Dale Bridges

This caustic collection of ten satirical stories certainly sticks the knife into some of the less appealing characteristics of modern-day social behaviour. Author Dale Bridges has created a collection of different dystopian possibilities which veer between the appallingly possible and the outright ridiculous, punctuated with occasionally bitter wit and characterised by his pithy use of snappy language.

The whole collection won’t take too long to devour, but it offers plenty of food for thought. It’s probably best read in separate sessions to allow each story to sink in, rather than rushing through in one great big gulp which would diminish the impact of each individual narrative. Threads from one tale turn up in another – look out for the creeping influence of Omni-Mart which extends like an insidious fungal mycelia into every aspect of a future American society that has totally sold out to big business.
A couple of the offerings are extremely short; a single page of flash fiction. ‘Texting the Apocalypse’ is sharply observed and skilfully rendered and doesn’t over-use what would become a tiresome device if it went on any longer. ‘The Villain’ is another rapid read… and one with far more depth and insight than its word count would suggest. How do you define the difference between good and bad? Could it come down to one single split-instance decision? And why would anyone want to be Robin when they could be the Batguy?
A couple of the themes overlap; ‘The Generation Gap’ and ‘The Time Warp Café’ both tackle a future in which the older generation need to get with the programme or remove themselves from the game. However, despite the blurring theme, each tale tackles the subject from a different angle and the result is two very different presentations – both capable of provoking wry amusement.

There's more thoughts on the individual stories at
http://murdermayhemandmore.wordpress.com/2014/06/20/justice-inc-savvy-somewhat-s...

My only real criticism of Justice, Inc is that it could have ended on a stronger note: ‘Soul Man’ lands several well-aimed punches on the easy target of babbling sports commentators, and it acts as a conclusion for the collection. However, it wasn’t the strongest story in the bunch, nor the most memorable. Several of the other stories had me snorting and chortling out loud: this one was almost too sad for a finale. I’d’ve gone for something more snarky to finish on.

Some people will find the language and subject of Justice Inc objectionable, impenetrable or just plain offensive. There are certainly moments where it appears Bridges is being an A1 smart-arse simply because he can – and that’s part of the delight of this anthology. Bridges plainly has a lot to say and he delights in warping wordplay to get his message across. This can be entertaining, outrageous, irritating or disconcerting, but mainly it’s a real treat to observe a talented wordsmith flexing his aptitude and not being scared to experiment.

In these short stories, Bridges conveys a depth of perception, social commentary and characterisation which many well-known authors fail to achieve in full-length novels. It’d be fascinating to see what he could do with 100,000 words to wrangle.
8/10… (altro)

The author, Dale Bridges, gave me an uncorrected galley of this work in exchange for my review.

The first brilliantly crafted story is titled “Welcome to the Omni-Mart”. In this story we meet a young worker who was sold as a child to the Omni-Mart Corporation and is a Lifetime Service Associate. He has an extreme fear of the outside and has never left the store. His unauthorized love is a young woman whose family lost their farm when synthetic flowers came into fashion, so her family sold her to the corporation. When we meet him, he’s been ordered to liquidate a supply of “Insta-babies”. Can he do it? The poignancy of the obstacles with which the worker lives and his telling choices speak to a life lived out of loyalty and fear. The what-ifs are what haunt us. I loved this story, but as you’ll find reading the review, I loved every story.

In “Texting the Apocalypse”, teenage girls are exchanging texts about how lame nature of the “apokalips”. One tells the other her mom wants her to join a cult that sacrifices newborn puppies to Tom Cruise. “cool. the tom-twinkie cult is the best. suzie is a membr” her friend replies (page 20). The locked in nature of teenagers is conveyed with the extreme circumstance, as the counterpoint for absurdity and it’s brilliant.

My favorite story in the book is “Time Warp Café”. It’s perhaps the one story in the anthology that feel most like experimental fiction. Society is taking itself too seriously. Instead of enjoying the Three Stooges, the society of the story analyzes Larry, Curly and Moe. “In a world where no one dies, population control becomes paramount.” (page 45).

Justice, Inc. is funny, poignant, in your face and interesting. This is perhaps one of the few short story authors for whom I would pay full publisher prices.… (altro)