Posts tagged with "Short Fiction" :: Page 4

Patricia A. McKillip’s writing is often described as ‘ethereal.’ If you’ve read really anything by her you would be nodding your head. In her most recent anthology, DREAMS OF DISTANT SHORES, we are treated to her lovely prose, with a collection of stories that are surprisingly different. They are alternately strange and silly, but all are thought-provoking.
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Rivka loves machines, but she’s a girl in a man’s world. She’s moved to the city to be with her grandmother, whose social circle involves the rich and famous. During a social event, Rivka makes a new friend, Tatiana, and as mischievous girls are wont to do, they find themselves somewhere they don’t belong–in this case it’s a basement room. It’s not any basement room, however. Owner of said basement, Mr. Cody, is financing the creation of a chimera from mechanical parts and pieces of recently living gremlins.
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Before Ken Liu wrote novels like THE GRACE OF KINGS (EBR Review), he wrote short stories, several of which won notable awards. THE PAPER MENAGERIE AND OTHER STORIES is a compilation of not only his award-winning shorts, but also some of his own favorites, including one not previously published.

They are stories filled with emotion, creativity, and beautiful prose. And all will require a degree of contemplation–these are not simple stories, as they are filled with multiple layers of character, situation, and setting. Each is worth thinking about what Liu is trying to say. It’s these very qualities that makes this anthology worth reading.
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I love the art of the short story, and always have. I’ve written a few myself, much to the conspicuous delight of mostly bored teachers and professors, leading me to believe I had “it” and would someday write something really fabulous. But in the real world, the “it” factor is oh-so-rare. I am happy to say that several of the stories in this anthology have at least a spark of brilliance and, in several cases, more than just a spark. Just look at the gorgeous cover art, hinting at the awesome content within!
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Yet another story that comes at a time just rife with new offerings from the fantasy author after a short hiatus. SAVAGES (EBR Review) and the serial novel THE TWO OF SWORDS (Amazon), are two full novels that were released just a few months apart from one another. This one is something more along the lines of a novella, but it’s also one that I didn’t expect given the recent outpouring of new material. Can’t say that I’m disappointed though. In fact, I was far from it.
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I had an argument with Mike Resnick once–okay, maybe it was only a complaint and response that found us on opposite sides of the coin–concerning what made a story a speculative (Fantasy or Science Fiction) story. I had just finished reading one of his short yarns and was frustrated because I didn’t think that any of the speculative elements had anything to do with the story and could have been left out completely without destroying the story at its core. In essence, the made up stuff was just window dressing. So the story didn’t feel like it was speculative to me and I was kinda miffed about it. I was reminded of that disagreement while I was reading this short story collection because it was quite impossible for me to disentangle the plot from the speculative elements in the slightest. They all relied completely and wholly upon the made up stuff. And I was really happy to find that.
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I’m not sure what I expected going into this novella. I mean…look at the cover. It’s weird, kinda creepy, and automatically makes me want to read the story. Subterranean Press was kind enough to send over a copy of the exceptionally strange novella by Jonathan Carroll, TEACHING THE DOG TO READ. It didn’t disappoint.
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From Dark Regions Press, we have a great novella from one of my favorite authors, Joe Lansdale. PRISONER 489 (Amazon) is short, sweet, and a terrific read. While I simply adore Lansdale’s Westerns, I’m an even bigger fan of his writing.
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THE SLOW REGARD OF SILENT THINGS (Amazon) is not exactly a title that reaches out and grabs you. No? I mean, when was the last time you actually saw the word “slow” in the title of a book? Okay, there was SLOW APOCALYPSE (EBR Review) — not my favorite. Or there was also SLOW BULLETS (EBR Review) — not half bad. Or “silent” for that matter? Hmm. THE SILENT LAND (EBR Review). Maybe this is turning out to not be the best analogy…) Let alone both in the same title? Hah! I don’t know of any others.
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With THE DEVIL’S ONLY FRIEND (Amazon) releasing tomorrow, I figured I’d draw your attention to a must-have novella from Horror author, Dan Wells. Set in his John Cleaver series, and during the events of THE DEVIL’S ONLY FRIEND, we have the novella NEXT OF KIN (Amazon).

From the moment I first began reading the John Cleaver novels, I was arrested by my curiosity for the series’ villains, the Withered (or Gifted, as they call themselves). These god-like beings are known and identifiable by what they lack, and that simple idea became such a compelling one that I often (all the time) wondered how THEY were seeing this story unfold.

NEXT OF KIN does exactly that. It puts readers in the head of one of the Withered.
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