Stories edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio

Stories

Stories, an anthology edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio, takes as starting point their love for good stories and good writing, and 4 words: ...and then what happened? I had my eyes on this book ever since it came out – short stories, some great authors (even if the combination of some seemed strange at first), and a cute cover.

Stories starts with Blood by Roddy Doyle, that is quite upbeat and funny, even if slightly disturbing – I enjoyed it but the ending didn't quite work for me. But the second story, Fossil-Figures by Joyce Carol Oates, more than made up for it. Fossil-Figures is a story of twins, different from what usually is done, poignant and dark – but what really captivated me was the writing, that conveyed the feelings of both the characters so well. I admit never having heard of Joyce Carol Oates, but it won't be the last I'll read something of this author.

The next three stories (Joanne Harris's Wildfire in Manhattan, Neil Gaiman's The truth is a cave in the Black Mountains and Michael Marshall Smith's Unbelief) could have been part of American Gods, and if that is forgiveable in the case of Neil Gaiman, with the other two not so much. Joanne Harris story was still enjoyable for the movie(or TV-series)-like quality of it, fun, with action and a hint of romance. Neil Gaiman's didn't really convince me more because of the writing than the story itself. Unbelief is a cutesy story, with a twist towards the end that made me smile a bit, but not much more than that.

The stars are falling by Joe R. Lansdale is a strange case, because although I can't say I specially liked it, it was memorable enough to still have me thinking about it (more than a month after reading it). It's dark and sad, like many of the stories in this book, but strangely uplifting in the end, despite the grimness of it.

Walter Mosley's Juvenal Nyx starts really slow and boring, and once it starts to be interesting to me, it pick ups the pace and finishes in a flash. As a vampire story it is different from usual, and had it been more like the ending part, it could have been phenomenal.

After Richard Adams's story The Knife I think I am ready to give up on this author, neither writing nor story were to my liking, and the only plus side was that it was extremely short.

I was surprised to see Jodi Picoult in the list of the authors, the few names that I was acquainted with screamed Fantasy and Science Fiction to me, Jodi's didn't. But I'm glad she was included, her story Weights and measures was extremely sad, but extremely well written. About the death of child and the grief of parents, I didn't expect to enjoy it, and certainly not as much as I have.

Michael Swanwick's The Goblin Lake was fairy tale like at first, jumping into metafiction later on. But it never really convinced me, and to tell the truth, the new-comer Kat Howard manages much better the metaficiton in her story A Life in Fictions, which was really good.

Mallon the guru by Peter Straub was another story that didn't work out for me, the same with Stewart O'Nan's Land of the Lost, Carolyn Parkhurst's Unwell and Tim Powers's Parallel Lines (these last two with some similarities, as well as with Fossil-Figures that had already stole my heart).

Lawrence Block's Catch and Release and Jeffery Deaver's The Therapist were both rather good, both showing the darker side of human nature. In the first we share the thoughts of a serial killer that has somehow changed his modus operandi, never giving up the chase of prey. In the second story it takes awhile to realize how dark it is, and since there is an element of fantasy there, the reader is doesn't quite know what to believe.

Jeffrey Ford's Polka Dots and Moonbeams, Chuck Palahniuk's Loser and Jonathan Carroll's Let the Past Begin were nice stories, with some degree of craziness and surrealism, which is always a bonus for me, but not exactly memorable.

Samantha's Diary by Diana Wynne Jones was my favourite story in the book – a retelling of the popular 12 Days of Christmas, set in a futuristic world were such song is almost forgotten. This one made me laugh out loud (I swear, true story). I wish there was a bit more to its ending, but anyway, it is a brilliant story.

Leif in the wind by Gene Wolfe was another poignant story, a science fiction one, and I enjoyed it immensely.

Al Sarrantonio's The Cult of the Nose is another slightly surreal one, that had the power to actually make me believe in the conspiracies and secret society that the main character was involved on. The ending was also quite twisty, leaving it open to the reader to believe in either side of the story.

Human intelligence by Kurt Andersen was another science fiction one, and with quite a big twist in the end that left me with a smile in my face (a much bigger one than in Unbelief). I rather liked it.

Stories by Michael Moorcock was tremendously strange to me, because it didn't feel like a story to me – just the author talking about the past and people that I always felt I was supposed to know who they were but I had no idea who they could be. For the most part it made me feel stupid, because surely these should be really famous authors and magazines and what-not. But slowly I became somewhat invested in the characters, especially the one we know from the beginning what will happen – I guess I want to know how he got there.

Elizabeth Hand's The Maiden Flight of McCauley's Bellerophon was a nice one as well, rather long, which made me feel it could have been a novel. I wish there was a better explanation to some of the events, but overall it was good.

