XLZABK001 by Jon Zaremba is a brand new collection of stories in different genres. Jon has a description of himself at the end of this book:

“I retired as a musician with dozens of albums in my catalog, most of which were self-released. The majority of this collection’s contents was crafted as text interpretations of my musical works. With a sparse, at best, literary background, most of the imagery herein was inspired by music and film rather than the work of other authors. In art, including my own, I favor meaning over method, function over form, and substence over style.”

Contents:

Nonexistent Voices Whisper Subliminal Passages of Hopelessness

Einhander

Prologue

Conquest 01: Solifugae Odi’s Ranch

Conquest 02: Squeller’s Prison Pit

Conquest 03: Icct Hedral’s Armory

Conquest 04: Death of Gleylancer

Conquest 05: Birth of Einhander

A Kiss Before You Die

Promontory

Perspective 01: Mark Oberheim

Perspective 02: Korg Crumar

Perspective 03: Joshua Day

Vade

Vigilante Romance

Autumn

Winter

Spring

Summer

The Universe if Ours

Total length is 228 pages.

Some of the pieces are short mood vignettes. “Einhander” is a fantasy epic that reads as if Michael Moorcock had written High Plains Drifter. Zaremba uses a desert locale for this tale of vengeance of a boy who took decades to become an near invincible warrior with a magic sword. The ending is very fantastic, possibly we can say psychedelic.

“Vade” can be called a horror story for lack of better description. It is set in modern Idaho with an ugly 13 year old kid who undergoes a metamorphosis.

“Vigilante Romance” is probably my favorite part of the book. It is not fantastic but the story of an aging veteran who becomes a vigilante. He starts taking down petty street criminals and works his way up. A kid calls him the “Ancient Blade.” Cool name.

Jon Zaremaba’s writing style has some uinque flourishes. “Promontory” can’t be categorized as any specific genre. You can read a sample of his prose at Amazon. If you are curious about the book title, the magic sword in “Einhander” is Exceliza – Exceliza Book 1.