Paul Tremblay

The Last Conversation

C. J. Daley 

This is part of the Amazon Original ‘Forward Collection’ curated by Blake Crouch. This is my first experience with the author, and I enjoyed that he brought his usual genre of horror into the mix. These are available through prime for free on kindle or audible! 

What would you do if there was a global pandemic where so few of us survived? What if you lost the one you cared about the most? If our technology allowed for you to clone them, to in a sense, bring them back, would you do it? More importantly, would they want you to? 

I enjoyed this one. Parts of it were very eerie, with elements that felt like Blade Runner, Ex Machina, and even I am Legend. The idea that even a clone would be just as predisposed to the pandemic as it’s forebear was a really cool idea. As if the genetic makeup couldn’t be altered enough by technology to save them. 

Personally a 5/5*. A deep dive into what it means to be human, and what one would do to their humanity to not be alone. To regain the one they love.

Midori Kobayashi

3.5/5stars


My third read from the Forward Collection and by far the best. Obviously, I jumbled up the suggested order, so yeah. I think the remaining stories are gonna be better from here on.




To forget is to lose something that was once yours, that was once of yourself. But how could one lose something as expansive as an ocean in a dusty corner of one’s mind? What if, instead, to forget is to open a door to a void; the memory is not retrievable because it is not there, was never there. 




The whole narration in second person, the element of horror the kind of open ending def kept me on edge. And the fact that we aren't even told the name of the MC def added to that. This was my first book by Paul Tremblay and I am certainly looking forward to reading more.

Jeff James

I’ve seen a lot of rave reviews of Tremblay’s work, but this is the first of his stories that I’ve read, and although it was decent enough, it probably wasn’t the best introduction.

In it, an amnesiac wakes up in a strange facility and an unseen woman puts him through his paces. She prompts him to remember his past via mental and physical exercises. The tone is detached and a little unsettling, and I’m sure it won’t surprise you to learn that there is more going on than the main character first realizes.

This novella is part of a collection of thematically related short stories made available on Audible and Kindle for Prime and Kindle Unlimited users. It’s a fancy short story collection that you can download and read in any order. Even if this story wasn’t my bag, I plan on checking out the rest of the series.

Ley Stanton

Cindy Lieberman

** spoiler alert **
           Reading this short story during the ramp-up of COVID-19 in the US is disturbing! Our main character wakes up in a facility and, over time, regains memories and starts to wonder where are the rest of the people? This is a well-crafted short story that is part of the excellent Forward collection, free to Amazon Prime members.

Nat Welch

Olivera Mitić

Michelle Xu

The Forward Collection Overall, 3.5 stars.

It's hard to give the overall collection a rating because some stories were hits and others were misses.

The Last Conversation - 5 stars
Wow this was by far my most favorite. It was especially chilling because it kind of reflected our current times with a pandemic wiping out this world. This was also in second person POV. With two stories in 2nd person in this story collection being two of my favorites, I feel like I should start looking into other books who do it as well. It's eerie and a great way to leave the reader filling in the blanks. This was much like Summer Frost in that I literally could not stop reading. I had to finish it to figure out what was happening. While I definitely suspected what was going on, especially after "we" and Anne left the compound to go to the house, it wasn't as obvious as the others. Somehow, in a short amount of pages, the story was able to get me to connect with the characters and really feel for them. I cried/teared up at the end which I feel like is hard to do in short stories.

B. K.

This was okay, but kind of boring, and I guessed the ending easily.

Juliana Matias

Another Black Mirror-ish story, but this one told in 2nd person narrative. And contrary to the way Emergency Skin made me feel, this one fulfilled the expectations I would have originally had of 2nd person narrative: it is not for me.

I imagine the point of 2nd person narrative is to make the reader feel engaged to the protagonist, but in this story I felt completely alienated from the characters. I also could tell right from the start what was going on, even if the main character acted like it was some sort of big reveal at the end.

There is not much I can say without spoiling it, just that even though I am not a big sci-fi reader I could still see through the story, so don’t expect a surprise. Overall, this was another short story in this collection that was fine.

Ruth Parker 

Creepy, enjoyable and makes me want to read more from this selection. An enjoyable story which makes you question your own ideas and thoughts and what it means to be human.