The Spawn of Cthulhu (1971) edited by Lin Carter 274 pages - Ballantine Books This interesting anthology looks a some of the stories around the 'Cthulhu mythos', which originated in a series of stories...Haddath where, in deeps Of foul putrescence buried underground, The loathsome shoggoth hideously sleeps... I saw --and screamed! And knew my doom of dooms, Learning at last where the Black Lotus Blooms
The Locus Awards: Thirty Years of the Best in Science Fiction and Fantasy (2004) eidted by Charles N. Brown and Jonathan Strahan 512 pages - Eos I've always been a bit perplexed about Locus when I've...label ever again. With stuff like this being acclaimed, it's no wonder a lot of people see genre writing as simplistic, shallow, and self-centred wish-fulfillment for people trapped in adolescence
The Dark Descent (1987) edited by David G. Hartwell 1011 pages - Tor A huge anthology focused on the horror story. The editor splits the stories into three categories, which represent to him the three...just because of the reputation of the names attached, when the story itself might just be merely potentially slightly unsettling (and really, couldn't you say that about almost any work of fiction?)
Collected Stories by Roald Dahl 850 pages - Everyman's Library Though Roald Dahl is now known mostly for his booksfor children, he began his writing career with short stories for adults, and it was...stories are just a bit too sophisticated and refined, as evidenced by the publications they originally appeared in ( New Yorker, Esquire , etc), and could do with being a bit rougher around the edges
The Best Science Fiction of J. G. Ballard (1977) 411 pages - Orbit Seventeen short stories are collected here, selected by the author, spanning ten years, from 1957 to 1967. Some of the highlights are...edges on the border of surrealism. At his worst, his writing is very detached and self-indulgent and lacking in emotion or other human qualities. I would say both sides are on display in this collection
So, as part of my re-reading program, I decided on re-visiting a few short stories: The Portrait - Nikolai Gogol - from The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol A two-part storyconcerning a mysterious...is something possible and real, even though he may be the only one to believe it, and even though everyone labels him a ridiculous man. Can't say much else about this story other than it's great
The Cyberiad: Fables for the Cybernetic Age (1967) by Stanislaw Lem, translated by Michael Kandel, illustrated by Daniel Mroz 236 pages - Avon Books A series of stories chronicling the adventures of...or fairy tales delightful. I couldn't even tell the main two characters apart at all . It just got more dull and frustrating as it went on, and I decided to just drop the book about 160 pages in
The Collector of Hearts: New Tales of the Grotesque (1998) by Joyce Carol Oates 323 pages - Plume A collection of stories by Joyce Carol Oates. Some of these are what you could think of as her standard...every story here is wonderful, but quite a few of them are; it's a very strong collection, and I have to marvel in admiration at how Oates can just kick out high quality story after story after story
The Guardian has published a new short story by A.L. Kennedy - Saturday Teatime . For those that like that kind of thing, it will be the kind of thing they like.
Trying to get back into the Reincarnist mindset in preparation for edits/second book, I was reading my short stories featuring some of the characters and noticed I never posted one. So here you go. It's... you’re back,” Fantazia said, coming up behind me. “Wesley Charles, meet your new teammate.” He didn’t look anymore thrilled about the prospect than I did. I sighed. “What do you say, bossman?”