The Devil on the Staircase by Joe Hill is the closing story of this book, with a different kind of layout. As the main character goes up and down the many stairs of his village, so does the text resemble them. It made it a bit hard to follow the story, but it was nice all the same.

My overall opinion of Stories was that it was somewhat of a disappointment: even if there were stories that I loved, they were few and the ones that didn't interest me one bit far too many. Regarding the central point of ...and then what happened? of all the stories, I felt the great majority of cases that I was asking that because the story had an unfinished feel to it, not because I really wanted to know more about it.


Rating: 3.5 out of 5

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Top Ten Tuesday - Top Ten Books I Loved But Never Wrote A Review For

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week a theme for a list is suggested. This week is Books You Loved But Never Wrote A Review For (either books you loved and couldn't bring yourself to write a review for or books that you read long before blogging...time to give them a shoutout!)

There are a lot of books that fit this category, so I had a little trouble selecting. Some I chose because they are not very well known and deserve a shout-out.



1 - Earthsea Trilogy Quartet Cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula K. Le Guin is one of my favourite authors, and that love started with this series. A Wizard of Earthsea was being advertised as a Harry Potter kind-of-book (despite being much older, and altogether different), and so I dove in into it. And loved it. And then I went for the next book in the series, The Tombs of Atuan, which I loved even more, and then kept reading, and reading, and discovering there were more books and short-stories.

In total there are 6 books, in which the 5th one, Tales from Earthsea, is a collection of short-stories set in the same world (and one of them a bridge between book 4, Tehanu, and book 6, The Other Wind).

Tombs of Atuan (Book 2) and Tales of Earthsea (Book 5) are my favourites, but all of them are marvellous. I love the characters and especially the world building. Bonus points: Dragons!

2 - The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
I will probably make a proper review of this one because I plan on re-read it soon.
The Hobbit was not my first Tolkien book, I had just finished The Lord of the Rings, and I NEEDED MORE! MORE! So, I read the Hobbit. The Hobbit was the first book that I read in English (besides picture books), but since this is, in essence, a book for children, it wasn't much of a problem.
Reading The Hobbit after reading The Lord of the Rings (plus all the annexes) means I knew part of what was going to happen, at least relating to the One Ring. But there is so much more to this story than just Gollum and Bilbo. I loved every bit of it!

3 - The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
After being finished with the first books of Earthsea I went to look at everything else that Ursula K. Le Guin wrote, and found out most of it was Science Fiction. The problem was I was under the impression I didn't like Science Fiction (in truth what I don't like is Space Opera, but I only learnt the difference much later). I gave The Left Hand of Darkness a try, it had a cool name.

And I loved it. In a way it was a good book to start, there are just some references to advanced technology and other planets, the plot is all set in Winter (the planet, in constant winter, hence its name), and deals with social and political issues. So, the only thing different from a non-science fiction book was that it was not on Earth, and most of the characters were not human.

The thing that sold this book to me was actually the natives of Winter. They were pretty much like any Earthling, except that they are androgynous and asexual for most of their lives, until they get to the reproductive phase when they can either became male or female. The complexity of relationships and how the entire society was based on different physiological features was the high point of this book.

4 - Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
This started with a band, Gogol Bordello. It's lead singer, Eugene Hutz, plays Alex in the movie based on this book, and some of their songs are on the soundtrack. So I watched the movie, and it's a favourite of mine. So I had to read the book.

If the movie is wacky, the book is wackier, crazier, but also more bittersweet. In the book there are 3 stories: Alex's story, the (dubious) history of Jonathan's ancestors, and Alex's letters to Jonathan, mostly commenting on his own story, but also commenting (and complaining) about Jonathan's version of his family history.

I loved this book. A lot.

5 - Voice of Fire by Alan Moore
Alan Moore is known for his graphic novels, but my first contact with his work was this book. It's a mixture of historical fiction and fantasy, and really surreal and weird. Good weird. It's a collection of short-stories, set in the same point in space (that point being Northampton, England) but spanning 6000 years.

The first story/chapter of this book is something I have to talk about. Set in 4000BC, the narrator/main character has a limited vocabulary and very little grammatical coherence. Meaning that it's a hell to try to understand what is going on at all. It's more like a detective work. But that is part of the fun, trying to figure out what is going on. I also have to applaud the Portuguese translator, because translating gibberish and maintaining its little sense while not losing its gibberish quality is a huge feat.

The rest of the stories are really good, some irreverent, some sad. One of these days I will re-read this book.

6 - The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion and The Unfinished Tales by J.R.R Tolkien
...or anything related with the Lord of the Rings.
I love the world building of Middle Earth, and the way that The Silmarillion is a History book for the whole thing.

The story of Lord of the Rings is really gripping, and while reading it I felt immense joy and despair. That is actually one of the reasons I have trouble re-reading it, I can't get through Bilbo's birthday party knowing how much bad it gets towards book 3. But there is really not much need for another Lord of the Rings review, so I'll just say: it's good and I love it.

