Like any good short story, "Bloodgate" moves quickly, setting up its ideas efficiently and neatly before moving quickly and ruthlessly to the inevitable conclusion. Things start calmly enough, as a pair of traveling salesmen return back to their idyllic little town to receive their new assignments. But close friends aren't as open as they once were, tempers seem to be running short, and then there are those dreams and thoughts of violence that keep cropping up...none of which bode well for our inhabitants. Alves demonstrates a knack for quickly building characters and atmosphere, making us attached to these people in short order and making us care about what they're going through, and that's a necessary part of making this story work. Given how things begin to evolve and change, "Bloodgate" could easily be about its twists and reveals, but it's not - it's about how those reveals affect the characters and their lives. With a title like "Bloodgate," it's no spoiler to say that things aren't as simple as they first appear, but Alves builds the tension nicely, stringing us along until the big reveal - and then still surprising us by giving us the ending we might not have expected. It's a satisfying, enjoyable little story, one that's got a nasty bite but works by investing us in the characters and immersing us in their perspectives as everything starts to unravel.
- Josh Mauthe
- Josh Mauthe
