The Book of Outcasts by Matt Nagin

The Book of Outcasts by Matt Nagin
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

The Book of Outcasts is a short story collection featuring dynamic characters in surreal, often imaginative worlds. The stories run the gamut; in one, the narrator is stripped of his job, his apartment, and his civil liberties for refusing a brain implant; in another, a compulsive gambler is so desperate to repay his debt he robs a casino; in a third, a writer, tormented by a pernicious doppelganger, goes to all lengths to exact revenge. There is also a film festival operator framed for ghastly murder on The French Riviera; a game show host who profits off a deadly pandemic; and a former nightclub comedian who gets abducted by aliens and taken to a planet where cannibalism is the norm.

Not everyone finds it easy to fit in.

“Retirement” was written from the perspective of Harry, a retired senior citizen who may or may not be a reliable narrator. I changed my mind about him several times, and I’m still mulling over some of the things he shared with readers and how other characters around him might describe the same events. There is definitely something to be said for trusting readers to come up with our own conclusions about a character and what sort of person they might be.

Some of the stories in this collection would have benefitted from more development in my opinion, and “The Failure” was one of them. Bill, the main character, was someone who graduated from college but didn’t achieve most of his biggest life goals after that point. I empathised with how stuck he felt in his routines and the regret he felt for how his choices had panned out. What didn’t make sense to me was his response to a marvellous twist in his life later on in this tale as it didn’t seem to match up with what I’d earlier learned about his personality. It would have been helpful to have information in order to know why he made the choices he did, and that was a pattern that repeated itself elsewhere as well.

The idea of doppelgängers immediately becoming sworn enemies kept my interest level in “Nagin vs. Nagin” high. Why wouldn’t they try to be friends if possible? That question bounced around in my mind as I read this one and began to understand why both Nagins hated each other so much as the social media war between them heated up. It was especially entertaining to see how one act of bad behavior triggered something a little worse in response and how neither of these characters seemed capable of de-escalating their conflict.

The Book of Outcasts made me wonder what might happen next.