Lee S. Hawke

This review originally appeared on my blog at www.gimmethatbook.com.


Short stories are always good to read in between longer books, because they serve as a palate cleanser and give you things to think about in a small package. DIVISION was awesome to read because the sci-fi wasn’t overly technical; the stories were all basically dystopian and mostly believable; and there was just enough of an odd twist to make you take a breath and consider the possibilities of what you just read.

The twist is not always glaringly obvious–you need to read the story (or parts of it) over again to grasp what Hawke is saying. In the story about the boy trying to get beyond the giant gray Wall that surrounds his town, the descriptions of the road become more and more detailed, until you realize what, exactly, the road is made of. That’s when you get that chill in your heart and know you are dealing with a writer with talent. Short stories are hard to create–you have to have a hook, interesting characters, and a plot that wraps up just as things get going. Hawke has constructed some fine work here, for sure.

Perhaps my favorite one was the story about the forced interaction between the data analyst and the software coder. Appropriately dystopian and government controlled, I thought it would be a lot darker than it turned out to be–but still satisfying nonetheless. Maybe I liked it because it was the most benign one of them all. Remember what I said: odd twists and hints of darker things that sometimes lurk in the basement, or in the far reaches of our mind, where we don’t want to go.

If you like sci fi or dystopian work, you will enjoy DIVISION. All the stories have characters that you can sympathize with, and situations that will ring true. Excellent job by Lee S. Hawke on this collection, and I’d love to see more.

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2.5 Stars

I hesitate to call the stories in this collection Fairy tales because they never gave off the fairy tale vibe for me. It was a collection of short stories set in different dystopian/high tech futures. And while they are dealing with diverse aspects of possible dystopian futures, I was left wanting something more.

Some of the stories had interesting topics, which I think would have worked better in a longer story where the story/world could have been fleshed out a bit more. I quite liked the writing however, so I might pick up more a longer story by Lee S. Hawke.
… (mehr)

Division was a very good series of short stories. I was hung up on the first couple of stories trying to fit them into fairytales but then decided to forget that and focus on the science fiction which made it much more enjoyable.
The stories showcase some of the best concepts of science fiction. I think my favorites were 'The Grey Wall' and 'Please Connect'. The first because it makes you think, about the direction science is taking us and what our mind is willing to believe - and isn't that what science fiction is all about? I liked 'Please Connect' because it reminded me of a book of short stories called 'First Love' that included my first science fiction love story, I had always thought of science fiction in this boxed definition then I read that love story and went on to Asimov's mysteries and so much more. Perhaps that's why I was frustrated with the title word "fairytales", I know science fiction could be written within the scope of fairytales.… (mehr)

Division was a very good series of short stories. I was hung up on the first couple of stories trying to fit them into fairytales but then decided to forget that and focus on the science fiction which made it much more enjoyable.
The stories showcase some of the best concepts of science fiction. I think my favorites were 'The Grey Wall' and 'Please Connect'. The first because it makes you think, about the direction science is taking us and what our mind is willing to believe - and isn't that what science fiction is all about? I liked 'Please Connect' because it reminded me of a book of short stories called 'First Love' that included my first science fiction love story, I had always thought of science fiction in this boxed definition then I read that love story and went on to Asimov's mysteries and so much more. Perhaps that's why I was frustrated with the title word "fairytales", I know science fiction could be written within the scope of fairytales.… (mehr)