Space Savers and Other Stories. By Bill Ectric. Reviewed by Michael Norris

Bill Ectric had a strong first outing with Time Adjusters. However, in Space Savers and Other Stories he has surpassed his earlier work and proven himself to be a gifted storyteller. This new collection features eight finely crafted short stories, plus “Monkey on a Stick” by guest author Bradley Mason Hamlin.

With this book, Ectric has not only absorbed but transcended his original influences such as Burroughs and Poe. He has developed a recognizable style, on a par with other masters of the short story form. The title story takes place in the most banal of settings – a Florida retirement home. Indelible characters, however, populate the narrative: the Borg twins, Lawn Care Larry, and a thinly disguised Bill Ectric as narrator. As the story unfolds, we find that residents of the retirement home are being displaced in time and space at the whim of a particle accelerator corporation that has diversified into retirement home management. It is a nice blend of science fiction, noir storytelling, and black humor.

The Ectric alter-ego appears again in “The Easter Island Horror”, a story that starts out in a humorus vein, but catches us off guard with a surprise ending. “The Boy Who Hid in Leaves” is another classic, this time mining the memories of childhood backyard games but ending on a wistful, slightly disconcerting note. Flash fiction piece “Wooden Steps in the Schoolyard” is another bit of writing that pounces on us, the unsuspecting reader, with some well placed creepiness.

The middle section of this fine volume is occupied by “Monkey on a Stick”, by Bradley Mason Hamlin. Told in a combination of poetic and short story techniques, it tells the harrowing story of Hamlin’s time in the Navy. All of the pointlessness, the boredom, and the arrogance of US servicemen overseas is conveyed here in a no-holds barred style that rivets the reader. Hamlin is the proprietor of Mystery Island Magazine.

Two Ectric short-shorts follow: “Day at the Office”, about violence, and the hardening of people’s attitude toward it, in the social services arena; and “The Zaffer Colonic”, a black humor look at medical quackery.

This brings us to the real genius piece of Space Savers, the last story “Meme Rhymes with Scheme”. In this tour de force, Ectric takes a classic detective fiction story line, adds an odd assortment of characters, and inserts himself as a Hunter Thompsonesque altered-consciousness participant in the action. The net result is a gripping yet humorus romp through a well thought out revenge tale, with plenty of twists and turns along the way.

The book ends with an interesting collection of Ectric’s poetry. Bill Ectric is well on the way with this second volume.  We can only hope to see more story collections, or perhaps a novel, from the Ectric pen in future.