I'm reviewing a couple of Arizona books this month instead of just the one and that's due to them being a lot shorter than usual. This one's especially short, not quite reaching the fifty page mark even though both the font size and the margins are large. It almost feels surprising to be in a larger format than regular trade paperback, but the paper size may just be playing along with everything else getting increased.

It's a cute story that's easy for us to like and easy for Gwen to dislike, should she ever leap off the page and read what she's in. That's because the lead character is her boyfriend, a shockingly dedicated and focused soul called Solomon Reed, merely one who's dedicated and focused on something other than her. At least it's something rather than someone, a crucial distinction, and that something can be found in the subtitle to the story; "a short tale of ice cream & zombies". Yes, indeed, it's a tub of Blue Bunny ice cream, specifically a sugar-free cherry vanilla tub. You know, priorities.

Maybe Gwen might appreciate Solomon's steadfast dedication to acquiring his ice cream, given that he wakes up to discover that the zombie apocalypse has showed up during his afternoon nap. That knock on the door isn't Gwen's, back from her grocery run, it's some bloody, facially disfigured zombie who wants to devour his brains. Given a pressing need to make it out of his house alive and track down Gwen amidst the constant threats of the zombie apocalypse, you got it, that tub of Blue Bunny won't leave his mind. Maybe not.

Maybe Gwen might calm down when she realises how dreamlike this story reads. There's a brief foreword in which Cam explains how this story manifested and it doesn't mention a nap in the slightest, but it feels like that's how this had to have begun. You know those days when you realise you're awake but you're not ready to let go of a dream that you're enjoying and it gradually slips away from you? It feels like Cam was dreaming this and he recognised the potential for a story and so wrote it down. Given that he wasn't, it seems telling that he phrased it as if Solo was.

It wouldn't seem out of place for a potential sequel to begin with Solo rolling over in bed after he wakes from his nap and telling Gwen what a weird dream he had. And she would listen dutifully and then ask him about his priorities, while wearing that dangerous face that all girlfriends can manifest and all men should beware, because absolutely anything they say at that point is going to be wrong. Of course, we'll realise that, then attempt to talk around it anyway and fail dismally. It could be quite the sequel.

And there really isn't a heck of a lot more to say because this is a short story, after all. I'd be remiss if I didn't call Cam out on his non-justified text alignment, because that sort of thing is never, well, justified; and his bizarrely inconsistent line spacing, something that I have never seen before in a book and which could, if I was generous, be explained away in terms of this entire experience being a dream. Maybe I was on a panel with Cam and he'd mentioned inconsistent line spacing and I drifted off into my thoughts. Maybe I dreamed being on a panel with Cam that was about inconsistent line spacing and, if I turn the book over, it'll suddenly have my name on the front.

However, even with inconsistent line spacing and no justification, this isn't difficult on the eyes, because of that large font size and the expansive margins. And now I think I'll drift back off into sleep and dream about book layout again. ~~ Hal C F Astell