Dating After the Apocalypse By: Stephen Dorato Star Rating: Sensuality Rating:

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Synopsis

As a human living after a zombie apocalypse, Malcolm is finding his search for a woman to share his life a bit challenging. After a series of strange and unfortunate dating experiences, he's ready to throw in the towel, until a co-worker suggests that he meet his sister. Julie ends up being exactly the type of girl Malcolm has been looking for and things are going great between them until the unexpected occurs.

Review

"Dating After the Apocalypse" is a very aptly named stand-alone short story about a guy named Malcolm who is trying to navigate dating after an unspecified apocalyptic event. The humans seem to still be trying to live normal lives, aside from the fact that they don't really go out after dark because of undead zombie-like creatures who will attack them. After a string of unfortunate dating experiences, Malcolm has all but given up on finding the right person until a co-worker suggests his widowed sister. The two hit it off and things are going great until the unexpected happens.

I really enjoyed this story right up until the end. It's exactly how I might imagine dating after a supposed zombie apocalypse might be. All the weird experiences Malcolm has are darkly humorous, and once he meets Julie, it even turns a bit romantic, which is right up my alley. The only issue I had with the story is the ending, which like a few other stories in the Blood Lite III: Aftertaste anthology where it's found, was a bit open-ended. I suspected something was going to ruin things once Malcolm appeared to get his happy ending, but I was only left to speculate and honestly couldn't figure out exactly what happened and how. This unfortunately put a bit of a damper on what was otherwise a fun reading experience.

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