On his personal website, there's a photo of Jason Sizemore with the following caption, "Jason Sizemore-- Publisher, Editor, Hillbilly." The hillbilly being a salute to his Kentucky heritage, but there's something missing from that caption. He should add "Writer" to that description.
Irredeemable is a strong collection of 18 stories running the gamut of speculative fiction, with strengths in Science Fiction and Horror, much like Apex magazine, the mag for which he is publisher and editor.
One of the things I liked about this collection of new, and previously published, shorts is that there isn't a happy ending in sight. Among this collection of wonderfully strange stories are a Cristmas tale, a story of claustrophobia, snake worshiping, first contact, doomsday, androids and, of course, zombies and much, much more.
irredeemable is a lot like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get.
Among my personal favorites is " Plug and Play," where Clayton Edwards is made into a drug mule and kicked off space station 19-YX. When he falls to Earth, naked, in an escape pod, the following conversation ensues, "The old woman nodded and pointed a finger at Clayton. ' I thought you looked lost.' ' You would too, lady, if someone flushed you out of a space station.'...'I need a doctor.' ' Of course you do dear. That's why I'm taking you to my psychiatrist.' ' You don't understand. I got two kilos of space mold in my stomach.' 'Dear, why'd you eat so much space mold?' 'I didn't eat it." Clayton scanned the area for more police officers. 'I'm an involuntary drug mule.'"
It's rare when I can look back at the stories in a collection and say I enjoyed every one of them, but that was certainly true of Irredeemable. Kudos to Jason Sizemore and Seventh Star Press.
Highly recommended.
Oh my gosh, thank you so much for the great review! This has made my day. :)
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