You Don't Know What You've Got: Tales Of Loss And Dispossession (Paperback)

~ David Wood (Editor), Ryan A. Span (Editor)
Key Phrases: robotic units, Teon Dram-ki, Belle Isle, Eric Morgan (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The more you have, the more you have to lose. This unchangeable truth runs through every human life, whether it's wealth, family, love, or something deeper and more profound. Sometimes it breaks you. Other times it only makes you stronger. In this book, our writers explore the infinite paths of loss and the conflicts that come with it, bringing you a unique collection of stories from all genres and disciplines, following only one rule: There is nothing that can't be taken away from us.

Product Details

• Paperback: 234 pages
• Publisher: Gryphonwood Press (February 26, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0979573866
• ISBN-13: 978-0979573866
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 4.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,734,439 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not bad, not excellent, B+, March 31, 2009

By	Algernon Sydney - See all my reviews

This anthology has 12 stories, by 12 different writers, so perhaps everyone can find something to like. The first and the last were the most entertaining to me -- each having an interesting protagonist and satisfying plot twists.

Overall, there were no really bad tales but there also wasn't much new either. I repeatedly found myself wondering where I had read or seen the story ideas before.

I noted memes from: Stephen King, pagan mythology, "The Stepford Wives", "The Island of Doctor Moreau", "The High Plains Drifter", "The Outer Limits", "RoboCop", "The Matrix", The Brothers Grimm, "B movies", and comic books.

To someone relatively new to fiction, this book is probably a much better experience. To me it was mostly OK.

Stories in order of appearance:
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"Existence"
This is an alternate mythology tale that finds us rooting for a monster. It's better than it sounds and I liked it.

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"The precision of clockwork"
This story is kind of a [...] offspring of "The Stepford Wives" and "The Island of Doctor Moreau".
I'm not a big fan of the "scattered narrative" style of story telling, nor of the idea that huge human and technological events happen in a vacuum and without being noticed by outsiders.
This tale's brevity and its character's moral awakening do redeem it somewhat.

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"The Fall of Bara-ki"
This is a story of fearful people rushing into disaster. Bara-ki sounds similar to "U S A", get it?

This fic kind of functions as a mini-mystery despite plot-holes fit for locomotives and a clunky story-within-the story scheme.

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"Apex"
Several occult references. A man seeks arcane power, his goal to become the beast of the apocalypse. Yet, he keeps saving small slave boys...

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"Starling"
First date shows up in a hearse.
Psychic loss counseling?

I say, "Meh" to "Starling".

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"Memory Game"
A soldier in the "UN Air Corps" has his mind wiped by an enemy "ray".
Long-term memory is gone and he can't remember one day from the next.

This story becomes just a frustrating mind [...], like a bad episode of the "The Outer Limits". In the end, we never learn why the protagonist -- and by quite deliberate proxy the reader -- was so abused. The story ends abruptly with only the barest hint of resolution.

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"The Bleeding Edge"
What happens if a technological monster was already a monster before?
This story has multiple personalities but works.

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"MaJESTiC"
Twisted fairy tale where the main character is rather unlikable and people's fates are not well earned.
Still it does redeem itself in the end.

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"Balance"
Fine story with allusions to "The Green Mile".
I liked it right up to the end -- which was one of those abrupt, cliffhanger types, where nothing gets conclusively resolved.

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"Darkly through the Light Waters"
Touching fairy tale of Love and murder. Liked it.

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"Memory, Echo, Silence"
A photographer in Chernobyl has a strange encounter. While not bad, this story did not surprise, move, or entertain me.

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"City of Masks"
A stranger comes to a town with dark secrets and pays the price. This story was the best in the book, IMO.