The trope of the opposite sex being alien is so old that’s it’s already so far gone that it’s on another planet all of its own. Nevertheless that’s the premise of this book. Men are from Mars and women are from Venus. Or rather, Enn is from Earth and all the girls at the party are from…somewhere? Spacy-thing. Doesn’t matter. His friend Vic drags him to a party with the advice “You just gotta talk to them.” It’s an old joke and it really is […]
Creeping Dread Coated with a Veneer of Bigotry
My introduction to the works of H.P. Lovecraft was most likely the film Reanimator, though I don’t know if I realized the source at the time. I was interested in reading these stories because Lovecraftian mythos is has been the source of so much pop culture that I’ve imbibed – movies, books, video games – Lovecraft has either provided a source for other storytellers to embellish (as in the case of Reanimator) or has inspired all new horrors (like the xenomorph in Alien). Chances are […]
Myth, history and culture collide
Ho Lin’s short story anthology was an interesting read. Each tale aimed to shed light on random moments from varying points of view. He pulls in the reader with unexpected juxtapositions of settings and tone. The collection exudes emotion as if the stories were collective memories meshed together. He rarely delves deep into any specific narratives. The stories bounced between Asia and American even within the same story. We meet an American ex-Pat in China, then a host of characters in San Francisco, while another […]
An Earworm of an Anthology
When You’re Strange edited by Sarah Vestal and Danne Boyd (2017) – I’m not sure what’s going on with the cover, but the stories in this themed anthology dramatically bring out the differences and similarities in all of us. Whether you’re an Alice tasked with tracking escapees in the real world, a young collector of souls who foolishly believes wars will be over soon, a young water witch marrying a fire warlock, or a trio of friends trapped in a video game, this collection of […]
Not My Favorite
Best for: People who really enjoy short stories that have more sex than your average book. In a nutshell: Collection of short stories about many different interesting women. Line that sticks with me: “In the complex calculus between men and women, Milly understands that fat is always ugly and that ugly and skinny makes a woman eminently more desirable than fat and any combination such as beautiful, charming, intelligent, or kind.” (p 163) Why I chose it: I really enjoyed Roxane Gay’s nonfiction work and […]
An interesting, if uneven, story collection
I took a Women’s Literature class about ten years ago (oof, that’s so painful to admit), and Carol Shields was one of the discoveries for me. We read Swann, which was a revelation. Sometime later, I was in a discount bookstore, and I stumbled upon a copy of her collected short stories, which was comprised of her three collections, Various Miracles, The Orange Fish, and Dressing Up for the Carnival. It also includes a previously unpublished short story, “Segue,” which would prove to be her […]
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