7 - Books by Juliet Marillier that I haven't reviewed (yet)
I love this author, and I have reviewed some of her books, some because I read them not so long ago, others because I re-read them not so long ago. But there are are still a lot of them that I love and have yet to do so. Namely, The Daughter of the Forest, The Child of the Prophecy, The Heir to Sevenwaters, The Light Islands Saga and the Wildwood books.

I will most certainly re-read those in the near future, so I might review them then. Suffice to say, I love them all.

8 - American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Fantasy with mythology, and very dark, this one was right up my alley. It has some interludes, or short stories inside the main story, that were weird and disturbing, but my overall opinion of this book is WOW. There is a grittiness to it that I particularly liked.

The main character, Shadow, took some time to get to know and like, but there is an assortment of secondary characters that are simply amazing.

9 - A Segunda Manhã do Mundo by Manuel de Pedrolo [not available in English, original in Catalan: Mecanoscrit del segon origen]
This was another book I picked up based on the title alone. The second morning of the world, as translated in the Portuguese version. And it's a name that summarizes well this short book. It's a post apocalyptic story, about two kids that survived the apocalypse, and how they manage to survive (and repopulate the world).

I loved post apocalyptic stories, and this one was really good. It portrayed very well the hardships of two teenagers suddenly all alone in the world, and what had to be done in other to survive.

10 - Terra Prometida by José Manuel Fajardo [not available in English, original in Spanish: El Converso]
This one is Historical Fiction, set in 17th century and is the story of two man who keep re-encountering each other in different times, in different places in the world, and in different situations (not always the best), and manage to help each other out each time (while keeping score). But most of all is a story about freedom, something both men seek, although for different reasons.

I loved the writing in this one, and the different cultures portrayed: Caribbean, Arabic and European. The way the stories of the two men connected was marvellous, even if at times it was a surprise they did connect at all.

Reading Challenge - 25 to 29

The books on this list will be mostly fast reads and short stories. Books I could drop when I got the one I was reading (The mark of the Horse Lord) back, because I left it with a friend and it took me a long time to have it back.


25 - Contos Apátridas 
(I don't think this book is available in English, but you can read it if you know Spanish, Portuguese or Italian)
This is a collection of short stories by Ibero-American authors.

Um tradutor em Paris by Bernardo Atxaga [A translator in Paris] is a very existentialist story. A man retraces the steps in taken 20 years before in Paris, in order to accept his disability. Strange, feels unfinished and definitely not my cup of tea.
Nunca lá estive by José Manuel Fajardo [I was never there] is about nostalgia and remembering a day in the past. It is beautifully done, like most of Fajardo's writing. My favourite story in the book.
Tragédia do homem que amava nos aeroportos by Santiago Gamboa [Tragedy of the man who loved in airports] is amusing. It's about a man that finds himself being the boy toy of flight attendants.
Antiga Morada by Antonio Sarabia [Old address] is another strange story, about a brother and sister living alone in a old mansion. There is incest, ghosts and attempted murder. I liked the writing style, but the story was a bit disturbing.
O anjo vingador by Luis Sepúlveda [The vengeful angel] is a Monty Python-ish CSI kind of story. And that's why it's amazing. I really couldn't care less about the crime, but I loved the surreality of it.

Final opinion: a enjoyable book where the good stories outweigh the bad.

(4/5)



26 - M is for Magic by Neil Gaiman
M is for Magic is a collection of short stories, some of which I already knew from Fragile Things (others are in Smoke and Mirrors which is in my To Read list). It is intended to young readers, but most of the stories are of the Horror kind.

The ones I already knew, I skimmed through them. October in the Chair starts with the months of the year telling each other stories, and finishes with October story. I loved the beginning, but October's Story is far too sad and tragic for me to re-read. How to talk with Girls at Parties is a very nice story about teenagers and love, and otherworld things. Sunbird is a great story, but it does nauseate me a bit (it deals with food, and people who like to eat, well, anything as long as it's tasty). The Witch's Headstone is part of The Graveyard book, and truly a children's story. A lovely one at that. And finally Instructions, which I love.

The new stories: The Case of the Four and Twenty Blackbirds is a strange film noir kind of story dealing with Humpty Dumpty's nursery rhyme. It felt a bit rushed, with potential for more if expanded. Troll Bridge and Don't ask Jack are also very strange, and maybe not exactly for kids. Don't ask Jack could be an adult horror story (and really scary as well) if it was longer. How to Sell the Ponti Bridge was a sweet story about con men, and selling a landmark. It had a nice twist, but not to the level of American Gods. Chivalry was one of my favourites, so sweet and surreal and lovely. And so British. The Price was another favourite, that actually brought tears to my eyes. It's sort of biographical (I think, although I rather not delve too deeply into that), about one of the cats of the author and what happened in the night.

