Customer Reviews

Apex Magazine Vol 3 Issue 1

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"She Called Me Sweetie," by Glenn Lewis Gillette, works in undertones that remind the reader of the early Genesis narratives of Adam and Eve, along with the Cain/Able conflict, mixed with a dose of 1984/Brave New World, and Coming of Age in Samoa. It's a story of self-individuation gone wrong, jealousies, secrets, lust, and oh yes, murder. Gillette packs a lot into 4500 words; it is an intriguing tale.

The story is set in a remote Manor House, a faux Eden. Boys named with single letters who dress and speak as if attending English public school, are class conscious and very aware of higher (or lower) rank. We see all through the eyes and experiences of narrator/protagonist "E", about twelve, who adores the provocative and subversively seductive goddess-like figure he calls "Mommy." And Mommy calls him "Sweet E." Only E doesn't hear it that way; he hears "Sweetie." Otherwise, he might realize that Mommy likes him no more than any of his clone-brothers. Otherwise, he would not misunderstand the pet-name, and Mommy's specific affection for him. Otherwise, but there is no "otherwise" . . . to everyone else's detriment.

~David J. Zucker