Time Crawlers (Stories From Parallel Universes) by Varun Sayal

         "I believe a writer's brain can somehow tap into this multitude of universes and take a peek into the events happening in each of them. This book, comprised of six stories, is my attempt to narrate to you tales from six different parallel universes. These stories are events that my brain somehow tapped into and captured in detail."

         With a good blend of hopeful story telling, dark ideas, aliens, and epic weapons, Time Crawlers by Varun Sayal was a fun addition to my weekend reading. The very first story in this six story set is called Nark-Astra The Hell Weapon, and while some of the other stories feature weapons, none of them can compare to the sheer variety and epicness found in Nark-Astra. So if you enjoy intense weapon descriptions, with a David and Goliath type setting, you'll love this short story.

      "Baliraj continued, "What I said is the truth, Rajan, because each drop of this poison contains nark-jeevanu, a highly mutated retro virus. When the poison hits the human skin or when it is inhaled into the lungs, this otherwise dormant but highly lethal virus nark-jeevanu immediately takes control of major parts of the brain, quickly wiping out the moral senses of the human host. Within seconds a normal human being mutates into a ferocious, flesh-eating, blood thirsty zombie..."

        Another story in this collection that I really enjoyed was called Death by Crowd. This story is set up as an interview with the mysterious host of a very successful TV show on the Dark Web. For a decent sum of money you can pay to watch someone kill themselves on live web cam tv. It's both horrifying and intriguing, with lots of ethical dilemmas that are talked about in the interview.

        "The performer enters the iron cage and our staff lock the cage from the outside. He then douses himself with highly flammable unleaded A-1 kerosene - that's jet fuel. All those who are watching via web cams, their hearts are now beating very fast. A countdown starts: Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one... and the performer lights himself on fire."

        All of the stories in this collection are entertaining, while the two I mentioned are my favorites, the other four are also worth reading. There are a few stories that were a little to wordy in places and the last two stories in the collection could've used a tiny bit more editing, but neither of those took away from the stories themselves. I honestly enjoyed something in every story that I read, and if you're a fan of sci-fi, you probably will too.

Goodreads

Where to Buy:
Amazon

(Also available through Kindle Unlimited)