peter Straub, Neil Gaiman, and Jonathan Lethem. In Strange Weather, this "compelling chronicler of human natureβs continual war between good and evil," (Providence Journal-Bulletin) who "pushes genre conventions to new extremes" (New York Times Book Review) deftly expose the darkness that lies just beneath the surface of everyday life.
"Snapshot" is the disturbing story of a Silicon Valley adolescent who finds himself threatened by "The Phoenician," a tattooed thug who possesses a Polaroid Instant Camera that erases memories, snap by snap.
A young man takes to the skies to experience his first parachute jump. . . and winds up a castaway on an impossibly solid cloud, a Prosperoβs island of roiling vapor that seems animated by a mind of its own in "Aloft."
On a seemingly ordinary day in Boulder, Colorado, the clouds open up in a downpour of nailsβsplinters of bright crystal that shred the skin of anyone not safely under cover. "Rain" explores this escalating apocalyptic event, as the deluge of nails spreads out across the country and around the world.
In "Loaded," a mall security guard in a coastal Florida town courageously stops a mass shooting and becomes a hero to the modern gun rights movement. But under the glare of the spotlights, his story begins to unravel, taking his sanity with it. When an out-of-control summer blaze approaches the town, he will reach for the gun again and embark on one last day of reckoning.
Masterfully exploring classic literary themes through the prism of the supernatural, Strange Weather is a stellar collection from an artist who is "quite simply the best horror writer of our generation" (Michael Kortya).
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