Spotted this review over at the Asimov’s forums done by John E. Rogers Jr.

Rogers covers every story in separate posts on this page and the previous one. His review of “After the Final Sunset, Again” is extremely favourable (yay!):

This Gaimanized theofantasy blazes along at the speed of a wildfire, slowing only when the flames of the story are cooled by the unnatural, though clever, extension of the main character’s life. The tale is advanced greatly by the author’s decision not to backfill. Let the readers add the remaining pieces of the puzzle as they see fit. We start with the raging coalescence of an actual Phoenix – a female, in human guise – swirling into being out of raw background elements – in an empty apartment somewhere in an unnamed American city. This creature, we learn, is designed to live but a day – self-incinerating at sunset, to be born afresh the next morning, with no recollection of her past deeds or fiery demise. Her mission is to proceed immediately into the bowels of the city, save as many people as she can from accidental death, and take other life-improving steps for mankind. To make her way in the world, the Phoenix borrows memories and life lessons from the minds of the (mostly) unsuspecting tenants in the neighoring flats.

However, after millennia of uninterrupted 24 hour cycles of birth-service-death, something unusual happens to our particular Phoenix. During her birth. she encounters another supernatural force and – for the first time – begins to resent her accelerated mortality. What she does to stave it off is the meat of the tale.

A real standout.

In his summation, he breaks out with some further praise:

From the fantasy quarter, I give the top nod to Lapp’s “After the Final Sunset, Again.” Like Linnaea’s story, this one dared to reach further, take more chances. McDougal’s “The Candy Store” was also memorable – for its hybridized vision and its warmth.

Colour me overjoyed!

Tags: reviews, Writers of the Future, Writers of the Future XXV