Welcome to My Monday Minis.
This is where I review very short stories and flash fiction.
For today I’ll be telling you about Hummingbirds
by William Sharp
John and Carley have found the perfect getaway.
When Carley spotted the rustic cabin for sale on-line, there was no stopping her.
The idealic little cabin with its panoramic view of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado was an escape after the noise and stress of New York.
Still very much in love after six years of marriage, they are quite happy with just each other for company.
While enjoying his morning cup of coffee and the breathtaking scenery, John’s peace is shattered when he sees Carley stumble out of the brush and collapse.
She’s rushed to the CDC’s Genetic Displacement Lab, where she comes to and is able to tell what happened to her on her morning walk.
A hummingbird had attacked her. She knew immediately it was one of them, and hurried to get to the cabin before the symptoms overtook her.
The first thing that caught my attention was what could a little old hummingbird do to cause such distress.
Well, these aren’t really hummingbirds, they are just labeled as such because they look similar to them.
These things are actually hatched from meteorites that made it through our atmosphere and landed in various locations.
They are indiscriminate creatures, attacking men, women, children, and animals, injecting their victims with something.
If that’s not creepy enough, their injections cause irreversible changes.
A really good horror story is one where you have a real connection to the characters and are concerned for their well-being.
In this case, I just hated what might happen to these two. The author had me connect and like them immediately, so I felt sadness for Carley and John. I wanted to go back and change what happened.
The author had all of the power and wielded it well. I was completely hooked right to the bitter end.
If you like horror and science fiction, I recommend you read Hummingbirds.
It has a lasting impression.
4 Stars
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The term Trochilidae isn’t what these creatures are called. It’s the latin word for hummingbird and I just used it for my title because it sounded alien!
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William Sharp
William Sharp is a life-long scifi fan. He has been writing for pleasure since he was a child, right on through creative writing in high school and college, and lots of medical/technical/professional writing in his career as a litigation attorney.
William’s stories are heavily influenced by the themes and style of Golden Age and some New Wave scifi. He believes the most memorable scifi stories explore the human condition, human interactions, and common human problems, against a backdrop containing futuristic scifi elements. The writings of Arthur C. Clarke, Harlan Ellison, Issac Asimov, and Robert Heinlein are the most influential to his work
William is married and lives in Texas. He dabbles in acting in community theater, enjoys playing the guitar, and has just recently written his first one-act stage play. He loves his wonderful German Shepherd named Liesl and loves even more his terrific wife and three kids, all of whom would kill him if he repeated their names here.
You can find the author and his books HERE.
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