THE LEGEND OF SILAS MCNINES AND OTHER TALES is a collection of short stories from the pen of Paco Strumento. It is a wide-ranging group of narratives, taking in life from an imagined legendary past to a glittery, consumerist near-future—and everything in between.
The characters we encounter are similarly diverse. In “The Man-Child,” a female devotee of a forest-dwelling sisterhood from a shadowy time long ago happens upon a child who is abominable in a most peculiar way; in “Business Boy,” a down-and-out strikes up a two-second acquaintance with a businessman by vomiting all over him; and in the title story, a professional assassin who specializes in slitting the throats of her clients ruminates on the contents of a mysterious note.
“When The Baby Comes” is the weakest story here. A modest commentary on Internet-mediated convenience and the strange emptiness of extreme wealth, it lacks depth; and the one-note twist ending emulates the short stories of mid-century pulp SF in all the wrong ways. But others are far better: “The Ragged Man” puts one in mind of Pratchett with its medieval atmosphere, while its town quarters “populated with pickpockets and cutpurses" and docks that “stunk of rotten fish and wasted time” crackle with detail and suspense. Strumento hops genres as a matter of course, and imbues each narrative with its own style. Each voice rings true with its own demotic language.
If there is one strand that ties these stories together (aside from Khan Jolie, whose journey gets a reprise later), it's people turning out to not be what they seem. The many-named assassin inhabits identities as an essential part of her job; a businessman divests himself of the trappings of his riches and skulks with a bum; Ogrit the drunkard proves himself to be anything but; and so on. Whether this is enough to carry the collection as a whole is debatable. But, then again, perhaps there is no need for a connecting motif. If THE LEGEND OF SILAS MCNINES AND OTHER TALES proves anything, it is that, with interesting premises and well-sketched characters, short story collections can exist on their own terms.
Benefiting from vividly sketched characters and striking locales, Paco Strumento's THE LEGEND OF SILAS MCNINES AND OTHER TALES is an absorbing, intriguing read.
~ Craig Jones for IndieReader