Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Short story review dump (Part V)

The Eyes Have It by Philip K. Dick

The Hanging Stranger by Philip K. Dick

Human Is? by Philip K. Dick

A Kiss With Teeth by Max Gladstone

Let Those Who Would by Genevieve Valentine

Mirror by Haruki Murakami

Nightmare at 20,000 Feet by Richard Matheson

Blood Son by Richard Matheson

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This is something new I’m trying this year, where I review short stories as stand alone stories, not part of anthologies or collections. Here are parts I, II, III, and IV. The Eyes Have It by Philip K Dick (3 stars) This is, so I’ve read, the shortest story in Philip K. Dick’s bibliography. And the copyright doesn’t appear to have ever been renewed, so it can easily be found online. Here it is at Project Guttenberg. It tells the story of a man reading […]

Dance Like No One is Watching

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The Girls at the Kingfisher Club is a retelling of Twelve Dancing Princesses set in the 1920s. It is light on magic, or rather has absolutely none, but heavy on feminism and awesomeness. Despite being a fairy tale retelling, I can’t really label this a fantasy novel, so I’m not. I really, really liked it and I loved setting this story of women finding liberation and defying the ‘king’ against the backdrop of the proto-women’s liberation that happened during the 20s. It’s a glorious mashup. Twelve […]

“The girls were wild for dancing, and nothing else. No hearts beat underneath those thin, bright dresses. They laughed like glass.”

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3.5 stars This is a very imaginative and clever re-telling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses fairy-tale set in Prohibition NYC. The princesses are flappers and their father is some kind of business magnate trying to protect his family legacy without a son, the poor man. He keeps them locked up in their large home to protect their virtue and reputation, because that’s a surefire way to earn the obedience of teenagers. Here’s the overview from Goodreads: “Jo, the firstborn, “The General” to her eleven sisters, […]

Dance, Dance, Dance

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This was one hell of an enjoyable read! Lots of thanks to the several Cannonballers who raved about it. The Girls at the Kingfisher Club is based on The Twelve Dancing Princesses fairy tale which I LOVED as a kid. Did anyone ever see that tv adaptation with Lesley Ann Warren? We had it recorded on VHS and I probably wore it out with my constant rewatches. Not sure if it’d hold up years later, but this book set in the roaring twenties was the […]

Gotta dance!

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I was immediately intrigued by Melina’s review of The Girls at the Kingfisher Club.  It looked like the kind of story that hit all my soft spots: Manhattan, fairy tales, Jazz Age, and, perhaps most importantly, ladies who shut down the dance floor.  I cannot help myself with the dance stories.  I love them all, from the cheesiest Step It Up #39 or whatever to the most discretely dramatic conversation during an Austen Regency dance, I will drink them all up. And I wasn’t disappointed!  This is a […]

Put on Your Dancing Shoes

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As a sucker for fairy tales, this book satisfied just about everything I’ve ever wanted in a book. A reimagining  of the Twelve Dancing Princesses and set in the 1920’s, we follow the Hamilton girls who have been cruelly imprisoned by their father in their home.  Disappointed that he has no male heirs, he neither has affection nor time for most of his daughters. He speaks to his eldest Jo (Josephine)  imparting his wishes and edicts but other than that, he has no relationship with […]



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