Toxicology by Steve Aylett

Acres of grass were blow to italics

From “Repeater” as included in Toxicology

I’ve never been a fan of the futuristic, cyber-puck, apocalyptic, neo-noir—and however many other tags you want to tack on there—genre. My reason: I just plain had more important things I wanted to read. Simple. But those damn Amazon.com recommendations…

Aylett can twist a sentence like nobody I’ve ever read. Mark my words: he will be famous one day for the phrases he can craft. In fact, he recently self-published a book made up entirely of quotes from his thirteen novels (though Toxicology is a short story collection, he’s got a few from it in there as well). So maybe I’m jumping on the wagon a bit late.

You’ll love Aylett for his language, his conceptual brilliance and his satisfying structure (predictable, though, once you get to know his style). Throughout nearly every story in this collection the reader follows this mental pattern:

1. First half: “What the hell is going on here?”

2. Second half: “Oh, I think I’ve catching on.”

3. Last sentence: “What the fuck just happened?”

That’s two questions in only three thoughts. This means you should buy this collection now.