The Angælien Apocalypse/The Company Articles of Edward Teach

Matthew Chrulew and Thoraiya Dyer

Novella Doubles Series

Twelfth Planet Press (2010)

ISBN: 978-0-980827-42-2

Reviewed by Mitenae

Have you ever wondered what would happen if the angels were aliens? Matthew Chrulew certainly has and The Angælien Apocalypse is the result.

Ellie, Joke (Joachim) and Miguel are best friends and they share a place together. Ellie starts hanging out with Guardians, otherworldly beings, and disappears once a month only to return with blue goo in weird places. They don’t believe her until one day she disappears. In the weeks of searching for her, they end up at a meeting where Gabriel appears and Joke instantly signs up for their grand plan. But Miguel doesn’t believe it and can’t get him to understand that Joke is the Antichrist.

This is an interesting science fictional take on the apocalypse, replete with Jesus Christ, Angaeliens, Demoeliens and technology. Athough I enjoyed the story, I found myself at times wondering whether telling it from the past (when Ellie disappeared) and the present (when Joke and Miguel are facing each other off) added more depth to the story than if it had not have been there. It felt very much like a device and I found myself annoyed with it and pulling away from the story. But I do like the story and it is a great, if a very different tale, to its companion.

On the flip side (literally) is Thoraiya Dyer’s The Company Articles of Edward Teach.

Layla wishes she was someone else, anyone other than the daughter of a control freak father. Avi has no intention of being a lawyer like his mother wants him to be and like Layla, he too wishes he was someone else. Their wishes are granted when they meet in a costume store with a strange assistant and find themselves in an explosion and transported back in time three centuries. To get home they must survive, for Layla has become Doctor Reihs, to Avi’s Edward Teach, the infamous Blackbeard.

This is the rare story that leaves you wanting more, not just of the story itself but also of the author’s writing. I haven’t read anything by Thoraiya Dyer before but after this gem of a tale I can’t wait to read more of her work.