All in all, this book felt a bit like a disappointment. Some stories were good, but most left me with an eerie and empty feeling. Had it not been for Chivalry and The Price, this book would be just average.

(3,5/5)


27 - One bloody thing after another by Joey Comeau
One Bloody Thing After Another is an apt title to this book.
I enjoyed it, even if it's not my favourite genre. It is a fast read, but delivers what it promises.

Full review

(3,5/5)





28 - The Mark of the Horse Lord by Rosemary Sutcliff
This is another book that the basic premise was brilliant, but its execution was not so. The story it's still good, but I did not enjoy the writing.

It's not a happy-ever-after story, but I found the end fitting, albeit sad. I liked the main character Phaedrus a lot (how couldn't I, a huge red head gladiator?), but I felt more drawn to a secondary character, Conory. I wish there was more about him in it.

My biggest complaint about this book is that there seems to be almost no female characters at all. There are two that are named, one is the evil usurper of the throne, the other her daughter whom the main character has to marry. And that is almost all there is to them.

It was nice, but I had hoped it would be better.

(4/5)


29 - Misfortune by Wesley Stace
I am not sure how I came about this book. It might have been a recommendation for another book, or simply finding the cover somewhere and being drawn to it (how could I not, there is a woman with a moustache!). In any case, it was an absolute find!

(4,5/5)

Full Review

Reading Challenge - 16 to 19

16 - Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Howl's Moving Castle is one of those classics that I only discovered when the movie came along. It's a brilliant story, full of adventure and humour.

This is going to be one of those books that I will never part with, reread until the pages are worn, and recommend to everyone I know.

Full Review

(5/5)



17 - Rocannon's World by Ursula K. Le Guin
Like with most of Le Guin's books, I needed sometime to get to know the characters and the world. At first it seemed to drag on, but once I was hooked on Rocannon's plight I wanted more. And because this is a novella and not a novel, once I was finally enjoying the story it ended.

Nevertheless I liked it. The species were reminiscent H. G. Wells' Time Machine, and I enjoyed that there was not one single species in this world, but different intelligent life forms, not related in any way.

(4/5)


18 - Planet of Exile by Ursula K. Le Guin
Planet of Exile is another short novel/novella and, like Rocannon's World, ended when it was getting good.

It is set in Werel (also known as Alterra), which has the oddest cosmological traits: Each year (orbit time) is equivalent to 60 Earth years and each moon phase lasts 400 days. This means that a lifetime is equal to a year, and age is measured in moons. That was probably what I loved most about the story, because it was something so alien and strange, but that made complete sense.

(4/5)


19 - City of Illusions by Ursula K. Le Guin
While only slightly longer than the last two, City of Illusions feels more elaborate and complete. It tells us the story of Falk, an alien from Werel, in a completely different planet, with no memory at all (no even speech), and his quest to discover who he is.

This is set in a post-apocalyptic Earth, and Falk travels through a great land mass to reach the city where the enemy lives (we learn later on that this is the United States). So this is a road trip kind of book, even if Falk is alone for most of the journey.

It is a lovely story, that gives you a lot to think about. It deals with illusions, lies, and betrayal, as well as with what defines one self.

(4.5/5)

(These last three stories can be found in Worlds of Exile and Illusion)

Instructions by Neil Gaiman

Instructions By Neil Gaiman, Illustrations by Charles Vess

I first read Instructions in Fragile Things, a collection of short stories and poems by Neil Gaiman. I really loved this poem. It beautifully simple, and true, and what fairy tales are made of. It is also a classic Neil Gaiman story.

Now it's going to be released as a picture book. And there is a book trailer, with the poem read by the author himself, and some of the illustrations by Charles Vess.

It's magical. That's all I can say. It needs no more words. Go watch it. Go rewatch it. I will.

Good Omens Review

Good Omens -  Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

To quote Book-a-Minute, Five billion people almost DIE, and it is FUNNY.

That's the gist of Good Omens. But let's forget about the five billion almost dying, and focus on the funny. Because it's funny. Brilliantly so. Hilarious, actually.

It may sound obvious, but think about Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, and put them together. Terry Pratchett's humour and Neil Gaiman's knack for surreality. That's all in there, tied together so well, that it is impossible to tell them apart.

Good Omens is about the Apocalypse and its Four Horsemen, the Anti-Christ, The Beginning and End of Things, Angels and Demons and everything else that comes with it. But most of all it is a set of stories that all converge into one point. The characters are believable, they are surreal, and you do expect them to pop out in the your street at any time, even if it is The Antichrist.

This book is a favourite of mine. When I need something that will amuse me and provide a good read this is usually the book I pick up. If I am to be found chuckling or even laughing out loud alone, this book is sure to be the cause of it.

(5/5)