SNAFU: Survival of the Fittest – Book Review

by | Jul 17, 2015 | Book Reviews, Reviews | 0 comments

survival-of-the-fittest-coverSNAFU: Survival of the Fittest
Edited by Amanda J. Spedding & Geoff Brown
Cohesion Press
August 21, 2015
Reviewed by Jess Landry

Having read some fictional war novels and having watched an ass-load of war movies, there are certain things one comes to expect from this particular genre. These things include (but are not limited to):

-Michael Bay-esque explosions
-An over-use of “ooh rah”
-Intricate hand signals and call signs
-Testosterone. A lot of testosterone
-Big-ass guns that can decimate bacteria

These things grow tiresome after a while (except for the big-ass guns. No one tires of them), so it was quite the pleasant surprise to dig into the entertaining pages of SNAFU: Survival of the Fittest. Sure, some of the stories have a few of the aforementioned things but this anthology takes what’s expected from the genre and turns it into the strangest, most bad-ass mix of military horror stories in the best way possible.

The ten individual tales that make up the fourth entry in the SNAFU series vary in their war times. Some happen during real conflicts like in Vietnam and Afghanistan, while others are of their own devices. And there’s plenty of variety as far as plots go. You want vikings? You got it. How about bio-luminescent, bone-cleaning cave monsters? Not enough, you say? How about a couple of jiangshis (a.k.a. reanimated Chinese corpses that hop and suck the life force out of their victims)? More? Will a talking triceratops with machine gun armor and his t-rex partner with killer arm extensions do it? I thought so. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

I can’t say much for the technical aspects and terms, as my knowledge of military things is based on the one time I watched a double feature of Apocalypse Now and Tropic Thunder, but the jargon seem legit. For someone that knows practically nothing about military procedure and all that jazz, there was nothing in Survival that took me out of the moment. Really though, throw any letter in front of three random numbers and it sounds like some fear-inducing gun you’d find in your Doom arsenal (or a fancy BMW). If the terminology is too much for you and you literally have no idea what’s going on (like: What does SNAFU mean? And who the hell is Charlie?), then Google is your friend.

Adding to the bad-assery of this compilation is the cover by British artist Dean Samed. In fact, the cover for the three previous titles (SNAFU: Wolves at the Door, SNAFU: Heroes and SNAFU: An Anthology of Military Horror) are all pretty amazing. The cover does what it should: it compliments the stories inside. It’s sleek, it’s spooky, it’s awesome.

Wholly original and highly entertaining, give this anthology a shot whether you’re into military horror or not. As the old saying goes, “war is hell,” but SNAFU: Survival of the Fittest is good fun.

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