Without Absolution Reviews

Reviewer comments on Without Absolution

Amy Sterling Casil mixes spare but illuminating poetry with her polished prose in Without Absolution (Wildside, trade, $15.00, 181 pp.). As the stern title portends, Casil's fiction focuses on the dark side of life, but without caving in to nihilism or hopelessness. Stories such as "Renascence of Memory," about an elderly woman granted a second youth, are positively Tiptreean in their bracing bleakness. Casil is a writer to watch.

Paul DiFilippo, On Books, Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, November, 2001

I confess that I can't remember ever having read anything by the author previously, although a couple of the tales herein were familiar when I reread them. Although they may not have made an impression read separately, they are quite impressive when gathered together. Casil tackles a wide variety of subjects, and all of her stories have a very strong emphasis on the characters, many of whom are very well drawn. "Jonny Punkinhead" examines intolerance from the viewpoint of some badly deformed children. "Motherwife" is a quietly creepy story of a man who uploads the personalities of his wife and mother into a computer system, and then has to deal with the consequences when they merge. There's a story of Beowulf, an examination of the consequences of longevity, a future in which the young are used as involuntary organ donors, a space adventure set on a distant world, and stories involving plastic surgery and self centered artists. The next time I see the author's byline in a magazine or anthology, I'll be paying more attention.

Critical Mass: Book Reviews

by Don D'Ammassa

Science Fiction Chronicle, October, 2001

Amy Sterling Casil is an up and coming writer whose work you won't want to miss. Even if you think you don't like speculative fiction, this collection of nine of Ms. Casil's short stories and four of her poems just might convince you otherwise. And if you are a speculative fiction fan, then this book is a must for your personal library.

Many of the stories in Without Absolution are set in the not-so-distant future. Such as Jonny Punkinhead, a child with Webern syndrome -- a birth defect that gave him three eyes and a head like a pumpkin. Jonny cannot understand why his gramma doesn't come to visit him anymore at the institute where he lives. You know perfectly well she isn't coming because she can't stand the sight of him. But what answer do you give this child when he asks if his gramma will be there for Christmas?

Then there is Motherwife, the story of a lonely man who uploads the personalities of his mother and his ex-wife into his computer, living there with them in virtual reality. All goes well until the personalities begin to merge… My Son, My Self deals with a man who clones himself in order to have a son. But then he discovers he is dying of cancer and his son is the perfect donor. This is a provocative story of love and betrayal.

All of the characters in these stories will evoke some kind of response in you. Some you will love, some you will pity, and some will just make you want to reach into the pages of the book and shake some sense into them. But no matter what emotions these stories and poems stir up in you, at the end you will come away filled with a sense of wonder. And isn't that what we all want from a good book? Such is the talent of Amy Sterling Casil.

Jill Kosmensky, Reviewer, BookBrowser, May, 2001