Black Static #19

The first story in Black Static #19, Chain Reaction by Steve Rasnic Tem, is an excellent opener. After what appears an ordinary collision, a man wanders from car to car checking on the other casualties. Something is very wrong here. There seemed an undercurrent, a sense of menace, and the ending is open enough to make your own conclusions.

Next up is Beachcombing by Ray Cluley. By picking up and collecting items at the beach, a boy feels the emotions of the person who dropped them. A gorgeous story about lost things and lost people. Joel Lane's Sleep Mask offers us a haunting story about a man with a sleep disorder who dreams of his dead parents. Chilling.

Simon Clark's They Will Not Rest offers a strange Armageddon. Coffins mysteriously appear next to you while you sleep and within weeks most of the country is dead or dying. Taking a line from the story, 'If staying alive means staying awake, how do you do it?' Outstanding, and my favourite story this issue.

Lavie Tidhar concludes the fiction for this issue with The Wound Dresser, a poignant story about the role of angels of Death during World War II. The ending is heart-breaking.