There are days that I think Samuel Peralta must be a wizard who uses his magical powers to somehow gather the most interesting authors with the most fascinating tales to tell. Every time I think that the last volume of The Future Chronicles can't be beaten, another one is released that is just as good or even a smidgen better.

The Cyborg Chronicles is the latest example of Samuel Peralta's wizardry. A collection of twelve short stories involved all things cyborg, I can honestly say that there was not a single story that I disliked in any way. The collection of course starts with a foreword from Peralta, where I think he casts his initial spell to get the reader to fall in love with the collection.

The first actual story in this collection is one that I actually read before in another collection. "The Regular" by Ken Liu was also included in the book Upgraded and one was of my favorite stories out of that collection, combining murder, mystery and technology in a fast-paced adventure to solve a crime. I was very happy to see it in this collection as well, and even though I had read it before I very happily re-read it, falling again into the adventure.

Paul Swardstrom's "Upgrade Complete" is a fascinating tale of a man turned cyborg, stuck in an arena surrounded by other cyborgs - aliens and humans alike. Pieces of JR-8's former life, and the reason for bring in the arena, are woven throughout the story, leading to an exciting battle and the hope for a new tomorrow.

"Drop Dead, Droid" by Artie Cabrera addicted me to Johnny Rangers, a pulp fiction detective in a futuristic world. I loved the gritty crime, the mobster-style bosses in cybernetic form, and the hope for more stories to come! Please... where can I read more Johnny Rangers??

Eric Tozzi's "Hide and Seek" is a thrilling game of hide and seek... where the humans are the ones hiding with a giant disadvantage. In the quest to weaponize animals using biotechnology, they seem to have forgotten the instincts bred into wild animals from birth. Will they survive?

"Avendui 5ive" by P.K. Tyler shows us a community of orphans, all raised and enhanced with bio-mechanics to serve a specific purpose. But what happens when one of the Teks is unable to fulfill that duty? Part love story, part dystopian nightmare, I loved this tale and really hope to read more set in this universe.

The next story is "Indigo" by Moira Katson, and this is a tale of a cyborg gone rogue. When a mind-wipe fails, will the conflict destroy the cyborg known as Indigo? I really enjoyed this story as well, told both by the cyborg in question an her human handler/supervisor.

Susan Kaye Quinn has long been a favorite author of mine, and "Augment" is not only another tale written to flesh out her Ascender Universe, but can also be read as a stand-alone. When the majority of humanity is no longer human, what happens to those left behind? Can they fight back without being destroyed? This tale gives us an inside look at that fight and the lengths that one girl is willing to go to save her people.

Patty Jansen's "His Name in Lights" is a brilliant tale set in a growing conflict between a technological company and one set more on war and domination. One reason that I loved this is because it shows the human side of cyborgs, and the love that can exist.

"Dyad" by David Bruns is a story that will make you read it over and over, looking for clues to an ending that took me by surprise. Yes, I actually paused in my reading to re-read this and soak it all in, then frantically combed the internet for more books in this series. When full cyborgs have been illegal for years, what happens when you find out that they could be hidden in your own neighborhood, looking just like another human?

Michael Patrick Hicks is a talented author who's work I recently became aware of, not afraid to look at the world around us today and mix that into his stories, showing us a future that could exist. "Preservation" takes us into the world of poaching, showing us the possible extinction of animals and the lives of the people who fight to save them.

A.K. Meek's "Charm Bracelet" takes us to a future where all wars are found on the moon to protect the humans on Earth... but where do the fighters come from? Once dead, a person can be brought back as a cyborg, enhanced with interchangeable weapons and frightening characteristics. But what is really going on in this war and what lengths will the government go to win?

The last story of the collection is Annie Bellet's "Ghosts in the Mist." As the protector of the creatures who live in the Mist, Jana has to face her own internal demons while caring for others. This is a fast-paced tale, full of wonders both technological and magical, and is the perfect ending to a wonderful collection.

Did I like this collection? Well, I was given an Advance Reader Copy, but had a purchased copy downloaded onto my kindle even before finishing the third story. This collection of short stories not only gives you a look into the talents of twelve separate authors, but each story is in itself complete, leaving you with a fulfilling experience of looking into different worlds, and living through twelve different exhilarating experiences.

One of my fave anthologies is currently free on Amazon.

Who really killed JFK? What happened in Roswell, New Mexico? Is Elvis still alive? Was the moon landing staged?

In this short story collection, today's top fiction authors pull back the curtain on the biggest conspiracies of all time. Explore the JFK assassination, Area 51, the moon landing, the surveillance state. Meet a French spy posing as Abraham Lincoln, play a video game designed by the CIA, watch "Suicide Mickey." Learn the truth about Adolf Hitler and Elvis Presley.

Twelve short stories, twelve conspiracy theories, twelve twisted rabbit holes.

