Soft Targets: Novella Review
Hello dearest reader!
I have a special week planned for you because this is the week I review Carson Winter’s Soft Targets and also interview him on the novella as well! That’s right, another review and interview combo!
Soft Targets drops on March 22nd so I kept this review completely spoiler-free!
The Author
You’re probably familiar with Carson on this blog now! Not only do I often read his stuff, but we started a podcast together as well! Check us out at Dead Languages Podcast where we chat all about horror and the writing craft. I’ve shared his standard bio on a previous review, so I’ll use the bio I wrote for him for the Dead Lamguages website:
Carson is a curmudgeonly horror author whose sole aim is to make his readers wallow in despair. His dark tales have found homes in a multitude of anthologies and podcasts. Besides short fiction, Carson is also responsible but not apologetic for such novellas as: Reunion Special (standalone), I Am Not to be Replaced (Bloodlines: Four Tales of Familial Fear), and The Guts of Myth (Split Scream Vol 1). His next great hit: Soft Targets — coming out March 2023. When not writing and despairing, Carson plays guitar and is the co-editor at Cosmic Horror Monthly.
The Novella
From the Tenebrous Press website:
You know that office bromance: two of a kind, always taking their lunch together, always wearing the same sly grin. Only ever a hair away from a cold joke about how spreadsheets are a living hell; about taking a bullet if it means going home early on Friday. Sometimes in these fantasies, they’re heroes being hauled out on a stretcher.
Sometimes they’re the ones pulling the trigger.
Now, say these guys discover a loophole that makes some days less real than others—less permanent—and start to act out their violent fantasies without fear of reprisal. Why shouldn’t they? Tomorrow, everything will go back to normal, with no one the wiser but them.
They’ll always remember what it felt like to act on their basest impulses. They’ll know how it could feel to do it again.
Maybe you don’t know these guys. Maybe you don’t want to.
SOFT TARGETS is a reality-bending novella about malignant malaise; the surrender to violence; and the addictive appeal of tragedy as entertainment.
The Review
I couldn’t put Soft Targets down. Simply put.
Let’s address the big thing first. The book is advertised as dealing with the controversial topic of mass shootings so that might turn some people away. Regular readers of my blog will know that I am not a fan of what I call “gore porn” — that is movies/books that seem to glorify gore. Soft Targets does not do this. While the main characters discuss violence a lot, there are only a few gory scenes.
Instead, Carson focusses on the psychology of his characters. Why they feel the way they do, what has driven them to where they are now, and why they made the decisions they do.
I mean, what would you do if you had a day where you could do anything you wanted without consequences? To me, Soft Targets achieves the message that The Purge tried to do.
Another theme is of corporate horror. Office buildings are like liminal spaces and that lends a lot to the character study that Carson achieves. Who hasn’t been victim to intrusive thoughts, who hasn’t dreamed of being free of a 9 to 5 job but can’t because of bills and obligations?
In Soft Targets, Carson explores this very question to the extreme.
Authentic, horrifying, and tragic — Soft Targets exposes the horror that might be lurking just underneath the polished surface of society.
8/10
x PLM
p.s. don’t forget to pop back on Thursday when I’ll be interviewing Carson Winter on the inspirations, the process, and more!
