Sascha Morrell

Among Animals 2 is a collection of short stories that examines the varied relationships between humans and animals. With a mix of contemporary fiction, historical stories, dystopian and science fiction, many different aspects of these relationships are able to be captured. Some of these stories will make you uncomfortable, some are sweet and comforting, all will make you think about the relationships humans share with animals that are pets, in captivity, on farms or in the wild and how our actions affect them.

Some stories that affected me were:

Phoenix Cross looks into factory farming of chickens and genetic engineering. Some of us may know exactly the horrid conditions in which factory farmed chickens are raised, we might ignore it, we may not care, some of us might choose free-range chickens. Phoenix Cross brings out not only the effects of this method on the chickens, but on the farmers as well. I loved the connection of boy and bird in this story and the bird's point of view really made me think about how our food gets to us.

Exotic Animal Alert: Please Post Widely inspects caretakers and zoo animals as well as the close bond one might form with an animal that is truly wild. Again, an animal point of view was used in order to empathize with the clouded leopard point of view. What I found most interesting was the differing opinions about Sokar the clouded leopard formed by the husband and wife who raised him and how Sokar's presence impacted their relationship.

A Normal Rabbit is the story of a family and their ordinary pet rabbit, Camper. Camper is a symbol for many things in the family, but most of all Camper's presence is able to elicit responses of empathy for other living things.

Overall, an interesting compilation of stories that will hopefully make readers reexamine their relationships with the animals and environment around them.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.… (altro)

This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
I am afraid this book didn’t do anything for me.
Among Animals 2 is a collection of stories about the varied relationships between humans and animals. Although the stories are basically well written many were left up in the air or didn’t resolve an issue.
The potential reader should also be warned that some stories are quite upsetting which, as an animal lover, I found hard to read. Others are more light-hearted but overall these do not balance the more distressing ones.
Because of the quality of the writing craftsmanship I give Among Animals 2 3*
This review is also on my website www.pam.id.au… (altro)

A wildly varied anthology of short stories concerning animals in the modern (and near-future) world and all the ways humans connect and interact with them. Starting with Sacha Morrell's stark Australian-set "Roo", and continuing with Carmen Marcus' post-apocalyptic piece of magic realism "Bight, Tomcat, and the Moon", through Claire Ibarra's claustrophobic story of unusual connections "Vivarium", ending with Hunter Liguore's sad and hopeful "The Truth of Ten Thousand Things", it covers nearly every possible way in which humans and animals can come together. Some stories "gel" and stay in the mind more than others, but each one has its own slant and perspective, and is worth the short time required to read it. My personal favorites were C. S. Malerich's tale of genetic engineering gone awry "Phoenix Cross", Laura Maylene Walter's pursuit of a strange obsession in "Lost Pets", and Robyn Ryle's outline of a relationship "How to Identify Birds in the Wild", laid out in terms of a field guide.… (altro)