Shotgun Wedding - Steven Thor Gunnin

Author: Steven Thor Gunnin Date: any time Setting: a small-town chapel in Hobb's End Availability: in the anthology Consequences

Story: Jake, wielding a shotgun, is determined that the preacher is going to make his wedding to Peggy legal. Not everyone agrees that this is a good idea.

Commentary: "Shotgun Wedding" is a very short story, and yet it manages to get in several good twists and a play on words. If I say much about it at all, I'll be giving too much away. The coarse speech pattern of Jake is totally believable. On the other hand, there are some repetitious or awkward phrases that detract from the readability, and one break in point of view.

On the whole, the story works well, and provides the reader with an interesting take on the title phrase.

Author info: Steven Thor Gunnin is a graphic designer who writes in his spare time, and is a big fan of George Romero (Night of the Living Dead). He has had other stories published in Elements of the Soul Consequences is available as a paperback, or in ebook format.

Rating:
Language skills 5
Depth of meaning 5

Purgatory - Steven Thor Gunnin

Author: Steven Thor Gunnin Date: 2010 Setting: The present, some U.S. city Availability: In the anthology Elements of the Soul

Story: A man named Blackie tells the story, mostly in the first person. He has had a near-death experience when his car goes off a bridge, and he almost drowns. He is explaining all this to a trio of Mexican brothers at a strip joint. They want to know all about what it was like to come so close to death. Blackie is telling them, but making up a lot of it as he goes along. The three Latinos do figure out that he's teasing them at first, but as Blackie continues they have trouble separating the factual from the imaginary.

He explains that his job is to prepare bodies for autopsies at the morgue. He's been having a lot of strange experiences recently. In particular, he wants to talk about a girl named Jamie who committed suicide. However, it seems that Hector, Vincente, and Guillermo also knew Jamie.

Commentary: The dead and undead are Thor Gunnin's favorite themes, and there is plenty of suspense along those lines. That said, I had some trouble following this story. Sometimes Blackie just speaks in the first person, and sometimes he is referred to in the third person.

This story may not be for everyone. There is a lot of foul language, and a clear statement that admission to heaven is based on a merit system.

Author info: Steven Thor Gunnin is a graphic designer who writes in his spare time, and is a big fan of George Romero (Night of the Living Dead). Gunnin has two stories in this anthology.

Rating:
Language skills 4
Depth of meaning 2

 

Elements of Time

Here is the trailer for the newly released anthology of short stories and poetry from Twin Trinity Media, Elements of Time.

Authors include:
Lindsay Maddox
Rissa Watkins
M. Lori Motley
Andi Caldwell
Steven Thor Gunnin
Jo Brielyn
Lucinda Gunnin
Nancy Smith Gibson
Linda St. Cyr
Cathy Graham

Poets:
Laurie Darroch-Meekis
Felicity Tillack
Jennifer Wright
Lucinda Gunnin
Andi Caldwell

Last Caress - Steven Thor Gunnin

Author: Steven Thor Gunnin Date: 2010 Setting: The present, some U.S. city Availability: In the anthology Elements of the Soul

Story:A woman named Mary is holed up in an apartment building after some major catastrophe has occurred. She and her neighbor, Frank, are attempting to keep the threat from getting to them. A younger man, Mike, stops by. Although Mary can hardly tolerate Mike, she tries to be civil, since he is also one of the survivors.

Mary's husband, Jack, seems to be missing. But where is he?

I have to confess that I'm really ignorant of this genre, and did not ever realize that this was a tale about zombies. Therefore, I suspect that any comments I might make are meaningless. The story was creepy; in that it was definitely successful. If you are a zombie fan, this is sure to please.

Author info: Steven Thor Gunnin is a graphic designer who writes in his spare time, and is a big fan of George Romero (Night of the Living Dead). Last Caress is Gunnin's first published story.

Rating:
Language skills 5
Depth of meaning 4