By Paul Beckman
There are twelve stories in this collection, and it is unlikely to be coincidental that equates to twelve full moons in the year. Every story in Taylor Eaton’s collection is about a moon and in less capable hands and writing skills could be considered a gimmick; gladly it’s not.
She is a writer of great imagination and ability and the Moon being her central character becomes a metaphor for many emotions, and as I read story after story, I almost began to think of the Moon as a person and not a celestial object.
In the able hands of Eaton, it does not seem strange or Twilight Zone-ish for characters to talk to or touch the Moon or have it move about in ways we are not used to. It’s perfectly reasonable and logical in the story, “The Moon Maker” to have a character whose job it is to make moons for many places in the galaxy. His perfectionism is akin to any high-functioning craftsman. A unique premise honored by a well-told tale.
And that is the key to Taylor Eaton and her collection: unique premises that deliver and leave the reader satisfied and never feeling unfulfilled. Upon establishing the premise, a writer of lesser ability would go for a quick ‘punch line,’ but Eaton carries through with grace and affection for her stories – her Moons.
In the title story, “The Suicide of the Moon”, she writes of the Moon dissolving and continues…
This is the suicide of the moon. And nobody knows how to stop it.
The story continues and is touching in so many ways that for me to write more would deprive the reader of the story experience.
This is a collection that’s a keeper – the kind that a reader would go back to and read a certain story because of something that happened in their own life one moonlit night and that happening reminded the reader of a story in the book.
I am a person who does not bring a bottle of wine to a dinner party; I bring a book as a host gift, and The Suicide of the Moon will certainly be handed out by me to friends who appreciate fine fiction and the short form.
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