Review: After the Blast

I picked up After the Blast, a novelette by TL Knighton, for a couple of reasons. I almost didn't for one big reason. There are stories and themes we all get tired of after reading them over and over and over again… don't get me started on vampires. Post-apocalypse fiction is one that has been done to death.

And along came this charming little tale to prove me wrong. Well, okay, I found it charming. Which isn't to say that it's sweetness and light, because it's not. I was a bit concerned that the 'change' he referred to in the blurb for the hero would be some sort of gamma radiation mutation.. but no. This is much more a story of growth. Growth of the main character, from office drone to hero. A real hero, someone to inspire hope and courage and to model duty and honor. I loved this, since I see it all too rarely.

I liked it a lot. The beginning was a little rough, for a couple of pages. I can chalk this up to a beginning writer, because he hit his stride after that, and gave me a tale I didn't have to work for, something I treasure these days. I am really looking forward to what comes next from this author. I'd love to see him take this and expand it. Much like I hear on many of my short works, I'm going to say… there could be more. Because we readers, we're greedy that way. Feed us a character we can like, and a world we can imagine, and we want to stay in it.