If I Were An Evil Overlord

A collection of 14 fantasy and sci fi stories based around the simple premise: what if the evil overlord actually read one of those huge lists of things they should and shouldn’t do.

Sounds good, right? Scope for funnies, perhaps even more. Well, let’s just say there’s a reason this was only fifteen bucks at Unity. Yes, there are a couple of good, interesting stories (“Daddy’s Little Girl”, “A Woman’s Work…”, “Art Therapy”, “Ensuring the Sucession”, and “Geordie Culligan vs. Dr Longbeach & The HVAC of Doom” are all fairly good and smart), but most of the ones trying to be funny fall… flat. Very flat. Basically, a third of the stories—the ones I just mentioned—are good. Most of the rest are meh, and a couple are crap: “If Looks Could Kill” would embarrass a bad Livejournal, and “Loser Takes All” is MAKING A POINT in a way that suggests the author is an over-ernest teenager.

At $15 I don’t feel ripped off, but I didn’t get a bargain, either. At full paperback price I’d be feeling cheated.