I remember my mother’s eyes most clearly. They were the color of wet sand and she could hold you with them, as if by a spell. She had a soft voice that she never raised. Her straight brown hair hung to her waist and flowed about her except for when the weather from the sea was foul; then she’d let me help wind it into a single braid that hung down her back, as thick as a sailor’s rope. She was a slender woman. My father looked like a mountain standing beside her. These things I remember best, but how much my imagination has bled into memory, I cannot say. The last saw of her, I was six years old, and seven long years have passed since she disappeared.

– From “The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter”

“Starred Review. Accomplished editor Adams (The Living Dead) explores a host of galaxy-spanning empires in this breathtakingly rich anthology…Newer writers also contribute standouts:Trent Hergenrader’s “Eskhara” is poignant, masterful and terrifyingly relevant to modern life…Superior writing, fantastic storytelling and creative adherence to the theme will keep readers enthralled.”
–Publisher’s Weekly

“From Orson Scott Card’s tale of a war hero’s ultimate sacrifice and a quasiprequel to the events of Ender’s Game(”Mazer in Prison”) to Yoon Ha Lee’s delicate story of a musician’s confrontation with her deepest truth in a society where death and art are almost inseparable (”Swanwatch”), the 23 stories collected here share the political superstructure of a galactic federation or union of worlds…This themed anthology should attract plenty of sf readers, thanks to the success of the new Star Trek® film and the high quality of the contributors.
–Library Journal

“Hergenrader doesn’t put a word wrong, bringing the community to life on the page and making us believe in the relationship between the narrator and his friend Whitey. The wind of despair is blowing through this narrative, the feeling that there are things you just can’t fight against, all you can do is stay true to the virtues and people you believe in and hope to survive.”
–Peter Tennent, author of TTA’s “Case Notes” column

“Trent Hergenrader gives us a child’s-eye view of horror with “The Hodag.” Something vicious is tearing up pets and people in nine-year-old Jacob’s town; he provides an uncomprehending, spectator point of view for the monster hunt. Hergenrader writes competently; his rather straightforward story deepened with the suggestion that perhaps poverty and sadness are just as cruel as supernatural beasties.”
–The Fix

“Realms of Fantasy, edited by Shawna McCarthy, sometimes publishes dark fantasy and even horror. The best darker stories appearing during 2007 were by Christopher Barzak, Stephen Chambers, Noreen Doyle, Euan Harvey, Samantha Henderson, Trent Hergenrader, M.K. Hobson, Devon Monk, Richard Parks and Josh Roundtree.”
–Ellen Datlow, Editor, The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror

“Realms of Fantasy remains a very consistent magazine, publishing plenty strong stories. The novelettes were as a whole a nice bunch. A couple of related Graham Edwards stories, comic noirish stuff about a private detective in a wild fantastical world, stood out…There was also good work from M. K. Hobson. Trent Hergenrader, and Richard Parks.”
–Rich Horton, Editor, The Best Fantasy of the Year

“I wish that “Working out our Salvation” by Trent Hergenrader had been the final story in this issue (though “Spider Comes Home” is a very good closer). As a nicely polished ghost story it would have made an excellent bookend with “Mary Smith” to contain the entire issue neatly, though it is an excellent story regardless of where it resides. It has the classic, timeless structure of just about every ghost story you’ve ever heard, though it is entirely unfamiliar to me.”
–Tangent Online

“Trent Hergenrader’s “Working Out Our Salvation” throws a dark spin on a father’s love for his son—a love (if you can really call it that in the end) so great that the coal miner father, Charlie, keeps returning home no matter how often he is killed, be that death by mine collapse, explosion, or what have you. Needless to say this sets a bad example for his son, Johnny. Hergenrader’s writing is appropriately understated, perfectly reflecting the reaction of Charlie’s neighbors, employer, and the family who takes in Johnny. By the end of the story, you feel as if you’ve sunk deep into a mine yourself, where the light is fading and you didn’t even realize you were dropping.”
–Some Fantastic

Kalata Kustani’s gaze swept the valley floor and along the riverbank until he saw a brown fleck against white rocks below. It was Gilly, a boy of fourteen summers, fishing in a pool at the base of a small waterfall. Kalata kept his eyes on the figure and, nodding, pushed a strand of raven hair behind his ear. He had decided that today the boy would die.
– From “A Change of Seasons”

Featuring two full-page illustrations by S.G. Brooks

“Simple and restrained, told almost entirely in dialogue, Hergenrader’s affecting prose challenges our ideas of youth and age, while evoking the timelessly strong parent-child bond.”
– Tangent Online

“What starts out seeming like a story about a father and his very precocious son takes a very interesting turn. I’ll look forward to more stories from Hergenrader in the future.”
– SFRevu

“This piece marks Hergenrader’s debut as a published author, and it is a promising one…This is a revelation story, and Hergenrader plays out his line skillfully, reeling the reader in at just the right pace. As a reviewer, I should say no more of the plot, lest I invoke the dreaded bugbear of spoilers, but the conclusion is poignant and chilling at once. Recommended.”
– Internet Review of Science Fiction

When Sharon put her purse down on the stainless steel gurney she used as her desk she didn’t notice the candy-striped box sitting next to her typewriter. She lowered herself onto her ragged office chair and proofread her letter for the fifth time:

Sharon nodded, satisfied. Quitting hadn’t been an easy decision but this job simply hadn’t been what she’d expected. She needed to leave her apartment in North Las Vegas at five o’clock in the morning in order to be at her desk by eight. The drive to Indian Springs airport took an hour and the flight out to the compound took another thirty minutes. There were three security checks before she got inside the building and four more clearances before she got to the elevator. She did it all again in reverse at the end of the day, plus mandatory body cavity searches at checkpoints six and eight. It added up to a very long commute.

–From “Secretary’s Day”

“Of Silver Bullets and Golden Teeth” is a highly entertaining story–the characters are believable, and the plot well paced. The ending especially is a nice touch. Another solid entry–probably one of the best written of the bunch. Mr. Hergenrader definitely knows how to tell a story.“
– The Book Smugglers

“Trent Hergenrader has produced a gripping short story of a hunter in 19th century New Mexico who accepts an offer to hunt a most unusual bear, one with a golden tooth. Expanding the Navajo belief that humans can take the form of animals in nature, the story combines shamanism and human-to-animal form changing. This is a real cliff-hanger.”
– Specusphere