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The Dogs of Holly Warren
Nathan Cardwell
Pulpless Fiction
Science Fiction
Reviewed by Tami Brady

The year is 2097. There are two classes of people living in what’s left of the United States: rich Arians and the poverty ridden Ethnic majority. There is no middle class. The disparity between the rich and the poor has grown exponentially. The rich live in luxury. The poor survive by luck, by deception, and often through cannibalism. The government is composed of an iron-fisted of an unopposed Republican Party. The United States has turned into a place where

“the only remaining channels in existence were FOX, CNN, and GOP, which mostly ran Single-Party political-programs and old Westerns. All three had regular tributes to Ronald Regan, all of the five Bush Presidents, and Dan Quail, who had been officially pronounced ‘Genius Of The Millennia’ right after the collapse of the Democratic Party.”

Frank Riley (codename Agent Jackass) is one of starving masses who lands himself a job at a soup kitchen then finds himself part of an underground chapter of bogus churches called The Dogs of Warren. While on a special mission for the gang, Frank is told of the government’s secret plan to sterilize all racially impure citizens through a top secret virus. Since the government couldn’t starve the poor to death they intend to breed them to extinction. The Dogs of Warren aim to stop this plan before it can be initiated.

The Dogs of Holly Warren is witty, ironic, and a little scary. The mere thought of any one political party running virtually unchecked is terrifying as it could easily lead to dire consequences. Moreover, the growing rates of poverty and our inability to check racism in our society could easily lead to such horrifying situations as described in this story.