Monsters: Four Stories – James Enge

Monsters by James Enge is a collection of four stories featuring Vampires, ghosts, sorcerers and crazy humans. I have always preferred Horror genre over others so i keep browsing through amazon to get these horror anthologies and when the time is right (or i must say the price is right) i try to pluck them from there. During my one of my such journeys through the sea of books i picked this one up. The title ‘Monsters’ itself made me interested in the collection and i knew i would read it someday.

The stories in the collection are:

1.Brother Solson and Sister Luna 3/5

First Sentence:
At dawn, Marv Solson broke the seals on all the shutters and let the light come streaming into his narrow little house.


It’s been 12 years since the undead started to roam and claim their victims. Marv Solson thinks he’s the only human that’s survived, at least in the vicinity. But it was not the case in the starting. When the vampiric plague had started he had Luna with her. He had convinced Luna that their best chance to survive was if they lived together. But then something had happened and now he was alone. He still dreams of Luna. But when sometimes dreams come true, the dreamer wishes that it hadn’t. Will this be the case for Marv?

It’s a short flash fiction set up in a world where vampires have begun to rule the earth. Some people are ass-holes and Marv belongs to this category. Although, i wanted to know more about Luna and Marv’s relationship in the year they lived together and Luna’s story after she left the accommodation, but the story was an interesting take on Monsters. Some monsters don’t look like one. i would love to read a longer work set up in this world.

2. War beneath the world 3/5

First Sentence:
Gaius Claudius Marcellus woke that morning with the sun shining in his face.

Some thing weird is going on in Rome. It seems everyone in Rome is having nightmares and the lack of sleep has started taking toll on the mental health of its citizens. People have started committing suicides because of these dreams. The perplexed emperor Augustus has asked the poet Vergil to visit the land of the dead and see if he could find out the cause of these vicious dreams. Vergil was the same person who had raised Julius Caesar’s ghost before the battle of Philippi.

Vergil has never been happy with this talent of his but he can’t say no to the Emperor. Will Vergil find out the reason for the night mares? What will he do to stop them?

I liked this one. It was not scary but the description of hell and events that happen there made for an entertaining read.

3. Killionaire 3/5


First Sentence:
The coroner dug three bullets out of billionaire financier Gabriel-Ernst Swerting IV, but none of them had killed him.


Killionaire is set in a futuristic world. The gap between the rich and poor has increased a lot. The first world have started facing famines like the third world countries and there is unrest among the general public. In the middle of these problems a new fad is on the rise. The normal people have started killing super rich. These killers are called Killionaires and often they get fame on alternet,a kind of secret virtual network. When another billionaire is found murdered by his girlfriend, Broyden Stevensen Smith feels he needs to beef up his security. He’s also dating a girl, Ashleigh Hannigan, from the lower income group and feels he need to get her checked so that he doesn’t end up as kill for a killionaire. Were his suspicions unfounded? Was his girlfriend really a Killionaire?

It was an entertaining story. I liked the portrayal of the world and the concept of Killionaires. This could very well be a possibility in a world where few hold control of most of the resources. The funny thing was how the protagonist was so removed from the world that he never deemed it necessary to learn to drive the car. He would have never thought that the skill would have had some use for him. I wonder how did it end for him.


4. Traveller’s Rest


First Sentence
The awkwardly made maker and his dwarvish apprentice were passing through trackless green fields peppered with large, slow moving shell-backed beasts.


Morlock and his dwarf apprentice Wryth decide to stay in a town to take rest. The establishment is called Traveller’s rest and is run by a family of three: father, mother and their daughter,Raelio.  

And then somebody comes  for the daughter. The family is scared but it doesn’t seems they have much choice in it. Morlock has found out that Raelio wasn’t the only daughter of the couple. There was one more daughter and that had also been taken. Morlock decides to intervene and a fight ensues.

What happened next? Why was the daughter wanted? Who wanted the daughter? Did Morlock save the family and how did he do it?

Morlock Ambrosia is a sorcerer who is travelling with his apprentice Wryth. He has a reputation and people are afraid of him. They think Morlock and Angels fight over the human souls and if the person has been  a liar then it’s usually Morlock who takes those soul. I wonder how did Morlock got this reputation. What did he do? I would surely like to read about that.

The story was an engaging read. I loved the world that has been created with magic, magical beings and how Morlock outwits the antagonist.

I know author has written few novels featuring this world and i would surely be interested in reading them.

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