Rebellious Confessions

Victor Thorn, Editor

Average Rating 7/10 (1 Review)

Rebellious Confessions contains the finest in alternative, underground writing to be found anywhere.

Featuring 58 different authors, Rebellious Confessions is different because these writers don’t play it safe. Our writers wander to the edge of the bell curve, where the adrenaline lives. In other words, this book was created outside of the traditional literary parameters, and hits closer to the bone than anything on the market today. Even the cover art - risqué and dangerous - will let you know that this is a book unlike any other.

Described by author Brian Fugett as: "...one of the most engaging anthologies I have ever read ... I shit you not! Never before have I witnessed such a diverse range of voices, styles, & themes sandwiched between the covers of one book. Words I would use to describe it: witty, intelligent, radical, slick, cutting edge, thought provoking, delightfully subversive, in your face, on the fringe, & the stories/pieces are the perfect length for reading while pinching-off a loaf on the potty..."

Review by Vex (150603) Rating (7/10)

Review by Vex
Rating 7/10
I was asked to review this book for the site, and I really didn't know what to expect. The book itself doesn't really indicate what it is, but on quick examination I realised it was a collection of short stories, and having delved deeper into the book they all seem to have been culled from an online magazine called Babel.

The majority of the stories are 'adult-orientated', dealing with drugs, sex, crime and general weirdness. The stories are fairly varied and cover a broad scope of styles and content. The first half of the book contains groups of stories by what I guess to be regular contributors to the magazine; the later half of the book generally contains single stories by many different authors, along with a smattering of poems.

I enjoyed a lot of the book, particularly stories from Solus Solanum, Victor Thorn (who edited this collection, and is the editor of Babel magazine), Jeremy Fleming (who has some very bizarre sexual habits), M. Laurel Walsh (Whose story The Wolf was far too brief!), Frank Ceceres (The Hangover was a particularly good story), Ashley M. Martin (another bizarre and twisted tale).

There are around 100 stories/poems in the book and there were some that I didn't enjoy, or didn't see the point of their inclusion in the book, but with any collection of stories that's pretty inevitable. There were also a number of them that left me wishing they were a lot longer, which I guess is a good thing in many ways!

One thing to note is that the page numbering is incorrect in the contents listing, you have to add one to the page numbers to get to the correct page for the story you're interested in, maybe this will be fixed in the next print run.
Vex (15th June 2003)