Ladies and gentlemen of the audience, Please allow me to take just another moment of your time to tell you about a most interesting story. I would like to talk to you about Phil Rossi’s Crescent, and his creepy @$$ Vignettes.

As a little boy, I liked space opera and science fiction. I do not know when, exactly, I turned away from space and turned all of my attention to fantasy and wizards. (delicious, delicious wizards) But it happened, and I read no sci-fi for .. many many lifetimes.. okay, maybe about 20 some years..

ANYWAY

I first heard Mr. Rossi’s voice in another podiostory, and Crescent kept popping up on said story’s page, so I decided to listen. It sounded fun and creepy- space thrills and all that- and, I dig the dude’s voice, so why not, eh?

In a nutshell, it’s about a salvage ship captain who gets himself involved in a lucrative, but unfortunate business deal with the mayor of a massive and terrifying station orbiting a planet in the deepest reaches of known space. The mayor’s psychopathic management style becomes the least of the hero’s concerns as horrible, supernatural events threaten to rip the station and everyone on it to pieces. Sounds like a nice, cozy little story to listen to right before bedtime, no?

Oh- Oh no.

This novel is quite anything but cozy. And *I* wouldn’t advise listening to it before bed unless you like to change the sheets in the morning.. IF you know what I mean. This is one freakin’ scary story. There’s GALLONS of blood- Fountains of gore- heaps of terribleness (I am allowed to make up words) terriblosity. This dude doesn’t kill characters; he disassembles them. It’s gruesome and merciless and some folks you don’t think are gonna get it, get it in the worst ways!

There is also a smattering of- Hmmm.. how to be tactful.. grown-up encounters of the outer-space, guy, girl, sweaty, funky, just downright musky scenes. Awe yeah! Teh sehcks in space. And even from my own, somewhat biased perspective, it’s pretty durn hotly written.

Now, there are just a couple things about the story that I flat out didn’t get. It seems in one or two places a plot element is exposed for which there didn’t seem to be much buildup or explanation. And, the ending might come across as kinda… let’s say “big”.. BUT if you think of this as Sweaty Lovecraft in Space, then it all works out JUST right.

Oh yeah, baby. Sexy Space Cthulhu.