Hold on to your hats.

Tales Of Tinfoil: Stories Of Paranoia And Conspiracy

With stories by:

Forbes West
Nick Cole
Ernie Lindsay
Wendy Paine Miller
Michael Bunker
Jennifer Ellis
Richard Gleaves
Chris Pourteau
Lucas Bale
Eric Tozzi
Peter Cawdron

Edited by David Gatewood ---> That´s the guy who messes up all the Hugh Howey books. He´s just that good. :-)

(Legal disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of Phoenix Lights by the publisher, Wonderment)

On March 13, 1997 witnesses claim to have observed a huge V-shaped dark UFO, estimated as large as a mile, containing spherical lights hovering over Phoenix and surrounding area. A series of lights appeared, remaining illuminated for several moments, and then going out. Several thousands of people reported that the spaceship was silently gliding directly overhead at low altitude.

Fast forward. On Feb 23, 2015 the Apocalypse happened. You know, the weird one. A month later some aliens from outer space decided it´s the right time for an invasion. Hey, communication takes a while since their home planet is a bit afar from our Mother Earth, and they are probably not traveling with lightning speed exactly. Give them some slack, please. :-)

Gage Slater is working in some supersecret lab, mirroring the mysterious Area 51, created to prevent exactly that, an alien invasion.The-Powers-That-Be don´t wanna be unprepared again. They might not be the friendly sort of aliens...

Kristina Slater, Gage´s sister, is running a popular ´UFO Busters´ reality TV show. Together with her film crew they are after anything that might explain the unexplainable, or sniffing around The Lab. Gage and Kris don´t have the best relationship to each other due some rather unfortunate events in their common past, and now they are more or less on the opposite side of things. And yeap, there are some ´X-Files´ references, coz any book worth its money dealing with aliens needs to have them.

When the aliens arrive they do so pretty damn spectacular, and it´s not a pretty sight. Mountains of dust and ash rains and shockwaves that nukes almost everything under the sun. If you can still see the sun that is. Nope, not the friendly kind of aliens you wanna take home and cuddle. Rather run or die, or run AND die. And some things you cannot make unseen, no matter how desperately you´re trying not to puke your guts out.

In a second story line, running parallel at first, we meet April. A young, blind musician, living with her overcaring mother, and about to move from the small, familiar town of Sedona to LA with her boyfriend. Until she wasn´t anymore since you know, there is this tiny little problem of the aliens and them killing and abducting people.

When things go weird (hah!) the mysterious blindness strikes again. With April it has the oppsite effect. She can see. The beautiful colors in the sky, her own mother for the first time, the features of her boyfriend, the green of the trees in the street she is living in. And the aliens. It doesn´t last, though, for what it is worth. Some events are so horrifying it would have been better not to see them at all.

Trying to survive, while documenting the invasion, and making plans to get the hell out of it, the UFO busters stumble into April and a mysterious stranger, Vincent, who might or might not have survived an airplane crash. Vincent, despite his soothing voice, and friendly manners, is getting the stink eye. His story seems even more bizarre after all than those of the motley crew of Kris´ team. An alien invasion is one thing, getting out unharmed after an airplane crash something else completely. 

Phoenix Lights is a fast, action packed story that also gives great insights into the characters motivations, especially prominent in the personal struggle between Kris and Gage to come to terms with each other, and how they deal with life and dying. Often interrupted with short, clipped sentences it gives the narrative a sense of urgency, and of desperate pleas, which makes the reading very intense and emotionally charged.

At the end I felt lost, and paranoid. None of the other Apocalypse Weird books I have read so far made me indeed so scared. Paranoia is not my friend. It puts everything into question, even the book itself on a meta-level, and turns The Lab, or everyone´s existence and their life journeys upside down. David Lynch couldn´t have done a better job, if you can stand his absurd kind of movies. The climax is one of the weirdest, and most unexpected I have seen so far. Whatever you thought you know... forget it! I am reasonably sure the X-Files are a documentary while only scratching the surface. Nightmares here I come! Haunting doesn´t describe it. Not.Even.Close.

As it is custom it ties to other events, and gives a slight overview and glimpse of the outside world, and their destruction, at the end of Phoenix Lights. One gets a sense of how much the different cities are destroyed, and hints to something larger, more nefarious, more darker with every step into the light. Watch out for the signs and trails.

If you are an 800-pound-gorilla (no offense to 800-pound gorillas), sitting in some basement, surfing the conspiracy websites in the dark, living on pizza and beer, and wearing an "The Truth Is Out There" T-Shirt Phoenix Lights will give you some insights into what is really happening in the world of aliens, Illuminati, secret government labs and Area 51. But this could be a tale of tinfoil.

I want to believe!

Tales Of Tinfoil: Stories of Paranoia and Conspiracy



Blurb: TBA

(apparently) Coming in May 2015