Dystopic Visions

Diana Kemp-Jones
Zumaya Publications (2002)
ISBN 1894869281
Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (9/06)

“Dystopic Visions” is composed of seventeen short science fiction stories.   Kemp-Jones writes so vividly, that I had no problems visualizing everything that is happening.   Her stories are so full of color that I felt like I was in a seventeen screen movie theater visiting each movie for a short period of time.  Some of her stories take you to other worlds where you visit with creatures that are not like anything we have here.   Because these creatures are not human-like, her characters tend to assume that they are not able to think or defend themselves.  Many of these creatures have their own defense systems or more cognizance than they were given credit for. This led to nightmares for many of the characters in her stories.

Kemp-Jones also has a gift in that she is able to grab your attention and draw you into her tales quickly.  She is able to quickly set her story up and immediately draw you into it.  Her tales grab your attention and hook you.  In many cases, I wished that they were full length novels because I wasn’t done enjoying the action in her story.

I also enjoyed the plots that she created for each story.  In some cases, they made me think a lot deeper about our own reality and time on this planet.  We worry about the consequences of introducing species that are not native to an area to that area.  What if we were to bring back species from other planets and introduce them to our world?  Kemp-Jones thought about this and writes a tale about it.  The results were devastating.

In many of her stories, the drama comes from us underestimating other life forms; whether they are worm-like creatures or flowerlike entities.  We underestimate them and we pay the price.  “Dystopic Visions” is an excellent choice for science fiction fans.  Readers groups will have a great time discussing her stories.  Because the stories are short, the book would be really good for someone who loves to read, but doesn’t have too much time.  The short tales would allow you to take a quick break and be able to read a story to completion.

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