Expiration Date edited by Nancy Kilpatrick

EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-77053-062-1

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

We all have an expiration date: we are born and live our lives to whatever inevitable conclusion awaits us.  Each journey is extremely personal, and the journey that one person takes is not necessarily followed by another.   This collection of  twenty-five short stories explores a myriad of personal expiration dates: they are all well-imagined and unique reads, written around the theme of death and dying. The tone varies from one to the next, although many of the stories depend on melancholy, measured pacing.

When I first read the description of Expiration Date I thought it was a very interesting concept that could go lots of different ways.  I was not disappointed.  Favorites were: “Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word” by Kelley Armstrong, which sets two modern-day vampires in negotiations to resolve past disagreements so they can each get what they want– these were very interesting characters that made me wonder what happens next; “The Death of Jeremiah Colverson”by George Wilhite, which follows a soldier as he dies in several wars; and “The Greyness” by Kathryn Ptacek, a creepy story in which everyone who shakes hands with a recently widowed woman dies within days.  I have not read any of this editor’s or these authors’ works previously. Recommended for adult readers.

Contains: Swearing, adult situations

Reviewed by Aaron Fletcher