Tag: Short stories
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British Short Stories – Classics Criticism
Review: From Kipling to Huxley, Conrad through Greene, this collection covered a broad cross-section of early 20th century British short fiction. Wow. Lots of casual, routine racism. All of these stories were excellent. None very happy, some downright depressing. I didn’t “get” all of them, but maybe nobody does, stories hit or miss with each… Read more
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Youth and the Bright Medusa
Review: Superb Cather at her very best. Opera stories. Just the way I like it! I was surprised by the veiled, and not so veiled, references to sexy times. Interesting that in one story she killed off the protagonist on the Titanic, and I don’t mean a schlocky tale of Titanic romance. Just a description… Read more
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Dark Matter: Reading The Bones
Review: Excellent! A collection of SF stories by African-American writers involving the unique experiences of the African diaspora. SF, as in Speculative Fiction, not limited to what one thinks of as science fiction. Most were myth or alternative history tales. Lots of SF that involved voodoo characters, most notably Papa Legba. Remember him from Gibson’s… Read more
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The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume 1
Review: Before the Hugo and Nebula Awards came into being there was the Hall of Fame. The Science Fiction Writers of America Association decided to pick the 25 best short stories from 1929 to the current year of 1964. Thus, all these stories were picked by the writers of the best SF at the time… Read more
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The White People and Other Weird Stories
Review: I really wanted to love this. But, I liked a few of the stories and some were just way too wordy, way too long, and at the end nothing happens. Like lesbian porn, there’s something missing and it leaves one unsatisfied. Machen is pronounced to rhyme with blacken. Not knowing this, I was pronouncing… Read more
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Mash Up: Stories Inspired by Famous First Lines
Review: What a great, unique concept. Take a famous first line from a classic novel and base an SF story on it. Some great authors and some great submissions. Some. Not all. Gardner Dozois is one of the finest editors of anthologies ever, but in any collection you’re going to get a range of material.… Read more
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The Flight of the Horse
Review: A collection of time travel themed short stories. I don’t really dig time travel stories and yet… these were no exception. It’s all been done, the paradoxes explored and presented in more ways than an obi clue in a crossword. But. The last two novellas were not time travel and were excellent. “Flash Crowd”… Read more
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The Troll Garden
Review: A glorious selection of seven short stories. Capturing the sense of silence and emptiness on the Great Plains, like you are there. “A Wagner Matinee” is amazing and also very tragic. In the true sense of that word. “The Inconceivable Silence of the Plains” Last trains and slow sunsets, snow and frozen fields. First… Read more
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The True Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales
Review: This was really good. Very different from conventional western short fiction, but very well written and enjoyable to read. The true story of Ah-Q is superb, and it made me lol in parts. Some are tough to read, people starving and dying and it’s always snowing. No wonder Hsun liked Russian literature so much.… Read more
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Ficciones
Review: A collection of very well written and very unusual short stories. Like any collection or anthology, you take the best and get through the rest. Fortunately most of these are of the former variety. Some of the faux-literary-criticism ones were over my head, or just not my thing. Thought provoking and often very surprising.… Read more